Porsche 356

Restoration of a 1960 Porsche 356 Super 90 sunroof coupe.

After months of waiting for resolution on the crankshaft, I was excited to start the engine rebuild (for the second time). Things started out quite smooth, and it was a satisfying bit of time to see the connecting rods going on. Unfortunately, when I got to the last torque, on the last nut, on the […]

Today I received a new AA crank from my vendor. This to rectify the situation from the used crank I had gotten wouldn’t accept the rods between the journals. It has been a painful waste of time for both of us. I give him credit for standing behind his parts and work. I know he

Following up on my tests to find the best possible powder coat color match for engine tin, I started looking for spray can matches as well. There are several cautionary tales to not powder coat parts that touch oil, such as the oil filter canister and the oil filler can. A few votes against powder

Received the parts back from Van Nuys Plating. They were very nice. On time. On budget. I’m not quite sure what to make of the finished product. Obviously it is just a plating, so the supplied part has a good deal of influence on the look. It is a dull whitish silver in person. I

Well. Since I can’t seem to put a connecting rod on a crankshaft to save my life, I turned my attention to paint matching. As mentioned in my previous color post, I got a bunch of samples from Prismatic Powders. They have a Porsche Silver and Porsche Grey, but neither matched what I’m working on

I was somewhat anxious and a little excited to start assembly of the engine today. I took the better part of the morning cleaning, arranging, and even went so far as to create a playlist for the occasion. Jazz instrumentals seem appropriate. I started assembly, carefully following the guidance of The Maestro books and video.

I was looking forward to starting my engine build this past weekend. I then thought it best to check everything leading up to assembly one last time. I’ve invested so much energy and money into this project, I can’t bear the thought of a KERBLAMMO because I made a silly mistake. I’m doing this by

I don’t think I’m too far away from being able to send off the engine tin for powder coating. While powder coat is not historically accurate, it should be much more durable in the engine compartment than regular paint. I think if I get a close color match to original, it ultimately won’t detract from

It looks like I have finally found a fourth original KPZ wheel with April 1960 date code. Luckily The Samba has a pretty active 356 classifieds section. It took me longer than I expected to piece a set together. I’ll stay on the lookout for another one to use as a spare, but not as

Give me fire. Give me that which I desire. A small step forward over the weekend. I believe I successfully rebuilt our fuel-pump. Based on our engine number, it appears that the early style which was on the car is correct. Whew. Thanks to an extremely helpful article by Bruce Smith on cleaning Zinc alloy

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