04-21-2009, 04:17 PM | #1 |
Tarmac Specialist
Reutterwerk Supporter |
356 Build Thread
I originally posted this to the blogs, but I'm not sure I like the way they're organized, and a little more difficult to access, so I'm cross posting to this forum.
A few years ago, we acquired a 1960 Super 90. It was purchased from the widow of a man who had begun restoration on it. To make matters a bit more complicated the previous owner also owned a business making interiors for very early 356's. Being a 356 guy, there was alot of parts there, and their sons had the duty after he passed of "organizing" the parts. Unfortunately, they aren't "car guys" and a lot of the parts that came with ours belong to some other cars, and we also ended up missing quite a few parts that we either sourced new, sourced used, or made. This car was the epitome of a basket case. We brought the car home on a trailer, both it and the truck packed full of boxes of parts. Fortunately for us, the hard work had all been done. The body and paint were both complete! Here is the car as it was when it arrived home: After the car arrived home, it sat for several months until we had completed the new shop, and had a place to work on it. After the shop was completed (summer of '07) the car moved in. The first steps were to strip the front suspension and do the undercoating / painting of the underside of the car, including wheel wells, etc. And to organize the parts. The next step was to remove the transaxle and check it over. When we pulled it, it was bone dry in the car and we dunno if it had been rebuilt and not filled, just emptied, or what, so we brought it to our local 356 hero, Ted Blake to be looked over & overhauled. He replaced the throwout bearing with one from a 911, replaced the boots, covers, cleaned it up, etc. In the pic below, note the fancy-pants axle holder upper my dad made (If the axles droop, they can damage the unobtanium plates that hold them in (Ted built us some much heavier duty plates to cure this). Much more ancient technology than CV joints. Here is some progress on the front suspension, the rubber stops are in. And, after the front brakes went in: These are a sign of things to come:big frickin fuel lines and earl's fittings?. And this is after the rubber bits showed up. And after we stripped the pedal assy and sent it off to the powdercoater, then re assembled. And then a pic from the engine bay looking forward, with most everything run from the tunnel (for those not 356 familiar nearly EVERYTHING runs through the tunnel, which is fully enclosed). The next step was to fit the brake master cyl, a dual circuit unit from a 911. Then we fished the fuel lines (did he say fuel lines?), throttle cable, and shift rod through the tunnel. This is the other end of one of the fuel lines, yes ending under the dash as somebody wanted to use the factory fuel petcock and mount the fuelpump under the floorboard in the smuggler's box. Thank goodness I convinced him that it would be better under the floor of the trunk, near the front torsion bar tubes. This was abolished: And we got the tranaxle back from the shop, much prettier now. Dad undercoated part of the inside of the doors and installed the window mechanisms: And rebuilt the striker mechanisms and reinstalled them: The brake drum "snouts" where the wheel bearing cover presses in were rather beat up, so we welded them and turned them on a lathe, then gave a scotchbrite finish. they look WAY better now, and look great with our new aluminum West Coast Haus wheels. The wheels are pretty light, 15"x6" and 11lbs. John limited the number of pictures in a post to 30, so I will make another blog entry. Blog continued here: http://reutterwerk.com/forums/blog.php?b=33 |
04-21-2009, 04:18 PM | #2 |
Tarmac Specialist
Reutterwerk Supporter |
. . . continued from: http://reutterwerk.com/forums/blog.php?b=32
More Update: The car has the transaxle re-installed and the rear suspension is done, along with all the brakes. And the hood handle and badge were installed. The trunk was painted and prepped for gas tank install. And the gas tank was modified to accomodate the new fuel fittings, and then painted. The tail lights and rear badge was installed. And the front grilles and turn signals were installed. The grilles still need a little adjustment in the fit, but pretty close right now. And most recently, the side trim "deco's" have been installed with new rubber, and the bumpers are being prepped for install with new decos. Also, the headlights were installed with new lenses and housings, and the last pic, of the Reutter badge because after-all this is Reutterwerk! This post continued at: Porsche 356 Build: Part 3 |
04-21-2009, 04:18 PM | #3 |
Tarmac Specialist
Reutterwerk Supporter |
Continued from: Porsche 356 Build: Part 2
Its been a while since I've posted an update, and while progress feels slow, there is still progress being made. Since the last update, a lot has happened. The tachometer, speedometer and axillary gauges were sent out to be rebuilt for conversion to electric and 12v, the speedo was just cleaned up. For less money, I think we could have gotten a 904 combo gauge and new tach. . . well we actually did get a new tach, but the old one was cleaned up while it was there. Also, the car went to the upholstry shop to get the new dash, headliner and door panels installed. The seats were also redone, and because they weren't done right, they're back at the upholstry shop being re-redone, so I don't have any pictures of them. Since the car got back home, we were able to install the rear side windows, and sound / thermal insulation on the firewall and rear seats. Also, the engine is down with Walt at Competition Engineering getting machined. We'll do the final assembly here once he's done. I also tried ordering the ECU last Friday, but the supplier can sometimes be difficult to get a hold of. The fuel system was done, but after much deliberation, we are re-doing it, so that it will be a much safer setup (both for the occupants and for the engine) Here are some quickee update pics of the interior. |
09-08-2009, 10:17 PM | #4 |
New User
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 2
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
|
WOW,
thank you for the pictures, I am going through my own restoration right now and these are great for reference! best, James |
11-24-2009, 08:04 PM | #5 |
Architect / Car Guy
Reutterwerk Supporter |
amazing restoration i want more
__________________
2015 Acura RDX, 51,000 1987 Porsche 951 w/86 engine. +K26/8 Formally known as the "Boost Monster" Former 2012 Subaru Impreza 2.0 5 speed 77800 miles 2001 Nissan Xterra SE, 236,000 miles 1994 Ford Explorer XLT, 262,000 |
02-20-2010, 09:30 PM | #6 |
Super User
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: SoCal
Posts: 4,124
Thanks: 1,044
Thanked 1,085 Times in 752 Posts
|
I'm late to the party (just finally wandered over here from the other place), but your car is beautiful - love the color and everything looks shiny and new. My '60 coupe, your car's slightly older brother (I'm 113088), is on the road but is waiting for me to fund a repaint and new upholstery, and a few other bits.
