Speedsters Dreams

More pics

Things I don´t like:

- Steering Wheel (Nardi with Black Spokes replica?) - I like White Banjos

- Hub (I think it´s a black motolita) - I´d like to mount a white steering rack

- 914 Gauges are old, I´d like to buy 356 VDO Gauges Style

- Ignition key in column - change to original position

- May be a new color (I like black Porsches)

Engine is a VW 1600 completely refreshed ... it runs ok so at the moment It is what it is.

Welcome and congratulations on you new Speedster. It looks solid and a great start to whatever you wish to make it. Make sure you seal all the way around the engine so the top half of the engine doesn't take in hot recirculated air into the fan and carb(S). Most important of all remember to have fun!

@Jimmy V. posted:

Welcome and congratulations on you new Speedster. It looks solid and a great start to whatever you wish to make it. Make sure you seal all the way around the engine so the top half of the engine doesn't take in hot recirculated air into the fan and carb(S). Most important of all remember to have fun!

Thanks Jimmy

Is there any plate or similar to seal the way around the engine that I can buy?

We have similar problems in Canada where is difficult to license speedster replicas unless they were made X number of years ago or limited to Intermeccanica since they are now a Canadian Company (good problem to have. However there have been newer and differnent brands make the mark since we occasionally see them for sale, likely someone being able to register them sight unseen from the original VW frame VIN.

Glad you found a used Intermeccanica.  Do you know the year of manufacture?

Have fun fixing it up.

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Hey Nesta,

Welcome (again ). Great looking speedster you have there! I've always had a soft spot for silver.

Like Spain and Canada (and likely many other places) there are pretty strict registration rules here in Australia also so the older Californian Intermeccanica's are pretty much the only option here, apart from a small number if replica's build by a local manufacturer back in the 80's

Have fun customising it to suit your tastes and get out there and drive!! I am assuming Spain has some awesome roads!!

Cheers, Tony

Spain is a perfect country for Speedsters.  VERY well maintained highways, easy to navigate narrow city streets, reasonable speed limits with no highway patrol, beautiful coastline drives along the Mediterranean and the Atlantic and a small Speedster can always find parking spaces since small spaces are all they seem to have.

When we lived in Germany in the early 80s, my dad had a 1977 Chrysler New Yorker. It was a two door, white, burgundy leather interior and a 440 under the hood. It was a land yacht.

We drove it to Spain to visit my mom's family. At one point, my dad had to park sideways, taking up many parking spots. Then some guy parked directly behind us. I guess he thought my dad was a tourist and didn't speak Spanish. My dad is Puerto Rican and told him to move it or have it moved. He promptly moved it.

Where ever we parked, a crowd formed to look at it. It was ridiculous, like most all of the American cars of the time.

I loved Spain. We visited many times and got to see a lot of the Northern half of it.

Buenos días @nesta .  Yes you have found the other Spaniard  that frequents this site. ( from Madrid).  

is that Javier Hidalgo’s old IM?  Looks similar... though a few bits look different.   I remember when we helped him bring it over from Miami, and getting it licensed— no easy task. Long story there if your curious, with names that made it happen like Angel Nieto /Tomy Botas.

where are you located?

As they say here, Welcome to the Madness.

Beautiful car.  Not many here with white wall tires. .. And turns out both Spaniards have silver cars with white walls.  Nice.

  @nesta   Since you are a RACE member ( I see your car riding on one of their gruas) you should try to get your hands on one of their late 1950s grill badges.  It was one of my first accessories ;-)

I would recommend  you find a shop that works on older beetles/Bus/eurovans near you.  They will be very Very helpful assisting in sourcing tins to seal your engine, and other  beetle parts. Great VW source for parts and resources in Germany and Czech Republic.

cheers,

Luis

Hi @nesta and welcome to the madness (it's a standard greeting on here, as you'll soon discover once you get hooked on your Speedster!).

