Note: The following Story is Copyright 1997, by Harry Pellow,
All Rights Reserved. Now available on Floppy Disk from
HCP Research, 20655 Sunrise Drive, Cupertino, CA 95014.
Phone: (408) 727-1864. Fax: (408) 727-0951.
E-mail: maestro@well.com
THE GRAY GHOST
The Maestro is always amazed that there are a few
356 Owners out there who STILL use a 356 as their ONLY car!
Or, if they DO have another car- their OTHER car is a 356 too!
Ergo, they must ALWAYS drive a 356- every day. Not a bad thing to do for
a 356! If you want them to last, you gotta DRIVE them!
Anyhow, this Original Owner put some 390,000 miles on his 1965
356 C Coupe, which he drove every day across the Bay,
to The City & County of San Francisco. And back, necessarily.
His second car was a '57 Speedster, which with its
plastic Side Curtains as your only protection,
is much less desirable to drive and leave in San Fran- especially
on a rainy winter's day!
Since the Speedster is what he'd be a-drivin' when the Coupe was
a-being rebuilt, the Owner understandably
wanted the job done as quickly as possible.
Yes SIR! Said the Maestro.
A little History:
During the 390,000 miles, the engine had been rebuilt three times.
This would be Time Number 4- One Past The Charm.
The last overhaul had lasted 90,000 miles, which isn't bad really,
but as Click & Clack of NPR might say "she wouldn't pull
a hill no mo'". She all the signs of a burnt valve in #3 cylinder.
As the guy dropped off the gun-metal gray Coupe, for the
half-million mile Powertrain Transformation, the Owner grabbed the
Right end of the Front Bumper and wiggled. The Bumper wiggled like it
wasn't attached to anything no mo'!
"Can you fix that too?" he asked.
"Hey, no problem", said and thought the Maestro. "Just a few bolts.
I oughta be able to fix that pretty easily." (Uh, Oh, warned the Porsche
gods, tapping their collective feet. He knows he's NEVER supposed
to say that! They were about to give him an Education. Or a
refresher course at least. Again.)
The Maestro Assumed the Position under the front bumper,
and eyeballed the Bolts holding the bumper bracket to the
bumper.
One "bolt" was actually a square 'Merican nut- stuck with
misogyny in mind to a Metric
stud! On one turn and stuck tight. Rusted too. The other half
of the bumper bracket had the
"regular" trapped metric nut in place,
but the metric bolt was completely MISSING!
That meant that the bumper was attached on the right sight
by only ONE thread of a mismatched metric/'Merican combination!
Which meant that the body shop that put the Porsche's bumper on
sure didn't do many metric cars!
The shop didn't have a metric nut, so they forced an American one on-
about One Turn of the Screw's worth.
The body shop also couldn't find a metric BOLT
to fit into the trapped nut in the hole, so they didn't put anything there!
which is Good- that way they didn't screw up the threads!
The Maestro calmly reached into his Tray of Cad Plated
Treasures and withdrew the proper length
14mm ATF, 8mm Bolt that was the perfect fit for the bumper
bracket trapped nut.
He was able to pop off the obviously wrong square American nut
and replace it with a real 14mm ATF Porsche nut. That got the bumper
guard back together again without rattling.
Because of the overly loose "bolts" that
the previous Body shop used, the bumper "sat" on the bottom of the rectangular
"cut-out" in the car, used for the Bumper Bracket to enter the Nose.
Resting on the bottom of the cut out means the bumper has a hacksaw
effect on the lower sheet metal of the hole- eventually sawing and dropping and
sawing some more- especially if the frontmost bumper support bolts
are loose, allowing the bumper to sag.
In this case, two of the Bumper-to-body bolts were
American bolts (again), and very long- going alllll the way through
into the battery box area of the car.
But what the hell- they worked.
So, as the Maestro opened the hood to remove the spare tire to remove the
nuts on the American Bolts that protruded in to the trunk area, he got a
Big Surprise. For there was:
AN INCH OF WATER in the trunk!
AND several large PIRANHA made a grab for the Maestro's hand.
By reflex, he recoiled Just In time.
Well, though the Pirana part is stretching it, the water part was true.
The inch of water had probably entered during the heavy rains of the previous
week. But where in the Front Trunk did the rain leak in from?
