Speedster
Internet Resources
The aim of this section of the
site is to provide an ever growing list of technical resources
available through the Internet to anyyone involved in running
or restoring an original Speedster or a replica. See also our
useful suppliers section
If you can supply further information
on additional internet resources please contact John
Mercer. We really value your help in making this a comprehensive
resource.
BYGONE ERA - Classic Motoring Accessories
Run by David and Julia Harrison
Phone & Fax 0181 462 0708 (24 hours)
Jester Racing - Fastenings and Specialist Items
25 years experience in classic and race cars
David Buley
Alfa Conversion for Speedster
Detailing the Alfa engine conversion of Richard's Speedster
plus many other relevant bits and pieces.
Richard Olafsson - email: ensrjo@bath.ac.uk
From Anthony Evans - email: ant@poggo.freeserve.co.uk
Porsche Club
24
The
356 registry
The 356 registry should be your
first port of call if you want to know all there is to know about
original 356s and Speedsters on particular. I urge you to bookmark
this site. It is also well worth joining the registry to get
the magazine which has regular contributions from Brett Johnson,
Vic Skirmants, Ron Roland and the Maestro.
356 Talk
This is the mailing list of the
356 registry.
To join simply e-mail |:356 talk-request@356registry.org:
and ask to join
There are dozens of interesting
posts on this mailing list every day and to show you how useful
it can be I have included some recent extracts below:
To: stproctor@CCGATE.HAC.COM,
From: Charlie White <charlie@suncap.com>
Subject: Re: OWNERS MANUAL
There's probably no definitive,
absolutely correct answer to this question, but here's an attempt:
Your 58 Speedster probably came with a standard "A"
owners manual, probably an edition printed sometime in late 1957
or early 1958. There are a number of versions (i.e. printing
dates) of the standard "A" owner's manual. Your 58
Speedster........." may".........also have had a "Speedster
Supplement", which was a separate little paperback booklet,
stapeled, not spiral bound, which covered items specific to the
Speedster. It is not clear, and I'm notsure when Porsche started
doing this, and/or when they stopped. The "Speedster Supplement"
is relatively rare, because (1) there weren't that many printed
in the first place, and (2).......as the legend goes.......many
owners put their manuals in the door pocket(no glove box), where
they got wet and were thrown away............side curtins don't
keep water out very well, on Speedsters. There are some other
manuals (booklets) that........."may"......... have
come with your car: (1) battery booklet, (2) list of dealers
worldwide booklet (3) tires booklet (4) etc. etc. etc.
From: "Joe Barefoot"
<lewdod@cyberhighway.net>
Subject: Fw: "Three-fifty
sickness"
This illness is primarily a psyciatriac
disorder with a prevalence found in owners of old German sports
cars. The pathology definately has features of obsessive/compulsive
disorder...patients seem to pay excessive amounts of attention
to small details which would normally be viewed as unimportant
to a well individual. The disease also has manic features, as
those effected seem to exceed their monitary means regularly.
Behavior may be viewed as anti-social and has been known to cause
marital problems. Apart from the obvious mental abberations,
affected persons may also exibit certain physical characteristics.
One can often identify patients by an unkempt appearance, oil
and grease about the body and clothes is common. Dirt under the
fingernails is nearly universal, as are multiple contusions and
abrasions about the hands, especially the knuckles. Affected
individuals have been known to finish one project only to obtain
another, thus the cycle repeats. I must conclude that this disorder
is cronic and incurible. Fortunately, there are group thearpy
sessions held periodically throughout the world!
Anyone have any experience with
Shasta pistons? Curious as to first hand experiences. Good, bad,
quiet, power, etc. Full circle rings? Thanks.
I'm using the the Shasta 11.5CR
pistons in my track engine. I'm happy with them mainly because
they seem to be of high quality and I've had no problems. I've
got the cylinders shimmed so that the CR is 10.8. I've put about
2k miles on the engine, some of which has been extremely hard
driving at the track with oil temps at very high temps (like
off the temp gauge). As far as power goes, who knows how much
these particular pistons influence the overall power of the engine.
Same as with quietness. Maybe I'll have more to report this winter
when I tear down the engine for inspection but so far, I can
recommend them.
Steve:
Industrial Engines have Cylinders
from 84-85.5 mm, which can be bored out to 86mm for the Shasta
Piston. NPR's are also 86mm, but sometimes are worn enough that
clearances are too large. Measure the Shasta Piston. Measure
the Cylinder. Compare. Personally, I prefer boring the Cylinders
to fit the pistons. Honing too, of course. And balance the pistons
to 0.1 gram if possible. Compression Ratio depends on head volume.
