WCSTA -06- 56 T1

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Harlan Halsey
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Re: WCSTA -06- 56 T1

#46 Post by Harlan Halsey »

In order to install the races in the front drums I made two race drivers, one for the inner race and one for the outer race. I heated the drums to 325F in my garage oven and put the inner race in first. Then inverted the drum on the driver and installed the outer race. It seemed that the drum didnt grab the outer race until it got down to under 200 degrees. I think this will work for a street car.
IMG_0303 FW Bearing Drivers.jpg
IMG_0303 FW Bearing Drivers.jpg (3.28 MiB) Viewed 4053 times
I polished the spindles and installed the seal race using the tool on the right in the above picture. That tool is a bored out race installed in a thick wall tube. I recall that in the old days we used to heat the race and it just slipped on, but this time I chose to just drive it on at RT. That worked OK but some force was required. It turns out that the seal race installer is also the rear bearing installer.

IMG_0300 LF Suspension.jpg
IMG_0300 LF Suspension.jpg (1.97 MiB) Viewed 4053 times
IMG_0301 LF Drum Installed.jpg
IMG_0301 LF Drum Installed.jpg (1.74 MiB) Viewed 4053 times

Next I polished the rear axle ends and installed the axle tubes. Both the bearings and the drums are tight, the bearings will require the VW tool to remove, and the drums, a puller.
IMG_0302 L Axle Tube.jpg
IMG_0302 L Axle Tube.jpg (1.03 MiB) Viewed 4053 times
This is a temporary installation just to make a roller of the car so that I can trailer it home where I will complete the assembly.
The next steps are to install the rear torsion bars and the spring plates, do a rough alignment of the front wheels, and figure out how to get the car down from the rack it is on and onto it's wheels.

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Harlan Halsey
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Re: WCSTA -06- 56 T1

#47 Post by Harlan Halsey »

The new KONIs arrived yesterday and a minor mystery is solved.
Since it is nearly 50 years since I bought a set of KONIs I had wanted to see if the currrent offering is still good or if the shocks had been cheapened. The mystery was that none of the usual vendors could answer the simple question: "Are the current KNOIs screwed together and so rebuildable, and modifyable; or are they now crimped together as are most shocks." All you had to do is to extend the shock fully and look...
Not so! KONI has estended the dust shield about 2" so you cannot see the top of the shock tube.
IMG_0306 Old and New Koni.jpg
IMG_0306 Old and New Koni.jpg (2.38 MiB) Viewed 4004 times
The black shock is a 10 58, probably original to the '59 Carrera. It has a fill port on the side, a feature which didn't sruvive much beyond 1959, but is otherwise identical to 1960s production, except for the black color. ( At some point those black shocks will go back on the car.) The two tools at the bottom are the KONI disassembly tools made by Dean Lyon for Chuck Forge in the 1960s. The top one is a spanner wrench and the bottom one tightens the rod packing.
IMG_0308 KONI Shock Tool.jpg
IMG_0308 KONI Shock Tool.jpg (1.61 MiB) Viewed 4004 times
As you can see, those tools wil no longer work unless the new dust shield is shortened. Also, the old KONIs had information stamped into the dust shield. No longer. And the new shock tube is 2mm smaller in diameter than the original. New tooling would be needed to disassemble the new shocks. Originally, the adjust ment range was a little more than two turns, but now it is a little less. However, KONI assures me, via e-mail, that the new version is still of twin tube construction, and rebuildable and modifyable.
IMG_0311 KONI Components.jpg
IMG_0311 KONI Components.jpg (2.48 MiB) Viewed 4004 times
The brass filter is another '58 and earlier feature which didn't survive.
I am tempted to take one of these new KONIs apart to see exactly how they are built these days, but right now getting this '56 together is a better use of time.
Last edited by Harlan Halsey on Mon Oct 12, 2020 12:40 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Harlan Halsey
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Re: WCSTA -06- 56 T1

#48 Post by Harlan Halsey »

Major milestone today, I got all four drums on. I struggled with the rubber donuts, apparently they aren't all the same size. some are too big to get the cover on even with 50mm bolts. However the ones from Wofsburg West are slightly loose in the cover. These expand when forced over the spring plate tube and still allow the cover to be put on with the long bolts. I've only cinched the covers down to within about 1/4" of contact because that's all I need for now.

