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2019 Issue 4

Coming EventsHollister Annual Toy Drive

Los Angeles Porsche WeekendCalifornia Auto Museum Tree Decorating

Tech - 356 Alignment356CAR Christmas Party

A bit of Sacramento Porsche History

IN THIS ISSUE

Asleep for the Winter

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356CAR BOARD OF DIRECTORS & COMMITTEE CHAIRS

Kim Nelsonknelson356@gmail.com2771 Ponderosa RoadShingle Springs CA 95682 hm: 916-337-7716

President

Dana McDanieldnirm47@gmail.com31 Coronado CourtNovato, CA 94945hm: 415-897-6756mb: 415-320-0734

Vice PresidentNorth Bay Events

Kent Anderson kentanderson2000@aol.com19094 Madison AvenueCastro Valley, CA 94546hm: 510-538-9590mb: 510-909-2311

SecretaryInsurance

Elaine Cannon ecannon@surewest.net 2931 Lacy LaneSacramento, CA 95821hm: 916-283-6742

Treasurer

Fred Huberty fhuberty@sbcglobal.net13286 Lake Wildwood DrPenn Valley, CA 95946hm: 530-432-7769mb: 530-219-4501

Membership

Barney Speckman bmspeckman@aol.com 2130 Belford DriveWalnut Creek, CA 94598hm: 925-937-3972 mb: 925-367-3940

Events Chair

Joy Fifer joyfifer@gmail.com4416 Winding WaySacramento, CA 95841hm: 916-972-9967mb: 916-247-3578

Sacramento Area Events Coordinator

Mark Grimstedteg93@comcast.net520 W. 42nd AvenueSan Mateo, CA 94403hm: 650-465-8447mb: 650-574-3788

Advertising Club Sponsors

Mike Gabbard gabbard356@gmail.com8624 Amber OaksFair Oaks, CA 95628hm: 916-534-7702

Special Projects

Lou Fifer louisfifer@gmail.com4416 Winding WaySacramento, CA 95841 hm: 916-972-9967mb: 916-749-5532

Newsletter Copy Editor

Dave Lauckdave.lauck@gmail.com 310 E. Beacon Dr.Eugene, OR 97404mb: 541-914-8151

Newsletter Layout Editor

Bob Cannona65cab@surewest.net 2931 Lacy LaneSacramento, CA 95821hm: 916-283-6742

Web Services

1st Saturday8:30 AM

Bay Area (AKA “San Mateo”) Breakfast- new location!Jack’s Restaurant & Bar, 1029 NewPark Mall Road, Newark 94560 As usual, we will sit down for breakfast @ 8:30 AM. The restaurant has ample space for our growing numbers, an extensive, varied breakfast menu and parking in the immediately adjacent lot. The restaurant is located ~2 miles south of the Dumbarton Bridge just off Highway 880 at the Mowry Avenue west exit. For questions feel free to email Michael Hodos at mehodos@mac.com or Barney Speckman at bmspeckman@aol.com

2nd Saturday9:00 AM

Sacramento BreakfastDoubleTree Suites, 11260 Point East Dr., Rancho Cordova (Hwy. 50 & Sunrise). The Sacramento breakfast meets at a new location for breakfast! The gathering starts at about 8:30 in the parking lot and breakfast usually begins at 9 am.

3rd Saturday9:00 AM

Hollister BreakfastSan Juan Oaks Golf Course, Hollister, 156 east off of Hwy 101, 4 miles past San Juan Bautista, right on Union Road, right to the golf course.

5th Saturday9:00 AM

Central Coast Breakfast - new location!Point Pinos Grill at Pacific Grove Golf Course. 79 Asilomar Blvd, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, 831.648.5774. Please contact Diane Morrill about a week in advance at 356goodiestore@sbcglobal.net or (831) 375-4442 if you plan to attend.

356CAR MONTHLY MEETINGS

Cover photo courtesy of Dave Lauck. 1958 Cabriolet asleep for the winter.

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it will be a fabulous time for all. We are back at the Embassy Suites in San Luis Obispo with the Saturday People’s Choice car show again at the convenient and beautiful Laguna Lake Park. I am sure Steve and his team have some sur-prises planned for us but as in the past you can expect some great Tech Sessions, Driving Tours and a wonderful Banquet on Saturday evening. And for those of you who like a good swap meet but enjoy your Sunday morning sleep before driving home, Steve has planned the swap meet to be on Saturday afternoon from 3:30 to 5:00. Event Registration and Hotel Reservations will open February 1st. Look elsewhere in this newsletter for Steve’s more detailed report.

Featured Articles

We have a number of interesting articles submit-ted by our members in this Newsletter. See the California Auto Museum (CAM) Christmas Tree Decorating Party write-up and our 356CAR group photo. 356CAR and PCA SVR combined efforts as the host clubs this year with almost 100 Porsche Club members attending to help decorate our Christmas trees and the Museum. We have summaries of both the 356CAR - Hol-lister Christmas and 356CAR - Sacramento Christmas Parties. Also, be sure to check out Paul Tretheway’s very well written and carefully researched article on “356 Alignment”. Note: Please remember that our Newsletter Edi-tor, Lou Fifer (louisfifer@gmail.com) is always looking for articles and pictures of events and happenings around our NorCal region and spe-cifically about our 356’s.

Be extra careful driving this time of year … I’ll see you on the road.

Kim

Here we Grow again … Since our last newslet-ter in October 2019, we have added eleven new members (plus five co-drivers) to swell our 356CAR membership to 295. Please help wel-come these new folks to our breakfast meetings and events:

David and Ronni Aronson Vacaville, CA

Morgan Becker Danville, CA

Steven and Elena Berggren Rancho Murieta, CA

Leah Champion Moss Beach, CA

Michael and Sherri Donlon Cameron Park, CA

Jon Freismidl Reno, NV

Gary Landgraf Brentwood, CA

Cary LaScala San Francisco, CA

Dan and Ellie Uyeyama Elk Grove, CA

James Van Buren andLeanne Mueller Yuba City

Robert Zito Cool, CA

President’s Messageby Kim Nelson

356CAR Membership Updateby Fred Huberty

California Automobile Museum

356CAR board of directors have decided to again support the California Automobile Mu-seum in Sacramento. For our members this means that you will have a one-time yearly free admission to the museum located at 2200 Front Street in Sacramento. Just tell them you are a member of 356CAR and enjoy the museum!Are you getting your 356CAR emails?

