Newbie Looking for Help

https://www.speedsterowners.com/pages/articles-ready

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— I'm okay with regular maintenance but don't want to be constantly fixing or worried about the next thing breaking:

— Enjoying to me is driving not wrenching:

— What are some things you'd wish you knew when purchasing a replica 356?

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Mitch Toll for President.

havent heard much from Terry(TPNuckles) since he switched to Miata...he might be in a happier place.:}

@golfingnerd posted:

2) What are some things you'd wish you knew when purchasing a replica 356?

A: 2a) "It's a VW under the skin, how expensive could it be?" was Hitler's final revenge.

A: 2b) Don't fool yourself into thinking you'll be dry in a rainstorm or warm when it's cold outside. There's no "there" there. Trying to make it so is a fool's errand.

A: 2c) 75+% people who buy these can't hack it in the long run. That's why there have historically been soooo many low mileage cars for sale.

A: 2d) If you think it's going to be faster and cheaper than a Mustang, recalibrate. In order to be faster than a Mustang, it'll cost more than a Corvette.

A: 2e) If you're shy, or if you spend a lot of time just wanting to be left alone - this might not be the car for you.

A: 2f) It's amazing how hard it can be to keep such a tiny car clean.

Depends if you are going AC or Subaru engine. I have had both and the AC is a little more work I.e. carb adjustment being the big one. My current Beck Speedster which I had built in 2016 is Suby powered and outside of changing the oil, I just get in and drive.

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@golfingnerd , first off, welcome to the forum, and apologies for my somewhat wise-butted response above.

We've seen a growing number of new folks here in recent years, maybe because of a renewed interest in specialty cars in general or maybe because a 1955 Porsche Speedster is increasingly seen as something that should be in a museum and less as something a lot of us remember from our youth.

I think you will some day thank yourself for stopping here first before ordering a new replica from a builder or buying one on the used market. There's a lot to understand about them and hanging out at a place like this for a while is a good way to learn before throwing a bunch of money into what can quickly become a bottomless pit.

The basic problem is that, for the unwary, these look for all the world like cars — as that term is understood by most of the civilized world. Sadly, they are not.

You can make them do some of the things that real cars do, but every time you do, you will spend more money, and need do more wrenching.

And yes, there's that wrenching thing.

Almost everyone on this forum is, to some extent, a car guy. They may not have started out that way, but they either begin the transition or eventually give up their Speedster. Some become full-fledged car guys and still give them up. It has a lot to do with just how delusional you wish to remain. If you're averse to wrenching, you will need to live in close proximity to someone who isn't and be willing to pay them for their time. Sorry, those are the rules.

One of the few certain things about these cars is that, pound for pound and dollar for dollar, they are just about the worst value for money it's possible to own. In terms of outright performance, build quality, comfort, safety, reliability, availability of good parts and service, they're not even in the same universe as, say, a Toyota Corolla.

But I've rambled on enough. If you're still intrigued, you're encouraged to hang out here, join in, and, above all read the archives for tons of reasons why you don't want one of these cars.

And OK, OK, maybe a few reasons you do.

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Most of what I was going to say was said above.

If you LIKE tinkering and wrenching, you'll stay.

If you can't do anything with the car other than drive it and write checks, you'll soon get VERY tired of it.

If you know it's like having a toy that is DIFFERENT than anything else, and relish the difference, you'll stay.

If you like being slightly uncomfortable in some way most of the time you have the car, you'll stay.

Welcome to the MADNESS!

This is like walking into The Red Dog Saloon on a Friday night, tapping the first guy you can reach on the shoulder (while he's lining up a shot) and asking him if he thinks you oughta buy wunna dem "choppers."

In all seriousness: Yes.

Yes you absolutely should.

They're not that much work. Just think about how regular cars used to be. Back when they had carburetors. You'd change the oil, change the points or the distributor module every so often. You'd change the filters every year or so. Every once in a while something would break or wear out, or you'd have to (have someone) adjust your carb.

Change the brake fluid. Check the tires' air pressure. Rotate them.

And keep it clean. Vacuum it out every now and again.

It's really just normal maintenance.

