@arajani posted:@Stan Galat — should be updated now!
Perfect. Thanks!
Thanks for the update, Anand, but haven't you missed something?
If I'm not mistaken, @Former Member is now sporting mousse in his hair. Has the boy been spending too much time up here in the big city? Next thing you know, he'll be wearing socks, too.
Keep an eye on him for us.
Anand, that's really cool. What an honor to have Pat come to your garage!
Gotta meet you west-coast clowns someday soon!
@Sacto Mitch - Teby got his haircut a few days ago! The COVID look is over!
@DannyP - @Pat Downs is truly gracious. He lives an hour away and came over after a full day’s work. I have amazing friends! It is an honor to have him in my garage, I agree! And it would be an honor to have you over too.
I had some Xpel laid down on my rear cowl. Should help protect that area from scratches every time I get in and out! (The seam is almost imperceptible)
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That is a great ideas Anand, I have a friend who had his complete R8 xpel film wrapped he loves it.
@IaM-Ray: Xpel really makes car care (and OCD ownership) tolerable. You can wipe your car without fear of scratching-and it self heals in the sun. Scratches actually disappear.
I endeavor to wrap my whole spyder-but it will be tough. So many curves and shapes! In the meantime, I have done my tonneau, rear cowl, thresholds and doors for some basic protection!
The OCD factor is strong in this group 
Damn, Anand.... I...er..babble babble babble ...
Well, my car runs again. @Pat Downs came over after a long day at work (45 minute drive each way!) and re-installed my pulley. We checked the timing and ran the motor for a while. @Robert M will post a video of it soon.
Now to sort out my wheel rubbing issue. The 1” raised spindles wont work since they add an extra 0.5” of offset which I cannot accommodate thanks to my 60 mm GT brakes. The HD torsion bars may be my only hope. I’m hoping to set my car up to look like the real cars — with a negative rake.
As we pushed the car back in after running it, the brakes were making a funny noise — Pat suspected that my brakes are dragging. The sound really does seem to be coming from the front end, so that’s plausible. I’ll get it up in the air with my buddy Hans Huber next week and see what I can find out.
I’ve also got these 4 cam tools for my generator and pulley — I have extra barberpole vinyl, so I am going to have Autos International in Escondido, CA make me a pre-A tool bag out of the leftover stuff. I can keep these tools in the nose of my car just in front of my battery.
A few more things to sort and I’ll be set!
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@arajani posted:Well, my car runs again. @Pat Downs came over after a long day at work (45 minute drive each way!) and re-installed my pulley. We checked the timing and ran the motor for a while. @Robert M will post a video of it soon.
Now to sort out my wheel rubbing issue. The 1” raised spindles wont work since they add an extra 0.5” of offset which I cannot accommodate thanks to my 60 mm GT brakes. The HD torsion bars may be my only hope. I’m hoping to set my car up to look like the real cars — with a negative rake.
As we pushed the car back in after running it, the brakes were making a funny noise — Pat suspected that my brakes are dragging. The sound really does seem to be coming from the front end, so that’s plausible. I’ll get it up in the air with my buddy Hans Huber next week and see what I can find out.
I’ve also got these 4 cam tools for my generator and pulley — I have extra barberpole vinyl, so I am going to have Autos International in Escondido, CA make me a pre-A tool bag out of the leftover stuff. I can keep these tools in the nose of my car just in front of my battery.
A few more things to sort and I’ll be set!
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@arajani posted:Well, my car runs again. @Pat Downs came over after a long day at work (45 minute drive each way!) and re-installed my pulley. We checked the timing and ran the motor for a while. @Robert M will post a video of it soon.
Now to sort out my wheel rubbing issue. The 1” raised spindles wont work since they add an extra 0.5” of offset which I cannot accommodate thanks to my 60 mm GT brakes. The HD torsion bars may be my only hope. I’m hoping to set my car up to look like the real cars — with a negative rake.
As we pushed the car back in after running it, the brakes were making a funny noise — Pat suspected that my brakes are dragging. The sound really does seem to be coming from the front end, so that’s plausible. I’ll get it up in the air with my buddy Hans Huber next week and see what I can find out.
