Cheap, easy stuff that makes life better

I replaced my pressure relief plug with an oil temp sender years ago. Awesome.

Installed hex jet holders a year ago. Awesome.

Installed front beam braces years ago. Inexpensive, easy...Awesome.

Third brake light under the grill. Cheap, easy...Awesome.

Float charger from Harbor Frieght, rewired with cig lighter plug. Cheap & easy.

Rear wheel splash guards. Cheap, easy.

CHT gauge. Reasonably priced. Easy to install. 

Rear sway bar. Reasonably priced easy to install.

Rear truss (Kafer) bar. Reasonably priced but a little more difficult to install.

Heim joint upgrade on carburetor linkage. Inexpensive and a significant improvement.

Many more but you start to move up the learning curve and cost.

The front beam braces are on my 'to do' list this winter.  I'd love to buy a CSP set, but they're very expensive. I'll probably go with the cheap EMPI braces from Cip1

Good topic! And Terry, you've covered a fair bit; can you tell us more about your rear wheel splash guards?

Sure.

I made a cardboard template to fill the space between the fiberglass fender and the box tube frame in front of the rear wheel. Traced it to a thin aluminum sheet. Cut, bent and placed with self-tapping screws and butyl caulk.

Still have the template. I could trace it to paper if anyone would like a copy.

I could take photos as well.

I am going to put some dingle balls around the edge of my sta-fast top and also a fuzzy "wrap-around" my rear view mirror.

Don't forget the fuzzy dice and the Moon foot pedal...

What are front beam braces?

Here you go, Cole:

They keep the front beam from flexing.

Terry, did you make that brace yourself?

From the looks of it, you'd think...

No, purchased through Cip1.

They're not much to look at but they give you a lot of bang for the buck.

Rubber gaskets - used repro OEM style 356 from Klasse356 -

Around headlight chrome trim (not behind chrome but snapped around it)

Under center hood handle (2 pieces)

Under windshield stantions both sides

Behind bumper over-riders front and rear

I bought one for the rear grille but it doesn't fit on a CMC

Also rubber VW bumper bracket trim where bracket goes thru the fiberglass to mount to the body.  Think I used for a 1968 VW and trimmed it.  

YOU are a dingle ball!

Pick up a charcoal canister out of any small emissions test car (japanese cars work best).  Run your fuel tank vent into the charcoal canister.  Use a check valve - vapor one way, liquid shuts it off.  Your tank will vent properly and the gas fumes will disappear (aside from fuel in the bowls). 

Set you back about $5 to $20 depending on what you do for the check valve.

angela

I love it when she talks dirty like that...

Did you notice a difference when you installed that front end brace? I was trying to search for them but could not seem to find them any links?

West Marine cup holders

a parallel-wired starter button in the engine bay

wiring your windshield frame as an FM radio antenna

LED gauge lamps

under-dash courtesy lights

under-door puddle lights

under-dash power plug (for 12V accessories)

H4 headlight upgrade (along with heavier wires and relays)

Big difference.

http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDe...Code=C26%2D413%2D151

I love the ones produced by CSP, but they are VERY expensive ($275)!

http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDe...ode=C31-498-001-111A

That must be a very fancy powder coating they use to justify that price.  Id grab the 30 dollar set do some grinding to clean them up and you would pretty much have the same thing. (I know they still wont be as nice but this is something that nobody is going to see)  I am a wondering how much clearance these take away from the front end.

I'm not sure why you'd want to do that, Mat. You'd have to wedge it between the box frame and the pan and then there would be the issue of bending the front of the pan so as to connect the brace to the beam.

The beams are R-L specific as well. The front end of the brace is angled to flare the brace out closer to the edge of the beam.

Of course, if you are minimally skilled and in possession of a welder you could fabricate your own braces quite reasonably and fashion them to your specs.

Regarding clearance - I have never had an issue. As you see in the photo, the brace does not add much at the beam. The L bracket hangs down about two inches but it's not in a location that is known to "bottom out" during spirited driving - unless you're bagged like Mango or Oliver and you're sledding your way through the slaloms. 

It uses the 2 existing body to chassis mounting bolts so not designed to be top mounted.  Would think one could design an above mount using 1"x2" steel tubing and bolting it to the frame head bottom plate. 

http://www2.cip1.com/PhotoGall...ductCode=TAB-400-800

Thanks for the photos, Terry.   I just bought myself a MIG welder and I plan on making myself a set like yours in the near future.  Right now my welding looks like it was done by a blind Afghan terrorist, but hopefully it will get better.