The thing is, a "tuned" and well-running Type 1 for most of us feels like a problem, when compared to a Mazda or Toyota of recent vintage. You have to rev it a bit on startup. It can be a little finicky while it's warming up. Some guys report a "flat spot" off idle.

So they tinker, their idea being to tune things more carefully so those unpleasant glitches go away.

That is one branch of The Lifestyle. It is The Way of The Madness. These men, some of them, end up like Stan Galat, or Danny P, or myself. They're striving for enlightenment, always striving, closer and closer.

They are delighting in the Quest.

(Some of them lose the thread all together and decide to turn their VW-based clown car into something it wasn't meant to be—a performance machine, a hunter of Mustangs and Camaros, things of that nature. You'll see them installing turbo'd Subarus, Porsche 6s, etc. into these vehicles—or paying for someone to do it—striving to graft modern suspensions onto these narrow chassis.... like Evel Knievel pulling up for the annual Toys for Tots Biker run in his rocket sled).

The other branch consists of the ones who already know peace, or are walking the True Path. @MusbJim is its spiritual leader, and perhaps the only "sane" person in this group. They endeavor to enjoy what they have, instead of always tinkering, ever flailing, trying to make what they have into something else. Jim will tell you: owning a Speedster Replica need not be the total of one's identity, the only hobby one can afford, a reason d'etre.

You can buy a Speedster, sort it out so it's running fine, and then drive it all over the place, as weather permits, basking in the delights of its sounds, smells and feel.

You can turn back time, albeit temporarily, and know something of what Carrol Shelby felt. Or Hans Herrmann. Walter Glockler. James Dean.

You can absolutely bask in the glory of being seen in a thing that other drivers can hardly believe they're seeing on a public road. It's fun.

Do it.

Astute site users _{(those who can read)} will note that I provided 6 answers to golfingnerd's Question 2, and none to Question 1. Others will (and have) make a stab at it, but I really can't speak to it, I guess because I struggle to understand it.

95% of the reason I gravitated to my car (rather than an MR2 or MX5 or similar) is because I can work on it.

I stopped really working on my cars (beyond very basic maintenance) around 1990, primarily because I hate "magic boxes" that may (or may not) give up their secrets. Is the misfire in my 2005 Cadillac a MAP sensor? A bad plug? A dirty injector? What is this random CEL light in my son's Ram 1500? A loose gas-cap? A bad sensor?

Without the secret decoder ring (OBDII reader) I'm lost and just throwing parts at it. And, as everybody knows - the OBDII reader you get on Amazon has all the specificity and usefulness of a Magic 8-ball trying to diagnose the issue with your 2007 Boxster. For that, you'll need the $4000 software package specific to Gen 1 Boxsters with manual transmissions built on Wednesdays. You borrowed your buddy's software package for a 2007 911? Sorry - thanks for trying. You need to pay to play.

There are guys who can do this blind, but I'm not one of them. Without the appropriate key to the kingdom, I feel like one of the infinite monkeys at infinite keyboards attempting to write Hamlet. There's no satisfaction in my resolving a misfire in a modern car - only the grim knowledge that I've spent enough money and time on it to carpet-bomb the problem into submission.

I LIKE working on things I understand. Working on something old and weird and analog is satisfying to me because my primate brain stopped evolving sometime in the paleolithic era

... but logging onto this site and participating for 20+ years has given me the understanding that I'm probably in the extreme minority in this thinking. For most modern and evolved guys, the inner workings of their car are not of particular interest. They like the vibe, and they'd like to not think about their engine - they'd like it to just be back there, doing its engine thing. They talk about how a car sounds, and how a car pulls... and how reliable the car is, but not about why it's reliable (or not) and how to make it more reliable (beyond saying, "a Subaru is more reliable").

If that's what a guy is looking for, then I've got no answers. I can get my car to either coast and back, and fix it with things I can carry. When my car takes a flatbed to Breman, it's not because of anything in the engine - it's because I broke a suspension piece being a hooligan. That's all the reliability I expect from a handmade thing, and more than reliable enough for me. Would I send my wife down to Mexico City by herself? Probably not, but I've got a mass produced transportation appliance for that.

So when a guy comes on an asks "how reliable are these cars?", I lock up. I've got no answers.

