DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

neilbardsley wrote:

964RS wrote: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

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

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 !

Wonderful stuff

Sweet

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!

Very nice Andy

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

Any chance of an update Andy?

Cheers,

Update update!

Update!

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.

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

jjeffries wrote: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 !!!

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 ...

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