Hello everyone! I finally found an IM Speedster and I am flying over for a visit. I will be staying over at my brother's place in Rowland Heights California where the car will be delivered. While I'm there, I want to get a narrowed beam fitted and some disc brakes etc. I also want to get the horrible interior redone. Can anyone please suggests nearby places, mechanic, car upholstery shops that might be able to do the work for me. Thanks a lot in advanced!
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I've used both shops Bob mentions. First choice would be Greg at Vintage Spyders/Motorcars. Greg spends the time and does quality work. Shoot down the 57 to the 91W and exit Beach. Go south and turn right on Katella and you are at the shop.
If you haven't had someone do a detailed walk-through of the Speedsters, Greg can look everything over and make sure it is squared away before it leaves his shop.
Kirk doesn't do a bad job, but he does it quick and sometimes quick doesn't equal quality.
Greg and Kirk use the same upholstery guy. The difference: Kirk uses a template the upholstery guy has in house and his guys mold to the car. Greg will have the carpet cut specifically to your car so it fits right and then have the edges seemed and final install.
Use Greg vs VS...
Thanks for the reply. Does anyone know a 'guy' similar to a mobile mechanic that would come over and do the work for me where I am staying? I'm not that confident yet to be driving around straight away given the LHD format of both the cars and the road..
al posted:Thanks for the reply. Does anyone know a 'guy' similar to a mobile mechanic that would come over and do the work for me where I am staying? I'm not that confident yet to be driving around straight away given the LHD format of both the cars and the road..
Call Greg. I don't want to speak for him but he may be able to trailer it to his shop if you're close enough. Or just have it flat towed. It'd be worth the little bit of an expense to have Greg do the work.
Any chance you can post before and after photos?
Definitely will post progress photos. I just read the feedback on Greg...scary or is he better these days? Thanks everyone. Still looking for a local Bug mechanic if possible in and around Rowland Heights...and motor trimmer/upholsterer.
I've bought two cars from him. What you have in negative feedback is some sour grapes kind of people, combined with people waiting for cars and having them take a bit longer than promised. That speaks to ordering a car. I think my car was supposed to get done in August and I got it in October, not really a big deal in the long run. You will not get better quality than from Greg at Vintage Motorcars in California. If you go to Vancouver, BC, Henry at Intermeccanica will do the same, as will Carey and company at Special Edition in Bremen, Indiana. These three vendors are the best in the business, period.
An entirely different thing is bringing a car in for some work. I've heard zero problems with guys bringing ANY brand of car to Greg for service.
I would gladly dispute any negative feedback about Greg. He's a stand up guy and is one of the three top builders and shops IMO.
I have to ask... Why a narrowed beam? There is tons of room up front. I run discs up front AND wheel spacers to INCREASE the track width. Narrowing the beam would actually cause the wheels to hit on the INSIDE of the rear part of the front fender well when you make sharp turns.
Al - Congrats on finding a Speedster that meets your criteria! Exciting for sure, Woo Hoo!
Not sure why the narrowed front beam? That set-up might be cool on a VW Bug for the 'California-Look', but not so much on a Speedster. I've done the same as TRP above. Disc conversion with spacer added to extend wheel & tire for wider track.
'Welcome to the Madness' and enjoy the ride! 
I'm doing the narrowed beam because I want to run minimum 195 wide tyres with 5.5 wide rims on the front and still retain the 'tucked in' look I had with my old white IM shown here (and original 356's). I used to run 165's on this white one and it used to get scary with hard braking in emergency circumstances hence I want to get bigger rubber. This car handled like a slot car and I feel it'll be even better with meatier front tyres. I ran dropped spindles with disc from CB, Konis all around, rear camber compensator, and thicker front sway bar. That's 205's x 60 on 5.5 rims on the back.
Did the car have stock type 1 drums and shoes on the back? Were you having problems with the fronts locking up prematurely? This can be a problem with front disc brakes when running more rubber in the back, especially if they're taller than the fronts as well. On a Cal Look bug I built (135's on 4 1/2" rims, Ghia discs, 185/70's on 6" rims on the back) emergency braking/panic stops could be downright scary, especially when wet out or when the pavement was the least bit dusty. The fronts would skid with anything more than moderate pedal pressure.
I found type 3 rear brakes (drums and shoes are larger diameter and slightly wider, and the wheel cylinders are larger diameter as well) went a long way to balancing the front/back braking bias, and they didn't overheat like the stock beetle drums did. Rear discs, of course, would accomplish the same thing with the added benefits that they would be way harder to overheat and they wouldn't need adjusting like drums do.
185/60's or 195/55's with wider rims on the front will definitely give more "bite" for handling and braking. You may find you don't like the poorer handling of the narrowed beam, even with the wider tires and rims, so don't go any narrower (an inch or so per side) than necessary. Bump steer also gets worse as the beam gets narrower (the short tie rod gets "really short!"), so don't go crazy here if you still want the car to handle well. You can also improve handling by running 1/2 degree of negative camber, and using caster shims under the bottom tube to get the caster somewhere more than 4 degrees (iIrc Gordon says somewhere near 6 is good) for more predictable highway speed handling.
Hope this helps. Al
And Jim- No self respecting Cal Look bug owner would run a narrowed beam, so wash your mouth out with soap, son!
It's a Spyder, but my new car has a 2" narrowed beam, basically same in the front as a Speedster. This is done only for one reason, I'm running the 4 piston Wilwood caliper Airkewld front brakes. These are about 3/4" wider than stock, so almost all the "narrow" is taken back up by the brakes.
I don't notice any change in bump steer over an almost identical car with a standard beam.
185/65-15 on 4.5"F, 205/60-15 on 5.5"R
Wow! Thanks so much for all the expert advice and taking the time to write the 'novel'...I'm stumped now whether to proceed with the 4 inch beam. Speaking of beams..I need a narrowed balljoint. Anyone 
I just wanted to thank everyone for the valuable assistance received!
Robert Martin via Troy Sloan is transporting my IM from Arkansas to California going straight to Greg at Vintage Motorcars for a new interior and possibly other stuff!!! I am so excited! Flying there soon.
Nice! Being in the midwest... one of these days, I'm going to visit Special Edition and let Cary and team have a look up the skirt of a 2012 SAS build.
4 wheel disc brakes here!
