65 SC Resurrection starting.

[Jbrooks]

Been off line for a while doing normal 356 stuff. Got an email a six months ago about a car in a Publix storage unit, 50 miles away. The matching numbers, original owner, nice surviving example. He wanted to get it back on the road, then painted. It had been in storage for 38 years. We went down a few months to look it over, a complete car just. It had been serviced and then parked in the locker. OK we can start in March, by ready for spring…. It finally got here this afternoon …

The owner had a Xerox copy of the title and all the paperwork for the car, even the factory service book. But this is Washington state, so they would not accept any of his documents. He had to have it inspected by the state police, which passed, then the DMV issues a title paperwork that says all the numbers match, but the DMV can not verify he is the owner. The vin, old registration, plates are not in their computer system so the title says “ questionable ownership “. He had to take his paperwork to a judge with old photos, X-Wife letters and convenced a judge he is really himself, and have the judge issue decree he is the 356’s owner. Expensive and time consuming I must say. Then go back to DMV and do it over again, but with the courts decree.

anyway that’s the back story, here are the as received condition.
Single layer of paint, that polishes Ok, at least between the license plate lights, but lots of pin size blisters all over under the black.

[Jbrooks]

Day one, removed frozen calipers, not too hard. Removed the carbs, frozen throttle shafts on both. Removed the rear engine tin,. Only 10 cheese head screws…. Right. Well I finally met shroud screws that were almost smarter than me. Four (4) hours, acetylene touch to heat 6 of them. One guy holding down the screwdriver the other turning the driver with a wrench. Toughest cheese head screws I have ever seen, including sone that spent 10 years outside under a tree. The tins looked good from under the deck lid, underside is a disaster. Thanks for looking

[Jbrooks]

Engine day. Started to disassemble the car today. First Saturday of the month is club car and coffee. Had a few guys over after to look at the project. I also get a helper Dominic Sharp., the grandson of Bary Sharp. Barry has an extremely well done 912. Dom and rebuilt the entire Brake system a month or so ago. He wants to learn the mechanical bits for Porsches, and 60 years younger than me, it’s “ here do this time” . Like when I was his age, geezers showing me how to do stuff.



We were going to drop the engine today, an hour right, be done before lunch. Dominic disconnected the heater cables, fuel line, bottom bolts we were ready. Not so fast. The J-pipes out of a OEM muffler were replaced by a pair of nicely bent 1-1/4” iron water pipes welded to the muffler. So remove the rear bumper to give us some room, but still not enough clearance. So we chopped them off. They were well done, but to get the muffler off you would need to remove the studs on #2 &#4 cylinder heads and still have 15mm to slide the muffler back to disconnect #1&3 exhaust pipes. Nice work around for the four OEM pipes. But fabricated in place, not thinking or having removed an engine before.

A little skin saw on the pipes, and the engine is out. But it was fun, the entire car has 1/4” of oil leak sludge all under it. Dominic does most of the work, he is a fast learner, not afraid to try. How many teenagers got a 912 service manual for his birthday, before he could drive.. Over all a pretty productive day, engines out and on the stand. Surprisingly the bumper tip bolts and rubber snubbers were not frozen, things are improving..
A good day all around, thanks for following

[Jbrooks]

Motors out, of course it’s frozen so far, but we did not put a big load on it. Here couple photos from the endoscope through the plug holes. It had a mouse, but it did not last long. Look like it was storing up rat poison in the bellhousing, but stopped for lunch. No droppings or urine stains.


Cylinders have some flash rust so far. About what I expected after 38 years

All we did today was pull it, throw it in the stand. Pulled the sump cover cam and lifters look ok at the first glance. Lifters spin, no pits on the lobes so far.



Tomorrow I will get around to pulling the valve covers, looking at the rocker, shafts and valve springs. I will put marvel mystery oil down the cylinders and start the piston ring soak. Hopefully a few days of Marvel and a few psi through the plug holes I can wet and free up the rings, and it will turn by hand. We will also inject motor oil into the oil passages are rehydrate the flat bearings. Cross your fingers please.

