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Cameron Permstein
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Location: Orange County

New to the 356 Community

#1 Post by Cameron Permstein »

Hey Everyone,

I have just joined the 356 club! I have owned a 912 for 24 years, it was my first car, so I know the ins and outs of that car. I am super excited to deep dive into this community!

Long story short, my friend offered me his father's car, because he was just told he has a short time to live (1 to 4 months). My plan is to just get the car rolling and be able to get it to stop, so he can have that last ride!
The car hasn't been on the road since 1983 so I am going get all new fuel lines/tank, and new brakes and brake lines and install my 912 engine into the car. The 912 currently has 2.7 in it and my 616 engine is just hanging around. I am a member of the 912 registry and that community has helped me determine what I will need to change to allow the 912 engine to fit in the 356. Engine Tin, smaller fly wheel, shorter engine studs, etc.

The car is a numbers matching 1963 356 Super 90, and I am the 3rd owner.
Per the kardex: 1 Headrest and fittings for both seats, Set of Coco Mats, Konis, Diagonal safety belt (oblique shoulder straps), 2 leather straps for luggage in rear, 12volt system.
It's a really late 63 so it's titled as a 64, with a birthday of 6-6-63, engine number 807279.
Dealer was Rittersbacher, Kaiserslautern

First step is to get it running and driving just safe enough to go a handful of miles for the owner I purchased it from, then after that a complete restoration. I have been working on the car for about a week while I was waiting for my conformation email was approved for this forum. The engine is dissembled, and ready to be sent it to Walt at Competition for machining, Gas Tank and fuel lines are removed, Brake lines are removed. I have ordered all the parts I think I need to get the car rolling.

Here is the photo dump.
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Cameron Permstein
356 Fan
Posts: 52
Joined: Thu Jan 12, 2023 1:01 pm
Location: Orange County

Re: New to the 356 Community

#2 Post by Cameron Permstein »

More images.
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David Jones
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Re: New to the 356 Community

#3 Post by David Jones »

Congratulations and welcome to the registry and club. Looks like you will busy for a while. Any and all questions will get answered with varying degrees of usefulness on this forum.
Good luck on your initial endeavors.
If I had known I would live this long I would have pushed the envelope a little harder.
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Ken Tuvman
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Re: New to the 356 Community

#4 Post by Ken Tuvman »

Hello Cameron - welcome to this great fountain of knowledge forum. Your car looked like mine when I got her - looks like she’s got “good bones” your fortunate bring in So CA - great resources there.

Looking forward to progress reports!
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George Hussey
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Re: New to the 356 Community

#5 Post by George Hussey »

I would just continue to build the original engine so you will not have to waste a bunch of labor changing the 912 engine to fit the 356 engine bay. Please remember that the exhaust system the sheet metal the 12 volt generator the clutch and flywheel all have to be changed and then there is no provision for the tach cable, among other things.
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David Aronson
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Re: New to the 356 Community

#6 Post by David Aronson »

Welcome to the "club" Cameron - I found myself in a similar situation, after 37+ years stored. Walt @ CE will take good care of you and your engine parts. I would agree with George, the original engine brings you a better return on value and requires no modifications/downgrades. If performance gains are desired, Walt can advise on that for sure. The car appears to have good bones. The forum, if used wisely, can answer most of your questions along the way. You are lucky to be in S. Cal. as well. A wealth of good people and resources down there. Good Luck!
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Re: New to the 356 Community

#7 Post by Don Gale »

Welcome Cameron, congrats on the find. I'm doing a similar swap of a 912 engine into a 356A. Should be fairly simple. Swap the flywheel and pressure plate. You can swap the oil pump gears and cover to keep the mechanical tach. I believe a 63 S90 has the longer oil pump gears, same length as 912.
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Mike Wilson
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Re: New to the 356 Community

#8 Post by Mike Wilson »

Welcome, Cameron. There are a lot of 356 owners in OC, many are members of both the 356 Registry and the 356 Club of Southern California.

Mike
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Cameron Permstein
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Location: Orange County

Re: New to the 356 Community

#9 Post by Cameron Permstein »

Thanks for the warm welcomes!

I am only putting my 912 engine in so that I can give the gentleman whom I purchased the car from a ride before he passes away. The doctors only gave him 1 to 4 months to live. I don't really have time to wait for Walt to finish, the last engine he machined for me took over 5 months.

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Mike Wilson
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Re: New to the 356 Community

#10 Post by Mike Wilson »

You are undertaking an admirable project.

Mike
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Doug McDonnell
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Re: New to the 356 Community

#11 Post by Doug McDonnell »

Welcome and good luck. Don't throw away any of the European heater parts as many are NLA even though heat may be some what optional where you live. If you will have USA heat with your other engine installed you will need to change the heater pull cable to USA length. Is that an aftermarket gas heater in the front trunk? Or a fresh air blower?
Last edited by Doug McDonnell on Thu Jan 19, 2023 7:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Martin Benade
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Re: New to the 356 Community

#12 Post by Martin Benade »

Hi and welcome. I think that is a very sweet thing you are doing to let the former owner have a couple of rides. For that purpose you don’t even need to swap the generator, I can say from experience that it will run half a day on the battery.
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Re: New to the 356 Community

#13 Post by Michael Branning »

Cameron Permstein wrote: Thu Jan 19, 2023 5:51 pm Thanks for the warm welcomes!

I am only putting my 912 engine in so that I can give the gentleman whom I purchased the car from a ride before he passes away. The doctors only gave him 1 to 4 months to live. I don't really have time to wait for Walt to finish, the last engine he machined for me took over 5 months.
That's a wonderful gesture! Welcome to the club and we'll do our best to help you.
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Vincent Gillespie
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Re: New to the 356 Community

#14 Post by Vincent Gillespie »

Hello from the UK,

just a thought re.' getting her up and running' in a short time for your brilliant goal, over here I'd start with the guys I know and trust, G.B, C.G, PRS (You know who you are) tell them what my plan is and I have no doubt it would be done.

Despite the odd curmudgeon on here, whose hearts really are in the 356/right place, this community has been nothing but brilliantly bloody helpful to us, so may I suggest you reach out and ask for the help you need to get the car up and running in the time frame you need, even if it's as off the wall as 'anyone got an engine I could borrow for a few weeks'.

I'm sure the reaction will be the same as over here when these guys came to my rescue, eg only last September, after 1 phone call late Sat evening, Gordon Bond incapacitated his car to loan me a part so I could fulfil a promise to be somewhere on the Sunday.

It will be so worth it, we have been really fortunate to have been able to meet 5 of the 6 owners (the 6th is no longer with us) of KCT, our '55, and to see their reaction is simply wonderful & brings a tear to your eye.

V&S
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Greg Bryan
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Re: New to the 356 Community

#15 Post by Greg Bryan »

Cammeron - I have a '63 engine spare that I can temporarily loan you for the last ride - it's ready to install, clutch to muffler. I just removed it from my car yesterday as I finished another motor for it.
I'm in the South Bay area of Los Angeles
Greg
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