'63 356B T-6 Rebuild

[John Pierce]

Now THAT'S a great story! Well played

[VirtuallyReal]

[John Pierce]

I don't have a 6 volt battery to check. Maybe someone else can chime in.

[bbspdstr]

Ding-dong.....

My doorbell has a transformer of house current to I-don't-know, SO,
we have occasional power outages at shop and home, SO, one of my battery powered lights at each location is a clunky old-fashioned incandescent-bulbed 6v lantern. Those batteries are still available at most hardware stores, last I looked. I likely used one of the aforementioned when in Boy Scouts.
Such a battery can also test a horn (if not made obsolete by 1.5v LED technology, jus' sayin.')

Bruce

[John Pierce]

Hey Bruce. I did try using a brand new rectangular 6 volt lantern battery on my 6 volt hornd and it wouldn't power it. I had to go to the auto store and use one of their 6 volt car batteries to test it and the horns worked fine.

I'm heading off to visit my daughter in DC so won't be able to do that again soon.

Cheers,

JP

[bbspdstr]

" I had to go to the auto store and use one of their 6 volt car batteries to test it and the horns worked fine."

I am always amazed and this is no exception. One, that the 6v lantern battery didn't work with the horns....two, that your local FLAPS actually HAD a 6v battery, and three, that you are such a good customer that they let you not only use the battery for testing, but risk the hearing of themselves and other customers.

Have a safe trip and with luck, you will escape DC prior to the neo-Nationalsozialist or (whatever) rally and counter-protesters. Our country may be divided, but we here on abcGT.com are not.

[John Pierce]

DC will be crazy on Sunday.... I'm a escaping on an early flight before any bad juju happens!

[VirtuallyReal]

[ukinusa]

John I headed there from Phili on Saturday (staying a week here) - being a Utah country bumpkin/bumkin what is happening Sunday ? Send a PM if you like ! brit@infowest.com

[VirtuallyReal]

I completely forgot about this one i found on eBay a while ago:

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F36 2010473269

It is yet another 6v alternative. It only has one picture, from the back, but at least the bracket looks to be similar to the OG one.

[John Pierce]

A White Supremacy rally like what happens a year ago in Virginia.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/08/09/us/white-nationalist-rally-explainer/index.html

[John Pierce]

Back to our regularly scheduled 356 fix! Much better topic, anyhow.

I finally got to inspect the brake drums that came with my car. Unfortunately, they're similar to what the rest of the car lived through and rot has taken root



Front drum.



After scraping away the loose metal scale this is what is left. Other smaller areas are also affected.



Rear drum.



Even worse on the rear.



Pretty deep.

I've heard that these areas on the face of the drum can be repaired? Will welding this produce a safe drum? What type of alloy is it to be welded?

Thanks for your thoughts.

[bbspdstr]

"I've heard that these areas on the face of the drum can be repaired? Will welding this produce a safe drum? What type of alloy is it to be welded?"

Ah, some continuity of the PM....here ya go: you have three choices.
1) get better drums and have THOSE relined. It has been posted widely about bi-metal corrosion over time, so I will not get into that now, but relining is not about "if," but "when."

Restoration of those shown will involve welding the cooling fins and that becomes most time-consuming of all of the filling of missing aluminum. Other than the fins, it's all lathe work.

2) yes, merely 2 people are known to me now to do a good job with relining aluminum drums. I have told customers (who have listened) that even though they had me install aftermarket front disc brakes, they should get the front AND rear drums relined so that the future need to return to "original" would be easier. No heat or moisture from being in a plastic bag in a box should last a long time, at least a 30 year gamble on the fronts.

3) (and 4) are J&G- https://www.jgrelining.com/ or Martin Willis- http://mwthemachineshop.com/porsche-356-drums (for me, in that order)

Don Booker at J&G is more expensive and Martin Willis charges less and both do a good job but let's just say that I have had no 'issues' of any sort with Don and personally, just me, being a cranky professional myself, the only work I've gotten from Martin since a minor 'issue' years ago (through Brad Ripley as a third party) is from mutual customers who decided to use him due to a lesser price. Both re-line and arc shoes and both can restore aluminum surfaces after cleaning, etc, etc.

There was an older gentleman who was successful before the above two came on the scene who used a "Space Age Chemistry" to ensure a good bond between a thicker new iron lining and an over-cut drum, but he expired and there was a void.

I have posted before that this particular challenge has existed for quite a while. When I was running out of really good used replacments in the '70s, I had a customer with a B who needed front drums due to lining wear. He was a Naval officer at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and that service facility had a reputation that "if they couldn't fix it, they'd make it." The officer took the drums to those Naval repair shops and they tried various methods to reline and then gave up. So, it's a specialized procedure that is not commonly practiced.

The last alternatives are the Fuchs-made NEW drums as sold by Porsche. Perhaps when better (than John's) drums are found and bought and the more costly relining is totaled...perhaps the new versions make the most sense....for a perhaps a couple of grand more, max.

This is one reason I like disc brakes.....

Bruce

[merbesfield]

Hey Bruce, as always thanks for the knowledge. What brand of disc conversion do you recommend? I rebuilt my original setup, but I am now rethinking my decision and want to install disc. Since the car is still a work in progress (though not much progress lately) I might as well do the conversion and be done with it. Thanks, Mark

Edit: 57 T1 356

[John Pierce]

Bruce,

You are a treasure to the 356 community! Thank you for taking the time to share your time tested knowledge and expertise...... And always with the gift of humor.

Those new drums that Porsche Classic is manufacturing look sweet. Stoddard is selling them for $1721, but if you purchase directly from a local Porsche dealer they go for $1484 with no shipping charges. Still up there though. I'm planning on attending the Labor Day open house at Unobtanium with Adam Wright and picking up some better drums at that time. They might just need a trip to my local foreign auto mechanic for a turning to true things up and then rearcing the shoes with new liners. Otherwise I'll send them out for a reline.






Front disc brake conversion is a quick bolt on. Two good sellers are:

AIRKEWLD in the USA: https://www.airkewld.com/Classic-Porsche-356-Front-Disc-Conversion-Kit-p/4602.htm






And CSP in Germany: https://www.csp-shop.com/en/wheels-brakes/disc-brake-5x205-499-356-5205a-15463a.html





HTH

JP