DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

I am very pleased to report that the 911 engine fitted in my 356 is being rebuilt by that master of air cooled everything Mr. Gary Cook. So if you see a light blue 356 at any track day next year all you will see is my tail lights disappearing into the distance. You have been warned.

exciting times
when is it going to be finished?

Finished? you mean when the block has shuffle pins installed, or when the case savers are fitted or after it's been line bored or when the heads have been ported, or after I have bought the new barrels and hi comp pistons or the G60 cams or the ARP hardware or after I have put the old woman out on the streets to get the money for all this. And you ask me when it will be finished, hopefully, before I'm the wrong side of the grass.

Ignatzcatz wrote:Finished? you mean when the block has shuffle pins installed, or when the case savers are fitted or after it's been line bored or when the heads have been ported, or after I have bought the new barrels and hi comp pistons or the G60 cams or the ARP hardware or after I have put the old woman out on the streets to get the money for all this. And you ask me when it will be finished, hopefully, before I'm the wrong side of the grass.

I know all about that!! My default answer to that question is “when it’s finished”

Which is why I bought Angus's already done race engine for Tango 914 rather than go through the pain...............built by Sam a couple of years back and not used much since.................Angus is putting in a six.
Looking forward to the rallies in 2023!!

Jason, Clive and all the others - Merry Christmas Guys, hope we can do lots or Porsching in '23

Rebuild progress at last, got the three small cracks and one nasty bit on my magnesium 7R engine cases welded up today. I've got to drill and re-tap the stud holes but at least the cases can now go off to the machine shop for the major work. Also I purchased all the goodridge AN fittings to run a Holley fuel regulator and fuel pressure gauge to be positioned alongside. I was advised that with Webers it is imperative to be able to set the fuel pressure so you are not washing the bores with excess fuel, not to mention the waste. Makes sense I guess.

It's always re assuring when you find things like cracks before they've turned into something disastrous.
Looking forward to the rest of the build.

Karl

Forgive me for erring away from the subject but with the wee beastie up in the air and sans engine and gearbox I thought it good to get cracking on a few of the jobs pertinent to the car but not directly relative to it's forward motion. And opposite to forward motion is retardation and in this context means brakes. The stoppers on the car are fine, there is 944 vented discs up the bows and early 911 discs down the blunt end, but I was seeking a better feel on the pedal. Servo assistance seemed to be the way to go and a MGB unit came my way at a reasonable price which I installed in the front well of the car. I also fitted a VW type 2 master cylinder. I was a little concerned that with the new bits in the engine namely a big overlap cam there would be insufficient vacuum to work the servo, plus the fact that I was reluctant to have a proliferation of pipework cluttering up the engine compartment, so for a decent amount of suck I fitted a nice little vacuum pump alongside the servo. This vacuum pump should by all accounts be governed by a vacuum switch, however, I was unable to source such a switch in the UK. I did find them in China through one of their amazing wholesale concerns, but I would have had to purchase 100 of the damn things, not really economicably viable . So the operation solution is wire up a timing switch, which I already have purchased, from Bulgaria, to be linked to the brake pedal switch on the master cylinder. When I touch the brake pedal, the vacuum pump goes to work for a pre-determined period, which I will set to say 5 mins and all will be as it should. Well, it's the best I can do until a switch may come my way.

I pulled off my Koni coilovers, stripped them down and sent the Eibach springs off to Aerocoat in Great Yarmouth to be powder coated white. I sent the threaded part which seats the springs off to be cad and passd' in that nice goldy colour and they looked very tidy when re-assembled and fitted back on the car. I also shipped off my headers to Aerocoat to be ceramic coated in a rather tasty shade of titanium. This ceramic coating is inside and out, it's tough as old boots and can give you a bhp boost being super smooth on the inside. What is also good is that the coating can be done on used components which my headers obviously were so they come out like new. The car does have a pair of superbly made exhausts incorporating stainless steel boxes beautifully fabricated by Classic Fabs but I would like to make a pair of straight out pipes with a pair of Supertraps just to find out what sort of noise they might make. Hopefully loud.

Krist, I do have problems with pics on this site

interestingly I was watching a 'reel' from rod emory - he uses basically a 356 from above the chassis and everything below ( engine/ gearbox, linkages etc ) from a 964, - probably similar to yours ?

nice work btw. - hope to see it in the flesh some day

I have to say I'm not really a fan of Rod Emory although, without question, he does some amazing work. It is just that his cars usually end up with bodywork that tries too hard to be something out of the 21st century, a bit Star Wars in execution. The 356 is such a pure shape, it doesn't take to being modified in any way. I was adamant my car would have no scoops, bulges or big arches, just plain old 356 and all the better for it. However, sticking a twin turbo 964 motor under the engine cover sounds very interesting.

I'm a massive fan of Ron's passion but like you I think he plays with the body a bit too much. It's already pretty good. However, they do some very high restorations too. It also seems to me some of his clients have very deep pockets

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I think some of his earlier ones were excellent (there’s a black 356 coupe with sloping b pillars that I love) but I think it is such a pure shape that it’s hard to improve on - however I think he must feel the pressure of producing something different and original each time. As you keep trying to be different you run the risk of changing things for the sake of it.

All IMHO of course and it’s not my money he’s playing with