Deck lid self-opener

that's creative thinking George.

Like it, George!

I must have trashed 6 of those springs thinking they had NO Speedie value.  Great pictures showing implementation.

I respect that many of the speedster owners have worked hard and made money to allow them the pleasure of owning and driving a Porsche replica. It is fun to drive and I think we all agree on that point. I also would like the "fun" part of driving what is a different looking vehicle and based on my good experience, back when I had an IM speedster ( wished I had kept it) in 1992, I was surprised at how good the old swing axle rear suspension worked and the low center of gravity, in autocross racing.

I make very little money. I am proud to say I have never been on welfare, but if I did not come up with ways to make my cars work better for the least amount of money and know how to build them and maintain them, you would not see my ideas or suggestions on any web site. It is my hope that "some" of my ideas give others a chance to see things differently, as I really have to improvise , due to limited money funding, what I have on my speedster.

I would like to have one which looks as close as possible to the original Porsche and I know how to rebuild the Porsche 356 engines, but money is the main factor. I have owned several real Porsche cars, in the past, only due to being able to buy them at a low price and fix what was wrong with them. Never a new one, but some really good looking Porsche cars. Owned three 914's, two 911's, one beat up 356, almost new 924 and one 1976 Porsche 912E ( look up that one). Except for the beat up 356, all ended up looking good and ran better than good. Certainly was a good experience in the past.

I enjoy putting together cars, often from the ground up. I am blessed that I can do this and have the passion to figure out how to construct the vehicle for the longest lasting driving experiences. And, I drive my cars. My biggest concern on this latest speedster project will be coming up with the needed funds to have the convertible top done ( some things I cannot do) and fitting the tonneau cover, to allow the car to sit outside, at times, and not be flooded from rain water.

For the most part, I go with what the VW and Porsche engineers designed on the cars as I firmly believe they knew what they were doing and I cannot improve on their engineering.

I dreamed of working at the Porsche factory in Germany, but this thought came when I was married , with children, and too old for an apprentice work program, the factory had. I think, if you like working on cars, getting to train at the Porsche factory, as just a helper, would be an excellent experience for any auto tech person.

Once I sold my last Corvette ( drove those for 10 years) and went to VW and Porsche, I realized what a good driving experience could be and I have never driven another car, other than the Porsche models, which performed so good and were fun to drive. And, they get good gas mileage with performance. The American car companies took a long time to figure out Porsche knows what it is doing and only in the past five years has America produced some excellent performance cars. The Corvettes, back in the 1970's were fast, but terrible to maintain.

The speedster was a simple, well designed car, light weight, with a small engine, but fast and fun to drive. Perhaps, my greatest thrill was when I had to spot a 1974 Corvette with it's 350 cu. in. engine, a 1.5 second lead, in a bracket race. I was in my 1974 VW with a modified Bug engine, but my daily driver. The Corvette took off first, as I had the lower "dial in" on my window and I got around him and won that race. The crowd went wild with applause. Been stuck on German air cooled cars, since that time. ---George K. ---

I had to cut the spring to reduce the pressure it has and modify the travel on the part. It took some thinking and trial and error and I am sure, putting on the many available strut shocks looks nicer and work good. I thought I would try something different.

On the fire thing, just kidding with others about my idea being better than the shock lift struts. If one has good fuel hoses, there should be no fire problems. All the fires I have seen on VW's, which I repair for a living, were caused by someone leaving on the 40 years old fuel hose and/or the copper inlet on the old Solex carb worked loose and had two psi of raw gasoline pumping out onto the hot engine and exhaust, therefore a big fire. But, carrying a fire extinguisher is always a good idea. My ex-wife , when we were married, bought me a chrome plated fire extinguisher for an early car I owned. I still have it and recharge it yearly, as one should do. ( the fire extinguisher , not the ex-wife ) Don't buy General brand, as most places will not recharge them. You might save some person from death. Cars can be replaced . People, not so easy to replace. ---George K. ---

Thanks, doing the finish work on the wiring of my speedster kit. I don't know where someone bought the wiring harness and think it might have been for some other kit car, not this speedster. I used an old wiring harness from a VW Bug and found it easier to do my own wiring on the rear lights. Really turned out to be simple and I like the speedster metal frame, as that makes things easy for grounding light fixtures. I am used to working on fiberglass dune buggies and they are a wiring nightmare, each one different and people run too many separate wires to ground the lights, instead of combining all the light fixture grounds into one wire and then attaching that ONE wire to the frame.

My brilliant idea on putting the wiper arms to the passenger side, worked right, but not the first time. I found one end of the wiper blade ended up hitting the windshield lower rubber gasket and binding. Fix was I cut off that part of the new wiper blade and with it now only about eight inches long, the sweep pattern I like. Looks like the wipers , when working, clear about four feet or more on the glass and at least eight inches from top to bottom, enough to see in rain. They overlap each other, something I did not engineer, but that makes for a clear view through the middle of the windshield. Shorter wiper blades puts less load on the electric wiper motor. Anyway, after the modification to shorten the wiper blades, it now works good.

