I am building a Vintage speedster kit car. I found a 1965 Porsche sc motor so I purchased it and after throwing a bunch of money at it, I am almost ready to install it. Vintage Speedsters supplied the VW trans. My question is what are my options and anything special I need to know installing a clutch/pressure plate in a 356 going into a vw trans??? I've seen some aftermarket options. Really appreciate any help I can get here. Thanks, Scott
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FYI the Porsche eng has big bore kit and modern cam but basically close to stock
What a lot of guys do including myself is to have your flywheel re machined to except a VW transporter P/P and disc. A new 200mm P/P and disc for VW is about 20% of the cost of a 356 P/P and disc. The depth of the flywheel must be reduced. Mine's been working great for 8 years...
Sounds like it'll be a fun car, Scott.
Thank you for the replies.
Since the kit is set up for 12V I converted the generator and replaced regulator, but is is there a problem with standard Porsche flywheel and my new 12v starter? I took your advice and started looking back through earlier posts. One guy said run 6V starter on 12V system? Said it worked fine.
Also dsrtfox, any recommendation on brand, year or sellers for clutch kit? Thanks so much.
I'm pretty sure Carey Hines has done this conversion for some of his customers. @chines1
carey@beckspeedster.com
I've heard of guys running 6v starters with 12v systems and it works. The starter won't last forever, but in a car that doesn't get a ton of miles piled on it every year it'll last a long time.
Yes, we've done several 356 engines into Speedsters and Spyders, although it's been several years since I did the last one.... The last few used Porsche transaxles (644 & 741) instead of the VW.
For the ones mated to VW, if my memory is correct, we used a 356 "conversion" flywheel from Kennedy that accepted the VW T1 clutch and pressure plate. For exhaust we used the VW exhaust and just changed the headed stubs to 356 rectangle stubs. We also kept the 356 throttle linkage and routed the VW cable with a custom end to make that work as it was originally intended.
I used a 6V flywheel and a 6V starter with a 12V solenoid. The P/P is Sach and the disc is Dakin, both Brazil as I recall. I used a 912 generator and a 12V voltage regulator from a Mercedes Benz that looks like the large 6V 356 regulator. I built 2 Porsche powered bugs in the 70's and making all the little adapters for the throttle linkage and heater boxes was kinda fun...
Thank you all for the help and support on my project!!