UK Outlaw

For those who couldn't care less how their 356 left the factory!
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Stewart Webster
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Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2011 9:00 pm
Location: Melbourne Australia

Re: UK Outlaw

#61 Post by Stewart Webster »

Graham, if you go into march 2013 , Aussie Outlaw of Stewart Webster youll see a nice looking car thats still all 356 I think its page 5
Stewart Webster
Melbourne, Australia

'54 Speedster
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Graham Kerr
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Joined: Mon Sep 01, 2008 6:21 am
Location: West Sussex, England

Re: UK Outlaw

#62 Post by Graham Kerr »

Hi Stewart,
Thanks for getting back. There was a 911 powered 356 that I saw originally at a swap meet in Pennsylvania a few years back then I saw the same car at an East coast registry event at New Jersey. I was all over the car the second time I saw it and was able to speak with the owner. He almost put me off the whole job because to get the trans in his car he cut out the whole rear and re-positioned the torsion bar tube 2 1/2" forward and he did say it was a big deal. Fortunately I measured twice and cut once and found that if I ran early short wheelbase 911 banana arms it would leave the rear hubs in the stock position. This fact was monumental to the conversion and although it made the position of the engine fan very close to the rear bodywork it all fitted. One thing that I did not want to happen was to alter the original shape of the classic 356 body shape and this I have accomplished even running 6 and 7" 16" Fuchs. As you mentioned I really do have to stiffen up the front end of the car. When it's on the ramp there is noticeable movement between the front line of the door and the body so I shall run tubing from the roll bar by the seats forward to the front torsion bar tubing although I will be converting the front suspension to A arms and rack and pinion steering just as soon as time permits but prior to this work I just want to get the car running nicely before I start chopping again.
The current dilemma has hit the UK hard. Millions out of work with debt mounting and no good news on the horizon. I took very early retirement (I'm ex-airline) my wife is still working so that pays the day to day bills. We have no problems apart from all the damn pubs are closed.
86 SSE Turbo Look 3.2 Carrera
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Martin Benade
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Location: Cleveland, Ohio

Re: UK Outlaw

#63 Post by Martin Benade »

What kind of A-arm setup will it be? A transplant or will you make everything? I think that will be a good thing, a better match to the more modern rear suspension. Hopefully it won’t take buying too many sets of springs to get the handling sorted. Obviously you are not afraid of work.
Cleveland Ohio
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Graham Kerr
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Re: UK Outlaw

#64 Post by Graham Kerr »

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Unfortunately not too much to report on the UK Outlaw. As you may have gathered the car is not in my home garage but at a workshop 150 miles away and due to the current travelling restrictions I am unable to continue my frequent visits there. The couple of mechanics at the workshop have been furloughed so there is only my main man Steve labouring alone on the cars and he has been working hard to finish a cabriolet for a very wealthy French gentleman. Due once again to all the travelling problems, Steve was unable to nip across to France to deliver the car and had to use a third party vehicle delivery company, it was not a problem to them but it must have taken a bit out of the profit margin.
So with my engine out of the car to have the carbon effect wrap put onto the tinware and fitted back onto the motor (and all my 911 pals reckon this wrap is plain nasty, but what the f*^k do they know) it's time to give the engine compartment a spruce up and get it ready for a bit of paint. Also Steve sand blasted the headers and threw some silver on them but I don't know how long that will last on hot exhausts and I might get them aluminium sprayed at a later date.
Now without being able to get under the car to get some accurate measurements I cannot start to sort out new front suspension and steering. There will be a continuance of the roll bar to the sill at the front lower corner of the door then a further continuance forward to the step in the boot/trunk sector. By doing this in two hits I can keep getting in and out of the car within realms of ease and not something akin to a Nascar machine. This will give me a good mounting point for the top of a McPherson strut, the lower part will attach to a basic A arm with facility for anti-roll bar. I'm in the dark about hub choice but if I can keep it Porsche then I will. For the steering rack anything will do as long as the geometry complies and I rather fancy one of the Ididit columns with the tilt function. I will be very happy to cut out all the old torsion bars and tubing and with all this virus isolation business continuing I might just start this conversion rather sooner than later.
And Deep Joy, just heard that our UK Porsche club is holding a track day at Goodwood (20miles from my house) on 22nd June, so I'll be waking up the 911 and making my way down there; gosh actually something to look forward to!!
86 SSE Turbo Look 3.2 Carrera
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Graham Kerr
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Location: West Sussex, England

Re: UK Outlaw

#65 Post by Graham Kerr »