It's trial and error at times. There were so many parts missing form this speedster old unfinished kit I had to be creative, as you said. Looking at pictures of some speedster finished cars, I see some have what appears to be a larger chrome frame on the windshield, which has to be stronger.

There are so many varieties in the many bodies made and how they were assembled in the past. And, each person has their own likes on what they want to see on their speedster. I saw an extra brace from the VW frame to the rear speedster frame, only on one speedster I have seen, but that is a good idea to have more bracing. Mine is not designed for that extra metal brace.

Those speedsters with the towel rack, connecting the bumper upright guards, looks like that would add more protection to the car body. Not many shown on the web site have those complete looking bumpers. I wonder what that cost ?

I hope to get mine safety inspected this week and finally get the title transferred to Texas. Now, if I can get people to not slam the doors, that would be just great ! Then, see how it performs and drives. Only have a 1600cc single port engine going in, for initial trial runs. No way I will be breaking any speed limits. Ha,ha.
---George K. ----

I do not think the "towel rack" would provide very much protection. They are not made like those found on mid-50's American Iron where they are actually a solid part of a big chunk of steel hanging out front. I think they are more for looks than true function and for what they are are very pricey, IMO.

 

The Cobra uses a clear covered Cole-Heerse grounding box, every ground wire from Gauges, aux. lights, grounded switches, horns, etc. except for the head and tailights which are tied together and fastened to the frame close to the lights, are grounded to this box then the box it self is grounded to the frame with 4ga. cable. The box is mounted on the firewall high under the dash next to the fuse block. I got the idea for using this method on a 'glas car from a friend who suggested it who had done this when building his car and he got the idea from his boat. Most all large 'glas boats, both sail and power use the same or similar method for grounds. It has worked flawlessly for over 14yrs now on the Cobra, and it certainly simplified wiring and it is easy to check if a grounding problem is suspected, each ground is labeled for where it originates. Just and idea that has worked well for me.

Both the frame brace (by the door) and the towel over-riders are "as seen" on IM.  I can see that the brace triangulates the frame but it doesn't look attractive and would make entry difficult.  I love the non-standard look of the towel bars but I doubt the chrome bars add strength since they are connected to fiberglass.  Adding a steel backer or bar behind bumper blade would add more protection.  A fake Claymore mine at each corner would be the parking lot answer (it is a very nasty weapon).

 

Ha, Ha, Ha. Like the mine device for vehicle protection. I have a dummy hand grenade. I used to keep it in one of my cars, until he USA declared ( did we ever really declare war ?) a War on Terrorist. Now, so I do not have to explain to some police type person, if pulled over for a bad tail light, why I have a hand grenade in my car. I have a concealed weapons license in Texas, but don't t think that includes the "fake" hand grenade. Anyway, don't carry it and keep it on my dresser table top, in my bedroom.

I guess, if anyone ever came into my living quarters and saw the "hand grenade" they would freak out.

Gene Berg and others have posted pictures of a Lion inside a car, as theft protection. The actually got a trained , tame Lion into a Beetle and the photos were not photo shop, enhanced. I would think any large size Pit Bull would work to stop thieves.

I have the fiberglass bumper, over rides and rubber pieces, for the bumpers. Have no supports as they did not come from the seller of my unfinished speedster. I had a welding shop custom made a round tubing bumper for my VW Rat Rod and it has a '50's type hot rod look to the bumper. Two round tubes, connected with rounded U shaped ends, looks simple but does function to prevent dents to the front of the car. On the rear I actually have a steel trailer hitch for pulling my 5X8 utility trailer behind the Rat Rod. I know, I am weird, but the VW acts as my truck, so don't tell it that it is only a VW bug and not a tow truck. I can pull up to 2000 pounds with 200 pounds tongue weight, not bad for a beat up looking Beetle . My past Toyota truck only pulled 3500 lbs. if on flat ground. More like 3000 lbs. or the truck worked hard and got terrible gas mileage, when towing. Also, the Toyota's only have a four to six feet long truck bed and I have eight feet on the trailer. I can pull up to the hardware store and load my bigger items in my trailer, being pulled by the VW, than most pickup trucks. It gets a lot of attention at the hardware/ lumber yards.

Thanks for the information about the bumpers. One person wrote me to put a steel beam from support to support , behind the fiberglass bumper to add strength and protection. I am still trying to make up my mind on what bumper set up I want. Those guys with only Nerf bars, are really into religion, I guess, as only God can save their speedster from damage in a parking lot small accident. You know, nobody leaves their phone number and name. They just back out and drive off and hope nobody saw them hit your car.

True story. When at a grocery store parking lot, I was sitting in my Porsche 911. This lady in some big pickup truck pulls in on my right side, opens up the truck driver's door and smashes it into my car. She was walking away, like nothing happened and did not know I was sitting in my car, so she did not see me , until I yelled at her for her name, phone number, insurance information and if I should call the police. Then, she said, it was not her fault, the WIND pulled her door out too fast and that was the cause, not her fault. I wonder if there is anyone in Heaven with people like her on this planet. The damage to my paint job on my passenger side door cost $500 to fix. I got her insurance information and other data and she was not a happy camper as I guess, her insurance company was not happy with my claim. Oh well, that is the way the cookie crumbles.

---George K. ---