The carbs have been in the ultrasonic cleaner for 3 hours now. The butterflies will move now, but very stiff. They will get a couple more cycles, then I can remove the shafts, start the overhaul
thanks for following

[Jbrooks]

Sunday was fuel system day. Pulled the gas tank today, pin holes in the bottom, fuel had leaked down and washed off some of the undercoat. Still has a couple gallons of gelatinous goo inside. Have not opened it up yet, but looking into a new tank. Fuel cock is frozen and plugged, but did come off OK. The gelled gas is so thick the brass filter screen stayed inside the tank. Plan to flush the pipes and replace all the hoses later. Not allot to show, but the disassembly progresses.


a couple photos from Saturday, a few of the locals and my apprentice Dominic, he just turned 16 eager to learn.


thanks for looking.

[JTR70]

Great to see a young guy taking an interest in old cars! Gives me hope for the hobby.

[Jbrooks]

Engine. Frozen, we looked inside at #3-4 cylinders, lots of flash rust on the walls. Put 50ml of marvel mystery oil in each plug hole. Let it sit 24 hours, borescoped again one flooded, one dry. Put a leak down on them at 25 pounds of air on each trying to force the oil into the ring lands. Flipped it over and started on the other side, more mystery oil. I have a pre oiler so we will push a quart on oil through the oil galleries and see if it will move. After it spins we will look again

My apprentice, Dominic fast and eager learner, with tiny raccoon hands.

cylinders look about what I expected flash rust walls and carbon on the pistons. Typical fuel witness marks on the cylinder bottom


leak down at 25 psi to force the oil down , I was surprised how well it held pressure, no sounds from rings or valves.

[Jbrooks]

Caliper day…. Not too much to show. Cleaned and blasted the calipers today. They had a heavy enamel finish, put on some time in the past. Outer surfaces came clean in the blaster. One had a witness making from using a screwdriver to compress a pad. This method my be OK for a roadside fix, but if you are doing your brake system, go buy the right tools.
I will tear them down, apply a powder coat and overhaul them. The entire brake system will be rebuilt as part of the resurrection like new.

that crack is what happens when you pry on a cast iron. It’s outside anything critical, the seal retainer ring is intact and not close to the hydraulics. I will grind it smooth and probably remove the chip. Or get out the laser welder and weld up the crack.

[roy mawbey]

John just read all your latest current reports on this car. So I am following your effort and Dominic'to get this car operational. Thats a fair time indeed for the car to be left and none of these jobs are easy, but so worthwhile when the go right. I have had some spells of not using my 1959A that I bought 55 years ago but I learnt my lesson years ago to always keep it turning over.

Well done on the that effort and photos on what you are doing!

Roy

[Jbrooks]

Engine is still frozen, we did the Mystery oil treatment, even put 15 psi of are in each cylinder to try to force the oil into the rings. No luck so far. It won’t budge and I don’t want to brake a piston land. Saturday I will pop of the heads and see if they cylinders will come free. Today I pulled the upper tins, inspected the case and cylinders, but nothing there. Look’s pretty typical for 80K miles, but overall dry and clean.

We went through the electrical circuits quickly, all the external lights worked, except for a single low beam headlight. Radio was dead, I need to check the power. We will install a Vintage Trader LED set after paint and leave it with a 6 Volt system.

It will still need a clutch, pressure plate and throw out bearing. The spring fingers on the pressure plate are 80% worn through. Have not done the generator or distributor, although the distributor will advance, but not return. We will pull down the pistons & cylinders this weekend. Dominic is going to try the free bus and ferry system on Saturday. We have a transportation program for high school student's ride for free. It’s about 20 miles total, but an adventure. We will let him remove the heads, cylinders and pistons. He can reference is new 912 service manual, as he works on the motor.

[Jbrooks]

No 356 work today, went south to get the laser from customs bond. Now awaiting the USFDA inspection, hope it has not spoiled. More weeks of official waiting.

