58367 The $75 Junkyard Carrera coupe restoration

[JTR70]

4/30/18

New fuse block wired up and mounted.

Lower leads tucked into the sheath with new block mounted in final position.

This was the only approach as there is no way in hell to get at those leads and insert them tucked down below the lip of this sheath. It took some doing but I got the leads to comply and tuck down in there. My biggest fear was having an end come loose and pop free after the fact. Thankfully it didn't happen and was pleasantly surprised with how they rest in there. Leaving well enough alone.

Moved onto the upper leads and took extra time and a few retries to arrange them in the smoothest and least stressed position that I could.

These are little longer than the originals but I have more adjustment slack to slip the main harness a little higher which is what I need to do next. Anyway the base or foundation is now set. Working outwards from here to get the rest of the harness into final clamped position.

Thanks for looking!
Justin

[Don C]

Looks sweet and neat Justin! Can't wait to see the complete car.

[roy mawbey]

Looks very nice Justin.

Roy

[JTR70]

Thanks a lot you guys!

5/7/18

Not sure what the future holds as far as the rest of the original electrical components for my specific purposes and needs but I've decided for now to just mock everything up in and under the dash as stock correct. I can make any changes as needed later but I would like things set up correct for reference sake at the very least.

Began cleaning up the old original relays to this car.

Seem basically identical save for one less terminal.

Rummaged through my drawers and found the original and correct mounting hardware. Horn relay is tapped and the signal relay are self tapping. I remember the self tapping ones as knarly old spade screws. Glad to have found them.

Hit a slight snag with the diagram provided by Y&Z.

Terminal ID's as well as the configuration wasn't even close to a match.

Luckily I had this spare. While it too is slightly configured differently than the OG to this car it had the correct number ID's that the diagram had.

Going strictly by basic comparison and orientation I was able to make sense of it. At least I think I did?

Eastwood Zinc kit to the rescue again. Perfect for tiny jobs that you'd never bother a professional plating outfit with.

Locks and screws zinced up. Relays ready to go.

Horn relay wired up and hopefully correct. If you see something wired wrong please let me know...

Signal relay was next. Both ready to go back onto the wall after many, many years.

Mounted

The routing of the loom is about the best that I can do. Sort of lays where it wants to...

Just have to feed the door switch leads out to the top hinge. The door needs to come off to do that properly so this will have to wait for now.
Moving over to the middle of the dash for the wipers, lighter and courtesy light. We'll see how that goes.

Thanks for looking!
Justin

[JTR70]

5/10/18
Little detour

While rummaging through boxes for the wiper assembly and gauges I ran across my original threshold strips. The one pictured on top is original to this car and still has bits of the old B.R. Green overspray on it. I began fitting it and the first several holes lined up but the holes quickly misaligned shortly after that. I then remembered this rocker originates from my other car. Fortunately I still have the original strips to it. It went right on. Proof that these parts may look the same but fitting properly is another story.

Just have to redrill the leading hole where I had grafted it in.

Some straightening, light sanding and polishing to get past some light electrolysis but definitely savable. Original mounting hardware will also be used.

Original tack strips in similar condition. They'll clean up and won't be perfect but I'm more interested in them remaining original.

Eventually found my wiper unit and began cleaning the motor though I'm not sure if it works...going to mock it up anyway.

After the wiper, lighter and dash light I'll wire up the gauges along with the rest of this side of the dash. I have to admit I am finding this stage of the build the most enjoyable and relaxing. Fun going through boxes and fiddling around with each small individual component.
Thanks for looking!
Justin

[JTR70]

7/15/18

Beginning phase of my custom 16inch Bi-metal wheels.

I'm jumping around a bit but these entries are way over do and almost a year old. I know there are a lot other "ready made" wheel options out there like those 16's by coddington. But they are a fully alloy wheel and I'm just not in love with the look of the required thicker alloy centers. I prefer the more traditional look of the old GT Steel/alloy bi-metal wheels. So to get the widths, offsets, and final "look" that I want I'm building my own.

Set my sights on this very early pair of KPZ's I bought from Rusty Tubs. They were part of large package deal of original 16 inch wheels he bought. What I liked and noticed about them were the champhered vent holes which gave them a slightly more aggressive look than the others. Perfect the rear which will be wider and slightly more dished than the eventual fronts.

The other requirement they met was they are the riveted versions and have a full flange to accept a new alloy hoop.

Before I committed I had to create a few optical illusions for width to make sure I was going to like it. Offset will be slightly deeper but the 6 inch width represented here was right on. I could finally visualize it.

Grinding and punching out the old rivets; commitment time. Note the coupster project in the back ground for an idea how late these entries are.

A pressed fit so a few squared up chest high drops to my shop floor slowly worked the center out.

Another quick mock up sitting on the inside of a 6 Fuch wheel for more dreaming purposes. Liked it more and more, I was on the right track.

Now onto media blast to get the rest of that old blue powder coat off.

More later, Thanks for looking!

Justin

[JOP]

Moin Justin,

I do not remember IF we had this talk earlier .... if so then you hear it again
Here is a company selling stuff for you to do your wheels..... you got more projects

But now PONTUS is having a tradewar with Canada so higer tariffs??

