New transaxle report

Lookin Good Frank !!    I know you sealed up the engine compartment too. How about a photo of how you did that ?  I think you have your new oil cooler mounted up in front of the fire wall too don't you ? I like that color of blue too !...........Bruce

Car looks sharp Frank! If you shortened 4th to 1.00 or 1.04 you could shift into 4th sooner, but the trade off would be lower highway speeds. With a 4 speed there are always compromises. Insert either the 1.00 or 1.04 into the first gearset below and see what happens.

http://calc.teammfactory.com/i...26+2&trannytype=

I've driven the 1st through 4th ratios in the 2nd example and that combo is fantastic around town. With no 5th, though (and a 4.375 r&p), it took forever to get anywhere on the highway, as 3200 in 4th was about 50mph and 3500 was all of 56 or 57. I've only included this to show the possibilities. Al 

PS- where is the extra cooler located?

It's coming along, Frank!  We'll have to get together with Prarit and his new Seduction 550 sometime soon.

  I've got a 3:44 with a .89 4'th and crank just about the same as you at 75-ish.  Don't remember what my 3'rd ratio is, but I find myself in 3'rd most of the time around town, anyway (which is what we used to do with my brother's Original Speedster back in the day) as going to 4'th brings me down under 2,000 rpm a lot.

You wrote: "The only weird thing is, I put on my new Vintage 190 wheels and now for some reason the steering wheel is slightly off center. How the hell could that happen?  I know it's not the rims.  Any ideas?  It was OK last year when I put it away.  "

Two things come to mind:  (1.) a slightly different offset on the new rims affecting the way it "sits" vis-a-vis the trailing arms and ball joint geometry, thereby making it track different and; 

(2.) The front tires were inadvertently flipped side-to-side after being run for long enough to take a "set" before, which will be different when the set is moved across the tire centerline and run, essentially, backwards on the other side.

If it's tracking straight (hands off on a level road) then you could see if moving the wheel one tooth on the steering shaft splines brings you back.  Or, you could get it aligned.  My money is on the tires being swapped.

Frank, I'm glad you (finally) got your beautiful blue car back on the road!

What does each gear give you for speed at 3,000 rpm (that's how I gauge mine)

Like Al, inquiring minds want to know where that new Setrab is hanging, I love mine!

Will

I like your Vasek Polak licence plate frame.  A well known name in Porsche history.

Thanks for the compliments guys!  I really appreciate it.  It was a lot of work but Vintage gave me a decent foundation which would be good enough for most but I'm pretty particular. Guys like me should stick with a Beck or an IM but at the time I didn't want to spend that much.  I'll try to get a decent pic of the cooler mount. Basically it is in the same place Vintage put it but rotated back and out 45 degrees. I won't know til I run it 20-30 miles but it seems to stay much cooler than before. Bruce, I'm almost embarrassed to show you how I plugged my air leaks but it was quick and dirty. I used the H seal to plug the long slot below the tail lights  and two chunks of gray foam to plug the triangular gaps between the body and the inner fenders.  I will ck speeds at 3000 in each gear. My speedo is in kph so that complicates it a little.  Gordon thanks for the tip, I think you are right, the tires probably got flipped. That is all that changed as the rim offsets and sizes are the same as the steelers I had on before.

Nice touch with the Vasek Polak license frame!  Back in the day, Vasek Polak had his Porsche shop & dealership in Hermosa Beach, SoCal. He was the go-to guy for anything and everything 4-cam Carrera. I took my '57 1600S Coupe there a couple of times.

Your car's color & wheel combo is awesome! 

My sister in laws sister and her husband had a house in Hermosa up on the hill to the east of Vasek Polaks dealerships. When I came to visit, a lot of times we would grille lobsters outside and I would look down the hill and drool over the cars I could see in there. A lot of times there were some pretty exotic racers sitting in there. Also the fresh lobsters on the grille were the best I ever had!

Frank....You cool old hot rod dude !!!  I now know you know a lot about how to get stuff fixed and whatever you did to stop the air from being recycled back into the engine compartment will probably do the trick. I also have come to the realization that you are a perfectionist and once you have cured the problem....you will make it pretty later!! As you know...I've had my engine out 11 times in order to get things right and to be satisfied with the results.  I highly suspect that you will jerk your tranny out one more time to change gearing.....probably next winter after you've had some road time to decide what you want to do next. That's the fun with these little cars ! You get to play with them as time and money and desire allows !   I bet your oil temp needle is now going to be close to (not moving) next Summer.....Bruce

Gordon....Thats the most educated and informative comment I have seen in years!!!!

