JackW

Now I had to make the 1958 engine look like the chromed 1956 motor that was originally in Dean's car. As you can see in the last picture above the engine I got from Italy had the fan shroud with the snorkel to feed the optional gas fired heater of the later cars. I figured that someone was probably looking for one of these shrouds and might have a plain shroud from the earlier cars with the throttle linkage behind the shroud to trade. So I put a request up on the 356 Registry looking for someone who was willing to swap some parts around. Rainer Cooney came to my rescue for the first of several times during this phase of the project and he had the shroud and crankcase breather tube with the right linkage piece that I needed. Later he was also able to swap tachometer drives (the one I had was for a Spyder and turned the cable in the opposite direction) and sell me some correct distributors instead of the modified Alfa units that came with the engine. He was a real lifesaver on this project. Rainer restores 550 Spyders at his shop and was very helpful in educating me about some of the nuances of the differences in various generations of the 4-cam engine.

I'd also like to thank Tim Herman of Carrera Motorsports - he made up a set of oil hoses for me and also loaned me a really hard piece to find so that I could make a duplicate. Apparently my new motor has a flywheel from a later 2.0 liter Carrera engine which is a little deeper than the one on the 1600cc engines. There is a 5mm spacer plate that fits between the transmission case and the engine which keeps the flywheel from touching the interior of the bell housing. This is not a nice thing to find out when you are installing the engine for the first time only a few days before the car is supposed to be on the show field at the 2016 Amelia Island Concours. Tim very graciously sent the only one he had down to me and we were able to get the engine in and fired up for the first time two days before we had to be in Florida with the car. Another last minute crisis resolved with the help of some great folks in the Porsche community. I later had a friend of mine machine a couple of duplicates on a CNC mill so Tim got two back for the one he sent me but without his help we would have never made the show.

JackW

The Kustomrama web page on the history of the Porsche has recently been updated to add some more history and correct a couple of minor errors. For those who would like to learn some more about the history of this car and see links to a lot of other information about the Southern California car culture of the 1950's go here:

http://www.kustomrama.com/index.php?...7_1956_Porsche

I've also acquired a correct set of distributors for the car to replace the modified Alfa Romeo units that came with the engine.

For more pictures of the very interesting inner workings of the 4-cam engine I have a bunch of pictures here - they really are neat little pieces of engineering:

https://solaros1.smugmug.com/Dean-Je...a-4cam-engine/

User 040621

Wow! What a story....thanks for sharing this incredible journey!

JackW

Has anybody else tried the Winterburn 6 Volt CDI units on their old 356's?
I've ordered a couple to help with a couple of issues I'm having with the ignition system and plug fouling.
I've been exchanging emails with Fred Winterburn and he's a pretty neat guy whose father invented one of the very first CDI ignition systems for automobiles. His hobby is building new units using updated components and designs and he's about the only source I know of for a 6 volt system. I'll be the guinea pig on trying these out.

jcnesq

Interesting to see your long saga continuing! Thanks for sharing!

evilfij

Hi Jack.

Still beautiful. Not as pretty as a defender or series Land Rover though ....

JackW

I think the Porsche is a bit more attractive than my old 1966 Land Rover Series IIA diesel 109" station wagon...

JackW

Here's a picture from the Werks Reunion at Amelia Island in March, 2017

More here: https://solaros1.smugmug.com/Car-sho...t-Amelia-2017/

JackW

I finally got the reproduction tag I've been chasing to complete the exterior restoration of the car. I think its pretty cool.

JackW

I'm installing the twin Winterburn 6 volt CDI units that I'm going to fire off of one set of points to ensure that both spark plugs fire at the exact same intsant. After talking to some of theother 4-cam owners at Amelia they say that this will go a long way to prevent plug fouling and make the engine easier to start and run a lot better.

Dean added a shelf behind the seats and I'm mounting them to the frame he built to support the shelf. They will be concealed and out of the engine compartment so they won't be subjected to the heat and vibration - plus there just isn't a lot of room left in the engine compartment of a 4-cam Carrera.

1stgear

Love the repro tag! Thanks for the continued updates.