[JTR70]

Nice! Lets see if you can repair that caliper with that laser. If all else fails you could fix it old school with some heavy nickel rod.

[Jbrooks]

The crank moved!! After a four day soak it finally freed end up and the crank moved. We pulled the heads, not cracked that we can see, ZYGLOW will tell more. Pulled the cylinders and pistons (mahle) they all showed the typical deterioration from long term inactivity.

All pistons have stuck rings, one broken oil ring with rusty fracture in the batch. But piston sides and skirts are clean. Did not try to remove any rings. Tops not so much, thick carbon and oil. We will get them into the hydro-blaster and clean them up. Cylinders have surface rust and scratches but not too deep, they might just clean up also. The metrology equipment gets unpacked tomorrow. We will know much more after some measuring.

Dominic Sharp

did adventure bus ride from the mainland and came up to help. He did much of the work, under some serious senior supervision. At times there were 5 356 owners watching and showing him what, why, how on every step. He brought his 912 manual as a cross reference. Look it up, the do do it.

Good news you can see through the oil cooler, no leaks, fuzz or rodent damage.
thanks for watching

[Jbrooks]

Sunday an today up in the OH shop using the de-grease tank, hyodro blaster and prepping everything for Powder Coat. Not much to show but i am tired of the blast cabinet. I got the calipers broken down, polished and honed. Used a full set of new stones, they were even rusted inside the ring seal groove, under the square seal. Toughest set I have ever done. They are ready for the power coat oven. just some masking and final de- grease. A new record, every single piston had to be pushed out with a grease gun, a couple were almost too stuck to move, but i got them all. The pistons cleaned right up in the cleaning tank. A hone took care of the bore, no pits or scratches but rusty. they should go back together like new.



Took the paint off the upper tins, no holes so they will be good also. Going to powder coat both the same satin black.



Still evaluating the engine going to need rings at least, if I can clean up the bores, more on that to follow after I get the meteorology stuff broken out.

[JTR70]

Thanks for posting up your latest project John. Great to see you mentoring that young apprentice. That was me in the late 80's . Is this an original Black car? Looking forward to seeing its original owner behind the wheel again after all these years. Justin

[Jbrooks]

Justin

Original complete car, original black over red. Never hit, pretty rust free so far, just dried up and frozen. The plan is to get it road worthy and drive it for a few hundred miles. New gas tank, rebuild everything we can find kits for. Only replace things that are beyond economic repair. Try to keep the cost under control, only required stuff to start . Stop, Go, Steer, etc. The owner has paid Publix storage monthly for almost 40 years, now time to drive it. All he has to show for the storage cost is 3oz of rat poison in the bell housing. We will remove the paint and redo the black exterior after it’s mechanically safe.

Dominic is a fast learner, and way closer to the floor than I am. You need one. Also go look at laser spot welds on YouTube.

no laser yet, now it’s awaiting an FDA inspection. No telling what that will lead to. But we are getting close, its out of customs and on my truck.

[JTR70]

What a great car. I'm waiting on that laser right along with you....

[Jbrooks]

Spent the day cleaning and removing stuck and broken piston rings. Pistons look OK after cleaning Heads held pressure for the leak down, (removed the rockers) no leaks. stuck rings and 1/2 inch of oil on the piston tops helps hold the pressure. The heads Do Not have cracks around the plugs so they should be good. Will still remove the carbon residue, but look OK. I need to measure the spring heights, but overall they look good.

Pistons cleaned up fine, 3 of 4 pistons had broken rings but groves and lands are ok. Cylinders read Nominal, no taper or oval in the barrels. Two cylinders have scratches in the sides from broken rings. Only 0.0015 deep, you can barely feel them with a fingernail. But the glaze and rust came right off still some cross hatch visible in places.

No Taper or oval But a pretty good scratch, no upper ridge to ream, just a stain so the motor was a light smoker

talking with the owner on the status and follow on. I think if it was my daily driver, I would do new rings and toss it on the test bench for an hour or so and see how it runs. Probably a little smoke until the rings seat, but I bet it’s a runner.

thanks for looking