The Resurrection of Foam Car - 63 T6B

[Phil Planck]

Hi Jack
What a coincidence. Just picked up the latest R&T and there you are. I thought R&T had been discontinued, and had not seen one in several years. A lot different mag now.

Yes, my plan is to get all of the running gear on Foam car so I can fire it up and move it around. Then resume outer metal repair. Not "normal", but want to make it easier to sell by heirs if something prevents me from finishing it. Not fair to leave them with a shop full of parts here and there.

My wife and I have decided to winter in FL, so won't be able to work on Foam car till May. I did bring under dash wire harness and horns with me to work on here.

Phil

[JTR70]

That's very forward thinking and thoughtful of you Phil but I sure hope you get some serious seat time in her before that day comes.
Enjoy the rest of your stay down South.

BTW: I'll be sure to get a copy of R&T this weekend so I too can read up on what Ole' Jack has been up to.

[bbspdstr]

Funny that the R&T mag came up here. I was supposed to meet up with Phil in FL last week, but time was very tight with Marti's family taking the flex out of my flex time. Four days just blew by with my brother-in-law, another Jack!

I looked for reading material in the airport kiosk in PA while waiting for a delayed departure and settled on "Flight" with a good story on the newest Cirrus...but coming back I noticed a new-ish looking R&T on the stand in the FL airport. Must be a Florida thing. Sorry I passed on at least thumbing through it! I guess I will look up north now to read about Jack Staggs.

Phil, I didn't know until I got to the gate of the arena what, if any, seats I was getting for the Willy Nelson concert. It turned out that I was provided center/front seating and he was great! 83 and going strong.
The place was packed!
New songs like "Roll me up and smoke me when I'm gone" and "I woke up this morning and I wasn't dead yet" blended with "On the road again" and his usual repertoire allow a lot of "audience participation." His git-tar still sounds great, but as beat up as it is, it's looks and performance matches Willy to a T.

May we all be as good as Willy when we reach his age! Those of us with unfinished 356s need to get going!

Let me know about wiring needed.......
Bruce

[Phil Planck]

Bruce
Sorry we could not get together, but fully understand. Great seats for Willie, and great show I am sure.

I have been project busy doing some updates to the 2005 5th wheel we bought, and leave here.

Hope to get back to harness soon, as rapper up last project today. Really appreciate the wire offer.

Phil

[Phil Planck]

I have been slowly getting the horns cleaned up. Harder to do without my blast cabinet but finally ready for top coat.



Phil

[Phil Planck]

Horns painted and assembled with new SIC hardware. Had to do an epoxy repair to one of the bakelite connectors and need to finish coat that. Not having the car, I hope I have the brackets at correct orientation. Do wire terminals face out or in?





Also, which horn gets which tag, for the puritsts?

Here is one horn before, complete with foam:

[JTR70]

Turned out really nice Phill! Wire terminals face inward and slightly up. I'm sure Bruce or Jack will have the answer on the ID Tags.

[213532]

In my notes, I have 6/3 is the low tone horn and on the right side. 6/4, high tone, left side. BTW, the grill screws were painted black.

Mike

[Phil Planck]

Thanks Mike
I got a lead on a horn expert in Naples, FL Julian Hardy. Here is his comments:
"The data tags need to be switched. The 6/4 goes on the smaller cup(tags behind the grill) the 6/3 goes on the larger cup. The correct tags are 6/15 and 6/16. The cost is $20 each plus shipping."

I figured those screws might be painted after looking at a few pictures. Seems odd that Bosch would paint after assembling all but the tag. Since I have to remove the tags I can shoot some paint on the screw heads.

Phil

[Phil Planck]

Back home in the shop after getting the yard, house, etc. cleaned up and wild turkey in the freezer. I had not tried to see if the horns worked during the cosmetic restoration so tried them in the shop and neither worked. Took them both apart and cleaned and filed the point contacts and readjusted. Both horns now work. Some tips: do not disassemble the contacts, as re-assembly is very difficult. Just loosen the top screw holding about 6 parts together and pivot the contacts out where you can file them smooth. Reinstalling capacitors is very, very hard, so leave them in if possible. They apparently seldom are bad. Also, careful when reassembling, as you can bend the upper contact plate if you are off 90 degrees. You would think that the 2 rectangular magnetic plates would be aligned, but they need to be 90 degrees off for the points to adjust and work properly. So I would not lose the horns I just installed them on their brackets until I need to get in that area for more body work. Need to paint the outer screws black also.






Now back to the under dash wire harness. I left my data sheet with measurement for the plastic wrap in FL, so hopefully can proceed without it or get a neighbor to retrieve it and fax to me. Got the harness laid out on a work surface and will have at it in earnest soon.






Phil

[Jonesy_356]

I've been wondering what to do with my loom/harness, so I'm looking forward to your approach mate.

Thanks for sharing.

J

[JTR70]

Glad to see you back at it Phil. Not going with a new harness? I think Bruce would advise on a new one as that's what he recommended for my project. Like Jonesy however, I'll be interested in watching you save this one.

[DG58INNM]

Phil,
I should I have at least one, and possibly 2, spare C wiring harnesses. Can't immediately recall their condition, but if useful to you let me know.
DG

[Phil Planck]

Thanks guys for the tips/encouragement. DG(Dave), if you have the underdash harness "handy", I could use the length of the large red wire that goes from the fuse box to the headlight switch. There are 2 red wires coming from the fuse block. The other one(smaller gauge I think and longer) goes to the lighter/clock. I think the C went to slip on connectors instead of the bullet, but lengths should be the same. I also need length of the internal harness red wire from headlight switch to ignition switch. Hard to measure unless harness is taken apart as it is all hidden in the plastic wrap. Those are the 2 main wires needing replacing. I'm hoping Bruce still has his wire "stash" as I could use a few of the bi-colored wires also. I have been measuring those two wire diameters, and studying Greg Bryans good articles along with the Leoni wiring books. I think I can get the red wires "locally" in the proper gauge. I ordered 10 new bullet connectors from Stoddard to solder on. Need to get on Mcmaster Carr site to see what kind of shrink wrap sizes they have. Could not find what I need at Harbor Freight.

Phil

[Jack Staggs]

Phil, the smaller red wire to the clock/lighter is from the fused side of the 30 circuit ( at the bottom of the fuse box when mounted. BTW, Schematics often show the fuse box inverted. When mounted "hot is top". On T6 LHD, the #1 fuse is the one closest to the hood hinge). The large red wire to the headlight switch would be better placed to the ignition switch first, then linked to the headlight switch to avoid voltage drop to the starter (the greatest amp draw). Interesting that a similar fault correction by factory bulletin for the 1966 VW beetle was given.
Another concern is that when mounting the fuse box to the firewall, do not allow the bundle of wires to become pinched behind the box. Tight clearances there, and disasters can prevail.
Oh, you did solder all the connections on the riveted bridges on the back side of the fuse box? Good. I knew you wouldn't let that small issue get by! Nice to see you back at it from a well deserved rest.