65 SC Resurrection starting.

[Jbrooks]

Thursday update. Engine back in and running well. All the instruments work, lights signals work, heaters defrosters good. No leaks except the sump, but we will fix that on the next oil change a 250 miles. Should drive it tomorrow for the first time in 38 years. . Need to squirt some primer on the bare spots but over all looking well overall . I know the fan belt is on backwards, but period correct.

Took a minute to test a Tudor Alternator in Tom Olson’s B Coupe. The original install had a 8.2 volt output after a couple hundred miles. Worked well just a little high on the output voltage. Emailed the vendor in the UK, they sent a replacement at no cost.

This one was 6.9 volts, a little low but still just fine. Got about 10 amps out of it, but this car has a Vintage Trader LED set so there are not any large electrical loads available. I thought the 8.2v would be fine, the battery is a pretty good filter, but was concerned about boiling out the water in the battery.
I will post a YouTube of the first drive “search on alcohol free gas”.
thanks for looking..

[JTR70]

Nice work! The owner must be very excited to be back behind the wheel after almost 4 decades.

[Jbrooks]

Its alive.... I drove it today, ran well. just a 1/4 mile up an down the driveway, but its seems fine. Picked up 4 gallons of alcohol free gas to check the fuel gauge accuracy in the morning. Then I will get a chase car and take it out on the highway. We plan to put a couple hundred miles on it then into disassembly for paint an a couple rust bubbles on the door skins. While it’ in Paint I will pull the motor back out and change the oil, new sump cover, valve cover gaskets and a super tune up. Then on the test stand or maybe the dynometer for a few more hours of run time.

But mechanically (less the wiper motor) its complete, The wiper motor is dead, I will pull it out and see if I can fix that but its 98% done now, after 38 years in storage it drives,

First public viewing will be on Saturday at the Whidbey Sports car club cars and coffee in Freeland Wa.

[roy mawbey]

Well done John you must be so pleased to be able to sit in and drive it again. You manage so much so quickly. I have had my engine out about 5 times in 55 years and every time I had to do it it seemed a big job to me!!

Roy

[Jbrooks]

Drove it around Saturday, took it to the local cars an coffee. Unwashed just as we got it. Glass was so dirty could hardly see with the bright sun. So I cleaned a small 2" square in the bottom center of the windshield, and tapped my cell phone to the dash, put the camera on video and drove away. I must say that worked pretty well. The camera has a good broad view , pretty clear ahead view.

Drove it around until the normal fuel level reached the reserve, then pulled out the fuel sensor, bent the float rod until the needle went down to "R", ( Out of the box the new sensor read 3/8 of a tank). Then added gas 1 gallon at a time watching the gauge rise, at 4 gallons the needle is just to the right of the 1/4 mark. So in the future when the needle gets to 1/4 you have about 100 miles of fuel before reserve.

Needs shocks, new Koni's on order, Shift coupling bushing shattered, But I have a tool to fix that. Looked Ok when I put the inputs haft seal in the trans, but just my luck. So first 50 miles its seems to work fine. No Smoke, stops well. everything seems to work except the wipers motor and the trip meter in the speedo its sticky, miles on the odometer work, appear close to actual, but lead the trip miles by 50%. I will install a GPS in it for the riving this week to get a better idea of the speedometer accuracy.

Peoples choice at the meeting Saturday, and it was Volvo month so I beat out 45 old Volvos for most interesting car.

There are links to the first four cars in the restoration sections from when we did them a few years ago. The ruby, yellow and signal red cars. The other 356 guys were late and a MB cab took the spot.

[roy mawbey]

Well done John I bet those other 356 owners were more than interested in seeing and hearing about your efforts with your car.

Roy

[Jbrooks]

Well it was washed at, not very clean, but my clothes washing machine will appreciate the effort. Replaced the shift selector coupling and the accelerator linkage isolation block. Both failed Saturday. The good old “ I have a Tool for That” applies. Got the wiper motor repaired and it looks like all the mechanicals done. Put about 100 miles on it today. Drove it up to get ethanol free gas, and back via the twistiest roads. Validated the fuel gauge calibration, put in a gallon, key on take a look, add another gallon, do it again, rinse and repeat. Handles well, but these tires have very weak side walls, and sticky rubber. Driving on gravel is interesting. But it runs well, no smoking. Couple minor sump drips, but will fix that with the next oil change. She’s a runner….

[JTR70]

Great work John so inspiring to see it up and running after all these decades. You're not going to reshoot the entire car are you?

[roy mawbey]

Always good to have a runner John!
Roy

[Jbrooks]

JR
Its getting disassembled this week and after a couple minor interior repairs it will come down to bare metal and get painted 6413 Schwarz (black) in a Glasuirt 2 stage, The 22 Line is not available anymore. we will sand off the existing paint and reseal, prime an paint. I figure mid September it will be complete. not much metal work, one layer of paint, never hit, matching numbers on everything. Almost all the rubber will be replaced, the rest of the original It was a challenge but its been a fun project.

[Jbrooks]

Friday almost done . It’s been a long 2 months. I have an exceeded the 100 Hours I plan for the mechanicals, but it’s a joy to get another one back on the road.