The Maestro inspected the hood seal. It Looked perfect. (It was.)
Then he checked the drain holes in the bottom lip of the hood area.
They were there and open.
Humnmmh.
He checked the battery box for having holes. No holes in the bottom.
Hummh, he thought. There's gotta be a source.
And then the Maestro spotted it! The Source of the Leak.
And What did he spot?
Wanna guess?
The Body shop that repaired the car had to replace the headlight
bucket area. When they did, they pulled the headlight wires through, and
pulled the GROMMET loose that protects the wires in the Vertical
Side of the front trunk.
Now both grommet-less headlight wire holes were open enough that water
thrown from the front wheel could enter the trunk. But with no holes
in the trunk, the water just STAYED there. And stayed there.
And stayed there- rusting the battery
box with every passing second.
The Maestro got to it in time though,
and only a general Brown discoloration was present. WD-40 cleaned that up
nicely, and some paint will follow.
Eventually, the Maestro pulled the 356C's engine and began the
needed overhaul. And did he get a surprise! Instead of a 356C crank, there was
a HKU Germany Repro crank (that's pretty good), a set of rather rough
Repro rods with the "W Germany" cast/forged into their sides (that's bad), a
Repro cam with one lobe badly worn (that's really bad), a set of ATE
cam followers (that's good), with even the ones on the bad cam lobe
not too badly worn. (that's good), a decent 200mm flywheel (also good).
Then he found some oddball stuff- the driven side of both Oil Pump Gears
was badly worn- about as badly as the Maestro's ever seen. That's Bad.
Usually- especially in mechanical Tack oil pumps with the tach
drive gear- the bearing on the tach drive
gear wears out. The gears get catywhompus to each other
and start mutually wearing each other badly. The resulting
galling/spalling wear pattern begins at one
end of the gear and walks its way down to the other end, getting
worse as it goes.
He's seen some Real Bad Ol Pump Gears, but THIS gear set had REALLY
BADLY worn gear teeth. But then, this was not entirely
unexpected given its 390,000 miles!
As the Maestro was disassembling the engine, he also noted how
oily it was. Mustave had a Big Bad oil leak somewhere. But the oil leak wasn't
from the pulley seal, nor from the head nut or push rod tube seals.
Nope. This oil leak was from the STANDPIPE that supports
the Oil Junction Block where the Temperature and
Oil pressure idiot light sender are attached. The standpipe is a steel fitting
that screws into a thread hole in the oil passageway
of the aluminum case.
Now, Ifin fin one were to, say, OVERTIGHTEN the Standpipe, such as
may have occurred during a Previous Overhaul, one finds that one
can STRIP THE THREADS IN THE CASE! And the pieces of threads drop
down inside the main
OIL PASSAGEWAY! With all kinds of potential destructive possibilities.
One of the previous overhaulers had Overtorqued things
and stripped the threads in the Case and then "fixed" it with a
turn and a half of
Helicoil. Not such a good idea. The fitting leaked oil out underneath
the Junction Block. From there, it was but a hop skip and a jump to
the side of the case, to the Pulley for distribution of oil
all over everything.
The Maestro torqued the case together and got his Dial Bore
Gauge out of its Constant Temperature Bath/Hot Tub. (This IS California.)
And measured the Case.
Hmmh, still standard, but about three thou out at the Flywheel Main,.
Hummh. The Middle Main was more than
two thou out. As was the #1 main.
Looks like after almost Four Hundred Thousand Miles the Case will FINALLY
have to be Align Bored. See, these thing DO last a loooonnnggg time if you
take care of them and DRIVE 'EM!
Oh, and the Real Reason the engine required a rebuild? The
Problem? Yes, it was a burnt Valve in #3 Cylinder- probably
from using a regular 356C, ATE 3045 a non-Sodium filled exhaust valve.
The Maestro likes Sodium, having played with millions of pounds of
it when he worked in the Nuclear Industry on the Breeder Reactor.
Thus, he ALWAYS uses the SC/912 Sodium-filled
exhaust valves. They're a bit more expensive, but
they don't "burn" nearly as easily.
THe engine also had an NPR Big Bore Kit piston set lurking inside,
with #3 cylinder having a broken top ring that was verrrrrrryyyy
close to "chunking" the top of the piston! Still not bad for 90,000
miles.