[356hunter]

Hi Justin, just stripped two wheels myself using $15 quart of aircraft stripper. brushed it on wheel, let it sit 15-20 minuts them used stainless steel scourer from .99 cent store to strip. One of wheels had been powdercoated black. stripper and scourer stripped quickly. Recommend thick latex gloves from .99 cent store along with pan hot soapy water to rinse stainless steel scourer. You could probably do both centers in an hour.


One caveat with early wheels, centers are noticeably thinner than later wheels. Factory used thicker materials on wheels beginning around 10 of 57 due to cracking and breaking of early wheels in racing use. Factory again increased thickness of wheels around 64-65 with advent of 904.

With wider stickier tires to go with your substantially faster car, suspension etc., wheels might be even more prone to cracking and breaking. Also the riveted centers might be prone to breaking, cracking etc. How many rivets in early centers vs later 904/906 style steel alloy wheels? Might be worth investigating with your life and car on line if you drive it hard. Of course for show who cares.

Michael Foster

[JTR70]

Thanks Per, I've had a stack of about 10 of those here for some time that a friend had drop shipped. I investigated it and I had two problems with using them. First they are Chinese and you just never know for sure about the quality of steel (carbon content) they are made from. Which I was warned about and echoes Michaels last entry. The second thing is that there is not quite enough meat left on the mounting flange itself for riveting. They are cut thinner as their intention is to be welded into a steel hoop. As an aside I heard that the guy up in Canada has since sold all of this centers to Harry Witham in Europe.

Hi Michael, Thanks for the words of warning. As I had said earlier these entries are about a year old and this pair of wheels is now built and complete.

I don't want to get ahead of my story here but I will share this photo of the back side of one and its a pressed fit with 20 rivets holding it to its new alloy hoop. Originally they only had about 12 so we bumped them to 20 like the RSK wheels I had, they aren't coming loose anytime soon. The builder is a contact of my cousin David through his Salt flat racing. I had to go through all the particulars with them concerning the weight of the car and the expected Horsepower output. At the end of it all they where confident with these centers to go ahead and build the wheels. It was explained that the alloy hoop is about an 1/8 of an inch thicker than the originals I had mic'ed as part of the planning phase and that the alloy itself is stronger than what was around 50 years ago. So Cracking is really not going to be an issue but I'll keep an eye on them though.


It was these RSK wheels dated '65 that brought the subject of potential cracking to the forefront as these where gas welded and brazed in the distant past. These may have been thicker than earlier centers but they still had cracking issues.

[JOP]

[Jack Staggs]

Justin, I have a couple OG 16 centers. Any chance you can part with the old barrels to mate them up?

[JTR70]

Thanks for the info Per. That might come in handy for a spare maybe but I'm already set for the fronts as well.

Hey Jack, Sure...

Do want the 3 inchers



Or the 3.5 's?

7/16/18

Wheel center prep.

Before media blasting I added a small nipple detail found on original GT wheels that Bill Brown made be aware of. Just for fun and besides it wiped out a VW logo found on one of these centers.

Both back from media blast. I began treating one with a mild oxide mix to bring out more of a raw cast iron hue as the plan is to only clear coat the centers to highlight the wheels composition. Besides its also easier to detect any fractures this way.

Mocked up with my polished fuch for dreaming and planning purposes. If I don't like it or get sick of the contrast I can paint the centers silver at any time.

A mock up with car. The offest is of course completely off but again it was just to getting my head around things before I commit.

Rear pair of centers clean, treated and ready. Determining my offsets next.

Thanks for looking!
Justin

[Jack Staggs]

3.5 please. No hurry. I'll try to figure a way to get them here one day.

[JTR70]

Okay Jack, If you can wait until the 356th day of this year I can deliver them personally.

[JTR70]

7/17/18

Determining the offset for the rear.

I had two requirements for the rear, I wanted them 6 inches in width and I wanted to run my original GT wheel spacers as I prefer the look of them in there.

Mocked up with the spacers here to begin determining the sweet spot. Had to load the end of the makeshift "axle" here to gain a little more negative camber.

A couple of paint stick work as my eventual wheel and tire. Green/black lines measure 6 inches apart. The secondary lines at both ends represent the additional standard 1/2 inch where the bead is. So the overall width is actually 7 inches. The upright stick in this shot represents a tire and is another 1/2 in width.

Began by determining just how much backspace clearance there is before its into the shock, bump stop and spring plate. I exaggerated everything just to be on the safe side.

I didn't want them too dished or deep so I was staying to the positive side. This position represented 5 inches of Backspace and it was too far away from the lip of the fender even with the spacers. The other thing I'm looking for is to have this rear well just stuffed to the edge with its wheel and tire. Can't stand it when its sunken in or weak looking out back.

After a lot of finagling, checking and rechecking I eventually settled on 4.5 inches of back space as my best compromise. This filled the gap at the back of the fender well nice enough. Need a margin for error also.

At the same time it was giving good clearance to the inside obstacles.



Mocked up once again with that fuch with 2.5 inches of front spacing. A touch more dished than I initially planned but it would be fine as long as it sits right in the wells. A lot prep and a lot of planning but it was finally Time to send these off to be built.

Thanks for looking!
Justin