Gauges / Dash configuration

@edsnova posted:

A Lempert wheel in 14? Sure. Mike understands the assignment...

He absolutely hates doing wheels smaller than 15".

@Gordon Nichols posted:

Oh Gord, those images really bring a load of emotions back.....It's because of them that my dash is taking so long..........I've roped in Roger who is helping with the faces, besides that the rest of the units are working 100%.

My advice for this topic is to look at making your own gauges. The Chinese stuff is poo, the OEM stuff is stupid expensive and most of the time, needs work. Have someone 3d print the housings and put internals from a reputable gauge maker inside.

I have less than $200 in mine and that's TVR 95mm housing and bezels, Auto gauge internals and some custom work to get them looking good. Oh yeah and OEM Porsche 95mm rubbers for the housings as this really makes them pop.

@Lane Anderson posted:

He absolutely hates doing wheels smaller than 15".

it was like pulling teeth to get Mike to finish my wheel, but the outcome was fantastic. 390m of Artisan woodworking. VDM GT recreation.

@Marty Grzynkowicz posted:

it was like pulling teeth to get Mike to finish my wheel, but the outcome was fantastic. 390m of Artisan woodworking. VDM GT recreation.

He is man of refinement and taste.

He wears driving gloves in a completely non-ironic way. They somehow look good. He eats biscotti for breakfast and drinks espresso lattes from tiny little porcelain cups (pinky out). He lunches on salad festooned with dried cranberries and crumbled pecans. He can tell the difference between a Boudreaux and a Burgundy before he ever sniffs, swirls, or swishes. His wife has a purse dog, and he lives in a quiet Chicago suburb and Venice, FL. He jets between offices as the weather dictates.

When he works, it's in a clean and tastefully decorated office in either city, always in starched shirts and appropriate slacks with a crease. Hit footwear is Italian, his watches mechanical, his hair styled and coifed by a gay man named Raul or his assistant (a 23 y/o single mom named Kandi).

His daily driver is an Alfa Romeo. His hobby car(s) have the best looking Lemmert wheels ever made.

He slums with the riffraff from this site as a sort of community service, to give back to the little people.

He is The Most Interesting Man on the SOC.

Stay thirsty, my friends.

I knew someone would bite!

@DannyP posted:

@edsnova I seriously hope that whole "dishonor" thing was tongue-in-cheek.

You have two fiberglass replicas. One is an English body copy on hacked up German running gear with a Japanese flat 4 in the back instead of an inline-4 tractor motor in front.

I'm with Stan. It's a REPLICA. Do whatever makes your boat float.

I knew someone would bite!

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When I was a kid growing up in Philadelphia, our Corvair had a 14" wheel.

We all had 14" wheels.

I loved it!

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Uh, I think we're talking about different wheels here, Mitch.

Big wheel keep on turnin'.

@edsnova posted:

I knew someone would bite!

Len Lessor. What a pro. Can you imagine sitting through all that without busting out laughing?

I believe around 1957 the diameter of the speedster wheel went up a few mm. I ordered my repro from the guy in Thailand and I ordered the larger one. Obviously, due to the added mechanical advantage the car is so much easier to steer as compared to the smallish Nardi that came on it originally but it also makes it getting in and out of the car more difficult I also understand that on originals the steering wheel was not centered.

So which size did you get?

@IaM-Ray - for a moment I thought you wrote "which side did you get?". I mention this because of all the problems I had trying to get a left hand drive wheel to work on my UK RHD car.

;-)

The mind does tricks on you with your eyes, you should hear what people say to a standard word test in a hearing test booth.  Some things are pretty funny.

@IaM-Ray posted:

So which size did you get?

I got the 425 mm; the smaller one in that style is 400 mm.

I'm thinking of creating a 1957 Porsche 356A Carrera GT Speedster replica, but I cannot find out what these three knobs on the dash do.  Does anyone know?

I know the 550 Spyder had extra switches for dual ignition(twin plug: two coils) and dual electric fuel pumps. Since the Carrera had the same 547 engine, I'd bet the added switches were for that.

@JoelP posted:

I'm thinking of creating a 1957 Porsche 356A Carrera GT Speedster replica, but I cannot find out what these three knobs on the dash do.  Does anyone know?

I guess it would be nice to know but does it really matter?  

Some have Fog lights, Driving lights, 4 way flashers, auxiliary lights in car etc.

Some had a button but it was a lighter, you know to light up cigarettes

All you need is an owner's manual for a real one. I know there are copies for Spyders out there, maybe there are some for Carreras too.

I never understood putting switches where you had to reach through the steering wheel to access them. I’m not sure I would take authenticity that far.  

This is where I usually research such things, but last time I posted it, someone pointed out that the speedster/convertible layouts were often different.

https://derwhites356literature...ittleKnownFacts.html

Who knows what differences a Carrera would have. Closest I saw was one with the light switch on the right (3) and a throttle lock on the left. (1)

4 way flasher  or idling adjustment ?

@calmotion posted:

@MusbJim jim horn is awesome. You should check out his video 😄👍

Where do we find this mentioned video? My curiosity is piqued

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The DerWhite's pages that Dave references above are a treasure trove of useful information about 356's.

If you scroll about two-thirds of the way down, you come to a series of photos of dashboards of the various models with all the controls identified - like this one:

A lot of 356's had a manual throttle control, used mainly to help with cold starts, as those carbs (just like our Webers and Dellortos) didn't have mechanical chokes. This did basically the same thing as holding your foot on the gas pedal - it opened the butterflies - but you could lock it on until the engine warmed up enough to idle reliably in cold weather.

I'm guessing since the Fuhrman motor was a high-revving racing design, it was probably harder to start in the cold than the standard motors.

There's no dash diagram for the GS/GT on the DerWhite pages, but it's pretty likely one of those three knobs was a hand throttle - and it's probably not too practical an idea to try and duplicate that function just for the sake of being 'authentic'.

Maybe use the knob to turn on the digital sound generator that pipes four-cam whine through your sound system.

Thanks for posting the link to the ...DerRight on documentation on originals.

Agree with @DannyP: Two of the small pull switches were for left and right coil. As in an aircraft, you could start a Carrera engine with both pulled (on) and then turn off one and listen for a slight RPM drop. Third switch was fuel pump.

If you place them correctly, and use the right switches, it will look perfect no matter what the switches really do. And not one guy in 10,000 will notice. But you'll know, and that's what matters.

On my Spyder I have the fuel pump on the left over the ignition key (as original) and to the right of that is the Accusump pre-oiler instead of the coil. The switch above is dedicated to the wipers.

@dlearl476 posted:

I never understood putting switches where you had to reach through the steering wheel to access them. I’m not sure I would take authenticity that far.  

I don't think anybody reached through, you can get to the three little switches from the backside, there is at least 4 inches between the wheel and the dash. Anyway, as Ed and I agree, on the Carrera they're for fuel pump and ignition. The pushrod motor cars didn't have them.

The 3 numbered switches of the OP aren't switches one would access while driving at all. Start and shutdown, hopefully the car would be stopped for both?

Thanks for all the great responses. It looks like I have my work cut out for me. Initially I even entertained creating a kill switch configuration out of them: two out, one in = run; any other combination  = Coil, fuel pump, battery all without power.