The guy was actually LUCKY that the exhaust valve burned first
- less damage was done to the head than if the piston had chunked!
The oil leak played a role in all this, as the cooler was half blocked
with crud on the outside, and the cylinder and head fins badly
gunked up too. The engine mustave run pretty HOT!
But hey, 90,000 miles outa your THIRD engine overhaul
ain't too bad. Though the Maestro likes to have 6-digit longevity
before the rebuild can really be used with "successful" in the
same sentence.
In any event, with a rather nice "C" cam from an Industrial
Engine, a "hemi" cut on the "C" heads, all new valves and guides and
one of the last new Big Bore Kits in the Universe-
shimmed to produce 8.8:1 compression-
this engine will "pull hills" once again.
That's 'cause the owner:
Kept the 356 Faith!
P.S. Removing, rebuilding and reinstalling BOTH
the Engine and transmission, along with the
Disk Brakes was a LOT of work.
It took the Maestro most of Friday, Saturday, Sunday and
Monday, just to re-install everything.
The guy wanted to pick up the car on Tuesday, and by George,
on Tuesday morning, the Maestro was conducting the first full dress
test drive of the rebuilt Powertrain.
With some trepidation, the Maestro fired up the
New Engine. It fired up and ran just fine- no real surprise
since the Maestro had previously fired it up on his test stand,
adjusted the carbs and timing and ran it for an hour. The Maestro
doesn't like surprises AFTER the engine is installed.
The gearshifter attached to the new Transmission
appeared to find all the gears. With the new Boudon tube, the clutch
was smooth as silk. The Maestro eased the shifter into Reverse and
backed the car out of the garage. So far so good. He selected First.
The car moved forward.
Down the Airport Test Track the Maestro went, slowly at first,
shifting carefully through the
gears. They all worked. Good synchro action. Decent power.
He stopped off at the nearby gas station,
filled the tank up with Chevron's finest Supreme, adding, of course,
a third of a quart of 2-stroke oil to the gas
tank BEFORE he started pumping the gas.
And drove off, experiencing Happy Motoring.
For all of a mile, when the 356 suddenly STOPPED! Just
like you turned off the key!
BLAAAAAAHHHHHHH went the car. Into Shock went the Maestro.
And a terrible feeling of Dread cometh over him, for he was deeply
saddened. "After all this work,
the car just STOPS???!!! Porsche gods I beseech you-
How can this be???
But it was. Most Certainly. Reality Stopped. Broke down
by the Side of the Road.
The Maestro had no choice but to coast to a silent
stop by said Side of the Road. And the Owner's coming to pick
up THIS car in an HOUR! Hanging his head, he thought about
applying for that McDonald's job that Mrs Maestro always wanted him to get.
But no, pulling himself together, he
opened the door, dragged himself out of the Driver's seat and pulled
the rear deck lid latch. Go to back of car, open deck lid. Inspect for some
obvious defect.
Immediately spot the Power Wire to the Coil hanging loosely in the air,
a quarter inch away from the coil. After 30 years, the Coil Wire
chose THAT time to loosen and pull out of its clamp. Ah, those
Porsche gods, always clowning around with the Maestro.
Reattach wire quickly. Drive car back to shop. Cut off old exposed
wire. Strip a quarter inch of insulation to expose new copper wire.
Insert Virgin wire into cleaned clamp.
Crimp with electrical crimping tool. Reattach to coil. Problem fixed.
Heave Big Sigh of Relief. And:
KEEP 356 FAITH!
P.P.S.
The Original Transmission on the car had gone 390,000 miles,
and the Owner's mechanic had mentioned that he found not one
but TWO Bolt Heads resting on the transmission drain plug magnet
the last time the oil was changed.
Needless to say, the Owner was concerned.
Now, a loose Ring Gear Bolt Head or two roaming the transmission sump at night
is bad enough, but it is also a Sign of something much worse!
For it is most likely that there are OTHER Ring Gear Bolts that
were also loose!
And ifin the Ring Gear Bolts come off, you can ruin the Ring and Pinion
which is $1800 or so if still available! (Yeah, there are others available,
cheaper, but check out the Angle of the Spiral on 'em compated to an
Original.
