Shaping 550 Fenders...

There is a sign on the side of the Old Providence (RI) road, not too far from my house, actually, and here it is for you to read.

This happened about 15 years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, and they were quickly followed by a larger bunch of Puritans who tried very hard to get everyone in their communities to "tow the religious line" as they saw it.

Old Tom Hooker (who was actually quite young) didn't see things that way and as you've read, struck out for a place where he could do as he saw fit with his life, and talked his invalid wife and a few followers into leaving.  He and his group of immigrants walked for days along the Hassanamisco and Algonquin trails, finally stopping when he saw a large herd of deer crossing a shallow part of a wide river.  Right then and there, he decided to set up a community of the folks who came with him and named it "Hartford" for the place where the deer forded the river, thus making Hartford, Connecticut the only city in America founded by a Hooker.

Bah Dump, Bump..........

...later to be settled by both Samuel Clemens and Harriet Beecher Stowe, among others.

@Michael Pickett posted:

Tough story, Stan. Humans have such a long history of abusing people who don't believe the same things we do, have a different ethnicity, gender, skin color, sexual preference or car brand.

I'm especially tuned in today, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, when thousands of Jews were liberated from Auschwitz in 1945.

We can do better.

Pickett, is that a french name?  

Growing up one of my classmates was called Piquette   It has been mentioned that early settlers in the Acadian peninsula of Canada came from France to escape anti semitic tide in France having changed their names to better fit in.  But yes we should never forget that the silence of the majority led to the holocaust ! Having been to Yad Vashem many times it is a sobering museum to say the least.

@Robert M posted:

I know. It’s been a minute since the car made it to California. Our good friend Hans Huber is machining some reproduction parts on his CNC machine so Anand can have a shift linkage that looks like the original. He also machined a new motor mount to raise the motor and trans to better align the shift linkage. What Carey and crew made worked but the gear selection wasn’t quite as crisp as Anand had hoped. Instead of taking it back to Indiana Hans offered to see what he could do with it. Hans owns one of the last independent German automotive shops left in our area and they are masters of the early flat six cars. Hans personally works on all of the 356s that come in and they come from a long way to have him work on them. Hans is also having some orthopedic work done so it’s slowed him down some.

As soon as it’s finished there will be videos galore. Think of this as the gap between Outlander seasons further hampered by COVID.

Fellas:

Sorry for the long delay! Thankfully, @Robert M has been providing updates!

After I got my 550 back to Fresno (Thanks to @Robert M, yet again!), I went for a drive. The trigger wheel flew off and @Troy Sloan and @Teby S got me back to my garage. @Pat Downs came over and replaced the trigger wheel. After driving the car again, there was loads of rubbing on the driver’s side front wheel (given the asymmetry of the body) and the shift linkage was a bit tricky.

My initial goal: raise the transmission up like the original car in the rear. This would provide more clearance for the shift rod. I asked my close friend Hans Huber to help me with this — and that’s when things got out-of-hand.

Hans looked my car over. He decided that he wanted to pull the engine and transmission out first and mock everything up with a spare case and block he had.

As I mentioned before, we got parts from Rainer Cooney in Center Barnstead, NH (the Spyder MASTER in my humble opinion) and used Devcon to make our own mounts. This was an interesting experience. They we dry in a day, but we were advised to wait a month before using them to allow them to cure completely.

After we installed these with an empty Rhino case, we realized that the Carrera shroud I had on my car wouldn’t fit. The cowl of my car was clearly not shaped properly. After the accident of the index car from which the mold was pulled, the curvature was not the same. So off with the Carrera shroud. The motor was sent back to Pat Downs for a doghouse shroud and new sheet metal.

The good news: there was now more room for the shift linkage. The 547 engine originally used was dry sumped, so it naturally had more clearance. My motor had a deep sump, and that proved to be a bring problem. Enter Chuck West, Bill Doyle’s Carrera Machinist! He sectioned the sump and welded it. I welded in high school — but I could only WISH to ever weld like this man. You can see hi work in the photo below.

I thought that was then end. Then Hans asked me for a photo of a real 550 shift linkage. That’s when things went sideways. LOL

I shared this illustration with Hans. His answer: “Let’s just build that.” “Hans,” I told him “it’s not that easy. This is one of the most complex parts of this entire car (minus the engine). Plus, I don’t have exact dimensions for this stuff.”