Recently speaking with a Porsche owner, not exactly a friend, who remonstrated as how I had through my modifications totally lost all monetary value of my car. I didn't contest his train of thought as I quickly realised his opinion would not be swayed and I really had much better things to do with my time. But I did give his comments further thought and should I have wished to enter into a debate I would have proferred the following response.
My 356 is a LHD T6 B. I mention LHD because here in the UK as you may know we drive on the left, so my 356 being a 'left hooker' is immeadiately worth less than RHD. The T6 B is the one in the middle model, not as desirable as an 'A' or even pre 'A', nor is it as desirable as a 'C' which had everything the factory had developed for the 356. The B is the bastard child, the runt, the one in the middle and as consequence it carried much less intrinsic value and further bore much less desire for the owner to spend vast amounts of money bringing the car back to even a fairly decent state.
My 356 came to me as a rusty, damaged shell with a few boxes of parts. If I had started on a factory correct restoration the costs for the multitude of components the car required would have very soon caused me the most severe financial hardship. So I just did the best that my budget and ability could muster.
I will say now that going the route of changing the engine and transmission has increased my outgoings but my belief is that when the car is completely finished the result will be a car that will be able to command a much higher figure than would a stock T6B. However, as I have no intention of ever selling my 356 these remarks are rather worthless. I would add in addition that one of the main factors that propelled me toward the construction of my personal 356, I'm trying not to say outlaw here, it's a term I'm not too happy with, was a 40 mile ride in a stock 356 T5. This car was mint, possibly 90 out of 100, but it was dreadful, an unpleasant ride, so slow, and it made me think about what I should and could do to my car.
I'm near to finishing the car although I do have a few future plans for it, but what I have done is not change the sublime shape of the car. OK I've smoothed the front panels and louvered the deck lid and I did drill my door handles all of eight years ago but it is still very much 356 which how ever much you may dislike 'outlaw' modifications it is still the beautiful 356 and damn monetary values.
86 SSE Turbo Look 3.2 Carrera
Cole Foster Chop
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62 356B T6 (modified)

Nick Pike
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Re: UK Outlaw

#66 Post by Nick Pike »

Next time someone tells you that your LHD car is worth less just remind them how much their RHD car is worth outside the UK and that your LHD version drives better.
Nick Pike - London, England

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Martin Benade
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Re: UK Outlaw

#67 Post by Martin Benade »

As long as you will change the front suspension why not go with upper and lower control arms? It is surprising how well the McPherson suspension works on a lot of performance cars but it was originally a cheap setup devised for cheap Fords.
I am just throwing out a thought, I am not anti McPherson strut suspension at all. The job on your car is impressive, keep building what pleases you.
Cleveland Ohio
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Graham Kerr
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Re: UK Outlaw

#68 Post by Graham Kerr »

Double A arms would be very nice indeed, in fact a pal has this set up on his VW Beetle all in stainless steel and it is sweet but the reasoning behind the McPherson strut is that I can use 911 front struts which of course have the hub spindles and fitments for meaty disc brakes and a multitude of shock absorber inserts. The lower control arms could be easily modified to triangulate them plus fit a small coil over unit and position for the fitment of anti roll bar. The real joy with McPherson struts is their ease in adjustability. The upper bearing can be set forward, back or side to side via the top mount, just perfect for tuning the suspension. And our old Escorts and Capris used to get around corners pretty well, that's on and off road.
You've got me going now, I'm going to have a poke around Ebay now and see if I can find a reasonably priced 911 front suspension, once a hot rodder, always a hot . . . .
86 SSE Turbo Look 3.2 Carrera
Cole Foster Chop
75 Honda ST70
94 Buell ST2
74 Dax Cobra
18 Macan Turbo
62 356B T6 (modified)

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Graham Kerr
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Location: West Sussex, England

Re: UK Outlaw

#69 Post by Graham Kerr »

Whilst I never like to fix a problem before it exists the cooling of my 911 engine in my wee beastie may well pose a problem mainly because the 911 cooling fan is a miniscule distance away from the rear bodywork effectively shrouding the intake of air. I am most reluctant to adorn the car with scoops and extraneous body work additions in vain attempts to direct a bit of breeze toward ther engine but one sneaky way of giving it a tad more air was through the original 'frenched' licence plate which was cut out of the rear body work and replaced with a chunk of open hole mesh stainless with the licence plate still attached but standing proud away from the mesh but still very slightly recessed.
The car is in for the re-paint of the rear fender that had the small strip of metal added to it in order to equalise the rear end after discovering the rear had been in a minor shunt somewhen back. It had been pushed in about a half inch bur I just didn't see any difference until we fitted the Elephant rear suspension pieces and wondered why one wheel was sticking out further than the other. The tape measure came out and then we discovered that all was not exactly what it should be. No problems, it's all fixed now, so not much more to do, after the paint just sling the engine back in, do a bit of detailing and we are rockin'. Maybe in the next month or so I can give y'all some zero to sixty times and a few sideways action shots.
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86 SSE Turbo Look 3.2 Carrera
Cole Foster Chop
75 Honda ST70
94 Buell ST2
74 Dax Cobra
18 Macan Turbo
62 356B T6 (modified)

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Graham Kerr
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Location: West Sussex, England

Re: UK Outlaw

#70 Post by Graham Kerr »

