Whatcha been up to??

Put in a Suby engine.

 

 

This year I drove my car a lot.

 

To Monterey, to SLO, to Tahoe, to the wine country, and up and down a very cool little road that runs along the Pacific Ocean.

 

This turned out to be a lot more fun than all the mechanical stuff I was forced to do last year.

 

It may be hard to remember this when all about you are frying wires, dripping oil, and things that go pfft in the night, but keep your eye on the prize.

 

I highly recommend this driving thing.

 

 

My year in review:

 

 1.  Put in a 500 watt stereo, 10" woofer, 6.5" mid-range, 1" silk

      dome tweeters

 2.  1.5 quart thin-line CB Performance sump

 3.  CB Performance Camber Compensator

 4.  Empi Anti-sway bar in the front

 5.  New Hell Tone Horns w/ separate relay

 6.  Relay for the high beam and a relay for the low beam

 7.  Hood struts on the front trunk lid

 8.  Rubber trim gaskets to the headlights

 9.  Rubber trim gaskets to the hood handle trim

10. LED third brake light under the engine grill

11. An original 1956 CA license plate legally registered to my car

12. New brake boot

13. New Shift boot

14. Beautiful wood Porsche shift knob

15. And almost in time to meet the one year anniversary, a new

     Setrab oil cooler that goes in next week

 

Between all of that drove more than 3000 miles going to SLO, Monterey, Santa Cruz, Capitola, nearly a half-dozen wire tasting tours, one awesome Valentine's Day wine tasting cruise, a half dozen 100 mile trips with Teby and Troy, a half dozen car shows, and a countless number of meaningless trips to where ever in the Speedster with my bride of 28 years.

 

And I got hundreds of smiles to the gallon while driving it.

Put arm rests from 66 bug wrapped in matching vinyl on door panels.

Replaced cheesy Mr. Gasket regulator with Malpassi regulator, big improvement.

I would be interested in seeing how you put in your courtesy light switch in door jamb.

Been thinking about doing that for a while.

 

 

 

Been watchin the Cubs, havin a Bud.......

 

 

Forgot to mention: Alan Merklin is exempt from posting because Theron does not have enough disk space on his server. An alternate title for this thread would be: "Define the Madness"

Will post a picture of the door switch, which I got from the builder, JPS.

"And I got hundreds of smiles to the gallon while driving it."

 

Gonna keep that one in my back pocket!

 

Don't know where you got it, but if it's yours, kudos Robert for a great quote! Describes the Madness and Gladness perfectly.

 

New bumper sticker: "I get a hundred smiles per gallon"

What's your SPG?? I love it.

I resemble El'Frazoo's statement...I think I would have to post about different 4 speedsters 

First off I can't believe it's been almost a year since I first acquired the car...my how time flys!

 

1. Installed the new soft top(thanks to Gordon and Alan) that came with the car.   Going to have Murph install zip in/out side curtains this winter.

2. Tuned the carbs for this altitude from sea level and adjusted/synched them.

 

3. Replaced the plugs and plug wires, fuel line from the tank back, installed new air cleaners and KN elements and installed a new A1 exhaust system(thanks Anthony for the help), changed the oil.

 

4. Got all the electrics working since most of them didn't work--really should have invested in a new wiring loom...maybe later... Got the wiper working and installed the missing wiper arms and blades.

 

5. Added Porsche pedal covers.

 

6. Installed new shocks all around adjusted the shift linkage, it works much smoother now(Thanks to my friend Mike).

 

7. Installed seat belts with a Porsche logo.

 

8. Installed an electric heater, carpeted the trunk and added saddle buckles to the trunk lid eliminating the trunk access mechanism that I could never get to work correctly.

 

9. Installed a new windshield after cracking the old one due to a bonehead move on my part. (Thanks again to Gordon and Alan).

 

10. Dropped the rearend down about 1 1/2" by adjusting the swing arms now the car sits level.

 

11. Buffed out and polished the dull gelcoat.

 

12. Learned a lot about air cooled engines and how finicky they are...LOL...and gained a lot of knowledge from others here on the SOC on these little beasts.

 

This Winter wish list:

1. Maybe have Murph re-upholster the seats and make new door panels...depends on cost???

2. Replace all the carpeting and add coco mats.???

Since I'm still recovering from rotator cuff surgery I physically can not work on the car, heck I can hardly get out of it now as is... I need to find a good repair shop close to here to have the valves adjusted and fine tune the engine...it runs good but still needs some work.

 

 

 

Yes. How time flies.

Got the hard top fitted ( thanks, Carl ) repair and repaint the body, new carpets and new colour on seats, door panels, dash and 1/2 tonneau.

 

I drove mine about 7,000 miles. Plan to change the oil this winter...maybe the plugs too. :-)

Got a few more things done today.  Hadn't planned to but when I was cleaning the engine bay I saw one of the heater tubes was ripped.

 

16. Just changed the air tubes that go from the shroud to the heater boxes

     One of them ripped apart where it goes through the tin

17. Changed the plugs

18. Adjusted the valves

 

Addendum:

 

10. I also replaced the heater box to fan shroud ducts with much stouter ones than original, which had torn. N.B.: the sidewinder exhaust manifold geometry makes this enterprise a royal bee-atch.

