Wheels Powdercoated; More Axle Assembly

Last Friday I picked up my wheels from Advanced Powder Coat, where I had them powdercoated with a clear-coated silver after the stripping process was finished. They look pretty fantastic. Total cost for stripping and powdercoating came out to $70 a wheel, which is really not bad at all.

I did end up putting on Futura Euro Metric tires from Pep Boys. They were $31 each, and about $8-9 for mounting and balancing. Total tire bill was bout $160, and I think these tires are every bit as good as the other 165R15 tires available, even if they don't have a fancy name on the sidewall. No matter what, they are miles ahead of what the original equipment tires were back in 1965, so the car should handle better than new with little trouble!

I also got the emergency brake system reassembled, with the thick cables leading out of the rear of the body to each rear axle. Up front I didn't attach the cables to the hand actuating mechanism yet, but this is enough to be able to put on the wheels and get the car off the rotisserie.

So, that's the next step, hopefully some time this week. I'm going to put on the wheels, and then move the whole rotisserie assembly to the adjacent bay with a lift. I'll bring the lift up to support the car, then unbolt the rotisserie. Finally I'll just lower the car down and it will be sitting on its own for the first time in nearly a year.

More Undercoating; Transmission Installed; Rear Suspension Assembled

I'm on a one week break from Fuqua School of Business this week, and while I have a lot of things to get done with the free time, I dedicated my entire Monday to work on the car. Good thing too, because I got a lot done!

In a bit of time I had last week, I got the engine compartment and transmission-area sound deadening pads installed. I got a kit of these from Stoddard, and while good looking, they don't appear the same as the original. They are thinner, for one. Probably work better, too. The original is a thick piece of jute backed with cardboard. This new stuff appears to be more like rubber.

The sound deadening panels were installed with 3M Super Trim Adhesive, applied to both the panel and the body where it would mount. Very little trimming/adjusting was required, they were a good fit. You can see more of the pictures here.

In my free time this week, I started by finishing the undercoating process. I sprayed a bunch more Wurth Underbody Seal into the wheel wells, because the coverage was a bit thin and this is the area that will most likely suffer from stone chips. I think I used another two cans, that makes about 6 or 7 cans total I've used on the car, and they cost $20 each...not the cheapest undercoating, but it looks good.

After letting that dry, I sprayed on rattle-can semi-gloss black from Plasti-Cote, just like I used in the engine compartment and front trunk area. It *might* be a little bit glossier than the black originally used at the factory, but not much. Plus, I think it looks better than the totally flat-black appearance of the undercoating by itself. Not wanting to uninstall the front suspension components I had fitted up in the previous weeks, I masked them off with heavy duty aluminum foil. What a great tip! Thanks Jim Kellog. The aluminum conforms easily to everything and no tape is required.

Then I started to reinstall the rear torsion bars and spring plates (or radius arms, if you go by the name given in The Factory Manual). I got the car level on the rotisserie by using a level, and then indexed each torsion bar to 15 degrees. This somewhat splits the difference between various settings specified for Coupe, Cabriolet, Roadster, etc. It may be not enough...Stock for a C Coupe is 19 degrees I believe. If the car is riding too low it will need to be adjusted, but I know that many people de-camber (raise) their spring plates to improve handling anyway. I need to check with the 356Talk people on this. Everything went together easily for this operation. Installing the newly finished transmission was the next order of business. I did up the bolts attaching the hoop to the body while I got a (strong) friend at The Shop to lift the rig up and slide it into the front mounting brackets. After doing all this, I referred to the Factory Manual and quickly realized I had put the front transmission mount shims behind the body bracket instead of front of it, where they belonged. Thus we had to undo everything and fix it. Don't get this wrong if you are doing it! What a pain. However, adjusting these shims can be required to change rear wheel alignment in severe problem cases, so you might as well understand why they are there.

I spent the rest of Monday re-assembling everything but the brakes/rotors that is attached to the rear axles. First came the shocks, which were easy other than the fact that I couldn't find the metal bushings that fit in the bottom rubber mounts for like half an hour. As an aside, I used mostly new hardware to install these, as I have in many places. Where I haven't been able to obtain replacement bolts or nuts, I have reconditioned the original hardware. There is always the problem with M8 nuts and bolts because the head/wrench size changed from 14mm to 13mm somewhere back in the early seventies, so any replacement hardware, unless specially manufactured, is guaranteed to be different. Oh well, safety over originality. I'm saving all the old hardware that is getting taken off for refinishing at some point in the future, if I ever care.

After shocks I attached the axle tubes to the spring plates. You need to attach the rubber bump stops at the same time. The procedure is simple, no need to further explain it here. Following this, I started to install the rear wheel bearings. This could use some explanation.

