The Resurrection of Foam Car - 63 T6B

[Jack Staggs]

I've seen them both ways on OG cars. Painted ones with thick paint chunking off revealing nice aluminum underneath, and kinda corroded bare ones. The painted ones may have been done in situ. Unsure on that.
Good work on the boxes. There should be additional play off center, increasing the further away. Glad you were able to find true center with my unorthodox method. There should be barely perceptible play on center using the vise grip method I described earlier. Be sure to maintain true center by adjustment of tie rods during alignment procedures.

[JTR70]

I left my clamp unpainted Phil. It seemed to have a mostly intact coat of anodize and besides I really wanted to show off that its alloy.



After reading your ordeal I lucked out with this box as it had all the shaft locator markings for center.
Keep up the great progress!
Justin

[Phil Planck]

Okay
I will repaint the black one black and leave the other bare aluminum.
Spent part of the day rebuilding the steering coupler. Strip, clean, paint. Should be dry enough to assemble tomorrow. Ordered metric cotter pins from Fastenal for the coupler and pitman arm. I painted the front shocks Boge brown. Got the ebrake cable tubes filled with a lot of grease and reinstalled ebrake cables. Need to readjust spring plates and will be ready to reinstall transaxle. Shop temp got up to over 80 this week so too hot to mess with the spring plates, but cooler today. Will readjust tonight or tomorrow and roll transaxle under car. Nice to be able to start assembling after all of the rebuild, cleaning, etc.
Phil

[Phil Planck]

Reset spring plates to 12 degrees:



Rolled transaxle in position and lifted. Got rear hanger bolts installed:



Now need to get front mounts attached. Studs are lined up with the slots but not in very far. Tomorrows project.



But now have a little more floor space in the shop.

This ZF box will go to a new home:

[gkw]

Phil Great job of detailing.
Looks good.
Gordon

[Jack Staggs]

Phil, did the second steering box have accurate markings per center?

[Phil Planck]

Jack
Don't know. Markings on both boxes were very hard to find/see. I scribed a line where I thought they were. On the box above, that scribed line disappeared from polishing the seal surface. I scribed a new one after locating the tight spot. This spot could not be felt with the original adjustment, not until I tightened the screw slightly.
What I have learned from your input is to not trust the original line. Thanks for that.
Phil

[Phil Planck]

Did some bench work today instead of crawling under Foam Car. Stipped the shifter down. Looking in the Stoddard catalog pictorials I have a T6B housing with the heater knob but T6C lever components. One of the weld nuts came loose so welded it back on:







Maybe late T6B(122936) switched to the T6C setup.

Also, the pin holding the knob to the screw seems short, only protruding into one side - correct?

The shift lock key is missing. From what I have found so far, the cross section for the later T6Bs are all the same. Sierra Madre lists it, but will have to have a lock smith fit/cut it.




Got the steering shaft and regulator cover repainted - a little too shiny:

[213532]

I've read good things about Ryan Hernandez who can figure out the keys for shift locks, etc. Tony Euganeo is another key guy but I know he is super busy and therefore a time lag. Tom Drummond also has a key guy that maybe able to rekey your shift lock. If this is original to the car and you have the key code, it would probably be very helpful to whomever you use.

Mike

[Jack Staggs]

Phil, Bosch ignition coils and regulator covers were generally done in shiny black smooth enamel, not semi-gloss or satin finish.
Don't forget the spacer plates with 2 holes on the front trans mounts. 4 required for your car IIRC. One on either side of the slotted hanger brackets that are welded to the torsion bar housing. They sometimes need to be moved around to gain enough adjustment for rear toe in, but start with the standard positions. Don't forget the round metal transmission mount covers too. Standard fit for T2 and up.

[Phil Planck]

Thanks Jack

Well, the reason the front mount studs would not go in was because I had the hoop on backwards. I looked at pictures, etc. and was sure I had it installed correctly. After reversing it, the front mounts slid in easily. I have the covers over the rubber, and spacers on both sides of the body flange, per the manual. What I don't like is that the gear selector is 3/16" off center measured at the front of the tunnel opening. I slid a 5/8" tube over the selector to protrude into the tunnel to measure. Nothing in the manual about transaxle alignment. If I force the drivers side mount forward and move the passenger side mount a little rearward that should move the trans toward center. But, may put a strain on the rear mounts. Could loosen those up to allow hole slop shift I suppose. Anyway, the jack is now out and trans is bolted in. The rear hanger(hoop) is all the way home on the body mounts and the rear face of the clutch housing measures pretty parallel.

Phil

[Jack Staggs]

Phil, there is a special tool for aliging the trans to chassis for A model cars. Some discussion here:
http://forum.porsche356registry.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=30043
I know of none for B/C cars though. They seem to be all over the place there. If I suspect problems, I will remove the rear hoop and trace an outline on the garage floor in chalk, then flip it over to check for deviation. If it's excessive, the hoop is likely bent. I have several bent ones in the shop. Somtimes I will move the shims around at the front mounts to an odd configuration to get a more acceptable fit to the chassis hole if I think the trans is crooked due to bent front hangers, but then again, those all look kinda bent to me. 3/16" doesnt seem like TOO much. I suppose you could put a string line down the center of the trans housing to the front end, but I haven't... Yet!
The final tell will be when wheel alignment is done. If you have to one axle very far forward, and the other very far rearward, the trans nose will have to be moved to one side or the other. Fortunately, switching of shims can be done with the full driveline installed.

[bbspdstr]

"The final telling will be when wheel alignment is done."
True. We just did an alignment of a C Coupe and had to re-shim the front mounts to get a good adjustment that allowed rear toe-in... just in from zero.

As for Bosch's blackness, here is a pair of original (as far as I can tell) coils from a C-2.



Not very shiny. I have seen shinier. My personal theory is that like the engine tin in general, various batches of Bosch parts got various batches of industrial paint in 'black.' It was never considered to be important to either Porsche or Bosch in appearance, just cost. Just another industrial coating at low bid, thus the inconsistencies. It is merely conversational trivia 50+ years later.

The debate about how much sheen the engine parts should have is good ....just like the old SNL skit about whether an advertised product was a dessert topping or a floor wax, hey, we're both right.

Bruce

[Phil Planck]

Good theory Bruce. The inside of the regulator cover is not as glossy as the outside is now. But, 50 year old paint and all those electrical ions attacking it may have dulled it some. BTW, did T6Bs have a sticker on the cover? I bought one years ago. Good time to affix it if so.

Back to the transaxle alignment. I loosened the 6 rear mount nuts and put a bottle jack under the center of the trans. Loosened both front mounts and tried to reef the trans toward the passenger side with my foot. No go. Pulled the drivers side front mount and tried to reposition it. No luck. Called Vic Skirmants and he said about the only way to move it would be to pull the inner shim and put it doubled up on the outside of the front passenger side mount. Removed passenger side front mount and moved the shim. Used the bottle jack to get the selector rod centered vertically and tightened all mount nuts. Worked!



With that behind me I can now concentrate on getting all of the other parts attached to the transaxle. Starting with the throttle connector to the bellcrank. Put a new ball snap on it:



Stripped the shifter housing and primed:

[Jack Staggs]

Good job, Phil to "move the shims around at the front mounts to an odd configuration to get a more acceptable fit to the chassis hole..." as suggested. Nice to know that Bruce and Vic approve!