'55 Fuse Board, ID plate rivets and a bit on painters

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Vincent Gillespie
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'55 Fuse Board, ID plate rivets and a bit on painters

#1 Post by Vincent Gillespie »

Hello, a couple of questions, attached are photos of the back of my fuse board, logic tells me that the disconnections one can see were done at the factory with a drill, you can see where the drill tip just touched the Bakelite, is this correct? Also does anyone know of a source for the cover or have a picture of it?

Regarding the rivets for the ID plate by the petrol tank, at the moment I can't find my photo but if memory serves me correctly they were simple hollow pop rivets and not peened over aluminium, correct?

We have a milestone, she is at the paint shop & to drill the holes for the wing mirrors I had to install the seat and actually sit in it holding the steering wheel yippee, I almost made engine noises! This is the first time ever as before this I was testing things sitting on a plank of wood. Mind you it really reinforced the need for wing mirrors, the rear view vision is dreadful and as for driving in the dark when it was raining or snowing with this and the pathetic little wipers must have been interesting.

There was a question on the forum a couple of months back regarding how to choose a paint shop, this is what happened to me. I initially asked for quotes from classic car workshops I already knew that did very good work. However, just before i committed to one of them a long time family friend of my niece's fiance, who owns a work shop heard what I was working on and got very excited. It's a mid size privately owned work shop that, over the years, has evolved into solely working on high end modern cars, mainly insurance work. It gives him a good living as well as paying the bills, but they find it boring and does not use the skills they spent so much learning. To cut a long story short they asked to quote, when they saw the car they were all over it and were so excited that I went with them. So far it's prooving to be a great choice, the prep work is still going on, lots of guide coats, hammer tapping and sanding, I actually can't see or feel the bits they tell me aren't good enough. Also the paint manufacturers representative is delighted to deal with something different, is researching all sorts of stuff for the colour match and happy to keep mixing test samples until everyone is happy. Frankly I don't think my eyes are discerning enough to see the subtle differences, but I'll just go along with it.

V&S
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James Davies
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Re: '55 Fuse Board, ID plate rivets and a bit on painters

#2 Post by James Davies »

Hi Vincent,

That's not a factory modification of the fuse box. More like a user modification. =(

I'm attaching a photo of a fuse box from late-'55 I sold a couple years ago. You can also see this same fuse box featured in most printings of the 1954 Service Manual. The graphic on page L7 shows the backside connections, and the photo on page L13 shows the paper insert inside the lid.

And pre-As had aluminum-peened rivets holding on the chassis data plate. See photo below.

And congratulations on getting it to the paint shop! Can't wait to see the results.

James
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Vincent Gillespie
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Re: '55 Fuse Board, ID plate rivets and a bit on painters

#3 Post by Vincent Gillespie »

Once again thanks James, I wonder why this was done? When I saw your photos I thought it might correspond to 2 bridging wires used to connect 2 fuse terminals but no, they connect the 2 terminals immediately beside these disconnections, I'm in a quandry now, do I reconnect them?
Anyone any idea of a source for a replacement cover & screw?
V&S
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Tom Coughlin
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Re: '55 Fuse Board, ID plate rivets and a bit on painters

#4 Post by Tom Coughlin »

 KTF, member #15

Hendrik Moulds
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Re: '55 Fuse Board, ID plate rivets and a bit on painters

#5 Post by Hendrik Moulds »

Congratulations on getting to sit in your car! :D

Sounds like you've found the right paintshop too.

Yes they are certainly interesting to drive in the dark and in the snow (I have done both). In the dark you tend to be at eye level with other peoples headlights which can be blinding, I found out why the changed from the clap hand wipers too when it started snowing while I was out for a drive, I had to stop to clear it off the windscreen a few times!
'53 Cabriolet
'61 Notchback

Vincent Gillespie
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Re: '55 Fuse Board, ID plate rivets and a bit on painters

#6 Post by Vincent Gillespie »

Thanks Tom, I've contacted the ads on The Samba, for some reason it just never comes into my head as a place to look, something I must try and rectify.

Hendrick, at least with a cabrio you can put the top down and look over and around the windshield. OK you might need your snow goggles, mask and a heated suit, but at least you can see what's around!

Regarding the paint shop, it was certainly fortunate timing of a conversation with my niece's fiance. I did have one place who went the 'Porsche price' route and quoted me a laughable amount, 2.5 times the others they were told not to even bother putting it in writing!, I viewed it as basically metal prep and spraying a coating on a car. Like any work if the people doing it have the necessary experience and, maybe more importantly, are enthusiastic they are generally the best choice.

V
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Ned Gorski
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Re: '55 Fuse Board, ID plate rivets and a bit on painters

#7 Post by Ned Gorski »

interesting ....
my cab 60748 a early 55 has the 12 place fuse block also, but the mounting screw is located dead center not off set to one side. .. .. i'm assuming the fuse box is original as i still have the original wiring harness .... JAMES :) ???

Regards Ned
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James Davies
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Re: '55 Fuse Board, ID plate rivets and a bit on painters

#8 Post by James Davies »

Yes, Ned, the first 1955 cars had the center screw fuse box. I think the change to the offset one was around coupe 53276 and cab 60788, but I don't have good data on that. Just reading between the lines from Porsche documentation.

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Re: '55 Fuse Board, ID plate rivets and a bit on painters

#9 Post by Ned Gorski »

James your better than google... Thanks

Brad Ripley
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Re: '55 Fuse Board, ID plate rivets and a bit on painters

#10 Post by Brad Ripley »

I always thought the fuse block with screw centered was for all Pre-A.
For the last many years the only 12-fuse block available from Germany is one with the screw in the center (between fuse 6 and 7). There is no reproduction being made as the availability and price of the current version is still good.

As it turns out, a different vendor to Porsche/Reutter came along coincidental with the 356A cars; their design was a little different so the screw had to be offset. The cover as also more rounded. Both versions have the mounting screws in the same place so it's likely there was not a distinct change for Pre-A to A.

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Re: '55 Fuse Board, ID plate rivets and a bit on painters

#11 Post by Brad Ripley »

Oh, and on the data plates ---- early ones were steel, not aluminum. Consequently, steel rivets were used on those -- alum rivets for the later alum plates.

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James Davies
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Re: '55 Fuse Board, ID plate rivets and a bit on painters

#12 Post by James Davies »

Thanks Brad. Yes, if one looks at the 1955 parts book on pages 330-31, you'll see the offset fuse box pictured, with both the center and offset one listed with the chassis numbers listed for when the change happened. This seems to be consistent with cars existing today, but as you know, fuse boxes can be changed pretty easily.

Kirsten made the offset-nut fuse box as far as I know. Part number 4012.

Vincent Gillespie
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Re: '55 Fuse Board, ID plate rivets and a bit on painters

#13 Post by Vincent Gillespie »

Thanks for all the help, I hopefully will soon have a cover for the fuse board.
Regarding the data plate mine is steel so does that mean it would have the hollow pop rivets I think they were?
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Jim Karaba
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Re: '55 Fuse Board, ID plate rivets and a bit on painters

#14 Post by Jim Karaba »

My 53 was a steel ID plate but has solid rivets. I don't think they used the hollow pop rivets at this time frame.
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Re: '55 Fuse Board, ID plate rivets and a bit on painters

#15 Post by James Davies »

Yes, all the pre-A cars had solid rivets on the chassis data plate.

The early, larger chassis data plates with 5 rows of information used through ~Feb 1953 were made of aluminum.

Jim, what is the model designation on yours? 356/10?

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