First of all, These are big roller bearings that fit around the axle, into the axle tube housing. The ones that came off the car seemed OK, and they weren't really noisy, but I decided to replace them anyway. They are $20 parts, and getting at them is way more than $20 of my time, so why not while I'm already there? The replacements are absolutely smooth and silent in operation, so the choice was a good one.

The inner race of the rear wheel bearing is a friction/interference fit with the axle shaft itself. You are supposed to use a special tool to press/install the bearing down onto the axle shaft. No one I know has this tool. I started each bearing onto the axle with light blows from a rubber mallet, evenly spaced, and then though about how to continue. I ended up using the rear wheel hub as a slide-hammer of sorts, sliding it onto the axle tube and repeatedly smacking it against the bearing. It makes good smooth contact all around with the inner race, inching it along the axle. In fairly short order, the bearing was seated.

Now, at least on a C car, you are almost done. You need to install a small metal shim and a small o-ring onto the axle. What it actually does, I can't really tell. Can someone enlighten me? Around the perimeter of the bearing, a large o-ring is installed. It doesn't want to stay in place; I used a liberal amount of grease to "paste" it into place as was recommended by the Factory Manual, and it worked fine. Finally, the bearing cover can be installed; it is held in place with 4 Grade 10.9 bolts and spring washers.

Then the rear brake backing plates were installed, which are held in with very short bolts; I had to re-use the old hardware for this because I couldn't find any new bolts as short as the originals, and I didn't feel like cutting down a new bolt to the proper length. Finally, the hubs slide onto the axle spline, and are held in place by the big castellated axle nut. These need to be torqued to over 300 ft/lbs, but I wasn't sure if I was ready to get them all torqued down and permanently installed, so I only did them hand tight, and I left out the cotter pins. When I get ready to install the rotors and wheels, I'll torque them properly.

The differential spins well, so I know I didn't mess up the fulcrum plates as I once suspected. The entire operation took me the better part of the day, as I was doing everything very slowly and methodically. One thing I will note is that this is the first time I have done most of these operations. After doing one side, I quickly found that the opposite side only took about a third of the time; subsequent operations will be even faster. My novice level of understanding is contributing heavily to the overall time required for the project, but it is time I must put in nonetheless, if I want to truly understand how it all works. I'm enjoying it!

Next on the agenda:

• Hopefully pick up my refinished wheels towards the end of the week, and have tires mounted. I'm leaning towards Pep Boys (!?!?!?) Futura Euro Metric tires, which are some of the only tires that still come in 165R15 size. They are actually manufactured by Cooper.


• Haul the C engine and parts to my rental house to work on rebuilding over the next month or so.


• Install shift linkage rod and make sure it at least operates without interference.


• Hopefully start the bodywork on the nose, door area, and rockers. I'm getting assistance/contracting the work to Dee Lashley and an associate of his, basically because I'm short of time and skill, but I'm happy to lend a hand.

Front Trunk/Battery Box and Engine Compartment Painted

This week I painted the front trunk area, including both the portion where the gas tank sits as well as teh lower portion where the battery resides, as well as the engine compartment. I tried to do my homework on what these areas were painted with originally and the best that I could come up with was that they were painted semi-gloss or satin black. I.e. a touch of gloss but not much. The inside of the battery box and front side portions of the inner fender walls were also undercoated.

Running low on time and wanting to continue forward progress, I simply went out and got some cheap rattle cans of semi-gloss black paint. In fact, I got Semi-Gloss black spray paint from Plasti-Kote, which is carried at Walmart. I usually use DupliColor, which is at discount auto parts stores, because the spray pattern/trigger is better. However, I was in a time crunch and they weren't around, so Plasti-Kote it was. The results turned out just fine, as you can see in the accompanying picture.

Still no word back from Chem-Strip as to whether or not my wheels are finished getting stripped. I'll call them Monday or Tuesday. The front suspension is ready to receive rotors, brakes, and then wheels.

I thought about starting to re-install the transmission, and then I remembered that brake lines run above it. Above the rear brake lines are some external sound deadening pads that are glued to the body shell. Guess what? I have the pads, but not the glue. You need some pretty strong glue for this if you don't want the pads coming loose or unglued in the future. Therefore, I've left off installing the transmission until next week, when I hope to get it done. I did start checking out how to install the rear radius arms, and get the angle correct for the proper amount of negative camber.

I also installed the ZF Steering box, and I started to put on the tie rods that accompany it. The ZF steering box is properly located by a dowel pin that fits into a depression in the upper torsion bar tube on a 356. It isn't too hard to locate it. Then you install a clamp beneath the steering box with 4 nuts that holds it firmly in place. With the steering box installed, the tie rods are the next logical project. Unfortunately, with the suspension in full "droop" mode, i.e. new shock pushing down as far as they can go, no weight of the car puashing down on the suspension, etc. the trailing arms hang down low and the tie rods want to drag on the bottom part of the cutout in the inner fender between the front spindles and the steering box. I wondered whether this was correct behaviour or not, so I posed the question to the 356Talk mailing list. Concensus was that it was OK, especially with new shocks, and that things would settle and there would be no rubbing when the car had some weight placed on the suspension. I'll do up the tie rods and work on alignment as soon as I have my wheels back.