Anyhow the Owner wisely decided to have the Maestro's Transmission
Subsidiary, The Wolfman, do a Transmission
Overhaul on it too.
The Wolfman called with the autopsy results. They were
Amazing!
At first it was thought that 2 of the Ring Gear Bolts
had broken off (This was Fairly Obvious
as there were 2 Bolt Heads in the bottom of the transmission.
Both the bolts and their associated
retainer had miraculously
missed all the Expensive Things inside when they parted company with
the Differential Carrier.
Turns out, the guy was even LUCKIER- 'cause once the
retainers were removed it t'was Obvious there weren't
just TWO of the Ring gear Bolts that were
broken. There were FOUR broken Ring Gear Bolts.
And several OTHER bolts were hand-tight- (or, if you prefer,
hand-loose!)
Had this had been a 356A or a 356B transmission, the Ring & Pinion would
have been "Toast" long ago. Both the 356A's and 356B's
have only 6 Bolts holding the Ring Gear to
the Differential Carrier. And, in this case,
MORE THAN SIX bolts were broken or loose!
But 356C's have TWELVE Ring Gear Bolts. So though
more than 6 Bolts had failed, several hadn't. They fortunately
still held the fort and kept the Ring gear on! There
was even the very beginnings of "fretting" between the Ring Gear and
its Carrier from being looser than it should have been.
If the Owner didn't take action soo, the Ring Gear
would have catastrophically
failed anywhere from 5 to 500 miles (certainly within 5,000 miles)!
This Owner was blessed by the Porsche gods with the Wisdom
to overhaul the Transmission EXACTLY when it was
needed!
That's why 356C Transmissions can go 390,000 miles (and maybe
if you are REAL lucky, or have treated her Really
Right, 500,000 miles) between rebuilds!
356A's and 356B's with only 6 ring gear bolts have a Life Expectancy
of 140,000-180,000 miles before the Ring Gear Bolts break and/or
or the Differential Carrier cracks.
This 356C had the hexagonal 12 bolt carrier pieces with the "half-circles"
cut out around 6 of the ring gear bolts. And it was almost the LAST 356C
built. (OK, So, then when the Hell did the Factory use the completely
Circular 12 Bolt Carrier anyway? In the "SC's only? Carreras certainly.)
It also had an active, operating Murphy's Machine Shop. The "shank"
of one of the broken bolt heads unscrewed itself enough to touch the
Aluminum Side Cover of the Transmission! Having broken off, the tip
of the shank of the broken bolt was an excellent cutting tool, and
proceeded to machine concentric circles in the aluminum
side cover.
That by itself is not so bad, but the machining chips cut by
Murphy's Machinists were distributed throughout the transmission as
myriads of maundering aluminum particles.
Fortunately, the gears are tough, and all was OK inside. In fact,
the Wolfman told the Maestro that the gears were the best he had seen
in heap many moons.
And whatever the guy was doing to the transmission, maintenance-wise,
KEEP DOING IT! Not bad for 390,000 miles.
This 356 lasted so long because the Owner DID treat her right- driving
her most every day like she should be driven- some 20+ miles each way.
Freeway and City. Back and Forth on the Freeway.
Every day. Nice Combo.
She responded by going to the Moon and almost back to Earth
on her Original Transmission, and broke down at a convenient time, before
expensive damage was done.
One overhaul every 100,000 miles on the engine. One Transmission
overhaul every four engine overhauls. Yeah, that's about right for a good 356.
In the long run, it's nice when they both engine and transmission
need a rebuild at the same time. That way both should last problem-free
until the Millennium. After that? Le Deluge. After that? Who Knows.
KEEP THE 356 FAITH!
P.P.S.
Well, as long as the Maestro had the chance, he thought
he'd relay what things wear noticeably in 390,000 miles.
1. The Flapper Valve for the carb hot air system was cut 2/3
through by the Vertical Tubes which support it.
2. Likewise, the hole in the Vertical Tube supporting the
Flapper Valve was worn to a Large Oval from a much smaller circle was
the Vertical Tubes
3. The Clutch Boudon Tube wore a semi-circular groove in the
steel part of the Left Hand Front Transmission Mount (the Donut like one),
from 30 years of rubbing against it.
4. Likewise, the steel covering of the Boudon tube was worn through
buy rubbing for 30 years against the Left Front Transmission mount.