|
03-06-2010, 04:27 AM | #7 |
Tarmac Specialist
Reutterwerk Supporter |
Ok, its been a while since the last update, like a really long time. I'll have to edit this later, but here are some more pics.
We had some of the interior work done at Ted Blake's, a local and very good 356 specialist. They also put in the windshield and rear window, as well as assembled the parking brake, and I'm sure a bunch of other stuff. The engine also was assembled. sorry I didn't take any pics of the bits before assembly. And as we made more parts, we were able to assemble more to the engine. And this last pic shows my other project. Hopefully it will be ready for shakedown in a couple weeks. |
03-09-2010, 09:24 PM | #8 |
New User
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 2
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
|
Bravo!
thank you for the update! |
04-12-2010, 03:56 AM | #9 |
Tarmac Specialist
Reutterwerk Supporter |
Serious Progress!
An in process shot of installing some more heat shielding. This was applied all the way across, then the loose strands trimmed. And everything out of the way, ready for the engine. The engine is now officially in! Last weekend, we pulled the engine off the engine stand and set it onto some wood blocks, the idea being that we'd slide the floor jack under and wheel it away. The jack was too wide, so we had to lift it once again, but no biggie, its pretty light. After it was on the jack, I guided it in as my dad lowered the car over it. I think it would have been quicker to go old-school and just use jack stands. And voila, its in! I connected up the sensors, injectors, and modified the wire harness in a couple spots as well. no photos of that yet. |
04-20-2010, 03:26 AM | #10 |
Tarmac Specialist
Reutterwerk Supporter |
Its Alive!!!!!!
Did the cam/ valvespring / header coating break-in today. Also started some preliminary tuning. Hopefully I'll get to do more on it tomorrow. |
04-21-2010, 02:56 PM | #11 |
Oroborous
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Minnnneapolis, Not Kansas.
Posts: 11,525
Thanks: 2,464
Thanked 2,692 Times in 1,811 Posts
|
fantastic!
This is one of my most favorite threads on the web.
__________________
-Rick |
04-26-2010, 03:28 AM | #12 |
Tarmac Specialist
Reutterwerk Supporter |
we took it for its first drive today. Just up to the gas station and back. The verdict is that the brakes need adjustment, and bleeding. So far the tune process is going OK. I want to get the thing on the road so we can dial it in. Right now its running about 11:1 - 13.5:1 AFR, but centered around 12.5:1. More time on the road will refine this and let me lean the car out, but I feel confident it will be OK to drive under light throttle. The acceleration enrichment needs the most tweaking, but its getting there.
Here are some pics after its first drive. |
04-28-2010, 12:57 AM | #13 |
Not Special
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 601
Thanks: 146
Thanked 84 Times in 58 Posts
|
Damn, Dan, I love it.
__________________
Darren Wipeout 1989 944 S2 Baltic Blue/Linen Wrecked and missed: 1985/1 944 The Great Reutterwerk H4 Lighting Roundup |
04-28-2010, 01:01 AM | #14 |
Architect / Car Guy
Reutterwerk Supporter |
loving the stance. really racy
__________________
2015 Acura RDX, 51,000 1987 Porsche 951 w/86 engine. +K26/8 Formally known as the "Boost Monster" Former 2012 Subaru Impreza 2.0 5 speed 77800 miles 2001 Nissan Xterra SE, 236,000 miles 1994 Ford Explorer XLT, 262,000 |
05-07-2010, 09:34 PM | #15 |
learning about 944s
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Virginia
Posts: 17
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
|
Absolutely amazing!!
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|