Your Nardi steering wheel will sell well to Mk1 MX5/Miata/Eunos owners, which will help offset the cost of the banjo wheel.

The one thing I will say having owned my Speedster for a couple of months now is that, being a self-build or even a factory-build, whilst these Speedsters may run ok, it's worth checking over everything mechanical (not just the pretty stuff) as only then will you know whether it's truly safe and reliable or is simply waiting to drive you to your first breakdown! You  have no clue as to how the previous owners (all of them) have cared for your car.

I had an oil cooler hose perish only 100 miles after buying it, and the front brake hoses rub against the tyres on full lock. But the guys on here are really helpful and knowledgeable - it's a great place to learn. And luckily Speedster replicas are extermely simple and easy to work on.

Enjoy your lovely car on those beautiful Spanish roads!

WTTM.  It's a great looking car!  As already mentioned, get the bottom of the engine compartment sealed up so spent cooling air/heat from the exhaust isn't being sucked into the fan and carburetor.  If you don't know- the extra heat could cause the engine to run hot (as I see Jimmy already pointed out, and my apologies for pointing this point if you have experience with aircooled engines/cars).  You'll have to make something up (a piece of aluminum would work and be nice and light) with an engine seal from a bus to make up for engine movement.

  A black Speedster (who doesn't love a black Speedster?) with a cream or white banjo wheel/steering column and proper reproduction gauges would look sharp!  I hope you enjoy your car.  Al

¡Hola, @nesta!

Congratulations on the new car!  On the heat shields needed around the engine: "Is there any plate or similar to seal the way around the engine that I can buy?"

Not that I know of.  Of course, it wouldn't hurt to contact IM and see what they have, but it might be expensive to ship from western Canada to Spain.  

Instead, get some heavy paper on a roll at a DIY store, like the paper used under wood floors in houses, and use that under the engine to make a paper template to seal around the engine.  Once you like how it looks, use the paper template to cut out metal pieces and screw them to the body frame.

You will need one or more under the engine, and maybe another on top of the engine at the rear of the car.  You will know when you look in there what you need.

I have a pair of templates, but they are for a CMC car and I do not know if they will fit your IM.  The metal I used is what HVAC shops use for air conditioning ducts in houses.  I think it was 19 gauge galvanized steel, but anything will do as long as it does not flex when installed.   If you are interested in the templates anyway, private message me and I'll tell you more about them.

@nesta

This is the set of instructions I send out with my heat shield templates:

Both templates are full size.  Metal used was HVAC galvanized sheet metal, .015” - .020” thick

Templates must be cut out along solid lines – curved lines follow the inside of the Speedster body

Do NOT cut dotted lines if shown – they are for metal bends or for weather strip mounted on the underside of the panel to seal against the engine tins.

Some noted cut-out locations are optional – check your mounting locations and adjust if necessary.  Holes for bumper mounts or mounting bolts are noted – your locations may be different (no two CMC’s, it seems, are precisely alike).  Measure and cut as needed.

The Rear, Upper shield

The rear shield sits on top of the CMC rear frame and seals against the inside of the rear of the engine compartment with ¾”W X ½” thick weatherstrip (self-adhering tape on one side, stuck to the body, shield fitting against the middle of the weatherstrip tape – length determined by your body and preference to seal the compartment).   There is a 90 degree bend on each end to form a vertical, upward “wing” which seals against the side engine compartment panel where there is a gap at the rear.  No other weatherstrip or sealing tape is used.  I used “Storm King” weather strip from a DIY.

The Lower shield

Attaches to the under side of the box frame members, across the back and along both sides of the engine compartment.  It fits very closely to the VW engine tin and assumes that ALL original VW engine tin is installed.  There are two strips of  ¾” X ½” black foam rubber weatherstrip on the BOTTOM side of the shield to mate with (actually lay on top of) the outside top edge of the head cooling tins to seal that area.  Optionally, you may run a piece of 3/8” wide X ¼” thick weatherstrip on the underside to seal up the rear of the engine breast plate, but if the shield fit is good, this may not be needed.