356CAR relies on Constant Contact email and event ser-vices to keep you up to date on events. These flyers supple-ment information in the newslettter. If we don’t have your email address you

will miss out! Update your contact information though the 356CAR.org website with a message to the membership chair: http://www.356car.org/contacts.html

facebook.com/356car

(you can browse our Facebook page without being a member- check it out!)

Happy New Year Everyone!

As I sit here writing my column for our Club’s newsletter it’s cold and raining outside but that just gives me a chance to think about all the wonderful events we were able to participate in this past year. Certainly a high point had to be all the drives we held in our Peaks and Valley Challenge series. We had a little over 50 club members complete three or more of those drives and receive a beautiful grill badge. We were able to visit several car collections and had numerous tech sessions where we learned about head light relays, metal bending, tune-up procedures and more. We went to car shows, cars and coffee events and several swap meets. We had another wonderful and well attended Gathering of the Faithful at the Blackhawk Coun-try Club in Danville. Many of you participated in a “Drive Your 356” event this past Septem-ber. Then we had another fabulous Mendocino weekend thanks to Bill and Gwen Jacobsen. And for those that went to the High Desert Holiday in Flagstaff, you have memories that will last a lifetime. So, as we look ahead to 2020 …

Do you have an idea for a 356CAR Event?

2020 is going to be a great year for our club and your Board would like to ask you to help. As you can imagine we are always looking for new events and activities to share with our mem-bers. Do you have an idea for a driving tour? Do you know of an interesting car collection or someone’s garage or man cave or she shed that they would share with us? Can you or do you know someone who could put on a Tech Session for our club? The opportunities seem endless, it’s new ideas we need to upload from our mem-bers. Such fun could be as simple as a scenic drive to your favorite winery after a breakfast meeting or after a drive hosting a “Lum Dog Lunch” (sausages steamed in beer and sauer-kraut quaffed down with a German Pilsner). Or one could be as involved as putting on a two-day club overnight out of the area to combine both a “356-esque drive” and a destination attrac-tion. But no matter what your ideas may be, we welcome your “spark plug” incentives for 356CAR club events. With your “spark” you will have the full support and help from your board to bring your ideas in “timing”. Specifically, to “condense” your thoughts into action, “contact” Barney Speckman, our Events Chair “distribu-tor”, or any board member to pitch “points” of future 356CAR fun.

North Meets South – May 14th – 17th Em-bassy Suites in San Luis Obispo

If you can only attend one event this coming year, I recommend that North Meets South 2020 should be that event! Steve Douglas is leading the charge for us and knowing Steve …

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North meets South May 14-17, 2020

Next year’s NmS, our 34th annual event, will be hosted by 356CAR, chaired by Steve Douglas, and held at the San Luis Obispo Embassy Suites. The setting is very familiar to our members and the area always affords many interesting drives, sights, and side events to enjoy. Steve and his committee are busy putting together all the de-tails but would be pleased for any offers of help. If you have experience in event planning, have been to one or more NmS events, or if you are interested in seeing how the inner workings of our biggest annual event go on, please contact Steve Douglas (soquelglen@prodigy.net) to see how you might help.

West Coast Holiday 2020Riverhouse on the Deschutes, Bend, OregonAugust 26-30, 2020

With only ten months to go we have another West Coast Holiday to look forward to and in the case of 356CAR members willing to assist Ron Delmendo, we can make it one of the best on record. Surely Ron and his organizing committee have done a fantastic job in selecting the locale, the very beautiful hotel right on (and over) the Deschutes River, and the most pleasant time of the year in late August to be in Oregon. Several 356CARs have already pledged their assistance, but Ron & Co are always eager to have others join in the planning and execution phases of the 356 Registry West Coast Holiday for 2020. Roughly speaking the events thus far planned include:

Tue, 25 Aug –Set up followed by a WCH Staff & Volunteer’s Meeting & Reception

Wed, 26 Aug – WCH Day1Non-Car events and Drives-On-Your-Own

Dinner at Bend Skyliners Lodge

Thu, 27Aug – WCH Day2Schedule Events, Organized Drive & DinnerOn Your Own.

Fri, 28Aug – WCH Day3Schedule Events, Organized Drive Reception at Porsche of Bend, Club CarreraDinner on your own.

Sat, 29Aug – WCH Day4Holiday Car Display at Riverbend ParkAwards Banquet at Riverhouse Convention Center

Sun, 30Aug – WCH Day5 Swap Meet & Event Tear down

For Opportunities to help please contact Ron Del-mendo (rdelmendo@gmail.com / 530-574-6967). In the meantime, visit the event website: and stay tuned to the opening of the WCH Registration.

Coming EventsFor local 356CAR meeting times, dates, and locations see www.356CAR.org. Below are descriptions of some major Coming Events for consideration of all 356CAR members.

Ed Fall 509-290-5282 (PST)5816 N Hermosa Circle, Otis Orchards, WA 99027

edfall@vintagewerks.com www.vintagewerks.com

V Wintage erksRepair, Rebuild and RestorationBOSCH DistributorsPIERBURG and SOLEX Fuel Pumps

BOSCH Distributors

Specializing in Porsche 356, 912 and 911

BOSCH DistributorsPIERBURG and SOLEX Fuel Pumps

Repair, Rebuild and Restoration

www.westcoastholiday.orgwww.356CAR.org

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n this our 20th year of 356CAR – Hollister breakfast meetings we the ever faithful 356’rs did so again at the San Juan Oaks Golf Club. We of the Hollister “Faithful” met for break-

fast and our annual Charity Toy Drive for needy children in San Benito County. The toys were taken to the local fire department for distribution to local children in December.

