57/58 Alken Fiberglass Coachbuilt Project

[JeffL]

[Stock Steve]

[JeffL]

[JeffL]

Decided to go with the vintage BF Goodrich tires. Sandblasting the rims to get them ready for powder coated silver.

I ordered some rivets, clips and a rivet tool to repair some broken clips on the rims.

The photo links are updated with some of the work to get the suspension and ride height correct.

To lower the front beam I will use Avis adjusters. But since I want to use the internal lock, I have to get a 14 mm, 1.5 pitch bolt and cut it down to make my own grub screw. I will turn the head down for the point and then just double nut the remaining stud to get it in tight. Waiting for the bolts now. My only concern is will the standard grade bolt hold up? Berg's are out of these so I am on my own.

A Samba friend is hooking me up with the front sheet metal for the engine so that I can size up the firewall and engine bay.

Trying to find some straight pipes for the Dansk muffler, they are a little less than 42 mm on the outside so I need to find something to just slip over them. I could slot the sides and use a standard Porsche muffler clamp to secure it but everything I find is large in diameter.

Here is a link to all the photos. I included some original literature on the general album and the latest photos are on the "stripped" album.


http://karmannghias.org/Alken/

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http://karmannghias.org/
https://karmannghias.org/GAlken/index.html

[JeffL]

Got the 356 rims sand blasted, clips replaced and dropped off at the powder coater. I also did an early Beetle rim too that requires a tube in case I need a thinner spare for the spare tire pocket. No reason to use one that requires a tube other than I like them.

I bought an Avis adjuster kit but will use the internal lock. I will throw away the circular lock that comes with the kit and the american thread bolt and lock nuts.

I took some 14mm X 1.5 pitch X 50mm long "full thread" bolts and had the heads cut down like the point on the original grub screw. This is just long enough to get two nuts on or I will use one nut and a lock washer with some blue lock tight. This bolt also fits more snug through the holes in the adapter. I wanted a higher hardness of this bolt but will hope for the best. I'll have to use the double nut procudure to drive the stud in since there is no head or hex hole.

The two studs in the center are what I had cut down. The shiney point use to be the heats of the bolts which were turned down.

The next picture is a test fit to see if the new grub screw studs were long enough. To use two nuts to tighten the grub screws in I might have to take the top part of the two piece adjust off, tighten the grub screw, and then put the top cap back on and then the nuts.

I don't plan to pull the axle apart to cut the interanl locks free and weld on the Avis adjusters. We'll see if this approach works.

http://www.karmannghias.org/AlkenChassis

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http://karmannghias.org/
https://karmannghias.org/GAlken/index.html

[JeffL]

OK, got the Avis adjusters cut in today and set. Here is the link to the chassis pictures but here are a few.

http://karmannghias.org/AlkenChassis/

I started off drilling some pilot holes at the end of the indents and then a 3/8 drill. Followed this with about 2 hours with my cut off disk and freed all four indents. The whole front axle was pulled intact and I was able to do all of the cutting off to the side then put it back on.

You can see where I mounted the adjusters and made cover plates for the back. The center lock that came in the kit came in handy, I used my press and forced the lock down between two 2X4 and curved the cut metal plates, about 1 inch by 1 3/4 inch.

The initial ride hight was a litttle low and you can see where I placed the adjusters in the center initially and then went back and moved them up 4 notches for the final height.

I will wait for the new tires and powder coated rims. I will then set the back torsion rods a little lower and see if I need to reset the front. I will weld them in at that time.

The adjusters will be welded on to have it cover the opening from the screw down to the bottom of the indent.

With this setting, I should find another beam and do a "cut and turn" like old school in the day, so I have read............

I was shooting for a nice even margin around the wheel whithin the wheeld well which turned out pretty good.

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http://karmannghias.org/
https://karmannghias.org/GAlken/index.html

[JeffL]

Adjusters and cover plates welded in. Test fit everything again tomorrow and lower the rear a little, and maybe the front a notch or two. We have plenty of room to lower it some.

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http://karmannghias.org/
https://karmannghias.org/GAlken/index.html

[JeffL]

Long drive on Saturday, about 8 hrs each way. Picked up a nice 1958 chassis with new pan halves and frame head. I wanted the twist knob heater controls even though the current 65 pan was nice. Anyone need at 65 pan.....