I drilled and tapped the CMC rear frame for #10-32 screws for mounting the panels.  Mounting fasteners used were #10-32 screws with captive star washers under the heads so they stay tight – I also used ½” OD flat washers under the heads.   Space the fasteners along the shields to insure that it is properly held on, AND that there are no bulges or gaps anywhere.  I noted where I drilled mine, but you may want them placed differently.  There is a lot of flexibility for placement.

3/8” thick rubber floor mat (DIY carpet department – Rubber, Shop Floor Mat) was cut to fit the firewall shape and attached to the firewall with DAP rubberized contact cement and hood sound blanket fasteners (they look like plastic mushrooms with a barbed stem – NAPA Auto Parts).  The firewall mat was cut long, such that it fits down flush with the front ends of the lower tin, and the two are fastened together with a 2” X 2” angle bracket (aluminum) and #10-32 screws on both sides.  The Mat is also long enough to overlap the transmission bell housing, with a space removed for the clutch and throttle mechanisms and effectively seals the front of the compartment, even though it doesn’t completely seal at the front of the compartment – air entering there is cooler from the void between the rear seat back and the firewall, PLUS there is a large cut-out in my firewall for fresh air inlet to the cooling fan.

@Bob: IM S6 posted:

Glad you found a used Intermeccanica.  Do you know the year of manufacture?

Have fun fixing it up.

If you are on Facebook, join us:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1749286561969192/

Joined!

And I´ve bought the book of IM

@Lfepardo posted:

Buenos días @nesta .  Yes you have found the other Spaniard  that frequents this site. ( from Madrid).  

is that Javier Hidalgo’s old IM?  Looks similar... though a few bits look different.   I remember when we helped him bring it over from Miami, and getting it licensed— no easy task. Long story there if your curious, with names that made it happen like Angel Nieto /Tomy Botas.

where are you located?

As they say here, Welcome to the Madness.

Beautiful car.  Not many here with white wall tires. .. And turns out both Spaniards have silver cars with white walls.  Nice.

I come from Santander but I work in Madrid.

The car was bought in Alava (Vitoria)

You´ve got a mp

@Lfepardo posted:

  @nesta   Since you are a RACE member ( I see your car riding on one of their gruas) you should try to get your hands on one of their late 1950s grill badges.  It was one of my first accessories ;-)

I would recommend  you find a shop that works on older beetles/Bus/eurovans near you.  They will be very Very helpful assisting in sourcing tins to seal your engine, and other  beetle parts. Great VW source for parts and resources in Germany and Czech Republic.

cheers,

Luis

I´ve got a "small" collection of Porsche badges, memorabilia, goodies, etc

The car has a 30th anniversary badge of 356 registry right now

What a huge welcomed!!

I am very grateful.

Thanks

@nesta @Gordon Nichols

From the photo of the rear showing the grille in the engine lid, it looks like the car is an early  IM which should be pretty much like a CMC.  So, it seems like your templates should work without any issues.

I had a very nice visit to several cities in Spain although a pickpocket got my cell phone on the subway from the airport into Madrid.  I like Barcelona best.

You can buy chrome bezels for the 914 gauges - plus there are new faces with green lettering (or any color face desired) that can be applied to the black faces to make them look like OEM 356 gauges.  Replacing them with OEM look ones is an issue since the 914 tach is much larger diameter (so you'd have to fiberglass the dash.

Palto Alto Speedo makes more costly silk screened faces - vs the less expensive  stick/glue on ones.  They also sell the chrome bezels.

Early IMs did indeed use new 914 gauges - so they are authentic to IMs and are quality gauges.

Those spokes on your Nardi steering wheel could be stripped of the black paint and the aluminum spokes polished.  A little paint remover and some steel wool and metal buffing polish. Many don't like the flimsiness of the banjo wheels or the large diameter and skinny rim.

https://www.pelicanparts.com/t...mult_gauge_face2.htm

Chrome bezels were around $100 for the set...