The right axle seemed a little too tight, both the bearing fit and the brake drum, but the left axle had about the right bearing fit and the drum slid on. I'll try switching the drums when I get to final asembly. The right front spindle required polishiing with the Cratex wheel to get the outer bearing on. Once I polished the outer edge of the bearing seat, the bearing went on the way it should. The left went together just right the first time. Never Been Together Before, 50 year old used parts. This sort of thing is to be expected.

I seem to be having trouble with the front wheel seals. I have several spares, but some seem to be just a bit too large to press into the drum. Maybe I have VW seals mixed up with the Porsche ones.

Looks like a couple of days more work over at Bruce's in Bonny Doon and the car will be a roller and i can bring it home. It's an hour and a half theough the Santa Cruze Mountains each way and this cuts down the work time considerably.
Last edited by Harlan Halsey on Sat Aug 31, 2019 3:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Vic Skirmants
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Re: WCSTA -06- 56 T1

#49 Post by Vic Skirmants »

Front wheel seals should be same as VW.

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Harlan Halsey
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Re: WCSTA -06- 56 T1

#50 Post by Harlan Halsey »

Vic,
Are the drum brake seals the same as the disk brake?

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Vic Skirmants
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Re: WCSTA -06- 56 T1

#51 Post by Vic Skirmants »

Harlan Halsey wrote: Wed Aug 14, 2019 7:31 pm Vic,
Are the drum brake seals the same as the disk brake?
Definitely not.

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Harlan Halsey
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Re: WCSTA -06- 56 T1

#52 Post by Harlan Halsey »

I brought the drum home and cleaned up the chamfer. I still couldn't get the VW seal to go in by tapping side to side. So I put the drum on the mill table, put a wood block across the seal and pushed with the quill. The seal went right in with practically no pressure. Sometimes a change of approach is needed. The drum is back on the car. The tie rods are both in and roughly adjusted, ball joints tight. (Modern ball joints come with Nyloc nuts which are difficult to tighten as the ball tends to turn. So I tighten with an ordinary nut, then substitute the Nyloc.)
Last edited by Harlan Halsey on Sat Aug 31, 2019 3:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Harlan Halsey
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Re: WCSTA -06- 56 T1

#53 Post by Harlan Halsey »

The '56 is almost ready to trailer home.
IMG_0312 56 drums on.jpg
IMG_0312 56 drums on.jpg (1.48 MiB) Viewed 3513 times
The hood latch is a potential problem. Originally there was no adjustment on the hood, and very little on the body. This means that he hood latch spear, swinging on about a 4' arc has to penetrate the bottom latch with only about a 1/16" leeway. What is the chance of that still happening, given that the hood was kinked, the hood front rebuilt, and a new Trevor nose put on the car?
IMG_0313 hood latch next.jpg
IMG_0313 hood latch next.jpg (1.1 MiB) Viewed 3513 times
I had to enlarge one of the holes in the hood bracket to allow the 6mm hex head cap screws to align with the captive nuts. If the spear doesn't align on my next visit, I will just wire the hood nearly closed and trailer it that way. Finishing the alignment will be better addressed at home.

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Wes Bender
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Re: WCSTA -06- 56 T1

#54 Post by Wes Bender »

Good plan on the latch. It will take some tinkering to get it right. Project's coming along nicely.
Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints.....