5. The pivoting/rotating sections of the Heater Boxes had
worn out or worn big holes through. Should have been replaced,
6. One J tube had the exhaust pipe wear through the front of
it (inside the part that transfers heat the exhaust pipe to the
air, to serves to serve hot air to you. This is a common problem-
the Maestro's seen it many times before.
7. The steel part of the Right Rear Transmission Mount had separated
from the rubber middle. But that happens all the time too.
The Transmission did have a Rather Interesting modification-
the Guide tube that the T/O bearing slides on is normally
held by studs. Sometimes the studs are replaced with bolts,
but here the studs were replaced with countersunk screws, that
when seated, were flush with the front edge of the Guide Tube.
Why is this Significant, I hear you cry? Because if this
modification is done, a 912 Throw Out Bearing will fit
with NO MODIFICATION!
Which means you can easily use a 912 T/O bearing, which the
Maestro knows is CHEAPER and more readily available that a 356C T/O
bearing! He also thinks it's a BETTER bearing! Cheaper and Better,
a rare and nice combination.
(Normally even if you replace the studs holding the Guide
Tube with 6mm bolts,
the 912 T/O bearing STILL requires some "modification- specifically,
grinding downb of the supporting area of one of the "dowel pins"
that make up the "ears" of the 912 T/O bearing. This grinding down
is not too pretty, nor fun, but is normally required.)
BUT with the countersunk screws in the Guide Tube, enough clearance
is gained to all use of the 912 T/O bearing with NO MODIFICATION!
Good idea. Gets the Maestro's Seal of Approval.
P.P.S.
The Maestro doesn't like working on cars. R&R'ing the Transmission
is working on cars. Ergo, the Maestro doesn't like to R&R transmissions.
The Bespectacled Beckle, having three kids in college at the same time,
likes to R&R Transmissions.
But this was a 356C with Disk Brakes, and even the
Bespectacled Beckle
wanted no part of it. " Disk Brakes. Ugh." So the Maestro if he wanted
the job (and he wanted the job) had to do the R&R HIMSELF.
The Removal isn't too bad. But the Emergency Brake cable system
on 356C's. Geez!
The Time & Trauma lies in the Reinstallation. For it is never
JUST the Transmission. It's ALWAYS something else too! MANY other things!
In this case it was the Boudon Tube. The Heater Cables.
The bad transmission mounts. The VW starter where a Porsche should be,
making for tight clearances between Pan and top of starter.
Sometimes NEGATIVE clearances. (How do you tell a VW from a Porsche
Starter. Well, you'll note that the Solenoid is always
attached closer to one Starter mounting bolt than the other/.
In VW-land this angle is greater that the Porsche. Or, if you prefer,
the Porsche solenoid is CLOSER to the bolt hole on the starter
than is the VW. It really helps to have both the VW and the Porsche
starters to compare and visually memorize the viva la difference.)
Ah, Another item to add to the Case History and Broken Parts Video Tape
Comparing Starters to find the Real Porsche Starter
among the VW imitations
But Transmission Installation takes three days, usually. Because
you gotta clean everything underneath of all the crud so
that it can't get into things important. That takes time.
Then you gotta clean, strip and Powder Paint
the front metal trans mounts. Likewise Clean Strip & Powder Paint
the Big Hoop that supports the trans. Clean (at least) and plate (ideally)
all the bolts that hold everything together, keeping track of all
the special ones- like the little conical bolt that holds the
U-joint to the shifter rod protruding from the front of the
the transmission.
(Oh, and while we're there, let the Maestro pass along to
you a Wolfman Trick or two, since he hasn't written his book yet-
1. - When you're removing the Transmission,
do NOT remove the pinch bolt that holds the FRONT of the "U-joint
to the shifter rod inside the tunnel. Instead, remove the funny square-headed
conical bolt that holds the REAR of the U-joint to the linkage protruding
from the nose piece of the transmission. Once loose, use the gearshift
lever to 2nd of 4th to pull the U-joint off the trans linkage.
Then, when you're refitting the trans, simply guide the U-joint over
the protruding transmission linkage and reinsert the square headed bolt.
That way, you don't have to Binary Search on where the gears are!