I had to do that too as my VS didn't come equipped with a lot of weatherstripping (under the hood handle, horn grilles, bumper guards and rear decklid grille). I also replaced the door handle rubber with OEM Porsche (the repro rubber that came with them was rotting in no time). I also installed the EMPI camber compensator which was really easy to install as well as a heavy duty front sway bar (my car didn't come with a sway bar from the shop; period) with urethane/stainless steel clamps which was easy to install too except that we had to modify the front bumper brackets to allow for its installation. Through here I also bought the top trim pieces on the dash that don't come on VS cars; I upholstered them to match the dash and installed. Also replaced the shifter boot supplied on VS cars and got a cheap (less than $4) and more original looking VW rubber shifter boot which is the same identical part used in real 356's. When I upgraded the engine with new heads, carbs, exhaust system etc. I installed all OEM German VW engine tin (including all trim pieces and fan shroud) with the OEM thermostat/vane system. Also another really nice thing to put on these cars are the aluminum drum covers as supplied by CB Performance; inexpensive and easy to install they give the car the look of real Porsche 356 aluminum drum brakes.

CIP1 also sells "Upper Front End Support Tubes", has anyone tried them? 

http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDe...ductCode=C26-413-150

But I'm not sure they can be used on the Speedsters (?).

and so, it begins.

If you get the steel mix for the MIG it takes you from rookie to pro quality.  

I have a wire fed MIG 170 just waiting for a project!

Could you be more specific about "steel mix" ?...Thanks

Carl....  You can get several "mixes" for welding various types of steel....  (I'm assuming we're talking gases here.)  You can use straight nitrogen, but it is used more for welding thick sections of regular carbon steel....Or argon/helium for very delicate, thin material...  There are other blends for other materials, aluminum, stainless, etc...  Its best to talk to your welding gas supplier to get the blend that will do the majority of the work you are planning to do.... I use nitrogen as most of my work is structural...   

Leon, thanks for the advice...I'll find a non-judgemental welding supplier because I have no idea what I'm talking about!! Yet I've got a couple of projects dancing around in my head, and a brand new MIG welder still sitting in it's unopened box.

tell the man at the counter you want the std 75-25 mix, unless you have a flux core coated wire welder. bill

He's brand new. He's got a small MIG. Let him get his legs under him with some flux-core wire.

Carl:

Get this book (probably available on Amazon):  Monster Garage "How to weld damn near anything" by Jesse James

It's produced by Motorbooks in affiliation with Discovery Channel.

It's a good start for a novice;  it's written in plain English and explains when, where and why to use different gasses, welding materials and processes for different types of welding and covers everything from structural to decorative across different types of metals.

Also, Miller and other welder manufacturers offer their own books - Miller's is called "Gas Metal Arc Welding" and is pretty decent although somewhat more technical.....more of an experienced welder's book.

I learned how to weld from my Sea-Bee uncle who gave me a big sheet of steel, drew a bead on it to show me how to do it and then said "Cover this sheet with welds just like mine and then come see me".  I think I did several of those sheets before he started to get satisfied with the weld quality.  My son learned by building a car hauler (the one I now have 20,000 trouble-free miles on) and you can see the difference between earlier welds later touched up, and later welds that needed no touching up.

Practice makes perfect.

gn

BTW:  any of you (including Subie-powered folks) thinking of pulling your engine or tranny should look into buying or borrowing a motorcycle jack like this one (I much prefer the Craftsman over Harbor Freight's cheaper model).  Get them on sale for around $90 bucks:

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_1...ncode=32-210779296-2

The problem would be what to bolt them to.

As for my welding, I'm still practicing with flux-core wire.

I watched these videos 

http://www.weldingtipsandtrick...arn-How-to-Weld.html

I found my Hobart 140 setup on craigslist and the guy gave me some tips as well.  I skipped stick welding and went straight to buying a tank of gas.  If the settings are correct for the metal you are using and you go slow using the cursive e technique from the videos you will be making very clean welds in no time at all.  The gas will help you lay down very smooth welds and its well worth it.

Gas and a welding cart is next on my list.