 

11. Discovered a ripped engine-to-intake manifold gasket, and did an R&R for that. Gasket is a figure 8 and the entire portion between the two ports was gone.  Explained a lot about why the engine was just about not running at all.

 

12. Repainted the fan shroud in-stu, which was not so hard to do when the carbs, manifolds and throttle linkage were out -- a little blue tape and some newspaper here and there.  Painted rain hats to match.

And the pic of that door light switch

Same thing, just putting the switch in a different place.

 

 

Starting last October:

 

Had the heads dipped and replaced head gaskets.

 

Reinstalled engine

 

Installed heater control valve

 

Ripped out front pan under the frame head & had it replaced by guys who know how to weld

 

Installed front disc brakes.

 

Ruined two sets of wheel bearings by installing brake hubs wrong

 

Installed hubs (apparently) right

 

Installed larger front sway bar, then took that off and put the stock one back.

 

Added air to the tires & improved mileage substantially.

Ed, how exactly did you manage that air-adding thing.  Sounds complicated.

Hand pump, of course.

Of Course!

Roger that.  And in the interest of full disclosure, I have to confess that my list of a dozen or so things has taken at least, and likely more than, two years, all told.  And quite a few beers, and has resulted in more blue air in the garage than can be recounted at this time.  But, hey, its a hobby . . .

1. Installed an automatic fire extinguishing system.

2. Installed Vintage Speed's new carb linkage.

3. Installed dual Bad Boy horns.

4. Installed a "you left your lights on" buzzer.

Oh this is going to be fun... If I have to limit it to the past 365 days it might be simpler to say what I haven't done.

Thanks!

Gordon, if you put the switch there doesn't that go right into the wheel house?  If you get caught in the rain does it get all over the switch?  Do you have to drill a hole in the side of the body for the wires to pass thru?  It looks like where Frazoos is all those problems are avoided.  What is the switch from?  Thanks guys.

Frank had LOTS of questions:

 

if you put the switch there doesn't that go right into the wheel house?  

 

No, the back side of the switch is in an area best described as the far distant side of the inner dash.  Stick you hand up behind the dash on the door sides and you'll see.  It's all inside of the cockpit, just behind the dash.

 

If you get caught in the rain does it get all over the switch?  

No, it's all behind the dash stuff inside of the cockpit.

 

Do you have to drill a hole in the side of the body for the wires to pass thru?  

 

No, it all comes out behind the dash, just like in a "modern" car, like a Ford product.  The only hole needed to be drilled is for the switch itself, but you have to be careful about placement to avoid weatherstrip and to keep the plunger from being forced sideways by the closing action of the door (not all doors are created or articulated equally).  You then attach the wires (two of them for a complete circuit) to the switch, snake them in through the hole til they come out behind the dash and then connect them to whatever you need to for your use.  For wires I used 12-14 ga. clear appliance "zip cord" as I was only powering a couple of courtesy lights.  This entire project probably took 40 minutes, start to finish, and I did it over ten years ago.  got tired of the wife saying she couldn't see where to put her feet 'and stuff', when getting in at night.

 

It looks like where Frazoos is all those problems are avoided.  OK, so put yours there.

 

What is the switch from?  NAPA  From a display rack called "HELP!"  You can also ask at the NAPA/AUtozone/Carquest counter for their "HELP!", Standard or Echlin catalog and pick one out from there.

Your list will be long enough in point form, Ted!

Ted:  Write it in Hexidecimal - that'll make it shorter.....

Thanks Gordon, I went out and looked at my car and see what you are talking about, easy peasy. I ask a lot of questions because even a blind hog finds the acorn if he looks long enough!

I topped off my fuel tank and went for a cruise! Repeat daily! 

Ooops, double post...

And you've doubly p*ssed me off... 

 

Only in the warm south could someone say what you just said, and say it twice, too!

 

I'm driving but my days are numbered.

Finally decided to get my arse into gear and last week I finally cut out the crappy jacuzzi rear seat and work has started to get everything in place so that I can drop in the new seat area. 

 

I say drop in, but it's anything BUT drop in. I've decided to take the body off the pan and then to totally prep the pan properly this time and also do all the small piddly jobs that I've been putting off. We have to cut the old rear beam out and we're going to replace it with a better part. 

 

Body will be flipped upside down and then I'll do the fenders and then also drop in the rear seat section. Work starts next weekend. 

 

 

That is really, really cool, Gary.

 

Nice mod. Are you going to make it part of the mold?

Well if you mean mold as in mold it to the current shell of the car, then yup. It'll just work out better if I do it from underneath though. Dropping it in from the top just won't work.

 

It's a pity that the local companies that sell the speedsters all insist on the jacuzzi rear seat instead of doing the real thing. 

If you look at how intricate the jacuzzi section is and the fact that it's 2 pieces, then it makes no sense to me. 

 

I would love to get that piece from Rusty Tubs and convert mine. It's a lot of work.

I have no idea how Al attached the body to the pan on my car. I'm afraid to look.

Good luck,
Ted

Cladding the engine bay, my friend Armand is preparing the paper templates, this will be used to prepare the sheet metal cladding.

With the replica 356 engine complete we have to match the engine bay to further compliment the overall appearance.