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Harlan Halsey
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Re: WCSTA -06- 56 T1

#55 Post by Harlan Halsey »

We put the car on its wheels and found that the steering shaft turns on the splined coupler shaft. I don't have the proper clamp, so I used the nut plate with a bolt assuming that the splines would hold for small forces. It turns out that there are no internal splines in the steering shaft!

Is this normal for a '56 with the VW steering box?

If so, only friction (and the bolt relief in the coupler shaft) take the considerable steering wheel torque. I have always thought that the steering shaft was internally splined. I thought the bolt relief prevented the shaft from pulling off while the splines took the torque. Was I wrong?

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Harlan Halsey
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Re: WCSTA -06- 56 T1

#56 Post by Harlan Halsey »

September 11 we put the car on the trailer and brought it home from Bruce's in Bonny Doon.
IMG_0314 9 11 0119 Heading Home.jpg
IMG_0314 9 11 0119 Heading Home.jpg (2.15 MiB) Viewed 3234 times
IMG_0315 9 11 2019 Heading Home 2.jpg
IMG_0315 9 11 2019 Heading Home 2.jpg (2.28 MiB) Viewed 3234 times
The trailer was constructed more than 50 years ago especially to haul 356s. Chuck Forge was the second owner and he trailered all over the West with it, and once back to the run-offs at Road Atlanta.I borrowed it often to trailer my Carrera, usually to the Historics. After his passing I bought it from his estate.

Home in the garage for final assembly:
IMG_0317 Home Garage Front.jpg
IMG_0317 Home Garage Front.jpg (1.93 MiB) Viewed 3234 times
IMG_0318 Home Garage Rear.jpg
IMG_0318 Home Garage Rear.jpg (1.94 MiB) Viewed 3234 times

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Wes Bender
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Re: WCSTA -06- 56 T1

#57 Post by Wes Bender »

Just curious. How do you open the car door? (OK, maybe you don't drive it on the trailer.) Tried that once and backing it back off the trailer again was a bit embarrassing......
Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints.....

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Harlan Halsey
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Re: WCSTA -06- 56 T1

#58 Post by Harlan Halsey »

Wes,
It is a tilt bed trailer. We always just pushed the cars on back in the racing days. Chuck tilted the trailer with a floor jack located far enough back that the trailer would tilt level when the car was all the way forward. Two guys could do it. We'd get about a 10 foot run at it. The car was not tied down, there were too tall rear chocks which bolted to the trailer bed. We once picked up a speedster destined to become a race car with only one chock. I added a hand crank winch when I got the trailer so I could load it myself.
The trailer had one major flaw and that was that the fenders were too wide. If the car moved over so that the tires were against the edge of the channel the fender would contact the door and leave a large witness mark in the paint. There were quite a few 356s in the area which suffered that damage. I used to have 2 x 4 spacers which fit between the car tire and the trailer channel edge to prevent that when I borrowed the trailer. Chuck did the same thing when he towed the red car. When I got the trailer, first thing, I narrowed the fenders about 1 1/2" to the out side and threw away the spacers and the chocks. I winch the car to about 3" from the front stop, tie a thick nylon rope between the hoop and the trailer rear crossbar and stretch the rope with the winch. No other tiedowns. That system works for me, and it is the reason we rebuilt the battery box on this '56 as a T2-so as to have the tow loop. Sometimes I choose to put the originality back in where Porsche left it out.

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Vic Skirmants
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Re: WCSTA -06- 56 T1

#59 Post by Vic Skirmants »

" No other tiedowns." Yikes! You never towed on Michigan roads. Although other states are rapidly catching up. Towing to the first Porsche Rennsport at Laguna Seca, during one of my frequent checks of the straps; five cars in the old trailer: I found my own car had shifted over on one of the top ramps and only one-half of a rear tire was still on the ramp. Added another strap and pulled it back in position.

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Gordon White
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Re: WCSTA -06- 56 T1

#60 Post by Gordon White »

15 years and many miles with no problem.
Winch in and winch out.
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