2. A better way than just madly tightening down bolts as you attach them
is to put the nuts and washers on the Front Trans mounts so they're
loose. Get the Trans hoop aligned with the holes in the Body. Start the
two Big Bolts at the top of the hoop into the body. LOOSELY. Then,
pick up/rotate the trans up and forward so the studs of the Front mounts
slip into the slots in the body. Stick 17mm ATF nuts and washers
on the front trans mounts hand tight. Don't tighten them down yet.
Get the Axle tubes lined up with the Trailing Arms. (Sometimes a scissors
jack is nice to have to jack up the trailing arm to make mating with the Axle
Tube easier. Now don't forget to put the Rubber Shock Bumper on top
of the trailing arm. On 356A/B these are held with 2 Bolts, but
on a 356C they're held with THREE bolts. And the Bolt Heads that go from
the outside on a 356A/B, go from the Inside Out on a 356C. Go Figure.
Anyhow, you'll find it easier to get one of the axle tube/trailing
arm bolts
on, maybe without a washer at first. Use it to draw things together
enough to get the other two bolts on, hopefully with washers. Then
use those other two bolts to draw thing together enough so you can take out the
third bolt and put a washer on it. Repeat on the other side,
but don't tighten them down yet either! Make sure the axle tube is RIGHT
up against the "stop" provided by the alignment bolt in the trailing arm.
A Block of wood helps to coax the axle into position.
Check everything- make sure the Bouden tube goes under the Transmission
bell crank and attach it to the guide support midway on the
transmission.
NOW, go back and slowly tighten up all the nuts and bolts.
And don't forget the Ground Strap on the Front of the Transmission.
CLEAN IT and the area it bolts into first!
Now, hook up the U-joint by putting the square-head bolt in and the
SAFETY WIRE around it.
And again, go around and re-torque all the Big Bolts-
including the two at the top of the Hoop!
Now, on the New Transmission: it helps to use a LITTLE grease
on the Guide Tube. And on the
Throw Out bearing's "ears", and the
"U" shaped cut outs of the Cross Shaft. And the Cross Shaft bushings
would like a little lube too, thank you.
And the clutch cable would like some. The Starter bushing and Starter
shaft also. Don't forget a one-molecule thick layer on the end of the
main shaft for good luck. BUT NO MORE THAN THAT!
Oh, and while you're doing the transmission, you gotta look at
the Bell Crank pivot for the carb linkage, as the plastic bushings
have usually long since disintegrated into dust, to be replaced by
Rust. And much friction. It is amazing how much better the engine
feels when the carb linkage is right!
And then you get to fix the Heater Cables whose ends currently end
in rigged-up Cotter Pins attached through spark plug screw-on ends
to operate the heater as little as possible.
All this is part and parcel of doing a "Transmission rebuild".
It's a lot of "working on cars". Not building engines which s is
what the Maestro REALLY likes to do!
Sigh. April 15th's such a Bitch.
KEEP THE 356 FAITH!
The Maestro
Disk Brakes.
The very thought of them sent a chill down the
Maestro's spine. God, he hated Disk Brakes. Not the brakes themselves-
they're great- even better than good 356B drums- it's just working
on them is a Major Pain in the Gluteus Maximus.
But sometimes it's just gotta be done. Like when you're doing a
transmission job on a 356C, you gotta deal with the Disk Brakes.
So, let's assume you've got the transmission installed, and the
Naked Axle is staring you in the face. How do you proceed?
First, get a 356C seal kit (and it's GOTTA be the 356C kit, NOT the
356B kit!) with the seal, and the Big and little
"O" rings. Don't forget the shim/spacer/oil slinger! Put the shim/spacer/oil
slinger
onto the axle shaft and push it all the way up against the Wheel
Bearing. Then install the small "o" ring up against the
shim/spacer/oil slinger.
Now comes the tricky part. Pull out on the axle shaft- GENTLY!
It should pull out about a quarter inch. Do NOT rotate the axle shaft
or the Trunion Blocks inside the transmission may fall into a terrible
position and require disassembly of the axle tubes to fix! So, pull out
the axle only until enough
of the Wheel Bearing is exposed to slip the Big O ring over the bearing.
Push the Big O ring as far onto the wheel bearing as possible,
And grab your Emergency Brake plate with the Emergency Brake shoes installed.
