The Resurrection of Foam Car - 63 T6B

[Phil Planck]

Jack

Many thanks on the cable tube tutorial. Some great suggestions. It took about 1/2 hour but I got the front Ebrake tube cleaned out and the old cable end slides freely through it now. I used a 1/4" drive 8" extension and drove it in from the tunnel until it jammed. Then drove it out with a short 1/4 extension from under the car. Did this several times and a few gobs of stuff came out. The only thing left of the outer boot was the very large end about 1/2" wide. Found a long rod but diameter a hair too large too fit in the other tubes. I will go to local steel supplier where I got this one and see if they have a smaller one. Removed the rear Ebrake cable housing adjusting nuts and got them cleaned up. Should have done all of this before painting and undercoat. Installed my nice 6 ton jack stands under the torsion bar tubes which allowed me to get the car back almost level in prep for installing torsion bars.



I am torn about the appearance of the dynamat. May put a layer of roof tar paper over it, to hide all of the "joints".

I got out the 24mm EASY torsion bars and cleaned up the splines and further degreased them. One has a lot of protective paint scraped off:



Got out my can of Glyptal and recoated both prior to greasing them up. I also test fit them to make sure the inner splines went in:



Foam Car is now 1.1 degree off from being level at the sill:

[Phil Planck]

More cleaning/repair. Looks like the front end of the brake cable housing was originally black oxide, along with the adjusting nut and lock nut. The Stoddard replacement cable end is silver, so I painted both ends silver. Repaired cracks in the plastic conduit cover with liquid electrical tape on one, and had to replace a section on the other with a piece I had laying around that fit perfect. Just slit it length wise and bonded it on.



You can see the remains of the rear hanger straps, front boot and cable, along with the painted front and rear adjusting nuts:



Rear torsion bars were sun baked for 2 hrs and now ready to install.

[Jack Staggs]

Analog gauge. I love it.

[Phil Planck]

Got the 24mm torsion bars installed and spring plates set a 16.5 degrees. New bushings and covers torqued to 70 #-lb:



The angle had to be set before the spring plate was fully seated due to interference with the cover bolt boss.

Cut out a tar paper cover to put over the dynamat. Also got out the old shocks and started salvaging usable parts off of them:



Also degreased one side of front suspension and started disassembling to measure and paint. New bushings were installed years ago:



Oh, and what are the 2 short dust boots for in above pic? I ordered lots of rubber parts from Stoddard years ago and can't remember what these are for.

Checked diameter of inner lower end and it is at the high end of spec but somewhat gouged or scuffed up. Plastic bushing can cause this?



Got a lot of the small parts cleaned and painted, along with a NOS 15mm torsion bar that came with the PreA back in the 80s.

[Jack Staggs]

That scuffing is common, and yours look better than most. You can switch right arms to left to allow the more virgin areas to take the load. The bushings are more like Bakelite than plastic.
http://www.wolfsburgwest.com/cart/DetailsList.cfm?ID=111401315
The boots look like replacement type tie rod end, ball joint covers.
16.5 seems like quite a bit to me for 24mm. How far did they hang over the boss? Just a little lift to get them over the flange?

[bbspdstr]

"what are the 2 short dust boots for in above pic? "
Could they be (2) of the grommet for the gas control lever as it passes through the bulkhead to the fuelcock? If not, they don't look like original 356 rubber, especially on a tie rod end. (But then, it's a small picture to go on.)

As for the trailing arm inner scuffing, Jack is correct. I guess it's minute debris in the grease stuck in the original bakelite bushing, as the steel is tougher than the bushing, even if an aftermarket nylon version, especially as the grease is mostly squeezed out of the pressure points.

You may want to do a shoe-shine sanding with 120 grit cloth strips to average the galling and drift out the bushings to be rotated or replaced....or Jack's idea of swapping side-to-side is easier, but the bushings are still worn where the contact will be.

The Factory also saw this and deemed a roller bearing necessary on the outer rotation surface of the trailing arm instead of inner and outer bushings. They did a double row and then re-thought that and used only a single row bearing with a spacer.

