Newbe - Just picked up a car - curious on some "stuff"

The trip from DC to Wilmington would DEFINITELY be worth the trip, if the reason was to meet up with the notorious Mickey Donatello!

I love your driving lights mounted up high on the car itself! Are they simply bolted to the body or have mounts that come up from inside? A close up would be great! I have a really nice looking pair of Marchal knock-offs that I'm hoping to mount this weekend. Looking for ideas. BEAUTIFUL car. Thanks!

Dave,
Grab Cory and T (and anyone else) and head up, dinner's on me!!!
I always like when my SOC brethren come for a visit. If not, maybe I could make a trip down but with picking up the kids everyday I'd have to shuffle a few things around.

When it comes to golf and your back, stretch before you play. I used to be able to step up and rip one 275 down the middle no problem. Nowadays I have to stretch for 20 mins beforehand or I pay dearly later in the day, and the days that follow.
The funny thing is racing my kart is the same way. You'd think just sitting in a kart wouldn't be all that stressful on the body but it's pretty brutal. I wear a rib protector too and depending on what track I run I get pretty tender there even with that. I can't imagine what those F1 and other road course drivers go through. I know they train like athletes and I guess they have to with the G's they deal with.

Mickey, one more thing..."never trust a fart"

Thanks Vince, appreciate the 'sound' advice.

Bwaaahaaaa!

There is F.A.R.T which is 80% aroma and 20% substance.

Then there is S.H.I.T which is 20% aroma and 80% substance

But C.U.N.T is what is preferred!

Bwaaaaaaaa...

Trucking company called - I am meeting him at the shop at 5:15-30. I am pretty excited!!

Oh, and for the record, you guys are way more fun then the actual 356 registry - ha!

That's because we're not high strung priks...

What drclock said........;-)

Guys,

Look under events......for my location.

Car is GREAT - except for two things. The tach shows 3000 rpms at idle and immediately pegs itself at max rpms when you rev the car even a little bit. I did a search and is appears that this is a known issue with some of the vintage speedster cars. I will call them tomorrow.

Issue number two is sound. The car has some sort of carrera looking muffler attached to stock heater boxes. It sounds exactly like a bug with stock exhaust - I hate it. I spent quite a while in other parts of this forum and did several searches but did not come across any discussions on any other center exit exhaust systems (other than some bug "stingers"). Heat does not matter to me. Do you folks have any suggestions on what to use? I may buy one of these (see pic), cut the tail pipes off and weld the holes shut, then cut a hole and add a single 3" center tail pipe. What do you think?

I made the mistake of going on you-tube and pulling up some stuff on the real 356 carrera - man they sound good....

Thanks for any help

Oh, to answer the fog light question, they are mounted through the body, have rubber gaskets between their base and the paint, and have a very large backing plate behind them. I was very pleased at how rock solid they are

that muffler looks like the tri-mill exhaust. was wondering if any one has cut the tail off and put one single 3 inch out ,and how loud was it. bill

If you want sound and performance, but don't care about stock looks, a lot of folks here are very happy (me included) with the A1 Sidewinder system. It's a merged header arrangement with a large Magnaflow muffler behind the passenger side rear wheel. Not the cheapest, but well worth it with a nice deep, mellow sound.

+1 for the A1 Sidewinder.

Sounds like you got some welding skills, why not get som J pipes, a magna flo (or something like it) and some steel tube stock and make your own. You can hide the muffler up in the well like the Hide-a-way type.

Scott - here are a couple of pics of the A-1 Sidewinder exhaust w/center exit on my VS.

* I had the exhaust pipes exiting from the heater-box, flanged for a more secure attachment of the new exhaust system.
* Magnaflow muffler gives a nice throaty sound on acceleration without the annoying drone sound when maintaining highway speeds.
* Center exhaust tip can be modified to your personal preference.

The tach issue could be a bad ground on the case of the tach......;-)

Sidewider exhausts as described here are pretty good. Quiet enough at low to moderate thottle to not drive you out of your mind, and a good "I mean business." note when you do put your foot into it. How one of these would compare to an original 356 Carrera, I am not too sure. there is something slightly unique about the sound from a VW compared to an original Porsche air cooled engine that is just different, indpenedent of the note from the muffler -- something about the fan, I guess. It is a subtle thing, and I think you'd need to hear each to be able to tell the difference. I think my sindwider and 2332 engine sounds pretty good and I have no complaints, but listening I can tell that it is a VW and not a Porsche 356.

The cheap Chinese tachs are a sore point w/ me, as these things tend to be real junk, offering a poor approximation to what the engine is doing even when they work as intended. Maybe it is just a grounding issue w/ yours, but even when installed correctly, these are worthless, IMHO. There are companies in SoCal that can take your unit and replace the guts w/ genuine VDO workings, and you then get an instrument that works properly. Not altogether cheap, but a good job when done.

Scott, welcome to the Madness! Your car has some very nice features. The wide five wheels sure make the "Carrera" clone look believable. I think you will enjoy your new ride a lot! Nice stable you have there, and I know you have my SOC buds drooling over their favorites. Mine is the Morris Minor pick-up with conestoga top! I happen to have the exhaus that you picture. It is made by TriMill. It is a common system on Vintage cars with the 1915 engine. The exhaust I have was used for about 1 month by my friend Dave O'brien and then he went with a different system. It is in very good condition. I would like $50.00 plus shipping from SoCal. Send me an email if you are interested. Again, welcom to the SOC, you will fit right in.

Yeah I was diggin' on that Morris pickup too!

Having a difficult time getting the new car to run right. It feels like the dizzy is not advancing (but it is, as I not only checked the advance plates but also set the timing). It pulls great off the line, then hits a wall at around 3500 rpm - almost feels like a rev limiter. Points look fine (I did not switch the condensor however). Have a pertronix on the way and will most likely take it to a shop to really go through the thing. I worked on it for 2-3 hours and could not make a dent in the problem. Carbs respond quickly to any and all adjustments... very weird.

Not many folks pick out the old truck. We used it as the bar for our wedding and it looks fantastic with a Christmas tree in the back. Motor is not stock - but not crazy - it has a Healy in it. It has been so reliable. We recently bought a 1948 Morris Low Light (pics attached). We have a local transportation museum that was rotating/selling off some stuff and it was just too good of a deal. One of 13 made in 1948. Needs some minor work to be really a great example (one of the seats has been poorly repaired). My understanding is that the plates you see in the pics are the manufacturer plates. Kinda fun.

On the collection as a whole, the XK140 started the deal several years ago. With the market as bad as it has been, the cars were far better investments. We try and only buy things that are selling for at least 50% below the current market value. The 140 was a fluke - I traded a decent MGTD for the car. The 140 was in boxes and had been off the road since the late 70's (the body was off of the frame). Under the LLC, the equity from each car funds the purchase of the next.

Dont let the collection fool you - other than the d-type and the c-type, all of the others are a bit to "frilly" for me. I love vintage race cars and Porsche stuff. The 914-6 and now the speedster do not fall into that whole 50% of their value deal. Those cars are a passion. I have built, then beat to death, then rebuilt that 914 plenty. Love that car. The speedster is too pretty to beat up to badly, but I want to drive it. I could never afford a real one - and wouldnt want one even if I could. I would be terrified to drive it - let alone take a quick jaunt to the grocery store!!

Just wish I had more time to get dirty with these things. I have been trying to finish up the brakes on the TF for 2 months. Ugh.

Sorry for the book - home with a sick kiddo today (and it is nap time......)

NICE!!!