1958 356A Speedster Replica

[acpaterson]

ok so the same location on the nose, but the body must just be flat.. SIMPLE..

[flatfourfan]

yup. Roger has made me up a set of grills that I need to collect from him to finish off and then we would be looking at doing the base of the lens as well. The porsche set-up looks way neater than the local set up.

[Firebird]

Hey Guys.

@ Gary: Yea, they really put in little effort with this. I know why though. It took me an hour to get a center line I was sure of. I ran it right down the bonnet and under the nose! Once that was done the rest fell into place.

@ Alan:
Check out this page. It will give you a good idea of the development the cars underwent through the years.
It includes a neat series of diagrams outlining the indicator light positions.
http://www.mejor.com/356/356picar.htm

Also , this pic sums it up best.

237916.jpg

You see how the indicators are horizontally centered below the headlights. This sounds obvious but the headlights also need to be mounted vertically. Mine weren't.
The distance from the bottom of the headlight frame to the edge of the indicator lens (not the bezel) has to be about the same as the diameter of the indicator lens (again, excluding the bezel)
The horn grille is mounted right up against the indicator bezel so it appears as one chrome unit. The whole assembly is tied together by a backing rubber which prevents contact with the body.
The bumper should then be mounted so that the top of the bumper is coincident with the bottom of the horn grille. I hope that make sense

Gary makes a good point though. If you have the indicator recess which is a feature of all the SA replicas then you have to get rid of that before you can get stuck in with anything else.
It really depends how far you are willing to go.
I went as far as having a whole new front (from the windscreen forward) moulded from an original 'A' and glued onto my car. This was to rectify a the resulting bizarre front end shape the SA speedsters are left with as a result of the kit manufacturers apparently changing the headlight position in order to comply with road laws in the US. The difference between an original front and a replica doesn't really translate in photographs but it is sobering! I was compelled to do the mod when I saw an SA Speedster replica next to a 356A Coupe(see earlier in this thread).
I love how my car looks now, which is why I am obsessed with getting all the other details and alignment perfect. The real irony is that I have done all this work before, years ago, on the front the car came with ... and that time I poured over every detail making sure I measured 100 times and only cut once, and back then the car was not even painted so fixing an error would have been simple.

Just to add to the fussiness, I have also put in an 'original' shape rear interior with pressed sheet metal features and all. The deck lid skin is also moulded from an original car. I will hopefully post pics of that after the weekend.

For what it is worth, have a look at page 1 of this thread you will see what I did early on. I have just spent the evening replacing all the images that were lost in 'The great server move' of 2013 so you can go back and have a look at the early days of my build.

Chat soon guys.

[Firebird]

man I can't believe that they were so far off..........

I can't wait till I start on my horn grills..

You know. When I was working on the car this weekend. I was pretty upset about all the crap that I have to fix. When I was removing the grille and indicator assembly and was right up close to it so I couldn't help looking at it. I just had to take a moment because, even if I do say so myself, it is a thing of beauty! I really took some care when I made it.

It gave me the motivation to push on...

[acpaterson]

Right. NOW I can understand the levels you have gone to, mucho respect... Wow.
I can certainly see the differences in the front end now as well. I'd possibly have done the same as you if I had the available space to do so, and if I was younger, lol, but am just going to forget that idea and carry on. Although as they say, what has been seen cannot be un-seen.
I'm also amazed at your patience, I mean, we're talking 10 years here. Aren't you at the point we're you'd like it to be finished and where you can just jump in and go driving?

Seriously, hats off Rog, it's arguably one of the nicest replicas in the Country I'm sure, your work ethic's impeccable and attention to detail next level. Thanks for sharing (And updating) the thread.
Now I'll just go kick my POS for being so wrong...

regards

Alan

[Firebird]

Thanks Alan,

Shame don't kick your car, it has feelings

I know it sounds crazy but I am in no hurry to finish the car. I could just throw it together in a few weeks with what I have at hand but then I;d probably just get sick of looking at it with half closed eyes (to avoid seeing the shortcomings) and move on.

Posting on the forum helps a lot with keeping the enthusiasm and routine going. When you don't post you feel like you are letting the side down. So thanks for all the kind words and the support

[Firebird]

Finishing the nose...

A side note:
I am no longer worried about making holes in the car now that it is painted... I am over it. If I need to move a hole now, I move it. There was a huge scratch on the front of the car when it was delivered which will need a localized respray anyway. So if its gonna get sprayed for that then it might as well get a spray to clean up some other stuff too... all in pursuit of perfection

I continued from last weekend with aligning the indicators and horn grilles to the position of the lights... well the whole process goes like this:
Remove and re-mount headlights checking that they are mounted perfectly vertical.
Once the headlights are mounted properly a line can be drawn from the center of the headlight to mark the center of the indicator. The indicator is then mounted.
The horn grille can be placed against the indicator and the whole assembly marked.
Remove assembly and drill holes as per markings.
Repeat on the other side

I am now happy with the placement, I think

With that out of the was it was time to measure up the interior for carpet.
I have no idea how this is going to be done. The rear seating area is no problem, I can just use the Porsche reference pics I have collected over the years. Moving down to the floor area behind the seats, I have no idea. There are too many steps and transitions. I think this may have to wait till I have my new seats because I want to clad certain areas so that they are both simpler to cover and look more like the real car. I can't do this until I know that the new seats will fit though.

Anyway, here are some pics from the day.

[IMPI]

Hi amongst my many moulds I also moulded the area ahead of the front doors in order to get that area corredct but so far it seems that I am not getting to glass work yet. this includes the front speaker mount as original.
Armand

[Firebird]

Hi amongst my many moulds I also moulded the area ahead of the front doors in order to get that area corredct but so far it seems that I am not getting to glass work yet. this includes the front speaker mount as original.
Armand

Hi Armand
Does it have a huge bulge in the front to accommodate the fuel tank ?

[Firebird]

Hi amongst my many moulds I also moulded the area ahead of the front doors in order to get that area corredct but so far it seems that I am not getting to glass work yet. this includes the front speaker mount as original.
Armand

Hi Armand
Does it have a huge bulge in the front to accommodate the fuel tank ?

[flatfourfan]

attention to detail.....................thanks to you Rog, I now have 4 more projects on my car that I didn't think that I had before.......

Gotta love this obsession.........

[acpaterson]

lol..
@ Gary, tough to keep up with the "Rogers" who have OCD buddy. Let him lead us mere mortals,
our equipment might look less impressive, but it looks awesome to me thanks..

Seriously tho, Roger's on a mission, and will eventually end up with a piece of art for sure. I'm kind of scanning the Pics and moving on, I don't want to actually see how wrong mine is, because then it will piss me off, so I just fly by the pics.. hee hee.

regards

Alan

[flatfourfan]

Well I wouldn't say it as much as keeping up. But having people like Roger is a great thing for local speedster owners in general. Only when you have sat inside a real 356 do you realise how off the local replicas are and I mean WAY off......I just want the car to look that little bit more accurate from the exterior. However that is where it will end....IRS and 5 speed gearbox are where I am heading towards.

Rogers eye for detail is pretty impressive........ok, enough ego stroking now.

Good work Rog.

[Firebird]

Awe, thanks guys

[flatfourfan]

speedster meet and greet

http://www.aircooledvwsa.co.za/viewtopi ... 12&t=29699