What constitutes reliability to you? That it never breaks? Good luck with that, no matter what you've got. That you don't need to learn anything at all about what the engine is doing? I'm not so sure anything hand built will ever give you that. That you can find somebody to work on it? Well, I'm not sure I'd trust "just anybody" to work on my car, regardless of whether it had points and a carb or an EJ25 (which is now a nearly 30 year old engine).

Special cars are special. I don't see a lot of concern over on BaT with how reliable that F40 is or if the carbs are hard to adjust in a Countach. I've never understood the obsession with it. It is what it is. We adapt and overcome.

Why has nobody mentioned the cool factor and fun of driving yet? When you’re at a cars and coffee and 10 year kid loves it and you let them sit it and the smile on their face. The head turns from nearly 99% of people you pass. I also must say, we took a trip to Cambria that took us all of six hours and my copilot actually praised its comfort. And trust me, she would tell me. Yeah they are smelly and loud and aren’t leak proof and not a BMW Z car, but just don’t expect that going in and you’ll be fine. You must love the essentials and basics of raw driving. Kinda like a little race car but not as fast.😎

Tom C

@Gotno356 posted:

Why has nobody mentioned the cool factor and fun of driving yet?

Tom,

Excellent post.

I can't answer for anybody else, but I didn't answer that because he didn't ask. His questions were, "how reliable?" and "what did you wish you knew before that you know now?"

All the gooey goodness inside the experience doesn't fit into either of the questions for me. I expected it to be as excellent as it is - how can something that looks that good be anything less than special?

@golfingnerd, the replies above represent decades of ownership of these special little cars. I'm relatively new to the club, but here's what I think about your questions.

- For the most part, these cars are like old VW beetles. You can make them require less fiddling by getting one with a Subaru engine or converting the engine to use electronic fuel injection and electronic ignition. Many folks have gotten Subaru engines to work. Very few have tried the EFI/spark approach. As noted above, you'll still have normal maintenance items like oil changes, brakes, tires, shocks, etc.

- I wish I had known who were the local VW experts near me before I bought mine. Although I'm a "wrench" and don't like anyone else working on my car, I was not a VW expert. I had to work to find good info on what to do at times.

If I were you and I didn't really like wrenching, I'd find out who the experts were near me who could keep the car in top running condition. I still like to wrench, but now I know who I could pay to help me out if I need it

Best wishes with your decisions!

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@Gotno356 posted:

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Why has nobody mentioned the cool factor and fun of driving yet? ...

I didn't because I felt someone wandering in here had probably already been bitten by the bug and might have some of the early symptoms we all experience — delirium, partial blindness, and impulsive behavior.

It's important to administer first aid before any checks are written.

And Mr. Ed has spoken glowingly of the charms and allure of these cars.

Damn him.

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Thank you, Mr. Mitch.

This is the sort of thing that happens.

Also,

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Edsnova, you’re so right. I love it. So if any of those pics are not for you, don’t buy one of these cars.

Its my favorite car to drive.  2.0 liter type IV engine is perfectly matched.  As fast as I need to go in this car.  The 3.88 rear end is magnificent.  Cruises at 80mph with ease.  I’m an old air cooled Porsche guy and this car is me.  Easy to work on but very reliable, just like a Porsche!   It does attract a lot of attention, just learn to smile and wave and say thank you.  I love this car more than any I’ve ever owned, but it makes me dislike winter.   It’s a fair weather car only!  

This website, with this amount of knowledge is a blessing.  Ive learned everything about maintaining this car from here.   Everything from the oil change to fan belt.   Brake line flush to caster shims.   You’re at the right place.  

I love your garage contents, @Cartod, including the dog.

Yeah, me, too!  
Now I want an easy chair and coffee table in my shop, too!

@Gordon Nichols posted:

Yeah, me, too!  
Now I want an easy chair and coffee table in my shop, too!

🤣👍

Its my happy place.  

@Cartod posted:

🤣👍

Its my happy place.  

Hey, I think I found our new clubhouse! Very Nice!

Wow! Great information here. Exactly the type of honesty and humor I was looking for. Lots of great honest feedback. I've always driven the most practical cars on earth but always loved and appreciated cars.

