My Replica Speedster "The Black Sheila"

[roy mawbey]

I agree you have really tried to replicate with your work. And for certain its no easy task doing all that and then having to re-do all the front! But that was worth all the effort.

You know your car inside out!! That's the best way to really enjoy it.

Well done!

Roy

[JTR70]

Back seat tray and headlight adjustment were well worth the effort. Nice job!

[Qtip]

Nice job I like what you have done to the tunnel Steven

[Black Sheila]

After the Front-End and Rear Seat Correction, I decided to outsource the mechanical work e.g. suspension and engine works, simply due to the fact I work abroad and am seldom home I realised I was not going to get this project done in my time frame, I wanted this project complete. During this time I became acquainted with IMPI which is also a member of abcgt.com. We spoke a couple of times via e-mail and as we were chatting about cars, I asked if he would be interested to do the work for me, he agreed. At the time IMPI and I never have met face to face but speaking to IMPI I realised he was very passionate about cars and very knowledgeable all things Porsche, VW and others, I knew I had found the right person to do the work for me. I arranged that the speedster to be delivered to his premises, on arrival IMPI notified me there was a problem with the floor pan; I knew this was not a new item I had previously issues with the floor pan believing all was rectified. After a long discussion IMPI suggested he wanted remove the body from the floor pan and investigate the floor pan in depth, also to see if the floor pan could be rectified. Sadly the floor pan was beyond repair and it was decided to replace the floor pan.

IMPI sourced a new used floor pan and rebuilding of a new floor-pan for my speedster commenced.
The New Donor




The New Floor Pan




Sand Blasting





From the start of this project I wanted install a Porsche 356 under dash e-brake which I sourced from the USA a while back. I had previously messed around with the e-brake setup, IMPI and I discussed the topic in length and we decided to remove the standard VW E-brake from the tunnel, IMPI also suggested we install two new steel conduits from the rear to the front, as I wanted to run two cables into one similar to the Porsche 356 setup.








Cutting and Welding
This was done with utmost accuracy and precision.




An issue I had with the VW shifter is was not centre on the tunnel, I asked IMPI if he could move the shifter to centre, which he gladly did.

[Black Sheila]

I also had sourced a Porsche 356 heater control which I wanted to install, so it could look the part it would not be functional. IMPI suggested that I rather save this item for another project in the near future, what IMPI did truly surprised me he replicated the heater control and blended it nicely to the tunnel profile.






Also from the start of the project I wanted to retrofit Porsche 356 pedals this was not possible due the Porsche Pedals fowling against VW firewall, IMPI again came up with a solution and modified the VW pedals so it resembles the Porsche pedals. Once the wooden boards are fitted one will not notice the VW pedals but rather the Porsche Pedals pretruding from the boards.

[Black Sheila]

The next step was to narrow the front axle beam by 2 inches as I had front disc brakes fitted which widened the wheel track somewhat.
Adjusters where also added to give the flexibility to adjust the speedster to the correct ride height.




IMPI also recommended that I install a front sway bar, using a standard EMPI sway bar was out of the question as this would interfere with the E-brake Setup.
IMPI resorted to using an old SP beetle sway bar which he modified to replicate the Porsche 356 front sway bar, the results in my opinion was absolutely brilliant.

[Black Sheila]

Now that all the necessary fabrication and welding has been completed, it was time to prepare for assembly, I must mention that IMPI is very meticulous when it come to rebuilds. The entire lot of bolt-on metal parts was thoroughly cleaned and selected parts sent for plating this includes all the bolts and nuts.

Parts being cleaned






The floor-pan being primed, painted and bottom rubberised.






Parts sent for plating



Parts being primed and painted.





All new parts sourced and ready for fitment. The floor-pan was completely rebuilt as if new.

[roy mawbey]

Ah the handbrake! that will fool a few people. Nice work on that. And the heater control. Justin was correct a few pages ago get the 356 A T2 gauges if you can or even T5 as a spare I have for my T2, were produced in late 59 and came from the early B.

Nice clear photo's and nice work carried out also.

Roy

[JTR70]

"Impi"... I just realized you have Armand Botha down there with you. He certainly knows his way around a 356 and has done some really nice work with closing panel reproduction. I assume he helped you along with your back seat area conversion? Fantastic effort on the chassis details. Thanks again for sharing this!
Justin

[Black Sheila]

"Impi"... I just realized you have Armand Botha down there with you. He certainly knows his way around a 356 and has done some really nice work with closing panel reproduction. I assume he helped you along with your back seat area conversion? Fantastic effort on the chassis details. Thanks again for sharing this!
Justin

Hi Justin

Yes! IMPI is the one and the same Armand Botha, I agree he knows his way around a 356, he is doing an excellent job on my replica speedster.
The rear seat correction was done by Universal Products but the idea I got from Roger which obtained his rear seat from Armand. That is how I also got to know Armand.
I still have still a few pics to upload The complete floor-pan and engine is really something special.

[Black Sheila]

The Gearbox was also refurbished:

[Black Sheila]

I also had investigated in improving the brakes and did quite of research and decided to have an combination valve and residual valves installed.

[Black Sheila]

Rear drums brakes completely refurbished:

[Black Sheila]

This stage of the build was receiving all the parts from plating and assembly could begin. What did forget to mention earlier is the seats the initial seats that came with the replica speedster was nothing like the speedster seats, this had to replaced after many months searching I managed to find seats in South Africa the bucket was a copy of an original but the base was modified not exactly what I was looking for, I did find the correct bases in the USA and had them shipped to South Africa and built into the bucket. I also wanted to remove the stock beetle seat slides and replace with a aftermarket seat slide once again Armand did an outstanding job by closely replicating the original unfortunately we could not mount the seat rail on the tunnel... nevertheless I am very content with the results.

[Black Sheila]

The correct gauges is something I might consider in the future.