Thank you to Jeff Abate, Dell and Linda Sessions, George and Alexa Selland, Alex and Diane Fucile, Ken and Irene Mort, and George and Sharon Breein for their generous gifts for deserving kids in San Benito County.

We the “Hollister 356’rs” wish the Warmest Wishes for the Holidays to all of 356CAR as we re-

member and miss our friends In memoriam: Jack Biersdorff, Mary Jane and Kirby Hollis, Wolfgang Leitenberger, Ralph Maines, Dave Mount.

P.S. The Third Brake Light Business is looking for a new owner/builder. Anyone interested may contact sallybiersdorff@aol.com for more information.

356CAR - Hollister Annual Toy Drive, Saturday, November 16thby Sally Biersdorff

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nline Event Registration and Hotel Reservations will both open on February 1st. with Event Registration only online where a call to the Hotel at 805-549-

0800 will reserve your room.

This year the Participant and Co-Registrant fees will include all event activities as described below, plus goodie bags and event only “gifts”.

Early Bird discounts will apply until April 1st, for Participant at $190.00 and Co- Registrant at $165.00. After April 1st through May 10th prices will be $210 and $175, respectively.

Hotel Suites are $209/night plus 13.195% lodg-ing Tax of $27.58 for a nightly total of $236.58.

Thursday afternoon and evening - Event Registra-tion at the Hotel. A car washing station will be set up in the Hotel parking lot. SLO also has one of the best Farmer’s Markets anywhere, 6-9pm, with

entertainment, lots of dinner choices, as well as farm products. Trolley Service from the park-ing lots to downtown make it easy to go. Also, there will be a Happy Hour for hotel guests, with several dinner choices within walking distance. Our Evening program will include a Tech Question and Answer to provide an opportunity to share your experiences and knowledge with other 356 enthusiasts. Friday - Driving tours, leaving mid-morning, will offer a short drive to the Montana Del Oro State Park, to overlook the rugged seashore, unique rock formations, and crashing waves, followed by a bayside “no host” lunch and a longer tour that will go the length of the Edna Valley Wine Appel-lation, stopping at two wineries, with a “no host” food truck for lunch. Both the short and long tours will return to the Hotel by 3pm. Afternoon and Evening at the Hotel will be action packed with multiple Door Prize drawings, 3-7pm Vendor Displays of Parts, Arts, Services, and other 356

related items, 3:30-5pm Parking Lot Swap Meet, 3-7pm Women’s Cabi Clothing show, followed by our regular Friday Evening Happy Hour and Pizza Party from 5-7pm.

Saturday - People’s Choice Concours at Laguna Lake Park (3 blocks from the Hotel) will open with Car placement 7:30-9:30 with viewing and People’s Choice voting till noon. There will be a Catered San Maria Style BBQ Luncheon 11:30-1pm at the park. A tech session will be presented in the afternoon at the hotel. We will begin the evening with a 5-6pm Happy Hour and then begin seating at 6pm for the 6:30 Concours Awards buffet style Banquet, followed by dancing after dinner.

Sunday - Breakfast at the Hotel, Goodbyes and Safe Travel wishes to all before driving Home.

(Still in the planning … a “Cold Start Up Test” and a “Light Test” - TBA)

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North Meets South May 14-17, 2020 Embassy Suites, San Luis Obispoby Steve Douglas

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his year’s Christmas Tree Decorating Party and Potluck at the California Auto Museum was a wonderful event with about 356 car enthusiasts coming to-gether to help decorate the Museum for

the Holidays. As in past years, our two Porsche Clubs, 356CAR (California Alta Region) and SVR (Sacramento Valley Region), came out in force with about 100 members enjoying the afternoon and helping decorate our three Christmas Trees.

Also, this year our two clubs were responsible for organizing and putting the event on for the Museum. We had too many Porsche Club volunteers here to mention all of them, but Carol McKee put together an all-star team and they made decorations for 50 tables and then coordi-nated the potluck for those 356 hungry people. A big thank you goes out to all the volunteers for helping to make this year’s event one of the best. If you missed it this year, I hope you

will join us next year – it is always the Sunday after Thanksgiving and a great way to start the Holiday season with your friends.T

Christmas Tree Decorating Party at the California Auto Museumby Kim Nelson

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ome maintenance procedures on the 356 include, as a final step, “Check the toe-in of the front wheels.” Toe-in is the name given to the very slight inward angle (as in pigeon-toed) at which the

front wheels are intentionally set when the car is pointed straight ahead. It’s part of the front end alignment. It is specified as the difference in distance between the trailing edges of the two front tires and the distance between the leading edges of those same tires, measured at the tire tread surface.

Why is toe-in needed? Wouldn’t it be better, or ideal, to have the track of the front wheels pointed exactly forward, parallel with the path of the car? Yes. However, when the car is moving forward, the front wheels have rolling resistance that tends to push the steering spindles (stub axles) rearward. This forces the front wheels to “toe-out” until there is no more play in the suspension and steering system in the toe-out direction. Of course, there has to be some play for the suspension to absorb bumps, the wheels to roll, and the driver to steer. So, to compen-sate, we dead reckon the anticipated toe-out (when the car is rolling) with a slight amount of toe-in (when the car is standing still). The factory specifies this toe-in at between 1mm and 3mm with the car sitting on the ground.

What are the sources of the play in the suspen-sion and steering? (Rhetorical question). Let’s consider everything that affects the direction that the front wheels are pointed: Steering gear-box, tie rod ends, king pins, wheel bearings, and torsion arm link pin side play. In addition to mak-ing the steering sloppy, excessive play in any of these components (except the steering gearbox) will add uncertainty and inaccuracy to the toe-in measurement. Loose king pins and tie rod ends must be replaced, but all else on the list are nominally adjustable to compensate for wear.