CC' cylinder head (all 4 chambers), and give me a call and I'll
run the numbers through the Computer Program, tell you how much
to shim for what compression you want and predict Net Squish
which you should check anyway.
Keep the 356 Faith
Maestro
My Tire and Rim Association Year
Book states that approved rim widths for 185mm section width
tires are 5" - 6.5". The widest acceptable tire on
a 4.5" rim is 175mm. 195mm width tires can be used on rims
5 - 7" wide. [You may overstress the sidewall of the tire
if you use a 185mm tire on a 4.5" rim. I don't think you
want to risk yourself, car, friends this way.] The tire store
sales brochures should have recommended tire size fitments for
various rim widths. Commonly available tires for the 4.5"
rims would be 165R15 (BTW, overall diameter is about 25.4").
For 5.5" rims many people like 195/60R15 tires (overall
diameter 24.2" making for 4% lower gearing). If you want
wider tires for your 4.5" wheels, try to find a 175/ 70R15
tire (this will lower your gearing only 3% and will look lower
profile than a 175/75R15 tire fer instance).
I have another slant on the jack
finish. I think sand or bead blasting gives a finish that is
nice, but not original, which was much smoother natural steel.
You could always polish off the beaded finish though. Cadmium
plating the springs and such I believe was what the factory used,
zinc being slightly too bright and too blue. Cad plating is hard
to find (EPA regs)-look in Hemmings or your phone book for platers.
An alternative is silver Cad paint, available at Eastwoods--not
as durable, but whose going to use the jack anyway?
Rob Green
Pete: I recently had a similar
problem in a 356 disc brake car. The pads, calipers, hoses and
lines were all brand new. The brakes pulled strongly to the left
but upon continuous use (actually standing hard on the brakes
several times) the problem went away. Upon examination of the
wheels I noticed a film of grease all over the rotor on the right
side. The problem was a bad wheel seal. I will now tear the right
side down and do the washing treatment on the pads, put a new
seal in and see what happens. Isn't it fun to continuously take
your car apart and putit back together; after a while you get
pretty good at it. Thanks for the dishwashing tip, hope the wife
doesn't get to upset seeing two nastylittle pads hanging in her
dishwasher.
Doug Dutton
How many 356s are still running?
Groups like the Old Car Council
of Colorado, in this case a collection of the leaders of other
car clubs, track suchthings, in part by examining registration
records. And I recall seeing a similar compilation in "The
Thompson Flyer..." My understanding from my dialogues with
groups like this on this subject once yielded a chart that someone
had prepaired which showed the then current mean distribution
of existing older cars as they aged. The curve starts at 100%,
and at about 5 years takes a pretty steep turn downward, and
at 10 years the slope is about as bad as it ever gets. At about
15 years the curve begins to flatten, and by 20, it's a gentle
drop gradually approaching zero.
Whoever compiled this data broke
it into three groups - the overall median, that for "normal"
cars, and the third for "special interest" cars. The
data I saw was compiled at least as long ago as '85, and maybe
it was much older, so the distributions of survivors may have
changed. But I was concerned with the 20 year to 30 year range
and I remember that special interest cars were at the 5% range
at 30 years.
Steve -
Here are some additional site
details - see also our list of useful UK
suppliers and our list of overseas
suppliers
Concentrates mostly on the newer
Porsches including some dreadful water-cooled stuff, but there
is some good historical stuff including proper Porsches like
the 356. Its clear why the site has won several design awards.
http://porsche-usa.com/
Porsche Restoration Parts
http://www.tweeks.com/restorp.htm
Porsche Machine Shop Services
http://platz.com/machshop.htm
John Abbot - Porsche Newsgroups
A useful reference point for
Porsche newsgroups on the web. This looks like a new group but
do take a look and make some postings as there's a separate newsgroup
just for the 356!
http://www.johnabbot.co.za/news/news.cfm
Porsche Mechanical Parts
http://www.tweeks.com/hardpar.htm
Porscheplatz
Mall- Porsche Racing Accessories
http://platz.com/
Porsche Vendor List
http://tridentgroup.com/pca/vendor.htm
Porsche
Performance Parts
http://www.automotion.com/
Porsche
356 On-Line Restoration Manual