Make sure the 1" hole in the
Emergency brake plate is facing the rear of the car so that the
Emergency brake cable can attach to it!
Slowly and carefully guide the emergency brake plate over the axle shaft.
Don't bang it against the Wheel Bearing and cause the Big "O" ring to pop off!
Sight through one of the 4 bolt holes in the plate
to line the plate up with the 4 holes in the Axle housing. Again, try not
to let the plate hit the wheel bearing.
Thread one of the 14mm ATF bolts with washer attached into the
axle housing a turn or two. Then screw another bolt (with washer),
carefully, diagonally opposite. Install
the other two bolts, also carefully. Slowly tighten down each
bolt a turn at a time until
all 4 are snug. Torque 'em to 18 ft-lbs with a torque wrench.
Note that it is impossible to see whether the Big O ring has fallen
off the bearing and is somewhere down inside things. Here you need to keep
The Faith.
Repeat for the other side.
OK, the emergency brake backing plate is attached. Now comes the fun-
attaching the emergency brake cable. Take the castillated nut
and the washer(s) off the emergency brake cable where they're been sitting
since you disassembled things months before.
Guide the emergency brake
cable through the hole in the Axle Tube and into the hole in the
Emergency Brake backing plate. Note the two butterfly-like
parts that operate the emergency brake. Note the clever design.
Now here's the fun- with one hand, push real hard on the emergency
brake housing so as to compress the one inside butterfly. Once compressed,
attach a pair of Vice gripes onto the cable housing where it is coming
through the hole in the axle tube. That way you don't need 3 hands!
With your hands now
free, use one to compress the second butterfly so that the emergency brake
cable can come through the center hole in the butterfly. Your
other hand attempts to put the washers and the castellated nut on before
muscle fatigue sets in on the first hand and the butterfly flies across
the garage.
Oh, and if you don't get the emergency cable to go through the
hole in the butterfly, the butterfly will push the emergency cable back into
its housing and you'll have to use needle nose pliers inserted through the
spring between the butterflies to pull the cable out again.
Note: it helps to have an itty bitty vice grip to compress the
butterflies, so as to free yet another hand.
Keep trying. Eventually you'll get it. (Or your hand will be
permanently cramped up. Whichever comes first.)
Once you DO get the castellated nut onto the emergency brake
cable, tighten the nut up until the cotter pin can go through
the nut. Don't go too far. Just enough to get the cotter pin in.
OK, the emergency brake cable is installed. Don't that
feel WONDERFUL???
Get out the dust shield. Clean it. Note which way
it goes- the big cut-out is obviously
where the caliper goes. It should face towards
the front. The little "bulge" at the bottom of the cut-out
in the dust shield is where the emergency brake cable fits, and should
face same.
Slip the backing plate over the inside of the
axle housing and tighten down evenly
the four special SHORT
8mm bolts with 14mm heads. (These bolts are especially
short so that they won't protrude and hit the rotor. Don't use any
other bolts unless you shim them
with enough washers to just come out flush with the weld nut!
Torque these bolts to 18 foot pounds.
Now comes the Trick: take the big disk brake
hub and rotor. First, inspect the inside of
the hub for crud. (The 356C the Maestro was doing had a 1/8" thick ring
of barb-b-qued transmission
fluid just on the inside of where the emergency brake shoes
rubbed.
Some crud surely got on the emergency brake shoes. So a little open-air
sanding on the emergency brake shoes was in order.) Clean out whatever
crud you find, and marvel at the clever way the Factory deals with leaking
seals by collecting the leaks in an annular ring formed as an integral
part of the center hub, with a little tube leading to
the Outside World just in case the leak becomes a flood.
Same design as had the 1955 356A- way back when! What an innovation!
In this case it didn't work terribly well, since there
was a bad black build up of boiled trans fluid allll over the inside
of the hub. The outlet tube was almost plugged from crud deposits.
Anyhow note too that the hub has a concave section machined into its end
to accommodate and squeeze the little "o" ring.
So, Put the disk brake rotor on, and tighten the axle nut
to 400 ft pounds, ideally with an impact wrench!
PUT THE COTTER PINS IN THE AXLE
NUTS! You don't want one to come off and take the brakes with you,
like one did to the Maestro in a '64 VW.