Side play in the torsion arm link pins can be cinched up (shown above) as tight as possible while still allowing grease to flow. If the link pins can’t be adjusted that tight, then they (or their camber shims) have reached their wear limit and must be replaced. The front wheel bearings are also adjusted as tight as possible while still allowing the large flat washer under the pinch

bolt to be moved with a screwdriver, as shown, below. Check the repair manual(s) for these procedures and the steering gearbox procedure. Everything “just right tight”? Okay, let’s move on

To set the toe-in, we must first measure the toe-in using one of the methods below. If not withinspecifications, the toe-in can be adjusted by changing the length of the tie rods. How much and in which direction? We’ll cover that later.

Toe-In Measurement Methods:

1. The conventional method of measuring toe-in is to take the car to a front end alignment shop and have them measure toe-in with their big, expensive equipment. They can also mea-sure the camber, caster, and steer-ahead, but on 356’s, caster and camber are not technician-adjustable. Nevertheless, the measurements are still useful, and probably worth the price of admission. However, if your 356 project involves repeated measurements of the toe-in, another method might be preferable.

2. Toe Plates. These are a favorite of hot rodders and racing enthusiasts, and you can find toe plates for sale at such as JEGS speed equipment. The tool consists of two flat sheet metal plates and two accurate tape measures. Notches in the plate edges are spaced atapproximately the tire diameter. Each plate is leaned up against the tire or wheel rim on both sides of the car. The toe-in is simply the difference in the two tape measurements. This method doesn’t measure steerahead, but that can be determined empirically by driving the car down a straight stretch of road.

3. Giant Caliper. This toe-in caliper, made by JS Tools of Sweden, operates on the same principle as the toe plates above. Obviously, the caliper is more expensive than toe plates. Two separate measurements are made at the tire sidewalls (trailing and leading). The pivoting lever and indicator on the right offers a bit more preci-sion and is easy to read. As with toe plates, the steer-ahead is measured empirically.

4. String, Measuring Stick, and 2x4’s. This is the “shade tree mechanic” method for those of us who have more time than money.

Also, we’ll consider steering geometry and some mathematics to save you time dialing in the toe-in and steer-ahead.

Porsche 356 AlignmentBy Paul Tretheway

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Now we will show a primitive but effective method for checking wheel alignment, and some straightforward math to minimize the amount of time spent under the car, adjusting toe-in and steer-ahead.

As promised, here is the alignment measure-ment method using 2x4’s, string, and a mea-suring stick. This was the method once used to align Model T Fords. It’s tedious, but it still works.

As shown in the diagram, the objective is to stretch two strings from front to rear -- one string on each side of the car. The strings must be parallel to each other, parallel to the axis of the car, and equidistant from the car’s center; vertically centered on the wheels. When in place, they must not touch any part of the car.

The string holders here are made from scrap 2x4 lumber. The uprights hold the string 12-1/2 inches above the floor, so that the two strings are vertically centered on the wheels. Inter-string distance is arbitrary, but 68 inches worked. About 2 or 3 pounds tension was adequate to keep the strings taut.

With the car sitting on the ground, wheels pointed straight ahead, the string fixture is then aligned to the car. The fixture’s rear position is adjusted left and right so that the distance from the strings to the rear wheel rims is equal on the two sides. (See below for measurement meth-od.) After the same is done at the front wheels, the rear is adjusted again to a tolerance of 1/16 inch. At this point, the two strings are parallel to themselves and also equidistant and parallel to the axis of the car (to within 1/16 inch). Note: Any time the car is raised and lowered, e.g., to adjust the tie rods, the string fixture’s position will likely need to be re-adjusted.

One feature of this method is that both the front wheel and rear wheel toe-in can be checked. Note that the tracking of the rear wheels is about 2 inches narrower than that for the front wheels. That doesn’t matter. What is important is the difference in distance between the lead-ing and trailing edge of the rim to the string for each wheel. Rear toe-in can be adjusted by loosening the bolts fastening the axle tube to the rear torsion arm and sliding the tube fore or aft. Nominal specified rear wheel toe-in is zero.

Setting the steering to “straight ahead:This can be “eyeballed,” but here’s a more objective method. This fixture is built from 1/4” foam-core board. It hooks onto the spokes of the steering wheel and provides a flat surface for a torpedo level. A level reading indicates that the horizontal spokes are at equal height and that the steering wheel is in its straight ahead position.

Now that the steering is set nominally to straight ahead, measure the wheel alignment as follows: Measure from the taut string and the wheel rim’s leading edge and trailing Edge.

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The photo below shows a measurement being taken at the leading edge of the right front wheel rim. Even though toe-in is specified at the tire’s tread surface, measurements at the rim of the wheel are more repeatable than those made on the soft sidewall of the tire. Pre-position the wheels so that the wheel weights don’t interfere with the measurement. Of course, the mea-surement must be scaled to account for the difference in diameter of the tire and the rim. The metric system on the ruler is mathematically easier to deal with than the inch system. The second photo below shows a measurement of between 120mm and 121mm.

Slightly more precision could have been attained by using finer diameter braided fishing line, for example.

If the front wheel alignment were such that there were no toe-in, and everything else were perfect, then the measured distances from wheel rims to strings would be equal, between both leading and trailing edges of the rim, and between left and right wheels. The same holds true for the rear wheels. It might simplify your alignment procedure to first make everything equal, and in a second step, add the specified toe-in. To do those things, you will need to adjust the tie rods, so what follows is about that.