That didn’t stop Hans. He approximated the side of the bolts and worked his way from there, building the different parts on his lathe and mill (see below). Absolute insanity.

Next came the bal crank. Using a solid ingot of cro-moly, he used his lathe to shape this thing and then curve the end.

Needless to say, this thing shifts magnificently. It is utterly precise, smooth, and totally changes the car.

I’ll post more shortly — forthcoming episodes regarding the wiring and exhaust are to follow! Stay tuned ;-)

Wow, beautiful craftsmanship!  Bummer that you can’t use that Carrera shroud, that is a really nice piece of kit.

Because the entire engine had been raised with the new transmission mounts, it was now time to send the headers off for lengthening. They also needed to be made symmetrical — the muffler was slightly cockeyed previously.

I called my friend Max Plowman — he builds many exhausts for the Ferrari Silicon Valley race team and for hot rods.

I painted the exhaust with the same oven paint John Willhoit uses — Thurmalox. It looks nice and has the same finish as the exhausts did back then (so I am told).

Installed on the car (the rubber hanger is an item I’ll be making next — see the photo):

@LI-Rick posted:

Wow, beautiful craftsmanship!  Bummer that you can’t use that Carrera shroud, that is a really nice piece of kit.

Totally agree! That would have been really cool. The good news: I sold it for $15,000…that really helped defray the cost of all of the wild adventures with this car, so I wasn’t too bothered :-)

The next issue was the wiring. The original harness was in the car, and it was a bit scary. There were definitely a lot of wire underneath the dash that had absolutely no purpose. Hans insisted that I rip it out; he fused several items on the firewall and the car then went to Scott Sebastian (MetalCraft Motorsports in Sanger, CA). Scott is a friend of mine and a really, really kind and generous guy. He’s also the best transaxle builder I’ve ever met and an absolute encyclopedia. He was kind enough to take my car on for a total re-wire job — and that’s not a task that is worth any amount of money!

Scott took out the entire harness and built it all from scratch. I’m surprised he didn’t poke his eyes out along the way — not an easy task.

Here’s the after photo (in contrast to the dash shot above):

The harness:

Scott tells me he has CDO (that’s OCD — but the letters are in alphabetical order). I got new plug wires, and he shortened them so that they wouldn’t flap around. Hans added a hard fuel line for the carbs that went across the fan shroud, too.

Not shown here (and difficult to photograph) is all of the other work Scott did. He ran new hydraulic and brake lines for me which looked spectacular.

Needless to say, everything works (it always did — but now it looks really pretty!). I can’t thank Scott enough for taking this on.

At the end of it all, I’ve got a car that is really as perfect as it’s going to get.

New wiring, new brake lines, new fuel lines, new oil lines, new shift linkage, new transmission mounts and appropriate tire clearance.

Below are the photos of the car before, an illustration of how the car classically sits, and my car now.

Hans it going to get it running tomorrow (engine and transmission oil). He’ll align it with string, and we should be ready to start test driving. After that, it needs a detail. And then a visit to a holy person to bless a car that @Teby S thinks is cursed (that’s another story for another day).

Quite the journey on that car …. Bravo

Wow. Just... wow.

Thanks so much for slumming with us here, Anand. You play this game on a completely different level.

Stupidly impressive. These craftsmen you've found do excellent work. I love it, Anand.

And welcome back! It's been a long, long time.

@DannyP, @IaM-Ray and @Stan Galat - thanks so much, guys! I am lucky — these fellows all went WAY out of their way to help me with a Herculean task.

I’ll report back with how it drives — I may need to change to different tires! That 2332 should be interesting!

I forgot to mention that Scott Sebastian also hated my steering. He took off my 420 mm banjo and made me a new steering bushing out of delrin. It is totally smooth and feels so utterly precise now! No more wobbling!

Anand

@arajani Anand: Keep a CLOSE eye on those valve cover cap nuts. They like to disappear! Possibly drill and safety wire, like I did. I lost a couple bolts before I drilled them.

My valve covers are secured with drilled allen-head cap bolts. I had to bolt the rockers with 3/8-24 coupling nuts as that is the stud size used for my Pauter rockers. What is an added bonus is the 5/16" allen wrench is virtually the same as 8mm.

Not the best picture, but you get the gist.

Beautiful @arajani - Worth the time and effort put in. Hopefully I can see this thing in person one day (just need to get my Coupe finished)

@DannyP — that is super helpful! I’ll be sure to do as you advise! Thanks my friend.