Just sold my old Harley WL45, yeah sad, I totally rebuilt that mosheen, rebuilt engine, gearbox, carb, sprayed the frame and body, every nut bolt and washer, but it turned into a garage queen, every time I rode it I would spend the next day cleaning it. It did win some major awards but that made it even worse. Anyway it';s gone and I've just ordered a Cole Foster/Salinas boys custom street chop. Although it will be super cool in the looks department it will be a bike I can jump on and just ride down to the store or take it to the classic Isle of Man, provided that's on for '21. Damn this covid stuff. It'll look like this . . . .
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86 SSE Turbo Look 3.2 Carrera
Cole Foster Chop
75 Honda ST70
94 Buell ST2
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18 Macan Turbo
62 356B T6 (modified)

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Doug McDonnell
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Re: UK Outlaw

#71 Post by Doug McDonnell »

Graham I once had a track prepared SC that had aeroquip lines to a cooler mounted near the front passengers side fender brace. Similar to what was done on 911s. You might want to consider the same for cooling.
1965 356C 2000 BMW 740i Sport 1967 Honda CL77 There is never enough time to do it right, but always enough time to do it over.

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Robert Reed
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Re: UK Outlaw

#72 Post by Robert Reed »

Graham; keep aiming at your goals, I can’t wait to see it when you’re done. I’m betting that you can’t either.
I think that your 45 was gorgeous, but dang; that chopper you ordered is just beautiful!
Bob

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Herlin E. Woolery
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Re: UK Outlaw

#73 Post by Herlin E. Woolery »

+ 1 Robert Reed,
I feel for you on selling your Harley Classic, Had a 42' Knuckle sold years ago.
The new chopper you ordered has nice clean lines no bulkiness and I just might check out the Harleys again.
Thanks Graham for the nice Pictures.
Herlin

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Graham Kerr
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Re: UK Outlaw

#74 Post by Graham Kerr »

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Here is another post from a person who doesn't give a s%%t about their car. Hey, I didn't say it. Anyway it's a little late because I've been doing a load of groundwork at my house in order to accommodate a summerhouse plus a large recreation room in my back garden. With a bunch of folks finding that they can work from home with all this virus stuff going round it's becoming quite the done thing to have office space at ones home. I'm pleased to say I don't have to work but it's nice to have the extra room. And I'm digging footings for an extension to my garage to make it three car size which will keep all the toys under cover.
So at last the little beast is out of the spray shop and it will be just a case of bolting it all back together now and hope it all fits. The paintwork was required for the right rear fender that had to be widened following the discovery of some hidden rear end damage. We also took this opportunity to splash a bit of colour around the engine compartment as well and it is looking a whole lot more tidy now. The engine lid which was previously well louvered has had to be severely chopped to clear the rear mounted fan on the 911 engine and we are not finished yet because the right rear air horn on the Weber carb is just fouling the lid so it's out with the grinder for necessary clearance. Another small problem is what I'm going to use for a catch for this engine lid. When the little four pot was calling this place home I brazed up brackets under the bodywork to take a small length of bike brake cable which went from a pull knob to a Ford catch mechanism so I just leant under the rear bodywork, pulled down on the knob and the boot lid came open. Now there is absolutely no space for a catch so we thought why not use the leather straps like on the front lid, but I'm not keen on this idea and in actual fact I was only following hot rod fashion when I put them on the front and now wish I hadn't. After all our efforts in keeping the engine tucked in and this not disturbing the sweet rear lines of the 356 (Do I care?? - yes!) I didn't want any exterior catches or hood pins - perish the thought, so we are currently devising some form of retention that can be fitted underside of the boot lid and be unseen.
Whilst the car is up on the ramp I thought it an opportune time to check fluids in the 915 transmission and following conversations with your American colleagues I got hold of some Swepco trans oil which I'm told is the best stuff to use. I hope this is right because I have also put a couple of quarts into the gearbox in the 911 SSE but I haven't driven it any distance yet to offer any valuation on performance. At least it's a nice colour! OK some piccys now . . .
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86 SSE Turbo Look 3.2 Carrera
Cole Foster Chop
75 Honda ST70
94 Buell ST2
74 Dax Cobra
18 Macan Turbo
62 356B T6 (modified)

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Graham Kerr
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Re: UK Outlaw

#75 Post by Graham Kerr »

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The car had to go back into the spray booth after we found a previously unseen crease on the roof. I guess because the car has spent a lot of it's restoration and modification life up in the air on various ramps and lifts no one saw this particular problem. How it happened Lord only knows, possibly some brainless oik stomped over it when it was in it's unrestored, damaged and unloved state. Anyway it's all re-sprayed now after taking it's turn with a couple of 911's and of course having to suffer minor setbacks due to the attendant virus problems. The engine lid catch problem is sorted and the new clip will secure the lid to one side and will not intrude on the lines of the existing bodywork I'm pleased to say. All that is left to do now is just to sling all the oily bits back under the car and go drive. I do have to mention that the virus with it's accompanying rules, regulations and restrictions is real bad news over here but with the widespread introduction and hopeful general uptake of these life saving vaccines I am very hopeful of getting over to La Belle France for Classic Le Mans 2021 even if I don't make any other events in the new year.
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86 SSE Turbo Look 3.2 Carrera
Cole Foster Chop
75 Honda ST70
94 Buell ST2
74 Dax Cobra
18 Macan Turbo
62 356B T6 (modified)

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