Tie Rod Adjustment

As shown in the illustrations, the tie rods act like turnbuckles with pinch bolts at each end to prevent them from rotating. So, to adjust, first loosen the pinch bolts. Then, rotate the shaft of the tie rod forward or backward (as though it were an axle on the car) to lengthen or shorten it. Refer to the below diagram for direction of rotation. How far? That’s what the illustration below is meant to help determine. The lever

length of the steering knuckle is about 5 inches. The diameter of the tire is about 25 inches. So, any change in the length of the tie rod results in 5 times greater change in the toe-in at tire surface. However, we’re measuring at the wheel rim, whose diameter is 16 inches. The ratio there is about 16/5 = 3.2 to 1. Got that?If we were to begin with no toe-in at all, then in order to achieve specified 2mm of toe-in, the amount that each tie rod would need to be rotated in the direction that extends its length would be (using the ratios established above) 24 degrees -- about 1/15 of a full turn. To make this easier to gauge, temporarily attach a Vice-Grip to the tie rod to act as an angle pointer. After adjusting and remeasuring, remove the Vice-Grip, tighten the pinch bolts and take the car for a test drive.

If the test drive shows the steering is not straight ahead, then bear this in mind: At center steering position, each inch of movement along the steering wheel’s circumference results in

0.031” movement in tie rod position (mea-sured experimentally with dial indicator). So, to compensate for a 1-inch error in the steering wheel position, the tie rods would need to be lengthened on one side, shortened equally on the other, by about one quarter rotation. Proof left as exercise for the student.

[Note: After using the above techniques, I took my car to a front end alignment shop to check my work. They reported that the alignment was in spec, and no further adjustment was needed. Success!]

Porsche 356 AlignmentContinued

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Rear Wheels

Is toe-in needed on the rear wheels? No! Unlike the front end of the car, there are no king pins, link pins, stub axles, tie rods -- nothing that causes any play that needs to be compensated with toe-in. The specification for rear wheel toe-in is “zero.”

Figure 1 shows the same fixture built from scrap lumber and string (Update: Braided fishing line works better!) as a frame of reference against which to measure wheel alignment. To align fixture to car, set steering straight ahead, move fixture to make A=A’, B=B’, and C=C’. Repeat as necessary. (Those are distances from fishing line to wheel rim.) Note that the toe plates and “giant caliper” can measure the rear toe-in, but they don’t indicate rear steer-ahead.

The string fixture measures toe-in with respectto the axis of the car so that steer-ahead can be set and “dog walking” (i.e., rear wheels not tracking symmetrically behind front wheels) can be minimized. Using the above-described fixture, if all is correct and rear toe-in is zero, then C = D and C’ = D’. What if there is toe-in or toe-out? How is that corrected?

Figure 2 shows the left rear axle tube, torsion bar, torsion arm, and wheel bearing carrier. (The right rear axle is a mirror image.) Don’t worry, you won’t need to disassemble the axle to this extent to adjust the toe-in; this is for illustra-tive purposes only. The wheel bearing carrier is normally tightly joined to the axle tube with a stout pin. That assembly is fastened to the torsion arm by three 19mm ATF (“Across the Flats”) bolts and nuts. Shown as “Typical” in the drawing, all three bolts pass through elongated holes (slots) in the torsion arm. In the drawing, the bearing carrier is shown disconnected from the axle tube so that you can see the slots. The slots allow the axle tube (and the axle inside it) to be adjusted, fore and aft, before tightening the tube assembly to the torsion arm. The end of the swing axle that connects to the transaxle pivots like a ball-and-socket. Therefore, fore-and-aft movement within the torsion arm’s slots adjusts the yaw angle of the rear axle and the wheel attached to it. Forward in the slot causes more toe-in; rearward causes more toe-out. Each wheel is adjusted independently.

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Figure 3 is a photo of the 19mm ATF nuts and bolts as viewed from under the car, below the left swing axle. Note that the nuts and washers hide the slots. That’s why we have Figure 2. Un-fortunately, these bolts are not easily accessed with an impact wrench, and they are tight. Use a breaker bar on the nut and a box end wrench on the bolt. Figure 4 shows that the length of the swing axle is approximately equal to the outside diameterof the tire, about 25 inches. Therefore, the distance the axle would need to be moved within the slots is nearly the same as the toe-in to be corrected. However, the torsion arm, where the axle tube connects, is inboard from the wheel, so as shown by the blue lines, a fore-and-aft ad-justment of distance “a” there would result in a change of toe-in of 1.22 “a”. For example, if the left rear axle were moved forward in the slots by 2.5mm, the tire surface would toe in by 1.22 x 2.5mm = 3mm. For measurements taken at the wheel rim, the ratios are different: Change in toe-in at the rim equals 0.78 “a” because the wheel rim diameter is 16 inches.

Note that there is a fourth slot in the torsion arm into which is installed a nut, bolt, a flat washer, and a thick washer. After the alignment is set, the thick washer is positioned abutting the wheel bearing carrier and tightened down. It acts as a place holder, so that if the axle tube were to be removed (as for a transmission

repair), it can be replaced in the same position where the alignment was correct. The thick washer can also be used as a guide for making incremental changes in the toe-in. For example, if the wheel were toed-out by 3mm, the thick washer could be positioned with a 2.5mm space between it and the wheel bearing carrier (see math, above), using a temporary 2.5mm shim to establish the distance. Tighten down the thick washer; remove the shim; then loosen the three bolts securing the axle tube to the torsion arm; then shove the axle tube forward until the wheel bearing carrier contacts the thick washer, as shown in Figure 5; then tighten the three bolts. The incremental change brings the toe-in to the specified “zero”. A similar technique can be used in the opposite direction.

It will probably be necessary to raise the torsion arm to near its normal riding position in order to prevent binding when sliding the axle tube fore and aft. For this, with the car on jack stands or a lift, a floor jack can be used, with some wood blocks to prevent scratching the torsion arm, as shown in Figure 6. Be careful when tightening the bolts that the axle tube doesn’t wander

out of position. It is also helpful to temporar-ily disconnect the shock absorber at the top and swing it out of the way. Disconnection and re-connection of the shock is most easily done while the torsion arm is raised. The same holds true for the 19mm ATF nuts and bolts. Test your work: When finished adjusting, re-install the wheel, lower the car to the ground, and roll the car forward and backward until the rear tires find their normal camber position. Then, realign the string fixture and measure the rear toe-in. Once it’s correct, rear toe-in is likely to stay that way for as long as you own the car.

