Build diary Porsche 356 Speedster Chesil replica - Final post May 17th 2021

End of the build process

The car is now fully and correctly registered as a Chesil Speedster 😀

Whilst I have thoroughly enjoyed all (nearly all) the build process, it has not been without some challenges. There was no accurate build manual which really didn't help, lots of undocumented issues that are "known" to the Chesil team but not documented and the wiring loom was to be polite, lacking! Most parts don't fit out the box, thank god for my Dremel and grinding wheels and I really underestimated how much research is needed to pull the build together.

The good news for future builders is that since I started Westfield has taken over of Chesil and I'm sure given time will sort out a decent level of documentation to support the amateur builder. 

A big thank you goes out to Goose at Chesil now Westfield who was a great source of information when needed.

An update on the carbs. The lesson is buy original Weber's not Chinese copies!!!

"Finished" Car

Build Photos

I have gathered together a few of my favourite pictures of the build process which I hope you enjoy.

Next Job

A bigger garage!!!

IVA Results March 2021

5th March 2021

Nice to be able to drive the car (even if it was freezing this morning) more than just on and off the drive. a 55 mile roundtrip to the test centre and other than running rich all good.

The IVA staff were very helpful and I only had one failure due to brake balance. Rear brakes locking up too quickly. Everything else was ok. To rectify I'm going to fit a proportioning valve allowing me to adjust the break fluid pressure to the rear brake circuit. It will mean taking out the fuel tank but no biggy.

Brake Bias Valve 

Overall I'm pretty pleased.

Got the tank out and fitted the proportioning valve into the rear brake circuit up near the master cylinder. Scariest thing was carefully re-bending the existing pipework to a new route to allow for the valve. 

 

16th March 2021

Retested at the DVLA centre today, good new is it passed!!! The proportioning valve did the trick

. 

Update - Jan 30th 2021

The interior trim has now been completed and the car has been back in my workshop for a couple of weeks. I will post some final pictures in my February update.

I now have a list of jobs finishing jobs which include preparation for the IVA test, enough to keep me busy during this current Covid lockdown (Jan 2021)

Windscreen wiper arms

Location hole drilled

Here is a job I didn't expect! I popped into the garage to do a couple of easy jobs. Surely bolting on the windscreen wiper arms and blades would be a 5 minute job. After much head scratching it turned out that the arms provided needed modifications.

The first thing required was to drill out the location holes.  

Nearside arm reshaped

The arm on the nearside then needed a bit of reshaping, so out with the Dremel. 

Before

  Then both arms needed the lower bush chopping off..

After

Release 10mm nut &

 refit to desired position

I adjusted the park position of the wipers by undoing the centre bolt on the mechanism and adjusting to the desired position

I also reshaped the end of the wiper arm reversing the angle,

A 5 minute job it was not!!!

Persistent Oil Leak

Oil leaks on the external oil filter pipes and brackets have been a reoccurring problem. I have removed all the components then cleaned  and rebuilt using thread sealer on all joints. Fingers crossed!

 

Turned the engine over and blew the oil filter ring gasket!! :-(

Seemed like the obvious culprit was one or both of the oil pressure release valves. On inspection it seems that both valves are stuck forcing all the oil into the filter. The joys of badly made Chinese parts!! 

Once removed (I'm waiting for a special tool as they are stuck) the exterior of the valves will be checked over and where required hand finished the with fine wet and dry then oiled and refitted. So this job is my current "in progress"

**Update**

Fitted standard VW springs and valves, also fitted new Fram oil filter all seems well...at the moment!

Clutch Adjust

Adjusted the clutch so the movement at the pedal was about 1/2 inch

Brake Adjust

Adjusted the pedal to master cylinder to gibe me an earlier firm pedal.

Windscreen fitted and heated screen wired

The windscreen has been fitted and the wiring connected for the heated screen.

Fog Lights Latch switch

The wiring loom supplied by Chesil didn't take into account the IVA rules relating to the switching on and off of the fog lights. and as such needed some modification. 

The latest IVA revision states that the rear fog light must turn off AND STAY OFF when the headlamps are switched off. That is to say, if the headlamps are switched off then back on again whilst the fog light switch remains in the on position then the rear fog light must NOT turn back on unless the user specifically activates the rear fog light switch.

To allow for this it required “hacking into the previously wired lights and fog light circuitry and adding in a Fog Latch switch. I hate having to go back to redo a job :-(

If anyone wants my diagram on how to wire this let me know

Seat Location Plates

Set of floor plates pre paint

I decided to add additional strength to the floor area where the seas are bolted in. 

I used 4mm steel which I epoxy primed and coated with Raptor paint to match the rest of the floor

In Primer

Raptor Coated.

