Archives
January 2004
February 2004
March 2004
April 2004
May 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
December 2004
January 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
October 2005
January 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
September 2007
|
Restoration Journal of a 1958 Porsche 356A Cabriolet
Saturday, August 28, 2004
Right Longitudinal Completed
With a little help from Theresa, we were able to finish up the right side longitudinal and rocker panel today. Wow, this took some time. The only old steel we used was in the heater tubes and their supports. We used the 3M body sealant in the inside corner of the rocker to prevent future water trapment and we also put the sealat where the longitudinal meets the closing panels. One tip I learned the hard way. If you are installing new closing panels, wait untill after the longitudinal is installed. outer The longitudinal is positioned by the door posts and the inner longitudinal and must be flush with the closing panels. Since I installed the front closing panel first, I was about 1/4 inch too far forward and had to do some custom engineering to get it to fit right.
We plan to start the left side this weekend and don't expect as many problems. The right side longitudinal is pretty solid and could live without replacement unlike the swiss cheese right side. Pictures have been updated.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Saturday, August 28, 2004
2005 Porsche 356 Gulf Coast Holiday
The 2005 Porsche 356 Gulf Coast Holiday will be held next April in Boerne, TX in the Texas Hill Country. You can go to their website for the details. As a life long Texan, I can tell you that they picked the right location and the right time of year. The weather doesn't get better in Texas than it is in April. In addition, this is probably one if the best places to see the bluebonnets, Indian paintbrushes, and other Texas wildflowers in the spring.
With a little convincing of my better half, you can expect that we will be there. Our wedding anniversary is on the 9th so I'm sure it will cost me. Will our car be ready? It's a lofty goal but we are shooting for it. I don't know if it will be primer grey or red, if all 4 tires match, or even if we have carpet. The goal is to have the car road worthy enough to drive up there and back and participate in the group drives.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Friday, August 27, 2004
Engine Work Begins
The hot Texas summer has now given us reason to work on less intensive tasks. As a result, we have begun the engine work. To this point, we really were not sure which engine we have. The 3rd piece had been replaced so there is no SN. The main casing may be a replacement as well since we also don't have a engine model stamped into the casing either. Eric Cherneff's website has a good explanation of these numbers. The saving grace to be sure we had a Porsche engine was part numbers cast into all 3 pieces. By looking at these castings as well as Theresa's research, we have determined it to be a 1962 356B engine.
We received this engine in pieces (in milk crates to be exact). Who knows if all of these parts even came with the same engine. When we found the car, the engine was sitting outside in the weather with the carbs removed. As a result, the crankcase was full of water. In addition, the #4 cylinder was in a position where the intake valve was in the open position. This allowed rain water to get into the cylinder and combustion area causing severe corrosion in the head. As a result, the piston rings seized up and the piston can not be removed from the cylinder. This took some tricky moves for disassembly as the #4 piston, cylinder, and rod was all removed from the crankcase as one unit. We were able to save the rod by cutting away the piston at the wrist pin however the head is not salvageable. The firing deck has severe corrosion and I am not comfortable welding it back up. With the #4 intake valve open and water in the crankcase, the cam lobe was also corroded and will not be used. Luckily, the lifters did not receive any damage. We also found cracks in two of the other pistons so all four will be replaced. The Zenith carbs appear to be in good shape but what is strange is that they have jets that were common to the 356C. Go figure. Whoever rebuilt the engine the last time must have done it on the cheap. All of the bearings were VW and the quality shows. While none of the journals were damaged, all of the bearings had worn through the babbet to the brass backing. Porsche bearings are designed to handle the higher loads and thus would last longer.
The flywheel gland nut was a challenge. We tried everything we could come up with to break the gland nut loose. Finally, we added some heat to loosen up the Locktite and the used a 1/2" impact to take it off. With some work, it finally broke loose. Several people on the 356 Talk List suggested that I use the flywheel torque tool that CIP sells. While it didn't work to take the gland nut off, I will use it on reassembly and on the drum nuts. It appears that whoever built this engine last came from the school of "if one dop is good, a puddle is better." Remember, Locktite only takes 1 drop to work!
Through our disassembly, we determined that the engine was built as a 1600 Normal (60 horsepower). Since we have to replace one piston and the cam, we will build it back as a 1600 Super (75 horsepower). This is the size engine that was originally shipped with the car.
Once everything was disassembled and cleaned, we were very surprised by the condition. The case halves had no sign of fretting and all of the case bores and crankshaft pins were normal sizes and within spec. Carbs and fuel pump are rebuildable and I bought a new Bosch 009 distributor on eBay. It's not the best distributor for this car but it will get us running.
I made a detailed list of the parts I needed including super cam and pistons, a cylinder, a head, engine tins, etc and sent this off to Parker Tyler of G.G. Tyler and Sons in Maine. I should have these along with the engine parts from Zim's by next weekend and we can start back together over the long holiday weekend. I also bought the carb kits from Parts Obsolete .
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
|
|