Porsche 356 AlignmentContinued

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Casa de Los Sueños

The perfect place to stay when exploring California’s beautiful Central Coast & Wine Country!

Designed in the unique Santa Fe style architecture, this 3-acre hacienda in Arroyo Grande offers special ambiance for romantic getaways. You’ll be minutes away from wineries, beaches, hiking, San Luis Obispo, Pismo & Avila Beach & everything the Central Coast has to offer.

Choose from:

Casa de Los Sueños (House of Dreams): a detached, 650-sq.-ft. casita with all the amenities of home – comfy queen bed, bathroom, kitchen, living area, fireplace, laundry, and secluded private deck.

Corazon Sagrado Suite (Sacred Heart): private courtyard entrance, tranquil bedroom, bathroom, tea and coffee bar.

For full details and to book, visit our websites:

info@CasaDeLosSueñosAG.comSpecial mid-week rates available!

CasaDeLosSueñosAG.comCorazonSagradoAG.com

Corazon Sagrado

Need more garage space?See Leigh Rutledge and Bill Hambrick for Sacramento’s finest homes....

DUNNIGANRealtors

916-612-6911leigh@leighrutledge.com 916-600-6528

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356 owners who know the needs of car enthusiasts!

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356CAR-Sacramento Christmas Party – 2019By Lou Fifer

bout 130 of our closest friends, includ-ing new members plus the “usual sus-pects” from the Sacramento, Greater NorCal, SoCal, and Colchester (Eng-land) abodes joined hands and voices

to sing Christmas Carols, dine to the nines on shared potluck, and dance to the dulcet tones

of the New Speedsters. A grand time was had by all in the fantastic surrounds of Kim & Rachel Nelson’s garage–demo stage–auto salon. And as usual for the new initiates there was the Shot Ski Tequila Quatro Quaffing & Guffawing dem-onstration. And this year the pot-luckers outdid themselves as the food spread before our eager

eyes was “to dine for” with plenty of it spread around for all, even with some doggie bags to go. And each table had plenty of wine to share among friends, new and old (well mostly old), so no one went thirsty.

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The set-up was accomplished on the Friday pre-ceding by Kim & Rachel, Tom & Kathy Sansone, Tom & Linda Martenot, Lou Fifer and Mike Gab-bard. And of course, our own, his Honor, Duh 356CAR Pres … Kim “Bob Barker” Nelson … presided over the throng with his usual diatribe of loquacious announcements, pronouncements, drone-a-ments, and repeat-a-ments. Surely the man must nap on the couch clutching his karaoke mike in preparation to share his next opine. Clean-up was accomplished and “lights out” by 6PM so all could get home for an early night-cap between rain squalls. And the fol-lowing day Mike Gabbard returned to help Kim squire the chairs and tables back to the rental agency. This year was more fun as Kim had running a loop of snaps from previous 356CAR-Sacramento Christmas Parties and many stood under the big screen to comment on who’s who in each photo. This was a nice fun touch to a great event.

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Up for the Holidays

Santa’s elves on a step356CAR tree for kids

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rom 1955-63 the first “authorized” VW (& later Porsche) Dealer and Factory Ser-vice facility in Sacramento was Lasher-Niello VW (& Porsche). It all started when Wes Lasher and Richard “Dick”

Niello opened business in 1955 as Sacramen-to’s first VW dealership and the next year as they added the Porsche line.

There are many “first” stories hidden in the re-cesses of as many minds, with some a bit hazy as few back then took notes with the idea of sharing their own provenance. But some stories from current car owners give interesting twists to our early Sacramento Porsche motoring.

Bob Clancy, the original owner of Steve’s 1955 356 Speedster, bought it new from Oxford Motors, at 1501 “I “Street, Sacramento (behind the Memorial Auditorium) which was owned and operated by Sammy Weiss. Thus, Sammy Weiss and Oxford Motors vie for “first Porsche Sales in Sacramento” but Oxford Motors also sold many British sports cars so Sammy’s “first” might be slightly diminished or diluted by his Whitworth Wrench Turners. Sammy was a big-time and

successful racer who competed up and down the West Coast initially in a Porsche 550 RS Spyder and then a Porsche RSK Spyder. (Who wouldn’t want to see those cars today? !!!)

In 1954, 19-year-old George Grinzewitsch, Sr. arrived in Sacramento fresh from Germany, speaking very little English and knowing not much more about cars. When he arrived, he had no inkling that he would someday own one of Sacramento’s most successful automotive ventures - the Von Housen Automotive Group. Grinzewitsch managed to talk his way into a job as a mechanic and later as service manager for Oxford Motors. While working for Weiss, Grinzewitsch also developed an interest in road racing and became a top-ranked professional driver, winning several North American driving titles. In late 1958, Grinzewitsch left Oxford Mo-tors and opened his own auto parts and repair shop named Von Housen, which in German means “from the better house.” Completing the “racer’s shop” stamp on Oxford Motors was Gor-don Glyer, Sammy’s chief salesman, who was also a successful Ferrari road racing driver.

Sammy kept the Porsche franchise until late 1959 when he put the RSK Spyder up For Sale in MotoRacing, a southern California sports car racing publication. To explain the sale Sammy said in the ad, “The reason for the sale is the withdrawal of the Porsche Franchise.” At the same time, Porsche Cars Pacific was formed, with Reynold C. Johnson president, to be the Porsche distributor for eight NorCal dealerships. Sadly, the next year, on June 4, 1960, Sammy

was killed in a Cooper Monaco during race prac-tice at Laguna Seca at the old Turn 4, now Turn 6 (left turn to go up the hill to the corkscrew).

