'63 356B T-6 Rebuild

[John Pierce]

More small parts restoration.



Horns from the bottom of the ocean ....... or the back woods of Maine. Several coats of overspray on top of rust.



Overspray on the back sides also.



Too bad they were not sprayed before the rust took over.



The isolator bars had rust growing between the layered metal. Lots of pitting and scale.



First pass through the blast cabinet allowed me to get to the front screws for disassembly.



They cleaned up quite nicely with glass beads.



The badge plates unfortunately were not salvageable. The repros do not have raised lettering like OEM. My type of badging was only available from International Mercantile and is less common than others.



Disassembled. From left to right: horn casing, vibration plate, outer cover. A paper gasket was placed between each part.



Electrical terminal isolation block removal is necessary to get to all of the rust. The wires on the inside are soldered in place, which is easy to melt.



The innards are protected with tape for a second round in the blast cabinet.



After media blasting the pitting was smoothed out with a grinding disc.



Epoxy primed and painted. Ready for reassembly.



So nice. Bench tested to assure quality sound with a 6 volt battery. A 12 volt battery will work also, but the sound frequency is much higher. The screws are painted black as OEM.



New stainless steel hardware.



Lower frequency horn on the passenger's side.



Higher frequency horn on the driver's side.

Thanks for following.

[bbspdstr]

At the risk of being ostracized from this thread, I will present another of my stories:

Long ago, in the old Stoddard dealership in Willoughby, in a galaxy far, far away, I was waiting for Chuck and wandering around the shops. In one "clean room," on a lift high up, I saw a VERY nice black disc-braked C-2 Cab with a hardtop that sported a sunroof. Clean, shiny, not yet driven, apparently.

Impressive 356, to say the least. Super fresh and nicely detailed. Unfortunately, the nicer a car is, the easier it is to note flaws. I did.

When Chuck found me ogling that C-2, he was rightfully proud of that 356 and asked me what I thought.

I casually said, "Well, it's really a great restoration....but some filler in the rust pits on the axle tubes would have helped." (Compared to the rest of the underside, those painted-over-pits tubes really stood out.)

Chuck glared at me but could not argue, as he likely missed that or he would have added NOS tubes during the transaxle rebuild or had his bodyshop just make them look smooth, as the originals were.

Proof that anyone seeing a restoration on a lift (or on an online forum) is not always a good thing if the restorer doesn't see it that way first......jus' sayin.'

With apologies, Bruce

[John Pierce]

Great story. I debated filling in the pits then thought.......these horns are going to be behind the grill and will barely be seen. I even bought the filler to make it happen, but decided it was not worth the effort. I think that once installed and you put the car on a lift you would probably not notice the imperfections. You didn't mention the shiny black paint which isn't OEM also It really shows any imperfections.

I'm not going for a concourse car, but for a driver. Will probably end up with a bastardized car....I guess better called an "Outlaw": no front or rear bumper guards like a GT; Willhoit larger front sway bar; Skirmants Z-bar; disc brakes; 12 volt; Euro spec turn signals with reflector below the bumper; Euro heater system; alternator instead of a generator; no hood handle as the B/C version is obtrusive....or maybe put a pre-A handle instead. Lots of different ideas.

I don't have the original S-90 engine, but a replacement with a stamping close to my build date. I've already put the sunroof in. Hopefully it'll be cool looking and great driving when complete.

I love the stories, Bruce. Keep 'em coming.


Cheers,

JP

[bbspdstr]

No pitting, shiny, "outlaw" yet look and sound just like "original" and 12v. Less than the cost of the fast idle cable assembly....

http://wolo-usa.com/306-2t-big.jpg

Seriously, I have taken these apart, lightly blasted the housings, painted the less-than-shiny black as OE and exchanged perimeter hardware and badges and used them on very nice 356s. The only difference looking from the rear is that there are separate spade connectors for + and - in rubber grommets.

Good to know, especially with good working originals getting scarce, even with pits.

Bruce

[John Pierce]

These don't look too bad for $121. Paint the front. The back is more accurate than the Wolo.

https://www.amazon.com/Bosch-0986AH0203-FC9-Disc-Horn/dp/B00BHIU0AE/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_263_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=CYS6PVYE51T0VV13XK9P&dpID=51zzVVCn2wL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=detail#customerReviews

[bbspdstr]

I surrender. I just don't get out much.......on the Internet. Those "teaser" Amazon come-ons should be illegal...."and only 6 left" as of now. Those are Wolo items as far as the details go, or Wolo is bootlegging Bosch units...I don't know.

It's the pits, I tell ya!

Speaking of pits, the invisible kind, I'll go back now to bending the tubing to recreate a proper fuel delivery system from banjo on the pump to banjos on both carbs. Saving the 4 fittings to reuse and three parts of that very thin and internally very rusty tubing as templates and fix the constantly clogging jet issue on another 356.

The nearly $400 replacement from Porsche Classic as sold by Stoddard has fuel hose junctures and the later Version 2 plating.

If any enterprising person (basically a machinist) could create for Zeniths and Solex 356/912 carbs the gas inlets as were done for Webers, with fine inlet screens as a line of last defense, we all could benefit. I have ONE from a C-2 to copy but no time or money for such a project.

Bruce

[John Pierce]

DIdn't need to do this as replacements are pretty cheap.....but why not....



Original gas pedal after rust removal. The spring was broken so bought a new one from Stoddard. The pin holding things together was originally peened over to hold it in place. To remove, just grind down the peening.



The old spring had given up the ghost, breaking one of the tangs.



Taken apart, media blasted and ready for reassembly.



