3½ years of work in about 4 seconds...

LATEST PROJECT NEWS

My list of tasks required to wrap-up this project is down to one page and as I'm crossing them off, I see the end in sight.

Entry: 5/7/10 - I finally bit the bullet and solved the oil leak coming from the fuel pump by spending $380 and buying a brand-new, German-made Pierburg brand (same as OEM) fuel pump. I pulled out the old one and cleaned off all the Durko sealant used in my failed attempt to stop the leak... what a mess. While on the 4-post lift, I installed the rebuilt Bosch 022 distributor, adjusted the valves (@ 100 miles) and inspected / cleaned the main jets on the right side Solex. The test drive was taking the car up to Aldercrest Auto Rebuild where the car was painted and showing Nick Stack (the owner) how the car looks all together and discuss the cut-and-polish step to be scheduled in the next week or so. The good news; zero oil leaks, the bad news; the right carburetor still has that stumbling at 3000-3500 RPM but now I know it's not the valves, main jets or distributor causing the problem.

Entry: 5/4/10 - Now I'm getting serious about tuning this engine! I sent the Bosch 022 distributor off to trusty Ed Fall at Vintage Werks over in Utah to have it rebuilt and the advance curve verified as perfectly stock. As usual, Ed sends me back a distributor that looks like brand-new, with completely replated parts and a print-out of the actual advance curve from his fancy Sun distributor machine. Now the distributor will be a "known quantity" and eliminated from the list of possible causes for the stumbling at 3000-3500 RPM. I know it's the carburetor jetting that's causing the current stumbling but better to rule out any future distributor malfunctions now for a mere $200 with shipping.

Entry: 4/26/10 - THE INTERIOR IS DONE! Trunk carpeting is installed too, with the '65 only windshield washer bottle hole cut in the German square-weave carpet and binding sewed around the hole. Next step is a visit back to the painter to have the final cut-and-polish of the paint performed.

Entry: 4/24/10 - Steve Shepp doing his magic, he's looking pretty dang good for surviving a bout with cancer last fall. At nearly 72, Steve was trimming cars like mine when they were new and takes great pride in his work's conformance to the original design.

Here's how the back cabin came together, all the panels have been fabricated and are in the installation phase. I'm always amazed at the sequencing puzzle the carpeting kits are. The rear seat bottom pads will be glued into the pan once the carpet section below it is installed. The side panels, which were fabricated using reproduction ABS plastic wheelhouse liners I found from Jorge Perez at Sierra Madre Collections, still need to be glued to the weatherstrip lip and a couple mounting screws installed.

The front section of the carpet is nearly done with just a little more forming at the base of the cowl pockets. Steve said he's found a lot of interesting stuff lost in the bottoms of those pockets as the bottom enlarges as the glue holding the layers of carpet together lets go over time.

Entry: 4/22/10 - It's finally my turn! There was a break in the April showers today so Steve Shepp told me to bring the 912 down to the shop! He's finished fabricating the rear center panel that covers the rear deck (sitting on top of the car with the car cover in the photo) and has organized the GAHH.com German square weave carpet kit pieces around the car on the ground. This weekend is going to be dedicated to finishing the two rear side panels, installing the carpet and putting everything together, completing the interior! WOO-HOO is an understatement!

Entry: 4/15/10 - I stopped in at Steve Shepp's shop today and saw what I was waiting for, my black German square-weave carpet kit had arrived from GAHH! Because the carpet must be cut with the grain running "square" to the surface it's mounted on, it's just not economical to fabricate these from a roll of German square-weave carpet that runs $150 / sq. yard due to the huge amount of waste so the next best thing is order the kit that retails for $1,016 on their website (Steve gets it at wholesale).

Unfortunately the kit comes with the floor sections that won't be used because I have good factory rubber mats and want it to look factory original. I'm next on the schedule at Steve Shepp's shop and we've been having some really nice dry weather so it's only a matter of a few days before I take my car down to Ballard and finish the interior! Suffice to say, I can't wait to get it all done. GAHH uses Porsche factory supplied patterns for their carpet kits and automated binding equipment so the quality is as good if not better than Steve could have done. Much steaming and trimming is required to get a perfect fit, something Steve has done countless times so it will turn out perfect.

Entry: 4/13/10 - The clicking I was hearing from the front end when moving the steering wheel side to side ended up being a worn tie rod end on the outboard right side. I ordered a new one from Pelican Parts and installed it today. I removed the entire right tie rod and carefully measured the length before removing the old tie rod end so I could install the new tie rod end and adjust it to exactly the same length prior to reinstallation in the car and not mess up the wheel alignment. Now all the tasks on the list prior to the trip to Steve Shepp's shop are complete although I still need to resolve the carburetor jetting issues eventually.