First Drive!

Working on

Some troubles with the grounded VW column and the "brown wire" to make horn button works ... but I fixed it

Let´s do the Banjo

Love, love LOVE that horn button!  

(and the rest of the wheel is pretty, too!)

Wow, great looking banjo Nesta! Love it!

I have work to do on my wiring also. I have the dreaded "horn when turning left" problem!

Keep the upgrade updates coming.

You guys might like to see this from years past:

https://www.speedsterowners.co...ic/weird-horn-wiring

@Troy Sloan posted:

Spain is a perfect country for Speedsters.  VERY well maintained highways, easy to navigate narrow city streets, reasonable speed limits with no highway patrol, beautiful coastline drives along the Mediterranean and the Atlantic and a small Speedster can always find parking spaces since small spaces are all they seem to have.

Spain has great roads

I´ve recognised your youtube channel @VANATIC99

Lots of parts have arrived.

- Original wipers - Mounted

- New windshield - Mounted

- Gaskets (lamps, horn grills) - Mounted

- Original side skirts

- Original switch

- Original bullet ignition switch with bezels and matching doorpins

- Ivory Gear knob - Mounted

- Seal front hood - Mounted

- Speedster rearview mirror - Mounted

- "Original" Seatbelts - I hope today

- Door Seals (A pilar) -> a bit confused about it  (not the same for B pilar ?¿?¿)

- Continental wheels up to 165/80

Working on... dope

Some parts

@nesta posted:

Spain has great roads

I´ve recognised your youtube channel @VANATIC99

Yes, my wife Sally and I typically do about a 20 minute drive and post the videos on my YouTube channel, which is vanatic99.   I'm guessing there are more than 50 Speedster cruises on my channel.  Here's a direct link to it.

https://youtube.com/user/VANATIC99

We loved our time in Spain and will return again at some point.

"Side skirts" are the aluminum w/rubber insert deco strip below doors?

@WOLFGANG posted:

"Side skirts" are the aluminum w/rubber insert deco strip below doors?

Yes

Can anybody tell me the correct position for seatbelts?  I don't know if the big buckle has to be close to the door or close to the gearbox.

I have seen both ways ...

Don't know if it’s right or wrong, but I installed the big buckle close to the gear box.  It’s how it was installed in my other porsches, and MGs/ Austin.

Seems to work ok... This way if a seat belt is left hanging out of the door and the door is closed ( which happens often), the door can close and the larger metal seatbelt buckle piece does not damage the paint/door jam. The small piece fits between the door/door jam, and just compresses the foam door seal.

feliz año!

Older Intermeccanicas are great cars; I think you got lucky. From the looks of it it seems to be a great car with just a little tweaking needed. I actually like those 914 gauges and like others have said you can "356 them". Apart from the other tweaks suggested by the other members maybe you can add dual carbs and nice exhaust? Not sure how strict they are there with emissions.

I had my 914 gauges refaced by Palo Alto speedometer.

@Impala posted:

Older Intermeccanicas are great cars; I think you got lucky. From the looks of it it seems to be a great car with just a little tweaking needed. I actually like those 914 gauges and like others have said you can "356 them". Apart from the other tweaks suggested by the other members maybe you can add dual carbs and nice exhaust? Not sure how strict they are there with emissions.

I like a little more the 914 gauges every time I sit in the car but It has to "356 them" like you told me.

I´ve searching a good place to do that in EU and I found one in Poland but very expensive.

As soon as my eyes see a nice exterior I´ll begin to upgrade my engine bay, some friends are pushing me to double carburettors, other "dog house", etc

I doubt with the exhaust system, I don´t know if a bigger tail pipes do the job or I should mount a Sport Exhaust (I´d like to be a more noisy )

Thanks for your inputs, I´m working on