Right Hand Drive 356

[Jack Staggs]

I know you're all thinking it, so I'll say it. I thought that it was going to look like the preA trunk rugs. The battery acid and leaky gas cap are going to have a field day with that... carpet. It's going to be a lot of work to put that back right someday. I would recommened doing a little more homework before undertaking further "upgrades".

[Murugesh Nidyananda]

Damn...any way I can prevent this whole still having the carpet.

[S.J.Szabo]

You bring up an interesting point, Mr.Staggs...

Anyone have some good fotos of the Pre-A trims?

Mr.Rio:

You're work is meticulous. No wonder I didn't detect the adjuster work. The added slot covers are a nice touch.

I also took them up as far as possible, and while it was no hack job, my finish doesn't hold a candle to yours. Jeeze. You set a high bar, indeed.

I use all of the added adjustment and it is just right by my tastes. With the rear set up with about a 1/4deg neg, the result has just the right amount of nose down to make road work very stable at speed.

Now, if I could just finish working out the "drill no holes" mounts for the modest front air dam...

[JTR70]

Hey Murugesh,

I understand what you're going for here but one thing you should keep first and foremost in your mind is that these cars invite decay and as Jack pointed out this wall to wall carpeting kit has created a perfect environment for it. Not only is it going to hold potentially spilled gas or battery acid but you live in a very humid climate and it will also hold ambient moisture. Couple that with a closed hood and it becomes a greenhouse in there. The rust in all the pinch seams will spring to life. It may take a while but it will eventually fester under that carpet and you'll wind up with a very unpleasant surprise the day you take a peek under there. BTW: glad you got the picture loading sorted again!

Thank you SJ, I really appreciate that! Doing that modification on a rotisserie made all the difference in the world. If I had had to do it on my back it would have been a much different end result. Your car sounds like it squats down really nice. Any photos of it? You're looking at building an Air dam to direct air to a front mounted cooler? Thanks once again! Justin

[Murugesh Nidyananda]

I am planning to change to a sealed battery, hoping that would solve the acid issue.

What are your thoughts on putting on a disc brake system.

Also what about running 185 65 15 tyres,i find the 165 tyres too narrow!!

[S.J.Szabo]

Mr.Rio:

I haven't got much (foto-wise) on this machine, besides some taken in '85. On the other hand, this was the best the Trusty Coupe has ever looked. Let's give it a try... Hmmm.. seems to have lost some density in the translation.



The air dam I have had in mind is just a simple blade to keep more air from getting under the tub. I'd like to do a simple pan under the trunk cavity as well, but the mechanical (drill-no-holes)fasteners are a challenge.

Mr.Nidyananda:

First this: I'm a firm believer in doing what you want to your own car. However, when it's an old car, I think the Prime Directive is "preserve originality when you can" with the adjunct corollary of "do no harm to a good car".

And of course, this is all just my $.02 worth.

Mr.Rio makes a most excellent point about the fabric in the trunk. From a strictly practical point of view, the tank should not be covered, or at the most, draped with a formed and edged piece that is loose on the surface and which can be simply lifted off.

The sides and the floor get complicated. I couldn't tell for sure from your fotos, but I thought you still have the original textured tar paper on those surfaces. If so, you should be very careful with them for they are irreplaceable. I hope to heck those pieces of fabric were not glued on.

The usual technique would be to use cut and edged pieces of normal loop pile, cut a little large, that would simply wedge in place on the sides. And you can do a keeper using the spare tire strap loop to keep the lay-in upper floor piece in place just fine.

The lower floor works fine with a lay-in piece only. I would suggest the walls (and the wiring that lives there) between floors remain bare.

But start with a light dose of semi-gloss on the paper and a good coat of the same on the metal surfaces to seal out moisture.

Other questions:

- Whatever you use, it's smart insurance to keep a plastic tray under the batt. I use a marine batt. box under my full-size 12v, with a rigid keeper bracket that attaches at the original keeper tabs to keep it firmly in place.

- 185s on 4.5in wheels is not advisable. As I recall, a 175 is the max for your wheels.

- I love my C discs (w/dual master), and they would be very appropriate to your climate. Plus, the 5.5in disc brake wheels take a 195 very nicely. If you stick to 356C parts, it's a fool-proof, fully integrated solution to get the best brakes possible. However, its a complicated change-over, requiring quite a few C parts and, if done by someone skilled that you can trust absolutely, a bushel of dough.

Your enthusiasm for your new 356 is commendable, but I would humbly suggest just doing what is needed to be a good runner, and drive it a while so you can better plan your personalization upgrades more carefully. The end results will reward forethought.

[JTR70]

Hey Murugesh,
Yes, Moving to a Gel-cell battery will solve the threat of a potential acid leak. 185 series tires will fit really nice on your stock 4.5 inch wheels. If you're looking to go with disc brakes but wish to keep the stock wide-five bolt pattern wheels there are several companies that offer a nice kit. We began a dedicated thread on this subject a while back. Here's a link to it: http://www.abcgt.com/forum/6-Hot-Rod--Modified-356/9578-Disc-Brake-conversion-kits-for-356.html?limit=6&start=30 This will take you to page 6, scroll down to the bottom where Gerard (Porschinelle) shared photos and details about a really nice kit offered by CPS. It goes onto page 7 as well. Take a look.

