DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

I've just given myself a Christmas present. It's to do with my 356 which I haven't had the pleasure of driving since it was involved in a minor collision on 1st July this year. It went over to Steve Kerti's shop Classic Fabrications in Honiton to be repaired and this was duly carried with completion of work around August, September time. The gearbox in my car always sounded like there was a few cogs flying around loose in the case and was obviously crying out for help. So as the car was with Steve and crew down at their prems in Honiton I asked Steve if he would hook out the trans and give it firstly a thorough inspection and secondly an estimate on costs for a complete overhaul. Following the strip down of my box, the finding was unfortunately not too clever. There was considerable wear on all bearings plus the crown wheel and pinion needed replacing plus there would be additional parts required like shifter forks and such. Lots of money. Lots. I pondered whether or not I should proceed with this repair for a few weeks and weighed up all the pros and cons. The cons were that I really disliked the 356 4 cylinder engine although mine was a super 90 that had just been rebuilt by Gantspeed and did go very well indeed. But it's VW heritage was something that didn't gel with me. Also, perhaps due to the fact that I was running VW rear backplates, brakes and drums (to get 5 on 130mm for my Fuchs wheels) I had problems getting the rear axle seals to function, and I hate leaks. The pros were that my engine was worth quite a few pounds if I were to sell it, also the 741 gearbox case might scratch up a couple of quid too. So if I put this money into another engine and gearbox which would go fast and not leak, I might be quite happy and the economics might not work out too badly.
So it's Christmas and Project 25 has commenced. And what the f*"k is it you may ask. Well, it is the installation of a 915 5 speed box and a 2.4 engine on Zenith carbs into the rear end of my innocent little 356B T6. The car is an outlaw anyway plus it's left hand drive so consequently it is a 356 with the least value on the market so whatever is done to it is not in any way going to harm it's value, it might even end up being a bit more. Now because my double garage is full up with rather lovely 911 and Harley Davidson and about 20 or so tasty racing push bikes, I didn't want red hot slivers of metal flying around the place and me swinging lumps of steel here and there and being slightly the wrong side of 18 with a creaky back I have elected the good guys down at Classic Fabrications to undertake this conversion. All I shall have to do is send them money, lots of money, but when it's all finished they will have a rather interesting feature car and I shall have something slightly unique which will hopefully upset lots of Porsche cognoscenti. In the coming weeks and months, hopefully I can show you some interesting pics of the work being carried out. Merry Christmas everybody!!!!

Sounds like a plan! Does it fit in the hole?

Should make for a lot of fun to drive.

I was not brave enough to convert mine, so built a replica with a 915 box and 2.7 on carbs. I found the engineering and operation of the clutch a little difficult via cables/ pedal cluster so added a 964 hydraulic master/ slave cylinder which works fine. I guess you will convert to IRS rear end, I ditched the torsion bars for spring plates and adjustable coil-overs which all together should give much better handling.

Look forward to Project 25

It couldn't be in better hands, that's for sure!

Look forward to this

Sounds interesting, can't wait to see the outcome.
Wonder how it will handle with the extra weight...

It should fit, actually it won't fit at the moment but the whole of the rear internal metalwork is getting the chop, and the firewall and the majority of the rear seat squab area. It'll fit in then. I expect it will handle like a pregnant pig but it will be fun and I don't really care. However I'm sure the good folks at Classic Fab will do all they can to make it as safe as possible. Although I've given them carte blanche regarding modifications and suspension choice, it may end up with coil overs from the rear hubs with the trailing arms and torsion plates acting just as locating pieces. This is because sorting the geometry for the torsion tube may be too time consuming. One aspect we are working on is the braking performance. I fitted 944 brakes on the car quite early on when I was building it initially so those will be upgraded to 944 turbo calipers and rotors plus it will get a servo powered by an electric vacuum pump. This way the servo unit can be up front near to the master cylinder. Although the clutch on the 915 box is cable operated I hope not to have any operational problems. Should there be any, however, I won't hesitate to install a full Wilwood brake, clutch and pedal assembly. I would have to play around for a slave cylinder mount on the gearbox but I have seen a very sanitary bracket arrangement on a race car that would be easy to duplicate. And my throttle is cable operated anyway so that can stay. Lots of fun coming my way.

I shall have something slightly unique which will hopefully upset lots of Porsche cognoscenti.

Amen to that Graham!
C

Nice one - looking forward to this taking shape

hey, wanna see some dirty pictures???
Any dude can restore a car, it takes a real man to cut one up!

I saw one of these at our 356 Holiday in Coff's harbour recently. It went like a rocket. He did have to cut a section our of the rear to access the fan pulley however?

Sunshine Coast eh? Bet you're a bit warmer than we are. Snow and ice on the menu for the next few days. So back in the workshop with all the heaters on full chat and sporting the thermal socks we've been a choppin'. We've taken out a good chunk of the rear seat squab area in order to raise the trans up so the shift rod is dead nuts with the existing shift lever rod. Also we have shortened the torsion plates which looks like we can utilise the existing torsion bar tube crossmember instead of having to relocate this about three inches forward in the car, which was the original idea. There are lots of benefits with regard to this; firstly we can use the standard steel s/w/b 911 trailing arms without having to chop them up, requiring only some bracketry to locate the front eyes. The shortening of the torsion plates will effectively beef up the suspension which will greatly assist in supporting the additional 200 lbs hanging off the rear, and lastly obviating further fabrication for the mounting of now, unneeded coil-overs. I have been on the hunt for quite a few parts needed for the conversion. Utilising the steel s/w/b 911 trailing arms means a fair amount of stuff has to come from the earliest edition of the 911 family, read expensive and the last bit of kit was located by my buddy Dave (Stretch) in France. This was the gearbox crossmember duly purchased with great applaud to google translate. And I should add that I have just got hold of a pair of 7" Fuchs which hopefully will tuck into the rear arches and give me a slightly bigger footprint. With regard to the fan on the 911 engine which is right up where I had my frenched licence plate mounted, the thinking is to have a louvered section welded onto the rear part of the bodywork and move the licence plate onto a remote location to one side. Like a '31 model A, sort of.

Thought I would chuck up a couple more pics.

It takes a lot of nerve to attempt this type of work especially on such a nice car. You look to be doing so well with it. Shortening the torsion arms and getting alignment a real case for measuring more than once before cutting.

Very interesting to watch your progress and nice photos.

Roy

Plenty of stock versions left for future generations to study. Great project. John