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Pulling the latest victim from its longterm residence. This 356A has reportedly been apart since the 1970s, when a restoration was kinda started. One that never really occurred. Fortunately, it turned out to be complete and the late owners family was remarkably kind. So, I spent a few weeks reassembling the car with a new brake system, freshened up engine, and with as many of the original components as I could find.

Hauling the associated parts and extras. One of many loads.

Here is the Hirth crankshaft. Used for only two years in the 1300, 1500, and eventually 1600 Super engines. Famously unreliable, this one was found in the corner of the garage, and is destined for life as a workshop ornament.

An alternative to the traditional cross-hatch. Dimpled chrome cylinder liners. Designed to work with cast iron rings only, in theory the micro dimples help reduce friction and lubricate the piston skirts by retaining a small quantity of oil.

A menagerie of stampings. Quality, grade, size, orientation, date??? Someone out there knows.

We freshened up the heads with a new set of guides and a valve job. The heads wore matching date stamping in the rocker galley. One interesting item for these early S engines are the 40mm Solex PICB (or, PCIB) carburetors. They are similar to their smaller counterparts, the 32 and 34. However, these utilize the same casting left or right and the early Supers have a small recess in the passenger side cooling shroud to accommodate the inward-facing accelerator pump linkage.

Cylinder, head, oil cooler, valvetrain, etc, are all coming back together. Note the front crankshaft seal with a 5-bolt flange.

Closer.

Installed and looking aged.

Grey leather. Much of the upholstery appears original, and all of the date codes on the seat hinges and gauges match the build date.

Aquamarine Metallic Blue is the factory color indicated on the Kardex. The body shows to have been repainted at least once, and in a darker metallic blue.

I’m quite excited to see this car come together, and it has proven to be a helpful resource for others restoring these early 356As.

Pre teardown photos of this late Fulvia “S3” Coupe powerplant. History is unknown and the engine currently seized from a decade plus of sitting unused.

Remnants of head gasket sealant were found, along with some heavy corrosion in the cylinders. Persuasion and plenty of Kroil were required to get the pistons free, as well as an after-hours hoppy beer for me.

Fast forward a few weeks… We sourced a NOS cylinder head casting complete with hardened valve seats and guids. All new valves were fitted . We were also able to locate a NOS cylinder block. Line honing the crankcase and light polishing of the crankshaft brought everything back to within spec.

Factory head stamp remains. A light pass was performed on the sealing surface to insure any damage from longterm storage or shelving would cause an issue.

Head assembly and setup underway.

This simple piece is the coolant fill neck for an Aston Martin V8. We removed as part of a cooling system service, and after abrasive blasting, it became apparent that it would need to be replaced or re-made.

The tube has rotted from the inside out along the seam.

The vertical neck and mounting flange are to going to be reused. We took a piece of DOM tubing and rolled a bead into one end to replace the rotted section.

All welded up.

We also went through the water pump on this project. The assembly was torn down, sonic-cleaned before the housing was media blasted, painted with a protective black epoxy, and refitted with new bearings and seals.

A quick yet rewarding job. We media blasted this 13″ Bugeye Sprite wheels and refinished them with an a rust-preventative epoxy primer and BMW metallic silver.

It is not technically correct. But, we finished the outside face of the rims with a flattened clearcoat for a little extra protection and gloss.

Over this past holiday season, I made a shotgun trip to Northern Italy, where I was able to stop by a few parts suppliers and restoration shops. This included Lambda-specialist, Storicar, run by Vittorio, a veteran Mille Miglia assistenza, pre-war technician, and skilled restorer. Tucked into the various areas of his workshop, were a number of very special machines, including this rare Fiat Balilla Aerodinamica.

Vittorio showing me his latest Lambda engine block. They’re beautiful and milled with a 5-axis CNC machine from a 400 lb. chunk of billet aluminum, and then finished to look like a casting.

A Vauxhall 30/98 in for service.

Series 8 Lambda Weymann sedan, sporting a nifty radiator shroud.

This is a fresh 3.0-liter engine fitted to the Weymann sedan. Designed and built at Storicar with a billet block, modern liners and pistons, insert bearings, and over 100hp on tap.

Another Lambda in for service, originally owned by Anthony Fokker – more about that below.

1927. Charles Lindbergh is taking off in the Spirit of St.Louis and Anthony Fokker is following in the aforementioned Lancia Lambda, which is said to have been filled with fire extinguishers. More about this episode in history can be found here.

Storicar’s Berco line bore. Yes. I have tool envy.

A quick stop at the Mille Miglia Museum.

Dare I say, best country on earth.

The opportunity to wrap up painting a set of panels and components for a Porsche project we are building presented itself this past week. The painting credit goes to Joel at High Tech Autobody. While, the panels were 85% ready for color – the last 15% required a few more days of preparation.

The first two coats of color. Expertly laid down by Joel, who’s been laying down metallic paints for over 20 years.

Ultimately, we settled on 5 coats of color. With plenty of 1000 grit sanding and scuffing performed in between coats.

Here is where all of that blocking pays off.

Enjoying these reflections.

Wire edges can be problematic on restored cars. Therefore it is important to unfold them and remove the rust mechanically, replace the wire if necessary, fill any holes, and treat the remaining good metal with a conversion coating.

Untucking. There are dozens of ways and different tools to perform this job. My options include a variety of homemade devices, some favorites being stained glass bending pliers, allen keys ground down to get behind and pry the lip, and modified channel locks to squeeze it back together.

Cleaned and treated wire all tucked back in.

The hood scoop grille fit on this Healey BJ8 left a lot to be desired. It touched the hood in some places and left a terrible gap in others.

The fit procedure required a little bit more than anticipated. We needed to change the angle of how the scoop meets the lower hood surface. This was done by cutting back the scoop in a few sections, and welding on a new piece to extend the top edge forward.

Slighter longer and all welded in.

Finished smooth.

Pretty much wrapped up. Note the lower edges. After the modification, the grille will sit flush against the paint on three sides.

An Austin-Healey Sprite steering wheel that was badly cracked and faded. It looked pretty awful. A few hours of sanding, priming, and more sanding, brought the surface back to an acceptable condition.

Many light coats of gloss black and high solids clear, with some flattening agent, netted a good result. Excited to get this back in the car.