@*LongFella posted:

Beautiful @arajani - Worth the time and effort put in. Hopefully I can see this thing in person one day (just need to get my Coupe finished)

You’re always welcome at my home. Come on over!

Some guys who deserve special shout outs:

@Robert M. This guy — he is an incredible friend. My car has been undriveable for the past 2 years since all of this work has commenced — and he has single-handedly taken it on 4 trips with his amazing trailer (to and from the exhaust shop, and to and from Hans’). This sort of altruism and compassion are really what it is all about. Robert, you are a true friend.

Hans: Not an internet guy, but as genuine as they come. He saw me struggling with my car on one of the first drives, and asked me to leave it with him. He never once asked me for money (he still hasn’t) — he just wanted the car to be done right and for me to enjoy it. (Note the custom dolly he built to mount the rear engine lid during the other work).

@Teby S: The first guy I met in the replica Porsche world — right here on this site. Teby has always helped me with logistics (we call him Robert’s logistics manager!) and just a wonderful, kind guy. He gives good advice and is about as OCD as me, as it’s a good gauge of what I *should* do. He has also bailed me out with AAA towing many times. Teby, you are my family.

@arajani. How long do you think you'll keep it Anand?  I'm sure Leno and Seinfeld would be very interested in this one!

What Stan and Danny said, Anand- what you (and the people you know) have done with your Spyder is simply amazing!  I'm guessing the fiberglass re-work (and then re-paint) was too involved to allow re-shaping to keep the Carrera shroud?  Having worked (a little) with fiberglass, done some (again- a little) body work and painted a few cars I can imagine how much that would have encompassed (and how much it grows from "we'll just do a little re-shaping here" to so much more so it all blends in).

I've heard of Scott Sebastian- more specifically, read some of his posts on the Samba, and although some MIGHT call him a weee bit opinionated, he does seem very (and I do mean VERY!) knowledgeable.  I got a good laugh at him saying he has CDO- anyone who is truly obsessive/compulsive will tell you it's CDO, with the letters in alphabetical order AS THEY SHOULD BE!

And yeah, I as well hope to see it in person 1 day...

@Stan Galat posted:

Wow. Just... wow.

Thanks so much for slumming with us here, Anand. You play this game on a completely different level.

Cute Stan, but so true!  It is fun to see this level of creativity and craftsmanship never mind CDO  merci Anand.

@Troy Sloan posted:

@arajani. How long do you think you'll keep it Anand?  I'm sure Leno and Seinfeld would be very interested in this one!

Thanks Troy! Yeah — Jay Leno seems to enjoy these odd cars! I plant to keep it for a few years. Until my steel Speedster is done (that’s another story)!

@arajani posted:

Hans: Not an internet guy, but as genuine as they come. He saw me struggling with my car on one of the first drives, and asked me to leave it with him. He never once asked me for money (he still hasn’t) — he just wanted the car to be done right and for me to enjoy it. (Note the custom dolly he built to mount the rear engine lid during the other work).

And I thought I was pretty cool using a couple sawhorses for this...

@ALB posted:

What Stan and Danny said, Anand- what you (and the people you know) have done with your Spyder is simply amazing!  I'm guessing the fiberglass re-work (and then re-paint) was too involved to allow re-shaping to keep the Carrera shroud?  Having worked (a little) with fiberglass, done some (again- a little) body work and painted a few cars I can imagine how much that would have encompassed (and how much it grows from "we'll just do a little re-shaping here" to so much more so it all blends in).

I've heard of Scott Sebastian- more specifically, read some of his posts on the Samba, and although some MIGHT call him a weee bit opinionated, he does seem very (and I do mean VERY!) knowledgeable.  I got a good laugh at him saying he has CDO- anyone who is truly obsessive/compulsive will tell you it's CDO, with the letters in alphabetical order AS THEY SHOULD BE!

And yeah, I as well hope to see it in person 1 day...

Al, HA! Scott is very knowledgeable. He’s very logical in how he arrives at conclusions, which I really appreciate!

We did a Binz double cab together with a 2332 and EFI, and he did the work. It was absolutely insane!

@arajani

Hans is the kind of guy all of us wish we had nearby as a friend and competent resource.  The Hanses of the world are very few and very far between although I'm very lucky to have a few near me.  I very much admire his work (and how did that shift linkage he made work out??)

