My new project ...

[964RS]

Not fancy Spa at end of May?

Now that would be quick!

Not really - the car is painted, engine and mechanicals in, can't be that much to do!

He's letting the team down if he doesn't come to Spa.....but no pressure

[Lightweight_911]

Jason - I had originally hoped the 356 might be ready in time for the Spa trip but unfortunately it won't be.

[Lightweight_911]

Just to bring things up to date, I called in to Karmann Konnection today to drop off my wheels & tyres.

I still have the set of '65-dated steel/alloy wheels that I had made for the 904 so I've had these fitted with 175/70 Avon CR6ZZ tyres & will use them on the 356.

The brakes & suspension have been refurbished, the rollcage fabricated/trial fitted & painted, the new headlining is in & the seats are due back from the trimmers early next week.

The engine has been started & run up to temperature & appears to be leak free.

Lionel has completed the mods to the front & rear bumpers (including leading), they have been painted & Lionel has performed his magic by heating/annealing/bending the wide alloy GT bumper trim to conform to the exact curvature of the bumpers:





Ritchie's now taken them to a friend of his who's welding/shaping the ends of the trim to give the required finishing profile.

They should be back & fitted next week

Hopefully, by the end of next week the car should be MOT'd ...






Still quite a few jobs remaining to do however !

[Bootsy]

Wonderful stuff

[964RS]

Sweet

[Darren65]

Looks almost Grand Prix White in that photo Andy.....like the window straps, ex-Swiss Army by any chance?

Looking great....wish mine was moving as swiftly!

[jury]

Very nice Andy

Look forward to seeing some other pictures/views and all the details

[Darren65]

Any chance of an update Andy?

Cheers,

[jamie]

Update update!

[sladey]

Update!

[Lightweight_911]

Sorry for the lack of any recent updates - been busy working through a list of (time-consuming) jobs on the Elan & Giulietta - will try & post details of progress on the 356 later in the week.

[jjeffries]

Are you allowed to show us said Alfa and Lotus and the jobs performed thereupon? John in Connecticut.

[Lightweight_911]

Are you allowed to show us said Alfa and Lotus and the jobs performed thereupon? John in Connecticut.

The list of jobs on the Elan centred on its electrical problems - even though it had been the subject of much major expenditure by the previous owner, lack of use - allied to some incorrect (& damaged) wiring - meant that several electrical components weren't working which necessitated many hours of testing/trouble-shooting & replacement of incorrect/damaged wiring.

The work on the Alfa (a modified/competition-prepared '59 Giulietta Sprint Veloce) entailed swapping the back axle (I have 2 alternative complete back axles with different final drive ratios) to a higher ratio, replacing the rear brake cylinders & making up/fitting new kunifer rear brake pipes plus flushing the hydraulic fluid - unfortunately this work coincided with our mini heatwave so it was difficult to tell whether I had a leak in the braking system or whether it was just the sweat pouring off me laying under the car !!!

[Lightweight_911]

The 356 duly went off for its first MOT & passed with flying colours !

Once the car got its UK registration I encouraged Paul at KK to use the car to highlight any 'niggles' - which over the past couple of months hasn't really brought anything to light.

Although the car was set at the Factory ride height, I thought it sat a little high so I asked Paul to lower it ~ 25mm.

Here's the before shot (my steel/alloy wheels & Avon CR6ZZ tyres have been fitted):



& after lowering (not quite the same camera angle I'm afraid):




As mentioned previously, I'd bought a spare twin-grille engine lid & had some louvres stamped into it, so I asked Lionel to trial-fit it & carry out any necessary 'fettling' to get a good fit prior to painting.

I was a bit apprehensive as to how an engine lid from a different car might fit but it wasn't too bad:





There was a degree of 'flattening' of the curvature towards the outside of the louvres so a bit of 'tin-bashing' was required to improve the fit/finish - but nowhere near as much as I had anticipated.

Lionel also fabricated me some removable blanking plates (mounted to the car in a similar way to LWB 911 front fog lamp covers) for the original exhaust cut-outs, so these, along with the louvred engine lid, were sent off to be painted.

Interior-wise, new Charcoal square-weave carpets (from Autos Intl) & a new headliner were fitted but there was a delay in fabricating the seat frames for the Speedster seats - this was being done by Ritchie but the purchase of another pub had side-tracked him/diverted his attention elsewhere ...

[stretch]

That looks lovely Andy. Maybe i might get a lift in this one......!