Entry: 4/8/10 - Today I finished installing the passenger door panel after a trip down to Ballard to pick up some of Steve Shepp's "trimmer's secret weapon" #8 screws with #6 size heads to use in the holes that have enlarged over the years and in which the #6 size screws from the Stoddard's door panel installation kit wouldn't snug up. I went around both doors and swapped the loose screws so both doors are completely finished.

The passenger side armrest has a rubber grab handle with a plastic chrome strip running down the back edge of it. It was looking quite tired so I gave the rubber a coat of black vinyl dye followed by a wipe down with thinner to matte the shine. The plastic strip with a shiny, chrome-like veneer was scraped with a razor blade to level the surface and remove the layer of chrome veneer. New stick-on chrome tape was applied over the top and trimmed with an Exacto knife to the correct size. All-in-all the look is much better than I expected, while not perfect, it does look much better than the damaged chrome and preserves an important original detail.

Entry: 4/6/10 - I finished assembling the drivers door today and it turned out very crisp and sharp. The passenger door is just a little more complicated due to the grab handle that inserts into the armrest. I'm attempting to restore a shiny chrome strip that runs down the top of the grab handle and it's turning out pretty good.

Entry: 4/3/10 - Today Steve Shepp finished both door panels,all 4 quarter caps, both door pulls/armrests and the bar that goes across the bottom of the rear parcel shelf.Only the two quarter panel wheel house panels and the rear parcel shelf / seat back panel need to be fabricated by Steve. A black German square weave carpet kit is on order from GAHH.com. It's looking like the end is in sight!

Entry: 3/9/10 - Reproducing the liner with the elastic straps that clips to the inside of the glovebox door was today's fun little project. I took my old one down to Steve Shepp's shop and under his direction, used the proper fiberboard and padding on new German vinyl to match all the other vinyl surfaces in the interior. The padding in the old liner had turned to dust long ago so the new one looks much more puffy with the new 1/8" thick foam. I was able to salvage the 4 original metal clips that attach the liner to the back of the glovebox and after the glue cures for a day or two, I will install it into the car. Steve is getting the sense that I'm chomping at the bit to finish the car and can't wait for an opening in his schedule so we can work on it again.

Entry: 2/25/10 - So I finally got around to swapping the pilot jets today and when I removed one of the old ones, I saw it's stamped 57.5 so replacing it with the same size jets isn't going to solve anything! I sent another e-mail to Jim Kaufmann at 356 Carburetor Rescue to see if increasing the main jet size to 127.5 with jets I already have would be a logical next step. I'm interested to see what he suggests. Meanwhile, I've got an oil leak at my fuel pump to resolve. This is one of those tasks that having the car on a lift makes so easy. Once the sheetmetal plate is removed from under the fuel pump, the 13 mm nut on the bottom side can be reached with a long extension on a socket from below the car, between the heater box and muffler. I noticed a large amount of oil between the fiber insulating spacer, indicating that the O-ring around the base of the fuel pump isn't getting the job done. I put some Durko sealant on both sides of the fiber insulating spacer before reassembly to attempt to finally solve this leak. I had purchased the proper O-ring for the shaft of the fuel pump but can't see any evidence that this is the cause of the leak and won't disassemble the fuel pump unless this attempt to fix the leak fails.

Entry: 2/20/10 - Today I installed 6-mil thick plastic vapor barriers on the doors. I used clear weatherstrip cement across the tops and 3M strip caulk along the sides, bottoms and around the latch mechanism holes to allow them to be lifted for access if necessary. Cross one more thing off the list! Notice the door hinge bolts are in the process of being painted, a few more coats of Bahama Yellow before a coat of clear and they are done too!

Entry: 2/14/10 - Before installing the plastic vapor barrier and door panels I wanted to make sure and protect the bottom of the door from moisture accumulation by using Wurth Protective Wax to fill the seams. I had already coated this area with undercoating but wanted an additional layer of protection. I plan on using this same product on the longitudinal channels which already have access holes drilled in them and will be plugged with the original rubber plugs. I also finished polishing the stainless-steel door threshold strips and painted the rear fender support arms black so knock 3 more items off the list!

Entry: 2/14/10 - I dropped-off the restored door caps, rear quarter caps and rear window parcel tray lip at Steve Shepp's shop yesterday and saw my completed rear seats, recovered in new German vinyl to match all the other panels in the car. No original vinyl will be left so every vinyl-covered surface, including the arm rests will match and look showroom new.