What a cheap and rugged design.... with it's genesis on rough roads in pre-war Germany's People's Car, but what evolved after that was named after someone named McPherson who liked to strut his stuff.

Assuming you are measuring with the chassis level, Jack is also correct in the angularity of the plates being a bit extreme. In the pocket "Spec's" book I see an earlier B listed with 24mm bars being 16*30' and yes, usually there is a little lift needed to get it over the lower rear cover stand-off...but that from back when a little positive camber (+1*30') was dictated. I think I personally like to go into stiffer bars and a shallower angle for a slight (-1/2*-1* or maybe more) negative camber and bring the front down to match and be level. That usually starts at about 8* or 10*..........but you are all buttoned up, so loaded and on the ground and rolled a bit will tell you if it's good for you or not. It's all personal preference, measured in degrees and minutes. Phil, in your case it's usually hours and years!

Bruce

[Phil Planck]

Thanks Jack & Bruce

Those boots gotta be for the fuel cock. And there are 2 because it's been 15 damn years and I don't have a spread sheet inventory of what I ordered. I also have 2 sets of rubber sway bar bushings. I have 3 sway bars, 2 NOS.

I set the spring plate angle per the manual. The inner sill is level, so I assume that is a good reference. Good suggestion to see how it all looks when I get it on the ground, hopefully yet this year. Between the 912 & Foam Car I'm getting pretty good at spring plate removal.

Ref. bushing removal, I could use some more guidance. I remember reading years ago a method developed by Dick Pike for removing that inner bush. I assume by drift, Bruce, that it is a reverse drift - something that hooks on the inner edge of the bush and pulls it out, ala a slide hammer.

[bbspdstr]

Phil, when I remove the bushings, it is usually for total rebuilding of an entire 356, so ALL the stuff in the tubes is removed for checking and cleaning. The tubes are swabbed, ah, excuse me for mentioning, usually on a rotisserie.... so all old caked grease can be eliminated. It's like cleaning a small canon rather than a 12gauge, but the idea is the same. Lots of rags and solvent and a wooden stick.

You can sight through the empty clean tubes and tell if those are straight. You can check the ends of the t-bars for cracked/broken leaves, etc. You will likely be the first to look in on those parts in 50+ years.

The fastest way I have found to get the bushings out is to remove the bars and outer bearings (yes, with a special head on a "knocker" type slide tool) and then with a 'sharpened' tomato stake (a tad bigger than 1x1), use the center torsion bar control mount (one up and one below) without it's hardware and push it across to the bushing and drift it out with a few taps of a hammer. Then, go back in from that other side with the same round metal part (with the square hole in it's center) and push and tap the other bushing out. Etc.

Just remember the order upon reassembly. The shop manual really helps in that regard.

Best of luck,
-Bruce

[Phil Planck]

Ref. camber, I should have studied that up earlier. I think one click on the outer or inner is about 8 degrees, so think I will set it at 8.5 degrees and eventually see what the camber is with that.

Thought I was finished removing parts, but forgot about that bushing. Another step forward and 2 back. At least I can claim to be the first to see inside that suspension tube since it left Germany.

[Jack Staggs]

Phil, 8 is a low number. IIRC, I usually set them around 10.2 to 12 or so, depending. Bruce?
Before replacing those Bakelite bushings, you may want to install the control arms and feel if there is excessive play. They can be a bear to get in and out, and its easy to damage the outer roller bearing (expensive) on removal, particularly without the special puller. Beyond that, the Bakelite bushings come undersize on the ID, requiring a special self aligning tool to bore them to the correct size after installation. Those bushings are amazingly long lasting, at least in my experience. I've only replaced a small number of them in my career, usually from accident damage.
BTW, I generally drive the old bushings in further to accommodate the new bushing when installing a new one. There's plenty of room for that, and an added benefit is that it is somewhat of a barrier to keep grease from migrating away from where it is needed. At least I like to think so...

[bbspdstr]

I wrote: I think I personally like to go into stiffer bars and a shallower angle for a slight (-1/2*-1* or maybe more) negative camber and bring the front down to match and be level. That usually starts at about 8* or 10*.

