The Resurrection of Foam Car - 63 T6B

[bbspdstr]

Option: http://www.jgrelining.com/

Don has been doing my work, the best in three sources I've used (Martin was in the middle, the second provider to Brad Ripley's NLA).

The issue is not if, but when the bi-metal corrosion will expose itself after years of cast iron and aluminum not getting along, regardless of mileage or how well kept the 356 was that they were on.

We used better drums as many tries were made to reline problem drums. New drums came along eventually but were expensive. Relining initially included 'space age' adhesives that held better the hotter they got, etc. Finally, several experienced machinists surfaced who 'did it right.'

Just know you have a choice.

-Bruce

[roy mawbey]

Phil,

That looked a nice bit of inspection kit to check the brake drum bores.

I consider myself lucky to have really good working drum brakes. Hope you choose the best guy to reline the shoes.

Roy

[Phil Planck]

Thanks for that contact Bruce. We have discussed Martin before. I will give Don a call.

Checked spline play yesterday. Should have done this before tearing the transaxle down. With the axle bolt finger tight there is very little movement of the drum laterally so hopefully am good to go. There was no sign of leakage when I disassembled the brakes. I will do some measuring of the axle spline for taper.

Phil

[Phil Planck]

While waiting for my next move on the brakes I pulled out my supposedly NOS rear trans mounts. Probably the only advantage to spreading a restoration out so long is that you have lots of time to find parts you need. They were about the same price as repros but figured they should fit good and hopefully bonding and rubber have not deteriorated. Cleaned all the bolts and started cleaning up the hoop. Got it degreased enough to put in the blast cabinet.






Phil

[JTR70]

I have an old pair of NOS one's myself Phil and I wonder too about their viability. Thanks for chronicling the more technical side of your tranny rebuild. Good tips for future reference for sure.
Justin

[Phil Planck]

Got the hoop bead blasted, painted and installed. Also tried bead blasting one of the brake drums:




Studying the brake shoes, discovered one of the 8 is different. Turns out there were 3 styles used on 356, apparently modified to affect pedal feel. 7 of mine are the last style(top one in pic) but one is the middle style used on late A and early B. Have ordered one more late style from EASY.




Decided it is best to do all the brakes at once so found the boxes with the front brake parts and stripped them down and degreased the back plates.



In one of the front brake boxes were the horns. More foam:






Got a quote from a shop in Ft. Wayne, IN for relining the shoes. Very reasonable. Still have to call Don.

Phil

[bbspdstr]

Don has many shoes to match-up if a set is short of the 'optimal' version. I have seen many sets with all of the types on one 356, but the one that is most weak was alleged to have been made in Canada, thinner metal and less gesundt welding.
I was sent a new set from Bruce Schwartz (Stoddard boss)and have yet to try those, but they appear to fine, so the option of new shoes at a reasonable price is there.
Arcing....well, that's another problem. Don will do those through any stage but whether he will or can do it without the drums the shoes will live in is unknown to me. I do know that when he does the whole enchilada for me, the shoes are bagged and marked for each drum for a perfect contact as a matched set, so the adjustments are good right away when first put in use.

-Bruce

[Phil Planck]

Thanks for that info Bruce. I had already contacted EASY before you posted and got a matching shoe for $10. Also, NLA, just today sent an email that their wheel cylinders are on sale for $38.25 so I ordered a car set, as all of mine are pitted in the area of the rubber cup.

I have been doing stuff that's not fun but necessary. Cleaning and painting parts. I have media blasted all 4 backing plates, primed and painted. Horns have been disassembled and stripped to bare metal. Camber compensator was worked on for several hours and I gave up as I cannot get the large rubber bushing assemble with a shock type sleeve off of the bolt. At replacement prices, I plan to leave it off and see what it takes torsion bar wise to run without it. I would like to go with a C setup.

Got the trans nose boot on:



and one of the front mount covers blasted and painted:



All backing plates now blasted and painted:


Camber compensator parts:



All that will be used from the above are the rubber bumpers and their mounts. Got the rubber all cleaned up looking like new and the brackets blasted, primed and painted:



One of the special bolts that the bumpers mount to was corroded to a smaller diameter. Worried that the bumper might come of I welded metal to get the diameter back to stock and filed the chamfer. Took half an hour but saved $25 for a new one:





Now in the process of removing spring plates to clean them up and change angle or torsion bars to compensate for the lack of a camber compensator. Looks like someone jacked up the car by the cover:



This stuff really takes lots of time.

[John Pierce]

That really does eat up a lot of time. It'll look great when done and you will know that it's done correctly. Great work.

[Phil Planck]

Got all of the fasteners primed and painted and one radius arm stripped and painted. The other arm is stuck on the end of the torsion bar. Have drilled a hole in the end cover and whacked with a punch but no luck so far. Should have pulled it out when I had the rocker off. Have sprayed penetrating oil in the hole and with a nozzle on the other side. Heat(propane torch)has not helped. Next step. Bigger hole and punch, then map gas heat. I am going to remove the 23mm bars and put in 24mm which is what the non S90 had as I understand the factory manual. That way I can eliminate the camber compensator.

[Phil Planck]

Gonna take a 2 month break from shop work. Dog and I both healing from surgeries. Got the repro wheel cylinders from NLA-Stoddard. Same problem as the last ones I got for the PreA: slot for shoes is narrower than ATE slots. Advised Stoddard the first time and Brad this time. I will have to use the slot parts from the ATE cylinders as last time. Stoddards response was that I had aftermarket shoes that are too wide. Well, not too wide for ATE. Also got the rubber bumpers and brackets hanging in place so I don't misplace them:




While I was media blasting, I cleaned up the fog light mounting bracket I had removed from the nose so I could smooth out dents:

[John Pierce]

A little at a time wins the race! I hope you feel better.

JP

[356JAGER]

Phil,
This is just one more incarnation of the term, ' The devil's in the details '.
Nice work. Looking forward to FC's first drive. Have you applied for the
FOAMCAR personalized plates yet ?? Best wishes for a rapid recovery. BTDT.

Cheers,
Joel

[Phil Planck]

Hands have healed up enough to resume work. Now am high risk for more skin cancer so must always use sunscreen when outside. Got the other front mount cover, shims and nuts derusted and primed. Crappy work but these cars don't heal by themselves.




Pulled out the original steering box and another better one I picked up years ago. Time to clean up the better one.

[John Pierce]

Glad you're feeling better. And back at it.

John