The big decision I'll need to make is

1) True sports car, manual 2 door that I drive from time to time

or

2) Daily driver that's practical but more fun than practical (various sports sedans)

Young family so do have to think about honestly how much I was use another car.

@Lane Anderson posted:

I love your garage contents, @Cartod, including the dog.

Thanks, That’s Jett!   Her brother Beni didn’t make the photo.

Do keep the humor thought fresh in mind as try to stay dry, the windscreen fogs up, a wiper arm suddenly departs, in a sudden down pour you'll discover the top messes with you as you try to fasten it, the headlights decide to play peek a boo and quit or, you're strolling down the shoulder of a country road looking for a discarded beer can to do a quick fix with. Stuff can and will happen as it's all part of the total Speedster ownership experience and where great stories evolve! Hence, welcome to the madness ~

@Alan Merklin posted:

Do keep the humor thought fresh in mind as try to stay dry, the windscreen fogs up, a wiper arm suddenly departs, in a sudden down pour you'll discover the top messes with you as you try to fasten it, the headlights decide to play peek a boo and quit or, you're strolling down the shoulder of a country road looking for a discarded beer can to do a quick fix with. Stuff can and will happen as it's all part of the total Speedster ownership experience and where great stories evolve! Hence, welcome to the madness ~

Hello Alan, I understand you reside in Elkins.  One of my favorite places here in WV.  Just wanted to say hello to another mountaineer.  We live just outside of Parkersburg.  

And for you new guys, have patience with us.  

Logging on here is like visiting your favorite neighborhood bar (or Pub, for you guys in western Europe) with wisps of conversations going on all around you.  Sooner or later you’ll be part of “Thread Drift” where the conversation takes a right turn, hardly ever to return to the original topic, but those drifts are some of our most interesting conversations.

@Gordon Nichols posted:

And for you new guys, have patience with us.  

Logging on here is like visiting your favorite neighborhood bar (or Pub, for you guys in western Europe) with wisps of conversations going on all around you.  Sooner or later you’ll be part of “Thread Drift” where the conversation takes a right turn, hardly ever to return to the original topic, but those drifts are some of our most interesting conversations.

That’s what I love about reading all these old threads!!!    Here’s my wood piles!  🤣

You mention living  in MI. I live at Lake Tahoe and my car has been in indoor heated storage since Oct. Today I have a Ram Truck and a BMW X5 in my front yard that I have to use my Apple AirTags to find. Easily over 9 feet of snow and more on the way. My Speedy is probably the most winterized car in the fleet. There are several mods you can do to get more heat, defrost. and seal the car to be almost water and wind tight. That is mainly so I can drive the car early in the season down to Auburn where many would argue is one of the best air-cooled mechanics around. I am a car guy but not much of a wrench. A goal in life I learned early on is it is better to pay someone once that knows what they are doing. Than to pay them several times for things you screwed up. My first 5 years of ownership were troubled by "air cooled" mechanics that knew their way around but could not iron out the quicks of these cars. Once I got connected with Tony it is once a year for basic service and I usually add one upgrade per year. BTW trips to the gas station can easily turn into several hours so be prepared.

The first winter after we moved back to Massachusetts from sunny South Carolina it was the coldest winter in something like 30 years, staying below zero for a month.

The winter after that, we got a combined 11 feet of snow over the winter.  After five or six feet you really run out of places to put it, so I appreciate what Noel at Tahoe is going through.

We thought, while watching the snow pile up that year, that we maybe made a poor life choice to move back, but then, since 2016, we've missed around ten SC Hurricanes, including big ones like Matthew, Florence and Ian.  We bought the place there in the middle of Hurricane Frances, which clobbered Florida, and moved out and headed north in the middle of Hurricane Sandy, driving a rented Cube Van and towing a car on a dolly.  That was an exciting trip as we were 3-4 hours ahead of the storm, all the way north.