Love that Coupe of yours SJ!! It is set up pretty nice!! Didn't realize you had such a hot rod streak in you a nice surprise! It looks great! Justin

[S.J.Szabo]

Hot rod? Hmmm. Never really thought of it that way, but what the hey. Anyway, you are v. kind to admire it. Aside from the susp. tweeks (did I mention the 19mm front bar?) and the disc brakes and wheels, its quite original really. The interior is all orig. (save the headliner I put in) and the SC eng. is built in the orig. case. I do run a 741 gearbox, but I kept the orig. 644.

I built it to drive and it does this job quite well, if I say so myself. It corners with aplomb and its road manners at speed are really quite good (tho the ZF strg. box could use a fresh peg).

Incidentally, as of this writing, the tub has some 230K mi. on it.

[JTR70]

Yes, absolutely a hot rod 356 in my book! You've maxed your car out with the best bolt-on evolutionary changes Porsche offered; a "1956 SC". The 19mm sway bar is nice. I'll be adding one of those myself. Do you run the rear camber compensator spring as well? Okay, thanks for clearing that up. So a 175 series is as wide as you should go on a 4.5 wheel. Great to read that this car actually gets driven regularly.
I believe Jack used to offer new Pegs for the ZF??

As for an air damn mount I'd suggest a custom drop bracket(s) that works off of the bumper irons and or the fender braces which would eliminate any need to modify the car...
Similar to this non-evasive oil cooler mount and shroud I built a few years back:

Shrouds and cooler mount to a custom frame which clamps directly to the fender brace utilizing existing holes and requires no modification to the brace or car.

A better view of how it all sandwiches together. That was rule number one for this project; it had to bolt-on with modification to the car.

[S.J.Szabo]

Well, I started with a naked axle, but then ran a few years with an EMPI spring. But I didn't like it as much as I thought I would, and so I removed it. The fat front bar kept me shiny-side up, even running naked.

However, since the mid-80s, I had wanted to do a "virtual Z bar" (Mr.Skirmants has been selling his version for a while now) and I have recently finished its devise. I built mine using the EMPI spring and center bracket, but with a rolling pin pivot and double-heimed end connectors to an axle band. I've got some fotos around here on one of the machines, and if I can put my finger on them, I'll post a thread.

Handsome work on the cool cooler! You've got a very nice touch, Olde Sticke. I'm curious about the air flow exit, tho.

Yeah, Plan A uses the bumper anchors, but lack of welding tools to execute is an issue for the design I have in mind. Such is life.

[JTR70]

Thank you! I spent way more time building than I should have but I just couldn't bring myself to cut corners. Exit airflow won't be too restrictive as the earlier vantage shot makes it look more closed off than it really is.

Mine just mimics what the factory originally did only shaped and changed to work my specific needs.

Its pretty open as this vantage point shows. Just had to make them overlap enough to protect the cooler from rocks etc. slinging off the tire.

Don't let the welding slow you down. You can still make the paper templates and have all the basics down for a local welder to finish up.

[roy mawbey]

Justin,

I remember well the effort you put in to do that work. Its really nice to look at I also think (of course in opinion only) Murugesh should really pay attention to the comments made on the previous page by Mr Szabo. They are very sensible and correct. I did like the discs on my 356C I ran a high milage and they worked well although still single circuit. But.. maybe I am lucky, my drums work really well as well. Possibly not quite as good on a race track because of fade but road use excellent. It is true, if the steel liner is distorted or the hydraulic flexibles are collapsing in the bore of the rubber tubing, or old wheel cylinders are in use then they are a pain! But Murugash if you like polishing aluminium they can sparkle and look very cool indeed. I still operate with the original single curcuit master cylinder but dual would be nice to have.

So very politely, the 356A does not need gimmicks to raise attention, in fact less is more. But.. I am just an older guy who was looking at 356A's in showroom windows when they were new and could not get over the skill of the designer Kommenda. He sold the car to me by his design. If it had been produced with any other looks I would never have bought it. Look how many have copied it! Audi TT etc.

I might lastly add too many modifications if not sensible additions might affect re-sale value if you lost interest in the car.

Also Justin has thought every modification out in detail probably taking hours to do that. If you have difficult alterations made, it will be as good as the person doing it. As said above things are not always easy to do.

Roy

[Jack Staggs]

Didn't buy the car for value(though I know it's only going up) but my dads fussy. He wants everything to be as good as original as how factory wanted it.

Thing is back home in Malaysia would be one of the best as is. But he's fussy like that and it kinda has grown onto me.

So though the car is great, my dad wants the carpets to be changed (cause it has oatmeal) and the leather which is perfect but in black, to be changed to blue. Will post more pics in lieu course.

In your earlier posts, like this one, terms like " original", "factory" and "concourse" were used. Now it's "air conditioning", "trunk carpet", and "disc brakes". What made your father and you change your minds?

[Murugesh Nidyananda]

Trunk carpets were more off a thing to make it look neater. Don't know why I did it. Guess was pushed on by my uncle who did it on his 993 TT.

Air conditioning...it's so hot in Malaysia. Like 38 degree weathers which coupled with humidity make the car undrivable unless I swear out a pint. I want to use the car so I think air conditioning might be the way to go but still contemplating hard.

Disc brakes. No one would know plus I feel that they are more of a safety thing. I feel the car doesn't stop well. I would be looking at how they feel after tyres are changed but I might still do it looking at safety. My dad's beetle runs disc brakes front and back.

[Murugesh Nidyananda]

The car would still be concours material. Just thinking how I do hide the aircon to make it as neat as possible. If it can't be done would probably try install as many fans as I can