Again, another originally VW-only dealership to set up shop in Sacramento was the 1954 partnership of Bob and Charlie Haines located in North Sacramento as Haines Motors across the street from Wyn Robertson’s Continental Auto Service. (Wyn not only serviced VWs and Porsches but he was another notable auto racer up and down the West Coast.) When Steve returned from France in late December 1961, Haines Motors had expanded to include the Porsche line, so he took his then new 1961 356B coupe to their new facility at 2241 Fulton Avenue for warranty work.

The Lasher - Niello VW – Porsche dealership, originally located in Downtown Sacramento, at 1323 “J” Street, grew quickly in Sales and Service as they focused on the driving needs of Northern Californians’ in their the revolution-ary Volkswagen Type 1 Beetle, Type 2 Bus and Karmann Ghia that were integrating into the mid-century American automobile culture. As they grew, in 1962 Wes Lasher and Dick Niello relo-cated their Lasher-Niello VW-Porsche dealership to new digs at 1701 “K” Street, Sacramento.

Moving ahead, and again across town, when Bob Haines died, his widow, Irene Haines, continued to manage the Haines Motors VW-Porsche dealership but in 1963 she sold the Fulton avenue facility to Dick Niello. With Niello’s purchase of the Haines’ Fulton Avenue property the Lasher-Niello partnerships separated ami-cably with Niello eventually adding a new Niello VW Facility on Arden Way in 1969 where they remain today and adding a their Niello Porsche facility in Rocklin, CA, with “Rick” Niello, “Dick’s” son managing.

As they “split the sheets” over VWs and Porsches, Lasher VW again re-located to their present facility in downtown Sacramento at 925 “S” Street.

A bit of Porsche (Sacramento) HistoryBy Steve Douglas & Lou Fifer

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Lasher VW today

Niello VW now

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Over the decades both auto firms have expand-ed their marquees with many other marques, each with award winning Parts and Service departments. The Lasher and Niello Auto Groups are each still family owned operating many facilities in Sacramento and surrounding cities for over 60 years in service to the Greater Sacramento area automobile markets.

A bit of Porsche (Sacramento) HistoryContinued

Frank & Nick Lettini

Niello Porsche now

Frank’s Auto today

Editor’s Note: I bought my 63 356B-60 Coupe from Wyn Robertson’s Father who had pur-chased it new from Lasher VW-Porsche, and to my knowledge, the car has only been out of state once when I drove it to Incline Village for a long weekend.

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I have all annual Calif Registrations since new but alas Wyn could not find his Dad’s early service records, so I only have records from my purchase in Oct 1986. I am the 2nd owner with each of us having the pleasure of driving it, first Wyn Robertson, Sr. for about 23 years (1963-86) and me so far at 33+ years. Wyn Robertson, Jr. rebuilt the Transmission and Ted Blake the Engine, both about 20+ years ago and I now have 300+ K miles on the clock with it still “good as new”. About five years ago Jim Hardie helped me restore my pride and joy through a “bare metal” restoration, fresh Smyrna Green Paint, and a new Autos Intl Interior ... etc. Dur-ing the process we completely undercoated the car and detailed the Engine and Transmission

… so she looks as good as she drives.

Service on our 356s also began with the migration of VW mechan-ics standing up to the challenge of Porsche 356 idiosyncrasies. Wyn Robertson, as mentioned above ran Continental Motors and raced Porsches too. And across town Frank Lettini of Frank’s Automotive on Folsom Blvd, built 356 racers for clients, and Ted Blake Restorations on 21st Street worked his special magic in bringing many of our cars back and beyond their original glory. These three provided “main line” parts, service, and restoration while many owners at home and some smaller shops filled in for the many needs of our growing VW-Porsche community. Although Wyn several years ago moved to Salem, OR and Frank has retired leaving the busi-ness to his son Nick, Ted Blake still holds forth on 21st with premier answers to all things 356 Uber Alles. Please enjoy the “then & now” pic-tures of our storied Sacramento – Porsche past.

In front of Ted Blake’s Restoration Shop

In for service at Ted Blake’s Restoration ShopA bare metal restoration

Ted Blake’s Customer Lounge

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o you enjoy “Vintage Porsches”, want to learn about them, see many, and maybe own some rare and unusual Porsche items? If so, then the L.A. Porsche Weekend is not to be missed. It is four

days of non-stop Porsche events, now in its 37th year, featuring much more than anyone can see and do. See the LA Literature & Toy Show website for details on Events, Shop Tours, and Hotel information (lalitandtoyshow.com/).

In addition to the displays at the LA Hilton there will be many scheduled Shop Tours ranging from San Fernando Valley to Southern Orange County and locations throughout the Greater LA area beginning at 9AM each day (Thursday – Friday – Saturday) with Buses taking you around, but a car with a good GPS is best in my opinion. And there is a host of Open Houses to attend.

Saturday morning’s Literature and Toy Show is so much more than the title implies, it’s a: “Trade Show”, Swap Meet, “Gathering of the Faithful”, and a place to learn as you walk around. Plus, it is a great opportunity to “get stuff” ranging from the earliest war-time Porsche/VW memorabilia, to coverage of Race and Press of more recent years. If you want to learn from experts about Porsches, from an his-torical viewpoint to present day, this is the place to be. And 300+ tables of parts suppliers and vendors of many items will display their wares and be ready to answer questions. And when it is time to relax, there will be the “Porsche Experience” in Carson with the “917” restaurant open for lunch and dinner, with Happy Hour at the upstairs bar overlooking the track, and you can roam their restoration shop, enjoy the display area and shop in the factory store.

And for the adventurous, you may schedule a time for on track driving.Sunday is an All Porsche Swap Meet, car show in Anaheim, go early. 7am is not too early to begin to find those needed Parts, scope out the cars, and get some German Food at the Phoenix Club.

Mark your calendars and look for me and hun-dreds of your closest Porsche friends.

