Preparing the back half, alignment, last metalwork on fender

We are getting steadily closer now, the back half of the car is prepared to shoot, all metalwork done, all sanded, filled, and primed. We still have the hood to align and prime, along with finishing up the metalwork for the driver's side front fender which was pretty beat up. Tam is a master at gap alignment. For all of the photos so far, check out my gallery of photos.

Engine tin back from powder coating

So, the engine tin is back and looking very good with a couple problems. One piece of tin is missing which is situated under the fuel pump. Also, it turns out that the car came with an incorrect (early) heater box. It will run with it, but unfortunately doesn't cool as well so I really should get another one. I also need to find some new J-pipes as the old ones are rusted through, and I feel like I'm forgetting one other important piece that's missing as well ... hopefully I'll remember soon.

Starting the body prep for paint

Lots of work done, lots of work left, but at least the preparation for paint has started!

Engine built, ready for tin

The core of the engine is built, heads are on, oil pump and cooler installed, everything is ready for testing except ... the engine tin isn't finished with the powder-coating yet. Next weekend perhaps?

General update, 356 work, oil-burner, the borrowed 911

The Porsche 356 progress has gone pretty well so far, I'm gathering up the receipts and pictures to put together a bit more coherent picture, but here is a quick list of interesting items:
* completely stripped and re-coated the underside, engine compartment, trunk interior
* cut out and replaced all rusted areas, including floorpans, kiddie seats, battery tray, some engine compartment areas, and other small damage on the roof, doors, decklid
* reinforced area around bumper mounts to prevent sheetmetal damage in the event of a small bump
* stripped complete inside and outside, re-painted the inside, need to finish bodywork on the outside first
* waiting on last body panel (left front fender) to arrive
* aligning body panels, trunk, decklid, doors
* engine is rebuilt, spinning now, test fire in the coming weeks, SC grind on the cam, slightly oversized pistons, heads cleaned up

In other car-related news, we purchased a 1987 Mercedes 300TD with 250K miles, a nice seven-seater wagon in pretty good shape. The turbo diesel isn't fast, but it's fine, and the car handles great. We've driven it all over the Bay Area with no problems.

Last, over the summer we exchanged our Eurovan for a 1968 Porsche 911. It was a great car to zip around in for the summer, but I don't think I want to buy one anymore. Now we are back to the Eurovan, and the 356 should suffice for any Porsche-related desires.

July 09th 356 update

I’ve been a little slow lately due to the arrival of Anton Joelson Secor on July 02nd (Hi Anton!), but here is a quick update on the 356:

* crank is good, getting bearing surfaces machined a bit

* pistons (86mm) shot, need new set, bought from Sam

* case is good

* heads are good, cleaning up valve surfaces, getting new valves, keeping springs

* need to do something about the rear kiddie seats as Tam doesn’t want to make them and they are shot. Trevor’s Hammerworks?

* battery box is in

* undercoating is mostly removed

Style Kings car show

Super cool cars, totally not something I’d build …

Don’t fiddle with hot radiator hoses

More progress on the undercarriage, floorpans arrived, engine apart

More progress on the undercarriage has occurred, lots more elbow grease. We figure we have about 15-20 more days of scraping to go. We also split the case and examined everything. The crank looks ok, there is rust in the cylinder bore from water accumulation, the oil pump key is about to go, the cylinder heads look like they experienced a fair amount of detonation, and the compression was quite high. We’ll probably have to grind the crank a little, put in new cylinders, valves, and a few other bits and bobs. Also, it looks like the engine might have overheated, so we’re probably going to replace the oil cooler as well. More pictures here.

Removing the undercoating on the 356

Lots of elbow grease (and not all mine, thanks Tam) to remove the undercoating on the 356. It’s uncovering a few other repair spots, but overall we’re pretty happy with the starting state of the car body. Next up is to weld in the floorpans and battery box. Those parts are on order but haven’t arrived yet. We might also get around to splitting the case on the engine, but first we have to buy beer for the guys at EASY who provided me with a nice, used windshield.

The Porsche work has started

Over the last couple of days/evenings we’ve pulled the engine out of the 356 and taken it a bit apart. We then rolled the chassis over to a good body guy to help weld in the new pans to take care of the rust. After that, brakes, suspension, paint and exterior body, then we’re good to ride. I’ll try to source some cool wheels in the meantime and I also need a new windshield and quarter window.

Hopefully some more updates will happen soon as we work on it. I’d like to be driving it by the end of the summer if possible.

This pretty much captures how we roll at LeMons

via Jalopnik comment

What is the sound of twelve cylinders firing?

Killer Bee, engine swap with two weeks to go

Alas, the engine that served us well through a couple races and several barrel rolls finally wheezed out its last the other day. Today was engine surgery time, and the steady hands of Pete and Jesse excised the old lump and started performing replacement surgery. Two weeks to go, hope we make it!

Canamagon takes shape

Taped up bodylines, investigated dual-engine fit measurements, removed various interior pieces, the Canamagon is officially in play! 917’s around the world will cower in its presence!

The “after” shot of the CanAm-agon?

1984 VW Vanagon - $250 LeMons CanAm-agon!

So, the build can finally begin. After a couple false starts, we finally have our platform to build the CanAm-agon. It was cheap ($250, no paperwork, left in a field of a foreclosed house), was designated a gross polluter in 2000 according to CarFax, and still has seats in reasonable condition that we might be able to sell. The engine runs but overheats fairly easily, transmission shifts but somewhat stiffly, and the suspension looks to be in reasonable shape for 250,000 miles. There are no keys, a screwdriver to hold the steering lock up, and fun hot-wiring hijinks to get it started.

We now have to source another engine and start planning and hacking the chassis to support it. I think that we’ll first start with ripping out the interior and scoping out where to stick the driver, how far the engines will lay going forwards, and what kind of supports we will need. Then we can flip the engine and transmission around, figure out a shift linkage, and figure out the best/worst connector between the two engines. We also have to think about what to do with the suspension, but at the moment we’ll just leave it as is, I’m not too sure what all can be done yet.

More to come …

http://prodtahoe11.allmydata.com:9001/file/URI%3ACHK%3Axzxqgp57n2qaeoftpc7spaolry%3Azm7yjcjgmguaz4ospxl7p4tjwvjpezoypiisumu6cbsvunowzsuq%3A3%3A10%3A1214746/@@named=/IMG_1357.JPG

$250 Vanagon procured, runs and drives mostly, no keys

Just got our $250 Vanagon delivered, from the property at a foreclosure, lots of leaves, runs pretty well actually, needs new fluids, shifting is a bit tough, but it’s a runner. Time to locate engine number two and start on the bodywork and chassis rearrangement. Pictures coming soon.