He might like to see this video, if you happen to put it onto an iPad or something to show him.  The Spyder Factory is in sleepy little Barnstead, New Hampshire (kind of a long commute for you guys) but he would have a ball talking to Rainer Cooney and seeing his shop.

Fabulous set of updates, Anand, and a truly amazing car. You are an inspiration to all of us. Can't wait to hear your impressions of the first drive!

@arajani posted:

Al, HA! Scott is very knowledgeable. He’s very logical in how he arrives at conclusions, which I really appreciate!

We did a Binz double cab together with a 2332 and EFI, and he did the work. It was absolutely insane!

I have to echo Anand's comments about Scott Sebastian.  We are VERY fortunate to have him right here in the Central Valley.  He's really the main reason I've been able to do what I do for all these years.

@Troy Sloan posted:

I have to echo Anand's comments about Scott Sebastian.  We are VERY fortunate to have him right here in the Central Valley.  He's really the main reason I've been able to do what I do for all these years.

Wait. What?

All these years I thought YOU did all your own work.

@arajani

What an awesome story line, Arajani! Thanks for sharing these updates with many of us that are living a gearhead's dream vicariously through your adventures.

@MusbJim posted:

@arajani

What an awesome story line, Arajani! Thanks for sharing these updates with many of us that are living a gearhead's dream vicariously through your adventures.

Thanks Jim!!

Can’t help but to echo the comments above. Thanks for sharing all the photos and process. Love being able to live through you through this post.
I love everything about this car. What I thought was a perfect car when brought back to CA from Indiana seems to somehow keep getting better and better. Hoping to see it in person one day.

Spectacular community effort!

@DannyP posted:

Stupidly impressive. These craftsmen you've found do excellent work. I love it, Anand.

And welcome back! It's been a long, long time.

And the best part is is that we all live about a 30 min drive from each of us to the other. With he exception of Anand, Teby, and I as we live within walking distance from each other.

@Kevin - Bay Area posted:

Can’t help but to echo the comments above. Thanks for sharing all the photos and process. Love being able to live through you through this post.
I love everything about this car. What I thought was a perfect car when brought back to CA from Indiana seems to somehow keep getting better and better. Hoping to see it in person one day.

Anand and I will bring it up north for one of those car shows you're always going to. And by Anand I mean I will drive it or trailer it part way and drive the rest of the way to show it off. He works A LOT.

Thanks Troy! Yeah — Jay Leno seems to enjoy these odd cars! I plant to keep it for a few years. Until my steel Speedster is done (that’s another story)

Hmm steel speedster. Doesn’t sound like a Beck. Emory maybe???

@550 Phil posted:

Thanks Troy! Yeah — Jay Leno seems to enjoy these odd cars! I plant to keep it for a few years. Until my steel Speedster is done (that’s another story)

Hmm steel speedster. Doesn’t sound like a Beck. Emory maybe???

Phil,

Another Willhoit car. Grey/red. Oatmeal carpets, GT decos, Glasspar hardtop. 2.2S motor, 741 BBBD trans with torque biasing diff, and lots of cool “bits.”

Hans decided to fabricate and install some torque straps in my car because of the torque produced by my 2332. The motor has been fired up and is running nicely.

Up next: alignment and test driving.

I don't get it, Anand. In a Spyder, when you get on it those straps will loosen with regular trans mounts. But I forget that you don't have regular mounts. You have bespoke mounts...

The fan pulley(front of the motor) wants to rise on acceleration which might loosen those straps. Of course I have a solid rear mount on the trans nosecone, so never mind.

I have a trans strap over the top of the bellhousing, this keeps the 911 shroud from hitting the top of the clamshell during launches(4000-4500rpm, dump clutch).

The best solution is a front mount like the type3 or Bus. But that's not what Porsche did on the Spyders.

I'm also glad to see the same solution to the lower starter bolt that I used. A regular nut simply won't work there with the IMI starter.

@DannyP - I don’t get it either, to be quite honest! 😂

@arajani posted:

Phil,

Another Willhoit car. Grey/red. Oatmeal carpets, GT decos, Glasspar hardtop. 2.2S motor, 741 BBBD trans with torque biasing diff, and lots of cool “bits.”

So you are going with the Willhoit 2.2. 160 hp. That should be awesome. That just might be the keeper.