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Re: Marks 64 356C; brakes and suspension.

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 5:04 pm
by M Penta
The turn signal switch was flopping all around. It had a broken spring and was also missing a part for the high/low switch. The part that was missing was a small plunger that goes into the white plastic square piece. Miraculously, I found the “dog bone” pin still stuck in the switch.

I made a new plunger out of brass and used a pen spring for tension. I had several pens apart and found one with a stiffer black spring. Once I got the lengths of the spring/plunger correct, and reinstalled it for the 2nd time, it worked like a charm.

I have operated that switch in all directions like a million times since the repair was made and it is working very well. It was not an easy task with the switch in the car. No pics of plunger, but you can see the tip of it with dogbone installed.

Re: Marks 64 356C; brakes and suspension.

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2016 5:11 pm
by M Penta
Original tie rods ready to be installed. I installed two new boots. The tie rods and tie rod ends are original to the car and are in good shape.

Are these original Boge shocks?

More updates coming; ,sSuspension, steering and brakes are done, new 2AWG bat cable installed, axle boots.

Started doing some cleaning too, this car is cleaning up nicely! Kids are on break so I had them clean glass and polish misc stuff. They got sick of it pretty fast, but they were actually helpful.


Next step is to fluid film every blind cavity, then interior will go in. I think I'll be going with some carmine red leather front seat covers from Buckingham classics in Stamford CT. While they specialize in British stuff, they make these custom for 356's. The color looks like it will match nicely, but still waiting on color swatch.

I did not get the color of the calipers right as you can see. It was supposed to be a cad color caliper paint, but came out too green! Oh well!

Re: Marks 64 356C; misc updates

Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2016 2:24 pm
by ryan base
mark, good job on turn signal project.

Re: Marks 64 356C; misc updates

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 10:39 pm
by M Penta
Thanks Ryan, it was a royal pita.

Re: Marks 64 356C; misc updates

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2016 12:18 am
by M Penta
Progress has been slow lately. Last week my Jetta Tdi died on my way home from work at 11:30PM. Injection pump died and was due for t belt, also needed many little things. I had the repairs done since I do not have the special tools or time do the job. This really set me back!
I had to pull the van out of hibernation early and racked some commuting miles past couple of weeks (much of it in pouring rain and mud).

Progress since last post:

shifter/shift linkage rebuild - new coupler bushings, guide rod bushing, shift rod seal and boots. Also replaced main shaft seal.
Replacing the shift rod seal was the trickiest part. Other then a minor ding in the shaft, all went OK. I was careful not to damage the coupler. I had to get creative with some sockets to press the shaft out.

Re: Marks 64 356C; misc updates

Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2016 12:44 am
by M Penta
Both fender braces and battery box are done. The last of the welding!

Brakes are 99% done, just waiting on 1 banjo bolt. I did my best to duplicate the gold cad, and I am done with these calipers! I went with a dual circuit master cyl and installed all new brake lines. The brake job took much longer then expected.

New shocks, steering stab and original tie rods reinstalled with new boots. Also new speedo cable to replace the one I ruined when removing spindles. The KYB's seem like a very good deal and I could not justify the extra $$ for Koni's right now.

New ground straps and 2AWG Bat cable, new fuel line, clutch cable, throttle linkage.

Getting close, but plenty still to do. Next week I hope to have all blind cavities sprayed with fluid film and then begin interior installation.

912 engine will be test run and get a leak down/compression test. First I need to inspect/rebuild/install 6V starter and generator from original engine (staying 6V).

Re: Marks 64 356C; misc updates

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 3:43 pm
by DonCichocki
Mark,
I have KYB's on my '65C and the ride is very nice, can't beat the price either $78 for 4 shocks shipped!

Re: Marks 64 356C; misc updates

Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 7:37 pm
by M Penta
Hi Don,

I hope you left a 1 off the front of that number! Even with the 1, a good deal and I bet they will work just fine in this light little car.

Re: Marks 64 356C; misc updates

Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2016 10:34 am
by DonCichocki
Mark,
No, that price was correct at the time, about 1 year ago. The shipping was $2 per shock!
The new KYB part #'s are: 343144 front, 343147 rear. If you google those part #'s and shop around you'll come up with some amazing prices.