I put on new shocks, Koni’s of course. Like everything else the old ones were frozen, but they did compress at 1500 pounds in the hydraulic press. Changed the oil, installed a Precision Matters billet sump cover, Found just a few speckles on the old magnet in the sump. Rings are seating well. I have been driving it at 2500 and 3000 RPM for long stretches in 3rd or 4th gear. We have lots of back roads and decent hills, it pulls fine. Have not reved it above 4K except in first gear a few times. I have been trying to stay in the torque curve.

interior guy has been promising for 6 weeks to get the carpet and seat repair done. We are ready to start the paint, Bob refuses, until it’s Totally Complete. But she’s a runner almost 200 miles in the car and 6 gallons of gas on the stand. No smoke No leaks, cold start is, 1 pump and crank, starts every time.
I Love these red boxes, like Starrett micrometers, only faster.

[JTR70]

Those fresh components look great under there.

[Jbrooks]

I thought I would post Laser up date:

The welder is still in detention, on double secret probation. I got this extension in the mail, three more weeks, of it gets destroyed or exported by customs.. With my luck the FDA has 193 approved laboratories in the US, none can do this inspection. Seems pretty straight forward, come verify the first inspection, and it’s still intact. Looking for a lab, not much luck so far. Unfortunate for me, they treat this like a box of bad apples, one size fits all replies. The guy making the decision, is not an industrialist and just does not understand equipment.

The extension is provided for your contract lab to complete the analysis and submit the private lab report. To avoid potential delays, please confirm with private lab that the entire lot will be documented as verified in-person by the sample collector at time of sample collection.
Verification activities to include, but not limited to, verifying the entire lot is held intact, verification of batch/lot numbers, manufacturer, and so on.
If the sample collection report lacks the above documentation, the private lab report may be rejected without further review.
Respond within the allotted timeframe or entry will be refused.

This thing is pretty cool, just like all the YouTubers show, I did some 18Ga sheetmetal welds that are 0.5mm wide, no heat distortion. The wire feeder for larger welds is pretty simple and when set up properly, is faster them MiG. I think I can teach someone to do laser welds in 20 minutes. The welds are strong and clean, no splatter and I can use small magnets for work holding. On the Cleaning Side, it’s just marvelous, rust, grease, paint, power coat just goes away, does heat up the metal, but no more that a car in the sun on a hot day. It’s infinite in adjustable you can change power, sweep rate, and focus points. You can abrate the metal, but change the sweep or power in til you get shinny metal.

But my model is just not on the “FDA Radiation Health and Safety accession list” yet,. The paperwork has need submitted, who knows how long that takes. All the welder components, the laser source, computer, cooler are on this list, just not in this specific bundled configuration. It’s kinda like importing a “purple Orange” the FDA says it’s a grape. .

if you Decide to buy one Double Check, with the vendor that your individual “part numbers”is on the “FDA Radiation Health and safety Accession List” by your Manufacturer. My vendor has numerous laser machines on the approved list. They claimed FDA approval, but “Applied for” is different from “Approved”. And WHO KNEW the FDA was in charge of lasers.
Thanks for looking. I really like it.

[JTR70]

You're being a very good sport about it though I know there is not much you can do. Its a really cool machine. BTW have you tried contacting any other owners of this machine in the US about their experiences with the fda?

[Jbrooks]

Well guys its on the road. drives very nice, pulls the big hill in 4th 3000rpm with no RMP loss. Pulls the hill better than my 912 or S90 Roadster. No smoke starts right up. I have a couple hundred miles on it now. its off to the interior shop for some carpet and clean up. I should have it back this weekend to start the paint. Kept as many original parts as possible on the build. going to be a nice car shortly. Almost new mechanically with fresh single stage paint.

New parts:
Battery
Gas Tank
Koni Shocks
Koni Steering damper
Pirelli Cinturato's
Master cylinder
Horn spring
LED Light kit
Oil pressure an temp pistons.

Rebuilt original parts:
Carburetors
Fuel Pump
Calipers
Piston rings
Radio

Thanks for looking.

[Jbrooks]

Interior is done, looks like new. The seats were ripped at the seams and a little tired. But a little stiching and a new DuPont Dye they look new. Ted our local upolestry guy works for the airlines, redoing seats. He has a new dye that can match any vinyl or leather color, that is super. If you fly Alaska Air you have seen the product and never knew it was a dye on the seats


he even did the dash pad with out removing it


everything matches perfectly, I am very impressed. Now it’s back for paint. The fun begins again, sand and strip it and repair a couple small door blisters, we will take it apart, paint and then reassemble check gaps and put a few hundred more miles on the topmendmrebiild

[JTR70]

It all sounds fantastic! Looking forward to some updated shots of it.

[roy mawbey]

John looks like it will be a very nice reliable runner for sure !

Roy

[Jbrooks]

All the jewelry came off today, glass out, doors off and dissembled. Very lucky not a single M8 nut snapped or stripped. Some minor surface rust under the sill mats and floor, but nothing serious.



and an updated photo of our Irish Green car from a few years ago. It was caught in the wild., and rain. This car has the smoothest, best perfect paint on any 356. The owner spent two years wet sanding it. Four strokes right, four strokes left, rinse repeat. Through 6000 grit paper. This is probably one of the top 10 cars in the US and extensively documented. This one may be close, but it’s a resurrection for the street, not a trailer queen.

[roy mawbey]

Yes that Irish green car looks just like new !

Roy