Addressing the problem with the throttle linkage geometry due to a "rigged" piece between the tunnel rod and transmission bellcrank was another task on the list I crossed off today. I ordered the correct pieces from Stoddards a few months back, replacing the old parts with the factory designed vibration dampener, a new rubber bellows and the other pieces seen in the following photo. Everything is installed and the linkages are adjusted to the specifications listed in the factory manual ( 356B/C Technical Manual page SF 25, and page SF 26). This should iron out any issues with linkages binding and the resulting high idle.

Another task on the list to be crossed off is addressing the carburetor fine-tuning to cure the engine "stumbling" between 3000 and 3500 RPM due to fuel starvation. One of the benefits of having my carburetors remanufactured by 356 Carburetor Rescue is having Jim Kaufmann's technical support. I had the carburetors jetted to the stock settings at sealevel as the baseline when they were remanufactured and they only have this one "stumbling" problem once all synced and adjusted. I described my "stumbling" problem to Jim and wondered if increasing the main jets from "155" to "157.5" would be appropriate. Jim pointed out that RPM I mentioned is the transition between idle jets and mains, so the idle jets may be starving out before the mains kick in. Then he offered to trade me my "55" idle (a.k.a. pilot) jets for "57.5" which arrived in today's mail and are ready to swap! This is over 6 months after the sale, excellent customer service Jim! Now I'm ready for some warm dry weather to give the carbs the final "dial-in" with fingers crossed that I've finally got everything perfect.

Entry: 2/10/10 - Over the last couple days I've been slowly and carefully installing the rechromed seat recliner mechanisms onto the seat cushions. I was able to preserve the original plating on the splined tubes that connect the seat recliners by removing the layer of oxidized plating with ABC Corrosion Buster and extra fine brass wool so they look freshly plated too. Replacement rubber bumpers were installed in the seat bases where the recliner mechanisms rest so everything is back to the original stock positions. The new stainless-steel replacement screws from NLA Parts were already polished so that saved some time. The black bakelite plastic recliner and release knobs were freshed-up by cleaning them with thinner and a thin coat of gloss clear engine enamel. I feel like I scored the deal of the century by getting these replated recliner mechanisms for only $200 off eBay because having the old ones replated locally would have cost closer to $1000 (8 pieces for $150-$200 each). Now the seats are all ready to install, too bad they're not going in the car until I get it back from the bodyshop for the cut-and-polish of the paint, no dirty bodyman is sitting on these babies!

I've also finished prepping the door caps, rear quarter caps and rear window parcel tray lip by chemically stripping, media blasting and repainting with Eastwoods Rust Encapsulator. Since they're covered in German vinyl to match the rest of the interior, protecting the exposed back sides from rust is all I'm trying to accomplish here. Now they're ready to run down to Steve Shepp's shop for recovering the next time I go down to Ballard.

Entry: 2/8/10 - Over the last week I've been tinkering with a tool design to allow one man to install the high-tension spring in a seat recliner mechanism or window winder mechanism without a helper. I used an automotive SAE grade 8, ½" x 2" coarse thread socket head cap screw as the basis of the hub design. After welding in the socket head hole, the desired shape was reached after I "machined" it on a drill press using a metal file and Dremel tool to cut the slot. Mounting the hub on a ¾" x ¾" x 16" piece of bar stock involved drilling a ½" hole for the cap screw to pass through, 2 lock nuts and a cast iron faucet knob drilled and tapped to ½" coarse threads, providing a logical hand pressure point. An old screwdriver shaft was "repurposed" as the tang that holds the spring end during compression. Total cost of this experiment was about $12 in metal and hardware.

The fixture I designed to securely anchor the seat recliner in my bench vise is extremely simple. A 12" length of 2" x 2" wood stud with three 5/16" x 2 ½" bolts with rubber washers, fender washers and nuts to secure it. A piece of 1/8" closed-cell neoprene foam with three holes punched in it for the bolts to pass through are all that's needed to protect the fresh chrome from the vise. Here's a photo of it holding an old seat recliner mechanism I used to practice disassembly and assembly on.

Well finally today I decided to do all the polishing with Semichrome polish, a coat of Turtle Wax on the exposed chrome and assemble the seat recliner mechanisms I won off eBay for $200. I used Bosch high temperature disturbutor grease or tap oil on all the mechanisms and sprayed the entire assembly with WD-40. New spring covers from SierraMadreCollection finshed up the insides. Next step before installing the recliners on the new seat cushions is polishing the stainless-steel replacement screws from NLA Parts.

(This entry has also been appended to the end of the "Interior Restoration" topic above for the complete chronological history)