1956 Porsche Speedster
20 DECEMBER 2017:
The 1956 Porsche Speedster Replica has been standing outside in the sun, exposed to the elements for the last 20 years.
It it time for a complete makeover while I wait for the Ultima to arrive.
The Dolly is also required for this project, as I had to strip the car completely and remove the body from the Chassis.
The Speedster chassis had lots of rust and the floorpan was full of holes as a result.
I had the choice of either cutting out the floorpan and weld in new steel sections, or start practicing my carbon work before the Ultima arrives.
I decided to redo the floorpan complete using carbon fibre. The guys at AMT Composites were very helpful in showing me what was needed for this job.
When I originally built the car back in my university days, I did not have enough money to put any extras on the car or fancy modifications. One of the things I always wanted was to convert the front Beetle Drum brakes to Disk brakes.
There are many options for these conversions, with many people opting for Golf disk brakes, however these convert the hubs to standard VW studs, meaning you have to also put later generation wheels / rims on the car. I wanted to keep the original look with the solid steel rims and chrome mooncaps, so purchased the disk brake conversion kit from Volkspares in Boksburg which keeps the original PCD offset for these steel rims.
I also decided to get rid of the original VW Generator and voltage regulator units, and get a newer Alternator with built-it Voltage Regulator.
The existing Exhaust system completely rusted through from standing out in the elements for 20 years. I also got a new 4-1 system from the guys at Volkspares.
I had to build a temporary paint booth to ensure I don’t ruin my newly built garage with overspray. I had two seperate spray guns which have not been used for at least 10 years. The one Gun is an Air Gunsa AZ3 which was used to spray the Speedster originally, however it was so dirty and blocked from the previous paint job when I did not clean the gun properly. I tried to do the primer using the cheap Chinese special, but there was more overspray in the air and the gun had a terrible finish. The finish from this gun was so bad that I was forced to sand down the 1st primer coat properly, which was not a bad idea anyway as there was quite a few imperfections on the body surface.
I eventually cleaned the Air Gunza and this gun did a great job on the primer with the 1.5mm tip.
I decided to paint the Speedster the same colour as my 2015 Porsche Boxster 981 GTS. The colour is called Carmine Red. For this job, I decided to invest in a new, good quality gun with a 1.3mm tip. I spent a few days doing some research on what gun to buy.
I purchased a new Devilbiss GTI Pro spray gun for the job. This gun does an incredible job with atomisation, and it must be the 1st time ever that I completed a spray job without a single run anywhere. My wife also bought me a good quality variable speed polisher that made the job a little easier for cutting and polishing the clear coat.
Another useful tool acquired for the building project is the 3-D printer. I bought a Creality CR10S printer from DIY Electronics. The old door panels were made from wood, and over the last 20 years got completely rotten. Instead of carving new panels from wood, I decided to design new ones and print them in PLA using the 3-D printer. Here is a picture of the printer printing my new door panel parts. I had to print each panel in three different parts as the printbead only does 400mm maximum size.
