1958 Porsche 356 Speedster turn key resto.....

[JTR70]

The car is highly detailed and really looks fantastic! The reflections through the door gaps look very consistent. You guys do great work!
Justin

[stp356]

Very pleased with what Matt and his two brothers 'Stopher and Brandon are doing to my Speeder. When numbers matching car is done, will sport the Carrera louvers, GT bumper trim, Technomagnesio wheels, french fryer headlight grills that mount with the three Tenax fasteners, Wilhoit's bullnose wheel studs, leather interior, Nardi wheel (replica), 1883cc engine with NeuTek SX-1 cam, Dellorto 40mm carbs with horizontal spray bar update, chopped flywheel, vintage Abarth exhaust and BBAB gears. Plan is limited driving, show it at Dana Point in 2013 and then drive it.

[JTR70]

Hello Steve and Welcome! I am really looking forward to seeing the finished product. I really like the fact that its going to be a mild hotrod with all the cool GT style parts. Roll bar too? or no? Again can't wait! Matt I'm sure will not disappoint. Justin

[roy mawbey]

Matt,

Just looked through your restoration. Lovely job, very nice work.

Roy

[deluxecustoms71]

The Speedster is back from interior and ready for a re-buff and final assembly!!!

[deluxecustoms71]

Interior Pics!

[deluxecustoms71]

Re-Buff before final assembly!

[deluxecustoms71]

Final Assembly! Badges, Trim, Rubber mat's etc...

[JTR70]

Thanks for posting this update Matt! The interior turned out beautifully and the car is looking spectacular! That was alot of damn work and time to mask that body off for the final polish. Nice job on this! I'll bet Steve is really getting excited! Beautiful! Justin

[stp356]

You better believe it, JT. Now up to me to finish the engine. Bottom end is together but stalled at the moment because LN Engineering is out of the Cylinder shims I need. In the meantime, got the Dell-Toros apart and cleaned and will put back together with new gaskets, o-rings and throttle pump diaphragm those this weekend.

STP

[JTR70]

I figured you would be Steve; I'm excited for you! The engine sounds like its going to scream! Any progress shots of it? How did your side curtains turn out? Justin

[Manolin]

.


AMAZING JOB!

[stp356]

Here is the hand made steel GT mirror housing that will go on the car. I selected this one for two reasons:

1. The commonly available aluminum GT mirrors are made by Urs Gretener (sold by most of the usual suspects) and are probably the most correct in terms of shape, however I think the squared off shape looks out of place on a rounded 356.
2. The Spyder mirrors are HUGE and bulbous. I borrowed one and set it on the fender and it dominated the profile.

With that, I think this one, more rounded than the GT and less bulbous than the Spyder, better complements the shape of the Speedster. There is a matching hand made mirror base that I will post later.

STP

[JTR70]

Looks pretty good from what I can tell so far Steve. I am with you on the overall size of an original 550 unit, it is too big. I never gave much thought about the flatness of the other offerings but I can see that. I have been on a similar project for a while now too and my criteria was overall size but most importantly the final height of it off the fender. I'd like to see your housing on a fender to get a better idea. Below is my mirror project. Justin

Alloy housing I found on ebay several years ago out of Europe. Its one of the smallest I have come across. This housing is for my Coupster project BTW not the coupe its pictured on. I am going try and keep a side mirror off of this car for as long as I can.

Trickiest part was finding a mirror that would fit.

As you can see the final height is just as 2.5 inches. About as low as you can go and still be of some use.


I eventually found my mirror in the harley-davidson offerings. I of course had to buy as a pair. Once I cut the excess off it fit beautifully.

The other thing is I'm very adverse to drilling that large hole in the fender for the mirror stem. My alternative is make a substructer out of rod for both the mirror to work off of and to sandwich the housing onto the fender. All done with the smallest of bolts of course. Thanks again for posting! Justin

[stp356]

Here's a bit of an update. Car is done except for engine grill and windshield. Engine grill tumbled and ceramic coated by Jim Liberty. WELL worth the $172 insured for $500 and shipped to my door. Windshield is now at Deluxe Customs and will be installed before too long. Engine is "long pole in the tent." Got the cylinders and heads on today. Lapped the cylinders to fine sandpaper on glass and then to the cylinders. Installed the high tech pushrod tubes from Ron Ladow with nitrile rubber pushrod tube seals. Chased the threads on the head nuts and installed with nitrile rubber o-rings and ARP assembly lube for the ARP studs that are recommended with the Nickies. Funny how when you are trying to be so fastidiously clean, everything starts looking dirty and gritty. It's not, but seems that way. Next is the rocker arm assy. Sent the rockers out and had the pads re-machined. Will be careful to ensure that I still have ample oil flow through the adjuster screws. If not, may order chrome moly pushrods. We'll see. More later...