Plates fitted

Exhaust

Fitted the Sebring tail pipe insert from Vintage Speed

Fitted Sebring tail pipe insert

Next jobs

• Test drive then IVA Prep

Build Hours

Update Sept 3rd 2020

Rear parcel shelf

On a normal Chesil, the rear "seat" is a simple trimmed cushion. As I have mounted the oil cooler into the base of the rear shelf I needed to create a raised base to protect the cooling fan and also hide the audio amplifier. I drew up a quick sketch, then made a couple of rough prototypes then with the help of my local furniture builder they made the final cover. 

Sketch

Formed cover made from layers of bendable ply

Waxoyl

Thought I would inject some Waxoyl into the floor pan before the trim is started. Although this was done by Chesil as part of the floor pan shortening, looking at it I wasn't convinced. I have sprayed into the rear warm air inputs; interior heating ducts and anywhere else I could get the probe into!

Oil lines, refit tinware and engine bay seal

The external oil cooling circuit has proved to be a bit of a pain. Once I fitted the exhaust then I found the pipes were going be too close to the exhaust. I have had the pipes remade with different angle joints. I have also added a bracket to support the pipes and heat proof protection.

I have refitted the exhaust back box which I had to remove to sort out the oil hoses, 

Exterior trim

Fitted the lower side trim, had to send back one of the pieces as the quality wasn't good so waiting for a replacement. 

Fitted trim to front bumper, who knew how nice the car looks with no bumper fitted!!

Fuse and electric cover

I have made a cover for the electrics in the front of the car. It may or may not survive the final trim, but I think it looks ok. Made it out of shaped hardboard and covered it with a dark purple vinyl

Geometry

Lots of work here. Firstly setting up the ride height using the adjustable front beam and rear plates. A bit of a faff. Front end suspension setup for camber and steering geometry etc

Petrol tank

The petrol tank has now been fitted and connected.

Car rolled outside

Car out in the fresh air!

Next Jobs

• Test the engine for leaks then refit remaining engine tinware and engine bay seal
• I might adjust the rear suspension to give a little more ride height
• Final fix on sway bars front and rear
• A few small jobs
• Interior trim finalisation

Update May 26th 2020

Hazard switch update

One of the things I wanted to do was swop out the supplied hazard switch for a rocker switch to match the rest of the switches used in the car.

Supplied switch and intended for use rocker switch

The only way this works is to consider the Hazard Switch as selecting either "...turn signals on via the turn signal switch when ignition is on..." or "...both left and right turn signals flashing; ignition on or off."

To accomplish this, the wiring harness needed to employ two flasher units, one for the regular turn signals (supplied with Chesil harness) and an additional flasher unit for the hazard system.

The additional hazards system flasher has +12V power at all times. When the hazard switch is ON, power comes to the switch from the flasher and goes to both the left and right turn signal circuits. Lights blink at all four corners of the car.

It took me ages to figure this out, I have the wiring diagram if anyone is planning to do this.

Ancillary circuits

Heated Seats

I extended the harness provided with the heating element to allow me to fit the two control switches into the lower dash, (see photo of the lower dash later in this update). The power was provided via relays situated in the rear of the car,

Audio

The main feed for the audio amp is in place

Additional switched fuse board

I have added another fuse board into the car. Rather than extend from the fuse board on the loom and trust that the wiring capacity was ok, I decided to run a new live fused feed from the battery then used a relay to switch on the fuse board.

The new fuse board was better than the one on the loom, so much so that I chopped out the original and replaced it with a new unit to match the additional board.

Original fuse board

New fuse board using central bus bar

Nearly finished wiring in the front.

Future electric heater

There is a chance that in the future I'm going to add an electric heater to the car. I have therefore made provision both in choice of battery and by using a 90 amp alternator ( I upgraded the loom to handle the more powerful alternator and added an inline fuse from the alternator for extra protection). It seemed worth adding the necessary circuits into the car now, so in the future I just have to connect the heater. It does of course pull a fair amount of power so I have used high power relays with suitable wire with an inline fuse on the circuit. I have left out the inline fuse so its not live.

Immobiliser

I have made a bracket to install the immobiliser key fob unit, and mounted it alongside the rocker switches. (see picture below)

Electrical harness tidy and clip

Now that all the circuits are in and tested, I have gone through most of the wiring, adding sleeve and clipping securely into place. The lower dash panel which is used for thel rocker switches has been finished using a carbon fibre shrink vinyl.

Original lower dash with some switches in place

Completed lower dash with carbon fibre covering (just needs the immobiliser sensor)

Car overview

Next jobs

• Finalise clipping in all the wiring
• Final fit on main switches and instruments
• Final fit on steering column