I got a new lockpost for the driver's side from Restoration Design. I called Stoddard's and many other 356 restoration parts suppliers in a quest for a 356C lock post/striker plate panel, and none had it in stock, nor knew when they would have it! Seems like Restoration Design is the only game left in town for this part. The piece arrived a day or so ago, and it looks like a good stamping. Hopefully we'll get that, as well as the front portion of the driver's side rear fender repaired shortly.

That's about it for this week.

Front Suspension Assembly; Undercoating

The 30th Anniversary of the 356 Registry East Coast Holiday came and went this past weekend without me attending. It was in Williamsburg, VA and despite rain, it appears to have been highly successful. Two things kept me away:

1. My car still isn't finished.


2. Twins and a 2 1/2 year old, plus grad school take up a lot of time!

In any case, I hope I make it next year, with the car! I've said that for about two years now. One of these times my statement will become reality...

My new schedule, which I have referred to in the past, has slowed my work. That's OK, I just have to be more judicious with my time. Since mid-September, when I finished the transmission, I have also managed to get the rest of the front suspension together. It looks great! Right now I have KYB shocks installed, which I got ages ago when I ordered a pile of parts up front at the beginning of the restoration. They are definitely bargain-basement shocks that I haven't heard many good things about. If the ride is too harsh I'll get some Boges. Am I actually talking about how the car will ride???

Today I went out and did the undercoating on the inside of the battery box, and also underneath the rear seat area/torsion bar, as well as beneath the engine compartment. I'm using "Wurth UnderBody Seal," similar to SKS StoneGuard but it isn't water-based. It is $20 a can and one can goes quickly. I used about a can on the inside of the battery box, and another underneath the rear seats/engine area.

I don't want to put on too much undercoating as if (oh nooooo!!!!) I ever need to do any more body or frame repairs, I don't want to have to spend my life removing the stuff in order to get at the damage. That''s why I'm basically applying a "skim coat." I'm going to rely on it to perform basic stone chip protection, and I'll use the sound deadening panels inside for noise abatement. The 356 GTs and Carreras had no undercoating applied to save weight, after all.

Let's see, what else. Getting the front control/trailing arms back together was pretty easy. I had to slightly adjust the angle of the lower torsion bar (I checked that the two torsion bars were parallel with a angle-finder). Then I simply clamped on the trailing arms with the pinch bolts. Measuring the offset of the trailing arm faces from each-other showed that both sides were very close to factory spec (one side was 7mm, the other 7.5mm). Installing the front spindles onto the trailing arms was easy once I recalled which side was left and which was right (putting them on upside down on the wrong side isn't quite as easy...)

The front sway bar got installed to, but I'll have to remove it to undercoat in that general area. I installed it just to get the bushings on and check fit as much as anything else. Getting the new rubber bushings on was a pain! Let me recommend lubing the bushings liberally with a rubber-friendly lubricant of some sort to aid in installation, otherwise they will not want to slide along the metal bar.

Last week I took my wheels to Chem-Strip in Burlington, NC to get them stripped and de-rusted. They weren't badly rusted or anything, but I know how long it takes to sand-blast things and figured $20 a wheel was going to be a better use of my time. There is a powder-coating facility adjacent to the stripper where I went over and inspected several finishes. They have a chrome-like finish that I think I'm going to use, it is similar to one used by Tom Hudson on http://www.project356.com/. As for tires, I have had several recommendations for a budget 165R15 tire (not many manufacturers making this size anymore!). Pep Boys has a line of tires called Futura Euro Metric that comes in this size, and is pretty cheap as well ($25-30 a tire). I think I will have them installed. Pictures will follow when I pick up the wheels; it should be about 2 weeks.

Wednesday, if I manage to get out to the garage, I plan on doing some more undercoating, maybe starting to paint the underbody satin-black to finish it off. Then I'm going to re-install the brake line system. Then the steering box and tie-rods. After that's done I can jack the transmission back into place and I'll be all ready to make the car a roller again! Even though it is still missing a nose, and needs more body work.

Speaking of the nose, I've been having major trouble tracking down a replacement nose panel other than the 2 piece version from Stoddard. I need to converse with Dee and see if we agree the panel I already got can be made serviceable, otherwise I need to find another donor car or bite the bullet and buy the Stoddard panels, even though we don't need all of them to complete the repair.