Full weight coupe and 26mm bars usually would get 10* for a first try. If it's too much negative camber, down 2 more degrees to 12...if not enough, up 2 to get 8. Your 24mm bars may be fine where you are, but I would probably go to 14 or even 12 first for either neutral (zero camber) or change to get a minor decambering.

It is truly all personal preference. If true "originality" is desired, you are probably going to be fine where you are now.

Yes, per Jack, I try to use re-oriented original bushings as often as I can. Those were harvested carefully when we used to have "parts cars."

Bruce

[Phil Planck]

Thanks again, Bruce & Jack. I think I will set the spring plates at 12 degrees based on your input/experience. I do like the idea of at least getting it in the negative camber area. I did a lot of searching on the registry forum on the front suspension bushings. Ron LaDow had a good suggestion to but some masking tape on the arm(he says it's .005" thick) and see how that fits. Anyway, will do some more tinkering with what I have before attempting removal of the bushing.

I did a lot of forum research on shocks and decided to go with Boge from Stoddard(better prices elsewhere). They came today, along with other needed parts. Somewhat disappointed as they are made in Mexico and the rear upper shaft is quite a bit longer than the original Boge that I took off.





Another thing I do not understand is the hole in the rear upper mount is 19mm, but the shafts are 12mm dia. I don't see anything on the rubber bushings to "center" the shaft in the 19mm hole.

Started working on the tie rods. The long one was bent so I bought a used one from EASY years ago. It came apart nicely. My short Michigan bar was pretty rust in the threads. Took some heat and real reefing with 2 pipe wrenches to get the ends off. Here they are cleaned up, along with other suspension parts:



Got the sway bar almost finished painting. Will let it harden on it's custom drying rack and then finish painting the other end:




I had a BRG XK 120 DHC for 42 years and had to have this picture. No room in our downsized house so all my car pictures are now hanging in the shop.

[bbspdstr]

"Another thing I do not understand is the hole in the rear upper mount is 19mm, but the shafts are 12mm dia. I don't see anything on the rubber bushings to "center" the shaft in the 19mm hole."

This one may be for Jack or someone else, but I just went to a '56 that was the only 356 in the shop sans shocks and stuck an index finger in the upper shock mount hole. I then tried a 12-point 19mm socket and it was more loose.....scientific, huh?

Still, the rubber mini-donuts ID take the metal bushings on the threaded stud of the shock's top and are tapered and sandwiched between two thick washers in the horizontal mount that has a lip on the upper and lower sides. That allows movement in any direction, especially in an arc of the swing-axle design. I have never found any bending in any rear shock's smallish threaded stud, but it is typical to see worn lower rear shock grommets....from various causes.

Hey, why not paint 'em orange/red and call 'em "Phony Konis".....it's been done in blue, too.....as to look like "original" to the casual observer. Those "phony Boges" (if branded F&S) work fine in my experience, especially if painted the proper reddish-brown.

[tperazzo]

I doubt this is surprising but my shock mounts also measure 19 mm. I don't know where my shocks are at the moment and I doubt they are original.

The mount is a bit donut shaped, so my guess is that once the rubber compresses into the donut hole it provides enough locating support while isolating the body from road noise.

I defer to experts, but that is my guess.

Good progress Phil!

[Phil Planck]

Bruce
Thanks. If you look at the Koni shocks sold on Stoddard's web site they do include the steel sleeve and bushings. If you look at their Boge, they don't show any upper parts, but the box comes with 2 rubber buffers and 2 steel washers, each different. Also, you get instructions in about 20 languages showing how to drill the old shock to dispose of the oil, but no installation instructions. The steel sleeve from the original Boges will not fit the new Boges as the new upper shaft is a larger diameter.

While on this sleeve/bushing topic, I test assembled 4 of the sway bar bushings. The original bushings on the suspension arm have an id of 14mm, not the 15 mm that Stoddard sells for this location. The steel sleeve there has an od of 14mm, so with the 15mm Stoddard bushing there is slop and a bad place for slop IMO. I will now search for a 14mm bushing or a 15mm od sleeve.

I test fit my new tie rod ends and all is good there, so the rods were primed and painted today,, along with finishing the sway bar top coat.


Phil