The Official 356Talk Forum

I must be very lucky as I did two major repairs on my first 356 in 1970 without much in the way of special tools and very little in the way of facilities. I pulled the engine at about 5 pm one evening at the base motor club and installed a set of aftermarket piston rings that I bought believing the engine was probably stock. I was lucky that it was. I reused all the old seals and gaskets on re-assembly and drove the car home at midnight. I did have help from a friend with the heavy lifting and to bring me a snack or two.
Next job was to replace the cracked diff carrier and that took more time but again I got lucky. I took the diff carrier out of my scrapped 58 VW and after taking some imprecise measurements and liberal use of prussian blue I re-assembled it and it worked as well as before it broke. It may still be out there still working "BMM935A" where are you?
All it takes is lack of money and the necessity for daily transport.

AL.
All the measuring stuff is over with the lathe and mill in another box. The photo is just the 356 engine assembly box and P-tool stuff. The scales, and head volume tools are in another case. I don't do engines all that much anymore.

John Brooks wrote:AL.
All the measuring stuff is over with the lathe and mill in another box. The photo is just the 356 engine assembly box and P-tool stuff. The scales, and head volume tools are in another case. I don't do engines all that much anymore.

Wow and you have a Ted too!

David Jones wrote:I must be very lucky as I did two major repairs on my first 356 in 1970 without much in the way of special tools and very little in the way of facilities.[...]All it takes is lack of money and the necessity for daily transport.

Probably most of us fiddling with them at that time had a similar experience, but the engine that got my attention in the Speedster was less than 15 years old at the time, and hadn't been the recipient of whatever was in the pile over there.
By now, we are all pretty much dealing with engines built of this and that, and with a huge number of cycles on some expensive parts, so someone coming in without experience is facing a lot of unknowns.

I'm somewhat better off now, but the first time I rebuilt a 356 engine, I had a milk crate for an engine stand. It was either that or take it to Valley Core. Where was Harry and his books (or videos) when I needed him?

Since it is pretty much impossible to imagine building and engine with all-new parts, there should be a serious amount of measuring going on in the build process. E.g. torque case (clean & empty) and measure main bearing saddles. Measure all crank journals. Install main bearings with plastigauge, install crank, torque case, disassemble and confirm bearing clearances, refreshing the heads and taking account of the dimension changes that causes, etc. etc, etc. The actual assembly when all parts are confirmed in-spec isn't all that tough.

After reading all these posts, I fully know how fortunate I was to have my friend Mike Horton volunteer to assist (or was I the assistant?) in rebuilding my engine when it needed a new crankshaft. Mike has a great deal of experience with air cooled engines ( father's aircraft repair shop)
including 356 engines. He has forgotten more than I will ever know! It was a great experience for me and yes, driving the car means even more to me now. In fact, as soon as I post this, my wife and I are going out for a drive!

Spike, you are lucky to have Mike "help". Enjoy the drive.

SPIKE JONES wrote:After reading all these posts, I fully know how fortunate I was to have my friend Mike Horton volunteer to assist (or was I the assistant?) in rebuilding my engine when it needed a new crankshaft. Mike has a great deal of experience with air cooled engines ( father's aircraft repair shop)
including 356 engines. He has forgotten more than I will ever know! It was a great experience for me and yes, driving the car means even more to me now. In fact, as soon as I post this, my wife and I are going out for a drive!

Congrats. There must be something very special about driving a car with an engine you built in the back!

David, I'm afraid BMM935A may have made the ultimate sacrifice so that other 356s may live, at least the registration is not currently taxed and there is no MOT history. You can check UK tax & MOT status here (note cars this old no longer require an MOT):

https://vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk/ViewVehicle

https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/

I suppose it's possible the car was re-registered under a different number at some point in its life...
Cheers
Hugo