I’ve also got these 4 cam tools for my generator and pulley — I have extra barberpole vinyl, so I am going to have Autos International in Escondido, CA make me a pre-A tool bag out of the leftover stuff. I can keep these tools in the nose of my car just in front of my battery.
A few more things to sort and I’ll be set!
To have @Pat Downs as resource - I'm jealous beyond eternity. One day... one day... I'll have one of his motors in my Speedster or Coupe! 
@arajani Where did you get the Porsche sign? Now that I have my garage finished, I want to start getting some wall art.
I've got a "movie" wall and a "Porsche" wall. Looking at this company to do some of the art work: https://legendarywallart.net
For the movie wall, a really good friend of mine is a movie poster artist and did several Star Wars posters, Guardian of the Galaxy, and a few other Marvel ones.
@*LongFella — the PORSCHE sign is from Italy. I bought it from Eleven Parts in Zurich and attached it to aluminum U channel. I then added LEDs to it and have it connected to a Lutron switch. I can toggle it off and on from my phone. @Robert M helped me install it when I moved in to my home 2 years ago!
The mural is of Vasek Polak (white Spyder) and Ken Miles racing at Paramount Ranch. My friend Allen Kuhn took these pictures when he was a teenager and gave them to me. 
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@Robert M got my little tupperware car over to our friend Hans' shop. We put it up on his 4 post and learned A LOT about how asymmetric my car really is. I knew the car they had copied had been wrecked, so that may have explained some of it. It may also be related to the car being handmade, though I would venture to guess that those germans were more exacting than this! Nothing noticeable to the unassuming viewer, but they were measurable and may help understand my tire rubbing issue!
Lots more measuring and thinking to do before we come up with a solution! (And by "we," I mean Hans!).
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Anand, I can't tell you how much I appreciate your post. These handbuilt beauties will never be perfect, but they will always be magnificent, and never quite finished!
It may be assymetrical, but it's got "the look" that we all wish for.
I knew mine was never going to be close to an original, so I didn't even try.
Your car looks so REAL, Anand. Remember, they were throwaway race cars back in the day, and I'm sure the originals were measurably off.
Meh. Perfect symmetry is for Corollas.
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It's very important to remember that all of the original 550 cars were hand made and no two are identical. And as Anand found even with a replica, they can vary quite a lot from one side to the other! That, beside how they look just sitting there, is what makes them desirable. They were not made on a moving assembly line by people only interested in screwing in two or three bolts and what they might be having for lunch. They were made by craftsmen who had pride in their work and built the entire car from scratch. Blessedly few of them, for sure, but wonderful rolling art, every one.
@edsnova, @Michael Pickett, @Gordon Nichols, @DannyP: Thanks guys! I actually feel better now. You all are wonderful. My wife, on the other hand, laughs when I tell her these sorts of stories about my car. I think it is a polite way for her to say “I told you so” without actually uttering the words...
Our wives have a way of bringing us to reality from our dream world.
New HD torsion leaves installed. Seems to have improved my tire rubbing issue! I gained about 1inch of clearance; I hope it will be enough (this photo was a mock up of the potential height gain — it is actually higher now).
Autos International finished my tool bag. I think it turned out great!
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Dude, that's awesome. What tools will be going in there?
A few months ago I looked at some early Carrera 356 tool rolls and as I recall several of the included tools were 4-cam exclusive. I tried to find a 550 tool roll but could not find any documentation on them.
@edsnova posted:Dude, that's awesome. What tools will be going in there?
A few months ago I looked at some early Carrera 356 tool rolls and as I recall several of the included tools were 4-cam exclusive. I tried to find a 550 tool roll but could not find any documentation on them.
@arajani Can confirm it but when he and I talked about this after it was made he said they never came with one. He just had some extra material left over so he had that one made. I'm getting a kilt made from the leftover barber pole fabric, Teby is getting a vest, and Pat D is getting a fedora.
@edsnova posted:Dude, that's awesome. What tools will be going in there?
A few months ago I looked at some early Carrera 356 tool rolls and as I recall several of the included tools were 4-cam exclusive. I tried to find a 550 tool roll but could not find any documentation on them.