_________________________

Porsche1960 Porsche 356B Carrera GT. One of the few light weight coupes of this type. Car

equipped with 60 MM brakes, limited slip. 21-gallon gas tank roll bar, etc. Zero time on 692/3 engine with Webers. Will gear to your choice. Race it for only $3950. Write or call

M. H. Kurkjian, Jr., 842 N.W. 7th Terrace, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (305) Ja. 4-6513.__________________________

Editor’s Note: I found listings for both M.H. Kurkjian, Jr. and his business location but alas although they opened doors in 1957 they have been shuttered to inactivity for many years.

Whereas I was in High School some 3000 miles away, it appears that in hindsight one should respond quicker to these ads for any hope of realizing the dream proffered. Flash Forward

to 1986 and I paid not quite 2x the asking price above but netted my ’63 356B-60 that I love today.

The Los Angeles Porsche Weekend - February 27- March 1, 2020by Steve Douglas

Once Upon a Time ClassifiedReprinted from Car & Driver, Oct 1963

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356CAR Toys to Sutter Children’s HospitalBy Lou Fifer

trusty octet of 356CARs turned out for this year’s 356CAR Toy Donation to the downtown Sacramento Sutter Children’s Hospital on Saturday, 21Dec 2019. We had two-356s (Joy & Lou

Fifer and Brenda & Mike Terzich) plus one 911 (Carol & Mike Gabbard) and one dual-occupancy-freeway-safe Smart Shopping Cart (Elaine & Bob Cannon) that delivered the toys to two very appreciative Child Life Specialists at Sutter Children’s Hospital. Afterwards six of us retired to Sellands’ Market Café on H Street for Satur-day Brunch before returning to our Christmas preparations at home. The toys will be used throughout the year by the CLSs to brighten the long-term hospital stays of children in Sutter Children’s Hospital. Each year 356CAR-Sacramento collects toys for children at our annual 356CAR-Sacramento Christmas Party. We alternate our donations among the Children’s Hospitals throughout the greater Sacramento area. This year, as always, we were happy to add smiles all around.

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John’s Mobile Engine Service

1753 Leslie StreetSan Mateo, CA 94403

Expert Vintage VW & Porsche RepairParts & ServiceBead Blasting

650-574-4643

Please submit articles as a Microsoft Word document or in plain text format. Most articles should run about 1 to 3 pages of double spaced text. We will reformat and edit your article anyway, no matter how pretty it looks, so don’t sweat the details.

Note: Article copy & photos must be to Lou Fifer, Copy Editor no later than the first day of the quarterly publication month, i.e.: 01Mar for the 1st issue; 01Jun for the 2nd issue; 01Sep for the 3rd issue; and 01Dec for the 4th issue. With articles and photos submitted on these production deadlines will insure that we will be able to publish our 356CAR newsletter at the end of each quarter: 31Mar, 30Jun, 30Sep and 31Dec.

Photographs add significant quality and interest to most articles. We would like to have a number of your photographs to accompany your articles, although space limitations and editorial decisions may not permit all of them to be published. For any photograph, it must be in the larg-est size (with the most pixels) possible! This means the actual size as it comes off your camera, computer, phone, iPad or whatever. If you email it to us from your computer or phone, use “actual size” for emailing, not photos which have been downsized for quick email transmission. Photo-graphs taken off of a website generally won’t work for our print publication because of their small size. JPEG, TIFF or Photoshop (PSD) formats are all OK

Sorry, but we can’t accept a Microsoft Word file with any embedded pho-tos in the text, unless you send us the “full size” versions as well.

Email your contributions to: louisfifer@gmail.com

Are You Interested in Writing for 356CAR?

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Has Your 356CAR Membership Expired?

look at your mailing label and email inbox

July is the month for 356CAR Renewals so please act if you have received a reminder email/call. Please be on the lookout for a reminder. Renew-als can be made using the membership form on the 356CAR website and payment can be made online. Checks sent to our membership chair are also good. Please note the cost of a hard copy newsletter is now $25/yr. If you are using a membership form from an old newsletter, you will need to adjust the amounts.

356CAR Club BadgesClub name badges with magnetic attachments are available to each active member and one additional driver for $9 per badge plus $2 mailing. Badges are normally mailed within 30 days of payment receipt.

Contact Fred Huberty - (fhuberty@sbcglobal.net) or order online at 356car.org

356CAR Logo Apparel356CAR has set up an account with L.L. Bean Direct to Business so that members can purchase a wide variety of clothing items customized with our 356CAR logo embroidered on it. The selection of cloth-ing can be found in the L.L. Bean Direct to Business online catalog that is very similar to the main L.L. Bean catalog. Once an item is selected you can work with the sales representative to choose the logo in colors you prefer to create a suitable contrast with the item you have chosen. While your total cost is dependent on the cost of the clothing item plus the cost of the embroidery, the club has already paid the initial embroidery set up.

To order apparel items first visit the L.L. Bean Direct to Business website at www.LLBeanBusiness.com and select from the online catalog. Then call their account representative at 800.554.4071 and tell her you want to buy an item under the “356 CAR CALIFORNIA ALTA REGION” (Customer No. 7309979974/Design No. 94497). To pay for the item, you will need to provide a credit or debit card and a shipping address.

By the way, orders of 6 or more of the same item in the same color reduce the embroidery cost from $12 per item to $5.50 per item. So it pays to get together with a group of friends who wish to order the same items (e.g. hats or jackets of the same color.)

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Membership DuesDues renew every July 1st. eNewsletter only Hardcopy Newsletter1 year: $15 $25

2 years: $30 $50

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Mail your completed application and check (payable to 356CAR) to: 356CAR c/o Fred Huberty 13286 Lake Wildwood Drive Penn Valley, CA 95946

356CAR Membership Application / Renewal

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13286 Lake Wildwood DrivePenn Valley, CA 95946

Rachel Nelson(916) 337-3373by appointment

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