My 57 356A T1

[Larry Coreth]

See the Registry website, Resources/Tech literature/Bill Romano for parts books and shop manuals in pdf format or Charlie White for hard copies of the same and more.
Original manuals have become rare and expensive but can be had. Block's Books has some restoration books which may help too.
The factory shop manual and parts books are essential to any restoration or 356 maintenance as a basic library.
Best of luck in your research !

[Mark Erbesfield]

See the Registry website, Resources/Tech literature/Bill Romano for parts books and shop manuals in pdf format or Charlie White for hard copies of the same and more.
Original manuals have become rare and expensive but can be had. Block's Books has some restoration books which may help too.
The factory shop manual and parts books are essential to any restoration or 356 maintenance as a basic library.Best of luck in your research !

Larry, unfortunately Bill only has B and C manuals. I have the other good books like Elfink's but really need a factory A manual. Hard to believe no one has done it in off yet.

[Larry Coreth]

See Cahrlie White for the A manual

[Mark Erbesfield]

See Cahrlie White for the A manual

Just found it and ordered it. Thanks

[Mark Erbesfield]

Progress has been slowed a bit due to my having to have surgery to repair a Detacted Retina. Not sure how long my recovery will be, but at this point I have only one good eye and it is only half good. I will continue to post any progress. Thanks

[Larry Coreth]

Hope you recover quickly I know not being able to see well can be a real aggravation.

[Mark Erbesfield]

Thanks, it is very frustrating.

[Mark Erbesfield]

Is it worth the extra money for the Koni unit?

[Larry Coreth]

Do you mean the steering damper? If so, in my opinion the Koni unit is way over priced for the fuction it serves. The Boge unit works just fine and the adjustablity of the Koni is overkill for the steering. For the suspension dampers the Konis are in my opinion the best for a 356. Others may be as good but I'm old school, hold over from the 60's when Konis were the only real performance shock.

[Mark Erbesfield]

Do you mean the steering damper? If so, in my opinion the Koni unit is way over priced for the fuction it serves. The Boge unit works just fine and the adjustablity of the Koni is overkill for the steering. For the suspension dampers the Konis are in my opinion the best for a 356. Others may be as good but I'm old school, hold over from the 60's when Konis were the only real performance shock.

Yes I am referring to the steering damper. When you say suspension dampers, are you referring to "shocks"? If so I have heard that Koni's are the best for the 356. Car now has Boge in front and Bilstein in rear. At some point I will go with all new Koni's. And I guess go with Boge for my missing steering damper. I did see a slightly used Koni steering damper for sale for half of the new cost, but still three times the cost of the Boge.

[Larry Coreth]

Sorry, being an engineer and lifelong car enthusiast occasionally I use nomenclature that tends to be used by engineering types only. So to be clear, a damper is a shock absorber or a "shock" for short whether it is used on the suspension or the steering. Thus you could call the steering damper a steering “shock” but you may get a puzzled look from most people.

[Mark Erbesfield]

Does anyone have a pair of good serviceable Spacers for late A front spindle? Or is this a part that should most definitely be new? Stoddard sells the but they are pricy at $99 each. Ouch!

[Mark Erbesfield]

Quick update: no pics, sorry. All front suspension members are now freshly painted w 2K chassis black paint. All new parts are on hand except the aforementioned spacers. I need to decide whether I am going to blast the inner fenders or go with them as is. Not sure yet, but hope to come to terms soon so I can move forward.

[Mark Erbesfield]

Here are the pics of the front suspension I promised from March. They are all painted and ready to go. King Pins have been installed and reamed. All parts for reassembly are on hand.

[Mark Erbesfield]

This weekend I finished up the body cart. In order to be able to sand blast the inner fenders, I first had to build a body cart to get the tub outside. I have just installed a new beast of an air compressor in our shop so pressure and volume should no longer be an issue when it comes to blasting. Next step will be to roll the car outside and hit the front inner fenders, shoot is with a coat of epoxy and then put the front end back together. My order from Restoration Design has arrived so I now have the few bits needed to fix a couple of items. I am not going too deep with this go round. My intention is to get this thing on the road as I have mentioned previously. I ordered a battery box floor, and a couple of fender brackets. These will be easy fixes. Once the front is back together and the little bit of metal work completed, I will drop the motor and work on the rear suspension and brakes. I built the body cart in such a way that I should be able to use it for the 912 when the 356 comes off of it. I hope

rear inset to capture the torsion bar

slips into 2x2 tubing