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Restoration Journal of a 1958 Porsche 356A Cabriolet
Saturday, July 17, 2004
Longitudinal Work
The next area to tackle has been the longitudinals in preparation for the floor pan replacement. I recently received Jim Kellogg's book "Porsche 356, Guide to Do-it-Yourself Restoration" and in it he has a good idea on supporting the body of the car with the doors out. The problem in the open (convertible) cars is that once the doors are removed, the body of the car wants to collapse. In order to work on the longitudinals, you have to insure that while you are cutting and welding that this collapse does not occur. Since this is Jim's idea, I'll leave it to you to buy his book and learn how I made the supports. Jim runs a professional shop called 356 Restore located south of Denver.
Jim's book is good and should be on the shelf of anyone undergoing such a restoration. While it doesn't get into the details of what I need, it has some very good suggestions. Other suggested books that I have on my shelf include the following
"Original Porsche 356, The Restorer's Guide" by Laurence Meredith
"Technical and Restoration Guide" by the 356 Registry
"The 356 Porsche, A Restorer's Guide to Authenticity" by Dr Brett Johnson
"Secrets of the Inner Circle" and "ABC's (and 912's) of Porsche Engines" by the Maestro
Along with countless parts catalogs.
As for the longitudinals. I started on the right side and cut out all of the old outer long and what was left with the rocker panel. This was rust city. The inner long was covered up by a plate on the vertical inner wall and once removed I found that the original looked like swiss cheese. Since this is not a readily available replacement piece, I built an entire inner longitudinal by hand and have been working on replacing it for several weeks now. Working with 18 ga sheet material, it took well over 6 hours to get it shaped correctly. I am taking my time with the installation to keep the heat level down so I don't stress or warp this area.
The heater tube has rotten away along the bottom and at the 3" or so at the end where it turns up into the longitudinal. I bought some 1-3/4" tail pipe repair pieces from the auto parts store and fit in in where the tubing goes through the inner long. Since the bulk of the pipe is there, I used pipe and hose repair tape to wrap it up solid. With that and a coat of POR15, we won't have to worry about the heater tube for another 50 years.
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Saturday, July 17, 2004
Certificate of Authenticity
Within the week of receiving the title, I sent off to Porsche the request for the Certificate of Authenticity. This is the official document from Porsche that lists the original engine and transmission serial numbers, the "birth date" of the car, as well as the original options as shipped from the factory. Our's was somewhat plain with no options aside from the US bumpers. The leather interior was standard for the cabriolet. I was glad to see that it is shown as a 1958 model year since the guy I bought it from had it incorrectly listed as a '59. I've sent a letter back to Porsche asking for the importing dealer. Hopefully they can tell me if any dealer options were installed.
It appears that the s/n that I have is not the original nor is the engine. The original engine was a 1600S (75 HP) while mine is a 1600N (60 HP).
According to the CofA, the original color was silver with red interior such as this one.
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Saturday, July 17, 2004
Too Damn Hot!
It's been too damn hot to do much of anything outside or in the garage lately. We're in the dog days of summer and I prefer to work in the air conditioning this time of year. I'll paint, hang wall paper, lay floors, whatever it takes to avoid the heat. I installed an attic exhaust fan in the garage last spring and that really helps but not quite enough. Theresa has been trying to convince me to buy an air conditioner for the garage (a window unit) but I just can't bring myself to spending the money when I would really rather have a good sand blasting cabinet.
Here is our forecast for the rest of the summer through August.
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