My local air-cooled specialist has a NOS bus toolkit sitting in his counter. Brings back memories of the one that sat in our Kombi's spare tire.
Empi sells replicas.
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I figured out why my car doesn’t sit lower in the rear. The transmission isn’t mounted as it was in the original car.
My car had a type 1 nosecone; the nosecone on a 519 was different, with the hockey stick exiting 1.125” lower down (just like a type 2 nose cone). The bell housing side was solid mounted, instead of having urethane mounts.
Original 550 (note the urethane mounts on the bell housing side)
My car...
Interestingly, Rancho makes a nosecone that utilizes the old VW Donut bushing used in early split beetles (and the 550 spyder). This was meant to allow people with older Busses and Beetles to use a synchromesh transmission in their cars.
As much luck would have it, the company that makes them is moving right now, so there were none to be had. Thankfully, Mike Herbert from Rancho got one from the owner and put it together for me.
Combined with the mount above from Rainer Cooney (meant for the donut mount), I’ll be moving the whole transmission upward. I’ll also be lengthening my exhaust headers, and extending the tin on the bottom of the heads downward (FML).
Rainer also sent me the mounts for the bell housing side (see below). I got the urethane kit from Devcon and will be making my own mounts. Wish me luck. This car may very well kill me before I get it right.
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That is some serious level of detail, Anand. The things you're going through makes me glad I decided not to do what you're doing. I'm happy to drive something 550-ish.
You're at a completely rarified(or is it insanity?) level, my friend.
@DannyP — it’s a slippery slope. Once you start and get so close, it is hard to stop!
My shift linkage is also suffering because of the engine placement. With it raised up 1 inch, it will give me more clearance and should allow me to work on the geometry a bit more. That might make the shifting a bit better, too.
Great tutorial on the differences between relative transaxles, @arajani. I had actually wondered how your car handled that rearmost mount, so important it is to the shift rod placement and all—things my car totally omits by virtue(?) of the bulbous, brilliant and utterly bogus Brandwood shifter.
There is a fine line between madness and lunacy...
@edsnova posted:Great tutorial on the differences between relative transaxles, @arajani. I had actually wondered how your car handled that rearmost mount, so important it is to the shift rod placement and all—things my car totally omits by virtue(?) of the bulbous, brilliant and utterly bogus Brandwood shifter.
There is a fine line between madness and lunacy...
There absolutely is and I can tell you from firsthand experience Anand is WAY over the line. I didn't know lunacy had two zip codes but apparently it does and he is in a different zip code from the rest of us. Lol
@arajani posted:You’re totally right @edsnova. Nothing will ever shift as smoothly as a Brandwood!
Ive now learned that it is impossible to make a single change to a 550 without a chain reaction. The car is just too small...
Not 100% true. My old Jamar rod shifter was very slick, snick-snick once it broke in. However, I really do like my cable PBS on the new car, simply because I can tailor the shifter length and throws to what suits me.
I think the PBS is probably better than the Brandwood. You're eliminating the shaft that protrudes out the back of the trans, right? Saving a mechanical step.
Still, I'm good with what I got.
Yes, it's a completely new nosecone. What you've got is better than most guys clunky linkage, Ed. The only reason my rod linkage worked great was because I eliminated friction and removed all the play.
Carey uses that PBS nosecone -- he loves it!
I'll post more photos of the project as things move along. This next part is going to be painful.
Hi Arajani,
This would make a nice pair with yours!
That 550 looks so wrong from a straight on side view. Beautiful craftsmanship on the car, though, and certainly a one of a kind 550.
I think it looks wrong because we've gotten used to the changes that Chuck Beck made in his recreation several decades ago. Since most of us have seen more Beck (and other) cars, that looks "right" to us.
Y'all need to check out Ed Ericson's comparison between his car and the one on BaT: https://alongcameaspyder.wordp...01/replicomparisons/
I think it's the wheels and tires - they overwhelm the car.
Both your levels of detail is amazing, Anand and Ed! Now to get back to work painting the frame on the FJ and then I can get back to Speedster stuff (some troll mentioned elsewhere that my build is a 'little bit longer' than most- really! ) Al