It is a madness.  These replica cars come in all sorts of "tunes", if I can use that word.  Some are little more than an old beetle with a new skin: pan based, swing axel, 1600 cc single carb, turn the key and go, change the oil now and then, adjust the valves, change the filter, if you have one.  Others are deftly crafted purpose built chassis, all Porsche running gear with insane power.  Then the ones with the Subie heart transplant, eschewing the air cooled vibe for things I'm not quite sure of.  I will admit that of all the possible transplant options, the flat four Subie in the rear makes the most sense to me, sorta looks like it almost belongs there.  So there is no simple answer.  For me, I wanted a rag top sports car.  Full disclosure: I owned two 356 coupes back in the day, both daily drivers until they rusted into oblivion.  With that background, I had already done my OJT with all things air cooled from the minds of the elves in and around Stuttgart.  So, when I found out I could own a Speedster-looking car that drove and sounded, and yes smelled, like my old coupes, I was intrigued, to say the least.  So I had one spec-ed out and bought it turn-key.  While I do have my limits wrt mechanical overhauls, I am not afraid to tackle most things that need to be done.  So I count myself as a DIY gearhead. I recognize that this car, referred to lovingly as my toy car, is not my daily driver, and is rather not so much fun when the weather is either too cold or too wet.  Although, for one reason or another it has been driven more than once is such conditions, separately and combined. It does tend to spend Maryland winters in the garage. I've driven it about 20,000 mi, and it has left me high and dry on the road really only once.  And that was not the cars fault intrinsically as I overlooked something crucial during some maintenance.  Lesson learned.

Summary: I regard the car and its trials and pleasures as a hobby.  You would be wise to do the same.  Of all the issues involved with getting the car sorted (a process you will never hear the end of on this forum) getting to a happy place with my dual 44 IDF Webers might have been the worst.  There was a lot to learn there, and several very fine folks here managed to help me through that.  Again: a lot to learn.  Early in that adventure I was told, off hand, that once you get them "dialed in" they will be as reliable as any similar system.  I was having such troubles that I flatly dismissed such a notion out of hand as impossible.  But ... with the right guidance and support (you know who you are) , I think I arrived at that place actually.  Engine been running pretty well for going on three + years since the "troubles".

Lastly, when the  car is right and the weather is mellow, and the roads are narrow and twisty, there is nothing quite like a Speedster.  It demands your total involvement and rewards you with a form of physical and time travel that is very satisfying, even if it defies our common language to adequately describe.  And do not forget all the very good people you meet along the way, especially those that call this forum one of their happy places.  None finer, all mad.

@Cartod appears as as a man with his priorities well sorted.  As I see it, He does not have a garage, exactly, as the space he shows looks like his basement.  Very cool stuff.  I met a guy who once had a F1 license and drove for Mazda.  That said, he clearly favored Porsches, and owned more than one. In his finished basement rec room  there was no wall between the people space and his immaculate three bay garage, replete with floor to ceiling tool chests, pneumatic lifts, and so forth.  In the living space, not far from the couch and fire place,  sat one of the retired F1 Mazdas, that I suppose he once drove.  One sculpture he had on a pedestal featured most of a Porsche crankcase with a broken con-rod protruding.  Proving once again, that no matter how much horsepower or torque (or cool cars) you might have, there is always some son-of-a-bitch who has more.   This law applies to lots of things, most notably money.

Damn that Elon

Mazda built some race cars. Formula Mazda OR Group C endurance cars are NOT Formula One cars.

To my knowledge, Mazda never built a Formula One car. And it's not an F1 license, it's called a Super License.

Little things sometimes drive me nuts. Sorry.

Since the car in his rec room was a Mazda, and the framed lic (expired of course)  was for sure a F1 lic, I assumed he drove for Mazda. I do not follow F1 very much. If I run across him again, I'll quiz him more directly; details matter.  Regardless, his garage/rec room was WAY cool.

@El Frazoo posted:

Since the car in his rec room was a Mazda, and the framed lic (expired of course)  was for sure a F1 lic, I assumed he drove for Mazda. I do not follow F1 very much. If I run across him again, I'll quiz him more directly; details matter.  Regardless, his garage/rec room was WAY cool.

There is a class in SCCA that is called Formula Mazda. Any chance that is what he drove in? It is an open wheel class and the cars look very much like an early F1 car.

I do not recall, precisely.  It looked to me like a F1 racer from many years ago. 70s or 80s, maybe.  But as I said, I did not dig in too deep.