Restoration Spotlight: Mike’s 1957 Porsche 356 Speedster

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Back in the summer of 2006, Mike bought his 1957 Porsche 356 Speedster from an Ebay seller in Washington, DC. The former racecar had already had all of its paint and decals removed from the body with chemicals.

This Porsche 356 Speedster had been sitting in the owner’s barn for the previous 18 years. When Mike brought it home, he started by sorting all of the parts that came with the car. By cataloguing all of the parts first, he was able to identify which parts were missing.

Then he dismantled the whole car, had the car sandblasted and stripped, and built a rotisserie to make the restoration project easier.

Once the car was stripped, Mike started to replace panels. Part way through the metal restoration part, the de Jonges purchased Restoration Design, putting the project on hold for about three years.

Mike took the car to Cambridge Collision for some body work that he didn’t have the time to do himself, and the team then took the car to the East Coast Holiday in Boston, displaying it on the rotisserie with all of the metal work done.

After the car was finally painted, Mike brought it home and started on the electrical wiring and replacing all of the parts that had been taken off, while the upholstery was farmed out.

See more of this amazing restoration in the video below:

How to 914: Battery Tray and Support

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In this instalment of our 1973 Porsche 914 restoration project, we show you how to install the battery tray and support properly.

After you remove the battery box, take some measurements to be sure you’re putting it back in the right place. While it doesn’t have to be perfect, it’s nice to get it back where it’s supposed to be.

Coat the area where the battery box will go with POR-15 to keep rust at bay, and grind the area you’ll be welding the battery box to. The battery box will come in two parts, the bottom and the and the top. This gives you the freedom to replace just the top of the battery box, leaving the frame as it is.

Prep and drill the holes for your plug welds, and coat the whole battery box with weld-through primer. We welded the two pieces together using a spot welder, as we have one readily available.

POR-15 is not easy to weld to, so you’ll have to take a measurement and make some marks on the frame and grind it down to get a good weld.

Attach the battery box to the frame once it’s in place and you’re happy with the fit, using self-tapping screws.

When you’ve done all of the plug welds, give it a quick inspection and clean up some of the welds. Then, top it off with some weld-through primer and you’ve got yourself a battery tray and support.

Check out the video to see how we did it!

How-To 914: Complete Floor Pan Installation

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If you’re restoring a Porsche 914, chances are you’ll need to replace the floor pans at some point. That’s why we’ve put together this video to show you how.

Before removing any of the floor from the car, it’s important to give the rest of the frame lots of support, as it’s a lot of metal to remove from the car and can put pressure elsewhere. Also, when you’re measuring the top of your car, you’ll need to make sure the measurements are correct.

Drill all of your spot welds and remove the entire floor pan. Remove the jack points from both sides at the back, and use the new floor pan as a template to cut the front edge of steel.

We also pre-drilled holes along the centre structure and tunnel for the rosette welds. It’s also very important to remove all of the rust and prime all of the bare metal areas with weld-through primer.

It’s always a good idea to inspect all of the inner tubing from the channel to make sure there’s no major damage from rust – if they need to be replaced, now is the time.

To prep the floor pan, pre-drill your holes for the rosette welds all along the perimeter and spot weld the seat mount reinforcements onto the part.

When the floor pans are in place, you can make any final adjustments on the seam running up the centre of the floor pan. Use clamps to get a good butt weld on the seam.

When the floor pans are in place, you can continue installing the pedal cluster bracket – as long as you’ve installed the pedal cluster first.

Continue watching our video to find out more details about the floor pan installation on a Porsche 914!

 

How-To 914: Frame Stiffener Installation

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Last month, we showed you how to install the suspension console on a 1973 Porsche 914. Now, check out this video for installing a frame stiffener.

As always, the first step in any part of the Porsche restoration process is to prep the area you’re working on before doing any work on it. We prepped the area we were going to weld by grinding it down, as well as taking off the jack plate which usually rots. We then prime it with a weld-through primer.

To prep the jacking plate, prep some holes in it so it’s ready for attaching. We then attach it to the car with self-tapping screws. After screwing it into place, we weld it to the car.

When welding, you want to take your time around the perimeter so that there isn’t any concentrated heat on any one spot for too long. After the piece is welded in place, you can take out the screws and weld those holes.

Next, grind and smooth out the welds. When that’s all cleaned up, pre-fit the overlay, keeping in mind that the frame is meant to stiffen the frame and shouldn’t be laid over top of any rusty metal.

When welding a piece like this, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. If your car isn’t fully stripped and still has the glass on it, make sure no sparks are flying into the glass when you come to weld. The sparks embed and melt the glass. You should also remove the ground strap from your car whenever you’re welding, to avoid damaging any electronics.

Clamp the edges of the part to your car so nothing moves while you’re welding it and you can get a better weld. You should also put self-tapping screws into every other pre-drilled hole in the part. If there are any spots you can’t reach with your screw driver, use clamps.

Check out more tips for this kind of installation and see the finished product!