Restoration of a 1960 Porsche 356 Super 90 sunroof coupe.
I am painfully familiar with the Porsche tax, but I could not believe the price of spark plugs. They are listed as $47 per plug from the “discount” Porsche Parts dealers. That’s for 1 plug best I can tell. Searching the factory parts catalog numbers for 1970 914-6 with CDI ignition and MARELLI distributor here’s …
I’ll soon be trailering our 356 chassis to my home garage so that I can work on it in earnest. Our route will be from Missouri to California, mainly along interstate 40. We’ll be stopping at Ollies and California Motorsports (CMS) in Lake Havasu City to drop off our 914-6 engine and transmission. I am very fortunate to have …
We found that a starter was still attached to the transaxle. So even though I had purchased a replacement and started rebuilding it, I decided to use the one that had been attached. I took it to O’Reilly who tested it for free. It tested good, and seemed in better shape than the replacement. That …
The 356 Super 90 had no tires, and I needed to get it rolling so it can go on a trailer. It won’t be driven any time soon, so I was looking for the cheapest option I could find. The local tire shop Nathan’s found these, and I got all four including mounting for $300. …
Even thought I’m elated that the engine fires up and idles, there is some room for improvement. If I try to increase the revs too quickly, the engine wants to die. Looks like there’s a general 3 step approach. Stoddard has a handy online Tune-up Specifications page for most of the pertinent numbers: Adjust the …
I don’t know how I neglected to post the obligatory before and after. Ideally these would have been from the same angle under the same lighting. Oh well.
I realize in the day and age of everyone has a video camera, writing about an engine running is a bit lame. To quote the now old phrase “Pics or it didn’t happen.” I was able to catch a pretty good segment of it running during a lunch break today. I’m able to increases revs …
Took a number of steps to try to minimize potential issues and improve our chance for success. Checked wiring Charged battery Removed a spark plug to make sure cylinder wasn’t flooded with gas Confirmed spark from coil by holding connecting wire from center of distributor cap near metal (spark!) Checked wiring Swapped starters Introduced 2oz …
Everything is assembled. Engine is mounted to a Zalex Industries running stand. New battery sourced. I’m finally at the point of trying to fire this engine up. With a heavy blanket and fire extinguisher nearby, I tripled checked the wiring and attempted the initial fire up today. It was both exciting and extremely nerve racking. …
What a long strange journey it’s been. After two years, almost to the week, of off and on weekend work, the assembly is finally complete. Had I known the state of the engine I was starting with, I may not have attempted this project. So many wrong parts. Not just unoriginal, or date code incorrect. …