Re: Marks 64 356C; misc updates

Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 11:28 am
by M Penta
Getting ready to line my gas tank. I cut a hole to access other side of baffle. I was going to make a hatch plate but instead decided to install the fuel cell cap for easier future access. There is still plenty more more prep work to do but it looks good under all the varnish. The bottom has some pitting on the outside but it does not go through and the tank did not leak.

Re: Marks 64 356C; misc updates

Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 11:32 am
by M Penta
Just want to thank John in CO for the good deal on the sway bar brackets, and Adam for the heater vents and petcock asm. I rebuilt the petock asm today, it cleaned up nicely as did the other parts.

Re: Marks 64 356C; misc updates

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2016 6:46 pm
by M Penta
After taking a better look at the tank I decided not to line it and returned the liner kit. The inside looks ok, the bottom of the outside has some pitting which I will fix with "Marine Tex". I read to many horror stories about liners failing after a few years and do not see the need to line this tank.

I ordered leather front seat covers last week. I got them in Carmine red which is a darker red and matched my interior very well. I had several color swatches in actual material to chose from.
The seats are leather with 5 pleat perforated inserts (the perforated inserts cost more but worth it I think). The place I got them from is a British car specialist, but they had templates for a 356C since a customer had one in his collection and wanted them to do the seats. The shop has a very good reputation, I look forward to going to CT to pick them up in 4 or 5 weeks.

Today I finally tried the new Fluid Film kit. I thoroughly sprayed every blind cavity 2X. First I used the reverse 360* wand and then the straight nozzle wand. I had to drill two small holes to get into the rear dog legs. The longs already had 2 holes drilled on each side, and I used the original holes in the top as well. Also got inside the doors. I was able to see down in them with the large plugs removed and they look very good. Very satisfying to that know every blind cavity is now sprayed. It took like 6 hrs but was a fun and relatively easy job.

Re: Marks 64 356C; misc updates

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2016 7:28 pm
by M Penta
I decided to take my starter apart to inspect it. I was going to replace the brushes but they did not need it. I cleaned everything up and re lubed bushing and bendix asm. Everything seems OK but have not tested it yet. It was pretty easy to do, except the brushes and brush holder was a bit of a fight. All shims and washers went back in same order. I'll be testing next week when the 912 engine finally gets bolted up to my make shift test stand.

I decided not to take my generator apart after reading up on it. I would love to simply re lube the bearings but going to leave it alone for now. It spins like new and seems fine (for now), but I would hate to have the bearings fail shortly after getting it running.

Re: Marks 64 356C; misc updates

Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 7:40 pm
by M Penta
Well, life has gotten in the way again. Since Spring has arrived I have been busy with house related stuff, among a million other things. the 356 has once again found the back burner, but not for long I hope since it is getting very close!

A few updates:

I transplanted the heater boxes from original crusty J tubes, to the new tubes I had for 912 engine. I am using the header that came with the 912 engine since the original muffler is not as good as I thought.

The exhaust, heater boxes and flapper boxes are pretty much done. I painted with Stoddard grey exhaust paint and the black is VHT with VHT high temp primer. Seemed to work OK, but the grey paint kept clogging the nozzle which made it hard to do a good job.

I completely redid the flapper boxes, but still waiting on 2 springs.

My paint drying rack is starting to bloom, so glad everything has been painted.

Re: Marks 64 356C; misc updates

Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 7:59 pm
by M Penta
Also working on the 912 engine, finally ready to go on the test stand. I swapped out the tach drive oil pump gear from the 356 engine. The oil pump drive tang on 912 engine is like new, the 356 had some slight wear. This mystery 912 engine seems to be in good shape as far as I can tell, I can see cross hatching on cyls down through plug hole and leak down results were good. It appears to have a new cam and aluminum oil cooler as well. I still need to do compression test and run the thing.

I measured oil pump gears and protrusion from case and all is in spec, also installed new relief and bypass spring. I have a new gasket and will torque the cover plate down tomorrow, but I am considering plastiguaging the gears to cover first.

The top photo is of C oil pump gear with worn oil pump drive tang. The 912 gear looks like new, as does the cam slot. So far so good.