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http://karmannghias.org/
https://karmannghias.org/GAlken/index.html

[disneyherbie]

Awesome project man! I love that you're keeping everything period correct. I think that will really pay off in the end with a great looking car!

[JeffL]

I got the rims powdercoated and sent them off today to get the tires mounted.

Has any tried to mount seats like speadster seats without drilling holes in the pan? I am thinking of making a transition plate that mounts to the exitsing seat rails where it basically is locked in place (ok it could move) and then mount the typical slider tracks to those.

Has anyone done something like this? The 58 pan I picked up has the seat rails on it and instead of cutting them off I though maybe a transition plate could be an approach.
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http://karmannghias.org/
https://karmannghias.org/GAlken/index.html

[gitchesum]

I would find some old beater seat bottoms and cut off the rails and bond those to the Speedster seats...that way they are easily removable and adjustable.
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Looking for SP Kadron manifolds...please !!



57 SC
61 rag w/356B brakes
61 356B
Honda XLR 250, 69 Z50, Yamaha 100 Enduro...and others.
GMC SLT 4x4 Dmax
Kubota L3710, not enuf attachments.
And various VW's that come and go...

[JeffL]

[wbrown45]

Scat makes seat rails for their seats that might work. I don't know the width, but they should be able to help you out.
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OK Thang

[JeffL]

[JeffL]

I pulled off the front shocks and tie rod ends.

The 356 A spindles take a larger tie rod diameter. The right one is angled too, not sure why.

I need to get new inners and new 356 outers but not too many out there with the original castle nuts.

I put a post on the 356 forum to see if there are Type 3 or some of larger diameter that match the outer tie rods. The are about 14 mm at the largest part so they must be about 12 mm shaft/bolt size.
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http://karmannghias.org/
https://karmannghias.org/GAlken/index.html

[JeffL]

[wbrown45]

Your car is going to be pretty cool. I cannot wait to see the progress on it.
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OK Thang

[JeffL]

[JeffL]

All tires on.

Lowering. I don't get much out of +2, -2...... I use my protractor to get the pan level. I use the area ahead of the ebrake lever. Then with the panl level across, measured on one of the torsion rod tubes, I look for the "hanging/loose" angle of the spring plate. In my setup becasue the fiberglass car is so light I am set at 2.5 degrees right now. I might have to go back to 5 degrees (raise it a little) once I see how the body sets. Setting it this way is closer to the suggested method from the Bentley manual.

The rear spring plate has about 3/4 inch travel remaining, this should still translate to almost 2 inches of shock travel by measurement. I cut off 5/8 of a new bump stop to allow 1 inch of travel and then 1 inch of crush to slow it down and hopefully stop it before hitting the metal.

The rear wheels have about a neg 2 deg of camber. The axles incline about 1 to 2 degrees out to the bearings so I think we should get some lubrication.

Hope I didn't lower it too much for these 5.90 tires to clear all the fender wells. We'll see tonight if I get some time to drop the body back on it. The front inner fenders were rubbed by the past tires.

In the front I had to go to notch 4 on my welded in Avis adjusters (I started off welded in a little lower than stock. Not much "up travel" in the front either before the stock bump stop is hit. Less than 1 inch of travel. Maybe I can trim off the rubber stop to allow a little more travel.

The pan measures about 8 inches off the concrete in the front and rear.

If anyone has a suggestion on the shocks let me know. I think I might just try stock ones because I still have the full front and rear travel by the way I lowevered it.

The rear bump stop does not line up directly under the mating casting in the tower, is there a reason why?

http://karmannghias.org/AlkenChassis/

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http://karmannghias.org/
https://karmannghias.org/GAlken/index.html

[JeffL]

Got the body back on.

I had to raise the front end some to get the wheels to clear the front wheel wells. The front left seems to be softer on the left side front. Maybe I have to switch around the torsion rods, I'll have to read up on that.

I like the wheels and tires, they turned out just right for the vintage look and fully filled out the wheel wells.

With the ride height I'm going to work on the seats next. I decided to to cut off the tracks and use some seat brackets from Summit racing that are like a Z mount and then I can bolt the sliders to these brackets.

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http://karmannghias.org/
https://karmannghias.org/GAlken/index.html