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Restoration Journal of a 1958 Porsche 356A Cabriolet
Monday, October 25, 2004
Engine Long Block - Trailing Arm Removal
Saturday morning, I met up with the Lone Star 356 Club at 59 Diner on I-10. Unfortunately, it was pouring down rain so only two of the guys brought out their tubs. The majority of our time was spent on the update of the Gulf Coast Holiday that is to take place next April in Boerne. I had no idea that so much work was being put into this event. It sounds like it's going to be a great event.
I spent Saturday afternoon removing the radius arms and torsion bars. While removing the bolts that hold the arm covers, I broke off 2 on the right and 3 on the left. I then spent the evening trying to drill them out. I'll need to put this task off until I have a day with a little more patience.
We spent Sunday on the engine and installed pistons, cylinder, and heads to our short block. I'm not sure why but it took us about 5 hours just to do that. We had all of our parts clean before we started, I guess we just took our time and made sure everything went together per the Maestro's instructions. In all, the engine now turns and is starting to look like a real engine.
Theresa started into the replacement carb only to find that it had different venturies than our originals. On top of that, I broke one of the injection tubes while trying to bend it back into place. Like I said before, two steps forward, one step back. In the mean time, we have been progressing with cleaning tins and various other small parts and painting them in preparation for a complete engine.
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Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Engine Short Block Built
Aside from a couple of big weekends finishing the floor, we have been working on the engine. One long Sunday we started building the engine progressing only as far as getting the case assembled. You could say we took our time - 8 hours or so to this point. Some would call this the shortblock.
We used Harry Pellow's (aka The Maestro) "Secrets of the Inner Circle" and our Exploded View Parts Diagrams from Charles DerWhite. Spending most of my adult life around cars and instruction manuals, I would suggest this as the best combination for building your 356 engine. There are many other books for the 356 available with not even half of the detail that Harry puts into his. While Harry's book is no longer available in print (unless you shell out $150 on eBay for a used one) you can buy it from their website on disk. It comes in Word format which you can take to Kinko's to print for about $20 (double sided) and you don't have to worry about greasy finger prints.
I received the heads back from Houston Engine and Balancing . They look good and cost less than expected (about $120 for both heads). I took in the two old heads, one replacement from GG Tyler and Sons and the new valve guides from Zims. They inspected for cracks, installed new guides and seals, cut new seats on the valves and valve seats, and checked spring compression. No flycuts were required. Between them, I have two nice heads.
For rods, I received four good 912 rods from Jim at EASY and we received four good Super pistons, a replacement cylinder, and a Super cam from Tyler. Many of you may be shaking your head right now thinking that I should have bought a matched set of pistons and cylinder. I miced out all of the parts out and everything was within spec. I'm confident that for a weekend driver, I'll have a good engine.
One of the local 356ers had an old Zenith carb on the shelf he could supply to replace the bad one. In the mean time, we received the engine tins from Tyler and have been sandblasting and painting them in prep for installation.
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Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Floor Pans Complete
After I bought more gas for the welder, I was able to finish the floor pan installation. I found that my rivet idea was not so brilliant afterall. I found that the pan did not sit completely flat on ledge in some areas. I then went around with the sheet metal screws in place of the rivets. This worked much better. Through my plug weld hole in the floorpan, I drilled a small pilot hole in the ledge (about 1/8"). I then ran the sheet metal screw into it which in turn sucked the floor pan flush onto the ledge. I did this every 12" or so and I am quite please with the results.
I used the same method when installing new angle material along the tunnel. In this area, I used the screws horizontally to hold the material flush to the tunnel and then vertically to hold the material flush to the floor.
After installing new brackets for the kick board, the pedal support, and finishing the a-frame, I found that I was missing the outer seat rails. Without them I could not install the seat mounts. In calling around, I only found one supplier with a set who wanted $150 each!! As luck would have it, I found a set on eBay for about $50. They should be here this week and I can finish the job.
In the mean time, I POR15-ed the entire interior compartment and exterior of the floor pans. I then went back into the seams and filled in the water-catching areas with sealant. With this being an open car, there's no telling if I would ever get rain water in the interior. I'd rather be safe than sorry. After all, I do plan to drive the car in Texas where the weather can be unpredictable.
We started running out of room in the garage so I spent one rainy afternoon cleaning up. Now that most all of the replacement steel is installed, I elected to throw out the scraps. I think that this is less than half of what I installed.
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