(What happens when the Axle Nut comes off 'cause the clown left
out the cotter pin? Yes- the Axle nut first unscrews itself and falls
off. Then the Brake Drum come off the Axle, taking the appropriate
wheel with it, necessarily.
When you see your rear wheel pass you by, your first instinct
is to PUT THE BRAKES ON! Putting the brakes on immediately
causes the Slave Cylinder to pop its seal and all the brake
fluid to run out on the ground. NO BRAKES!
Yanking on the emergency brake now only operates on ONE
wheel- a great way to cause a spin or roll-over.
That means that the ONLY of slowing down is the
two square inches of shock mount that is a-grinding itself off down the
road at 70 MPH! (See "The ABC's of Porsche Engines" for details).
Now, back to the Disk Brake calipers.
Try prying the caliper pistons apart with a wooden wedge. But, please
be careful- a sharp screwdriver can ruin things.
You don't need to expand the pistons too much just enough to get the
caliper over the rotor. Once the caliper is on, alight the bolts holes- shining
a flashlight into the holes helps for alignment,
Tighten each bolt evenly, a turn or two at a time,
and though you're supposed to torque
them to 48 ft pounds, you can't possibly get a torque wrench
in there to do so. So, you gotta use your Calibrated Arm. Do so.
That brings us to the Brake lines. It is damn difficult
putting the brake line bolt on the clamp because the Trailing Arm
is just too damn close. But it is possible, You gotta use the
Brake Line as an additional arm.
Snake the rear brake line around until it is approximately
positioned inside its support. Rotate the brake line end fitting up to above
the caliper. Install the brake line bolt with copper washer attached into the
banjo fitting. Push the bolt through enough to get the second
copper washer on. Now very carefully guide the brake line until the bolt
is over the hole in the caliper. Grab the bolt and push in towards the
caliper. (Or, push a feeler gauge around the bolt, grab the feeler gauge when
it comes out and use the feeler gauge to pull the bolt into the caliper- all
while your third hand is controlling the brake line.)
One can spend
many happy hours doing this, but eventually it'll work!
It won't work is you've already hooked up the brake line to the
support on the Axle tube however!
You're down to the short strokes now. Put the brake line clamps on the
axle tube- the bolt hole in the clamp should face the rear of the car,
and the brake line should be held in the
front of the axle tube. Arrange the clamp loosely
so that the rubber hose part of the brake
line pair goes up against the clamp. Attach the fitting from the metal
brake line into the rubber brake line.
Now, carefully tighten down the clamp, making sure that
nothing bad is happening to the brake lines. Once tight, get the little wedge
piece that slips into the slot in the brake line and tightens
things together tight.
Now tighten fully the clamps and the brake lines.
Repeat on the other side.
And don't forget to bleed the brakes.
And after all this, the Maestro was proud to relay to you
that:
1. The Best Way to compress the Butterfly Springs of the Emergency
Brake is with a needle-nose Vice Grip from the Price/Costco Vice
Grip Collection ($14.95).
2. The Best Way, maybe, to install the Brake Line Banjo Bolt is o put
it on the CALIPER BEFORE you put the caliper on! The Maestro wasn't certain
that the brake line could be made to snake around the Axle Tube and attach
into its little spring clip ifin one attached it to the Caliper
beforehand.
Then the Maestro called Kaptain Klack, a Charter Member of the Inner Circle,
to inform the Kaptain of the Maestro's newfound knowledge.
"So, said t he Maestro to Kaptain Klack. "How do YOU put
compress the little Butterflies to put the
Emergency Brake cable on?"
"With a Vice Grip." Said Kaptain Klack.
"Uh, yes, that's Right, of course, with a vice grip," said the Maestro.
"And, how do you attach the Brake Line Banjo Bolt onto the
Caliper?" asked the Maestro.
"I put the Brake line Bolt onto the Caliper before I put the
Caliper on the Rotor."
"Why, that's Amazing, Kaptain Klack", said the Maestro.
"I wasn't sure you could snake it through the Axle Tube Area.
"No, it'll snake through OK."
Which is why the Maestro doesn't claim to be an Expert
on other parts of the Car. Just the Engines.
And why you, having read this far, are thusly rewarded for having:
Kept the 356 FAITH!
The Maestro
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