Voila...easy fix. Instead of peening the end I put a cap of metal with the MIG which looked just like peening.



Epoxy primed and painted.....I know.....too shiny with pits, but no one will see it when covered in the rubber cap At least it now works!!

Thanks for following.

[ukinusa]

I like the easy fix by welding vs peening an 'end', and less likely to bend the pin ... and as you say invisible

[bbspdstr]

My fix of a fixable pedal that has a typical problem like a broken spring is to use a long threaded bolt and lock-tite a nut.
The next guy will thank you.
Painted black and "in situ"...yup, it's invisible.
I forget the non-metric size of the long thin bolt or machine screw and each rusted passage is different anyway. Pass the appropriate drill through each section and....yeah, it's THAT size.
Lube every part as you go through and after the paint...things last longer and resist pitting.........

[John Pierce]

Great idea. Thanks Bruce, Especially as snow and rain will get down in there

[John Pierce]

I took Bruce's advice and did a little comparison between the Superhorn sets that are sold on Amazon to see their quality.



The Wolo horns sell on Amazon for $68 with free Prime shipping:
https://www.amazon.com/Wolo-306-2T-Super-Chrome-Plated/dp/B00029XGNC/ref=pd_sbs_263_4?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00029XGNC&pd_rd_r=0XNHV7KA5E6S8XA0075M&pd_rd_w=Xpz8Q&pd_rd_wg=9vcbv&psc=1&refRID=0XNHV7KA5E6S8XA0075M



The fronts are chromed with Wolo tags and have the correct Hz for our 6 volt Porsche 356's.



The rears have 2 plug sockets, which are different than OEM. The bracket is incorrect.



The Bosch Superhorns are sold on Amazon for $121 with free Prime shipping:
https://www.amazon.com/Bosch-0986AH0203-FC9-Disc-Horn/dp/B00BHIU0AE/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_263_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=CYS6PVYE51T0VV13XK9P&dpID=51zzVVCn2wL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=detail#customerReviews



The fronts are also chromed with 12 volt Bosch tags and the Hz are correct for 12 volt Porsche 356's.



The rears are similar to the Wolo's with 2 prongs. The Bosch horns do feel heavier though. The big difference is the inclusion of the multilayered holding bracket with the Bosch horn, which if bought separately sells for about $50. The back is also stamped with the Bosch name while the Wolo's have a painted name. Putting all these differences together indicates that they are not made at the same production facility.



I decided to keep the Bosch 12 volt Superhorns as I'm converting my car to 12 volt. My 6 volt horns hooked up to a 12 volt battery sound BAD......strangled chicken squawks!! I could've bought the same new 12 volt horns from Stoddard for $288 without the chroming, but hey.....I've got the time and paint
https://www.stoddard.com/64463510200.html



I media blasted the light chroming on the face panel and much heavier chroming on the bracket in preparation to paint. The tags were riveted on so had to be drilled out and the holes in the tags enlarged to accept the correct screws.



The screws also had to be painted black.



Final product primed and painted with non-gloss black paint. If you want to save $150 you can go this route or buy a replacement from Stoddard. Either way it's the same product. The Wolo's also seem to be a good product if you want to stay with the lower Hz sound and if you've got a holding bracket.

Cheers,

John

[bbspdstr]

Which of the two pictured horns is the size of an original 356 Bosch horn?

I have been able to swap parts around from a Wolo to an original 356 Bosch but the Bosch-like-a-Wolo-like-a-Bosch is new to me.

"My 6 volt horns hooked up to a 12 volt battery sound BAD......strangled chicken squawks!!"

May I also add that when I have done 12v conversions over the years (and I have done more than I'd like to admit)...if the horns were functioning properly on 6v (read: "obnoxiously loud"), they got whatever db is beyond obnoxious when fed 12v. Six or 12 volt chicken gargling is just an improperly functioning horn.....and 'we' are running low on good originals. Many I have kept for reasons that escape even me are silent. (The Monty Python parrot sketch comes to mind ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vuW6tQ0218

Respectfully, cheers,
Bruce

[bbspdstr]

On an "originality" note for those who are not aware, the original horns did not use nuts on the back side for the cheese head slotted machine screws around the perimeter. The rear housing of the actual mechanism was thick enough for a threaded hole and shorter screws.
(picky, picky, picky)

Bruce

[John Pierce]

Hah!! You pick up on everything, Bruce. Yes, the reproduction Bosch horns have nuts on the back while the originals did not. The size of the horns and thickness of the metal is the same as OEM. They are very well made. I do have shorter screws, but decided to keep the screws and nuts that came with the set as extra security. Hey....the horns are 12 volt instead of 6....what's a little more difference by adding nuts?!!

I should not have phrased it as "strangled chicken".......yes, it did get obnoxiously loud!!


JP

[AMP]

I found similar horns (same ones??) for my project 10 years ago.
Projects being what they are and in order to finish in one lifetime, you mark things off the list that can be easily and inexpensively bought and you save the originals for that Saturday morning in the future where you put all the original parts back on the car - HaHa.

I discovered they were about 1/2 size but looked exactly like the originals and were already black.

I removed the round name plate and replaced it with the aftermarket original plates.

Then before any purists could single out my obvious prosecutable offense I established the rumor that in fact they were original and were the very rare light weight Le Mans racing horns produced just for that race in homologateable quantity to satisfy the requirement of working horns in the original location. That along with the light weight working aluminum cigar lighter put the car square into legality for the '64 race. Of course my car was not an actual race car but one of the homologated duplicates that never made the Big Race.

Not sure it was believable but I think there was some uncertainty.