The Resurrection of Foam Car - 63 T6B

[bbspdstr]

Thanks, John. A week has gone by like the wind (but not the rain).

Time flies by faster as we age. I'm just getting used to that.

Ski Roundtop was dry and laid back. I have no idea how things went for most other vendors 'cause as usual, I stayed with my limited stuff for sale and spoke with as many others as I could. Lots of smiles and lots of stories. Swap meets in general now seem to be as much social as sales events.

A lot of history is shared..."remember when this place was outgrown and moved to Hershey?" and "I bought a 4-cam motor here for $20 last year." (I just made that up but there were 4-cam parts seen being carried around by shoppers at each event!)

I heard from the organizer who initiated the rebirth of Ski Roundtop, Mike Moody, that he did this last event as his last event, commuting as he did this year from his new home near Glacier National Park in Montana. The more local and well known Porsche guy Steve Limbert will organize next year's event with a date next September (which I forget) already chosen.

This year included a generous open house across Lewisberry, PA at Dennis and Lori Frick's shop, Europa Macchina. (I remember that spelling by thinking "Scottish dinnerware.") Lots of great cars, projects and food! And more history and talk, talk, talk...a great time with great people.

I was talking with an owner of a 904 I have worked on, on and off, since 1976, as we stood by another 904 in Dennis' showroom that was nicer than originally made by Porsche. By serial number, the two examples were very far apart, so we were comparing the two, not 'making fun' of the too-nice 904 in front of us when a young man with a foreign accent announced HE was the owner of that one.

Oops. We stopped, but I wanted to ask the taller than 6'3" me younger man "How the f... do you fit in that car....or do you just OWN it?" Just an unspoken thought.

I then gravitated over to Mike DeJonge and asked when he was going to map a 904 and produce one in aluminum...and we laughed some more. Iconoclasts do that.........

-Bruce

[Phil Planck]

This will all probably get lost with the update, but I need to move on. Got the insulation installed in the engine compartment and pulled the wiring up for engine connections. Installed voltage regulator and put new terminals on most wire ends replacing crimped on connectors with soldered connectors.





I want to install engine, as need stand to put 912 engine on for a cleanup and new oil seals on tranny. But first I need to weld in replacement rear end supports. I could only find one picture of these installed on a T6 and they are not where they were on Foam Car. Here are old and replacement brackets:




The old brackets were welded to the flange at top as expected, but were centered over the exhaust cut outs and the bottoms were welded about 4" above the top of the cut out. Is that where they were originally? Will post a picture of the T6 I found on the internet on a rotisserie when I can find it.

Thanks - Phil

[Phil Planck]

This will all probably get lost with the update, but I need to move on. Got the insulation installed in the engine compartment and pulled the wiring up for engine connections. Installed voltage regulator and put new terminals on most wire ends replacing crimped on connectors with soldered connectors.





I want to install engine, as need stand to put 912 engine on for a cleanup and new oil seals on tranny. But first I need to weld in replacement rear end supports. I could only find one picture of these installed on a T6 and they are not where they were on Foam Car. Here are old and replacement brackets:




The old brackets were welded to the flange at top as expected, but were centered over the exhaust cut outs and the bottoms were welded about 4" above the top of the cut out. Is that where they were originally? Here's a picture of a T6 I found on the internet on a rotisserie :




Thanks - Phil

[John Pierce]

Phil,

I looked through my pictures but couldn't find any documenting this. Sorry.

JP

[Phil Planck]

Thanks John

Karman probably different than Ruetter anyway. No discussion of this in Kellog's or Roland's books. My rear end had been hit and the original supports are pretty buggered up, but I am assuming that they are supposed to attach at the bottom of the rear end panel, not up on the sheet metal like mine. However, I see no evidence that they were ever attached anywhere else.

[DG58INNM]

Phil,
The rear supports should be spot welded to the rear panel just above the exhaust cutouts. I repaired a Karmann C recently and should have some pictures on my home computer. Will look and see tonight.
DG

[JOP]

Phil,
Here you see some pieces left of the holders....as mentioned earlier it is stuck just above the cutouts for exhausts.
Sorry for not having a better on hand.
JOP

[Phil Planck]

Thanks JOP

At least this confirms mine were in their original location. I have replaced the metal above both cutouts as it was rusted out, so lost evidence and did not take a pic. Now I get to remove remainder at the flange and prep for installing repro supports, which are not as deep as originals.

Phil

[DG58INNM]

Found the pictures I was looking for. On my cell phone! The lower end of the support is welded to the flange of the exhaust cutout. You can see the original spot welds in the photo. This is a '64 Karmann C



This is how I fixed it. The metal around the exhaust cutout was damaged, rusty, and thin so I made a new exhaust cutout repair piece and spot welded the support bracket to the flange before installation.





Simple then to edge weld the other end of the support bracket to the lip at the rear of the engine compartment.

[Phil Planck]

Great! Thanks Dave. Way to think ahead. My patches are already welded in, so will have to be creative in how I attach.

[Phil Planck]

Got remains of old brackets removed from flange. Both flanges were bent up almost vertical at the bracket mount area. Took a while to flatten them out but got them pretty smooth. New brackets had to be trimmed about 1/8" at one end and they lay right in there. Tomorrow weld prep.
Thanks for the quick help.

[John Pierce]

Looks good, Phil. I'm going to have to check mine in the morning.

[Phil Planck]

Looks like Justin's update is here. Yea. In the interim, engine is installed

[Phil Planck]

Next, engine lid and hinges were stripped. Lid had several dents that needed smoothing. All primed and installed.

[Phil Planck]

John, Bruce and I got in an email discussion regarding bumbet decos. Original ends are round. My repros are pointed. Was able to round the outer end, but inner is still pointed.