I realize that I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer and your response to Franks question steering question is profound ! Thank you for that and it went into my memory bank ....Bruce

Always great help on mechanical problems from the guys here!  Bruce the thought of pulling the transaxle out again made me cringe.  I guess the third time will be easier. I hope I don't have to though.

...and I was just thinking that only one front tire would've had to have been reverse-mounted to cause the steering wheel to move out of alignment...just a thought...

Frank....I figure two engine pulls is equal to one tranny pull Ha ha !!!.......Bruce

Will Hesch posted:

...and I was just thinking that only one front tire would've had to have been reverse-mounted to cause the steering wheel to move out of alignment...just a thought...

In order to mount one tire in a new location you'd have to mount a second tire in a new location also. Are you sniffing the lure glue again??

Fpcopo VS posted:

     I finally got my car running with the new transaxle.  The ratios we selected were:  3.78-2.06-1.32-.93--3.44 ring and pinion.  The first two gears are now perfect, third is pretty good and below 45 you pretty much have to use third only as fourth is too high.  On the highway it is really good.  60 mph is about 2650 and 75 is about 3200.  The .93 is a Weddle gear so the helix angle is a little flatter for strength so fourth whines pretty good til you hit about 65.  It is not terrible, just noticeable.  If I had to do it over, I would go with at least 1.00 or 1.04 for fourth.  The new Setrab cooler seems to be working a lot better than the EMPI because in 85 degree temp, it never got beyond a quarter on the gauge and the cooler fan never turned on.  I did change to a 190 degree fan switch because the old 180 switch ran the fan all the time.

     The engine leaks are mostly fixed, the head nuts were leaking from the valve chamber so I sealed them up.  Now the only leak seems to be between the thin line sump and the crankcase.  I've never had that off so when it is oil change time I can drop the sump and seal it up.

     The only weird thing is, I put on my new Vintage 190 wheels and now for some reason the steering wheel is slightly off center. How the hell could that happen?  I know it's not the rims.  Any ideas?  It was OK last year when I put it away.  Here are some photos of the wheels.

What a great shade of blue. Cheers

Can you tell me what exhaust that is?

 Bruce!  Thanks for the comment, but some of this stuff is just from a long (and very old) set of experience.  Other parts are just winging it - you have to decide which is which.  Once upon a time there was a lot more "experience" to be shared.  These days it is becoming harder to bring back stuff that was once second-nature.   I guess I'll keep sharing until it no longer pops to mind or I lose interest.  In the meantime, you guys have to put up with reading 50 words when 10 would have been adequate - just like this post!

It's an A1 sidewinder that I had Tiger make a stainless Sebring style center exit tip.  Here are some crappy photos. I don't have Troy's talent for photography. Will, I tried to take pictures of the cooler but need to try something other than an iPad.

Gorgeous exhaust - is it hooked to stainless steel heat exchangers? What do I ask for to get similar one for near stock engine.  Love the clean polished look and smooth welds.

Wow, it's beautiful. Looks kinda like that  $1000 header I've seen. Really nice looking

It's an 1-1/2" sidewinder center exit A1 with matching high flow heat exchangers. Everything is ceramic coated except for the muffler and tailpipe which are polished stainless.  I asked Tiger at A1 to make the tip look like the Porsche Sebring extractor exhaust and this is what he came up with. It was definitely pricey but ya can't take it with you and I'm gonna spend it now.

Very nice. 

I've got a similar gear stack to yours. 1.26 3rd instead of 1.32. I spend a lot of time in 3rd. I  think I could probably use 3rd as my only gear if I had to. Dead start to 100 mph. I'd probably use up the clutch a little faster...

Which is to say: nothing wrong with holding 3rd around town and using 4th on highways & such over 40-45 mph. Feels right in my car.

I totally agree with Wolfgang:  That is one gorgeous set of pipes.  

And the welds....The Welds!  

I can weld like that......NOT!  

Ed .. the subie torque is of help to keep 3rd. .... That exhaust is some nice piece of work. Beautiful.  

Robert, I gave that up in 10th grade...

Frank, good luck getting an iPad under there...how about a phone?

I often dreamed of playing with the tranny ratios... It really is too bad that there is no availability to drive a whole bunch of power and gear ratio cars before you decide to go down the rabbit hole on one ratio set.  I still have memories of the long 2nd in my old P car.  Sometimes I want to venture out to do this but not sure if the effort is worth it.  

I'm not interested in your dreams about trannies.

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