Stalling

During several recent drives, I found that the car would stall at a stop. If I "goose it" (tap the accelerator) before the stall, I could get it back to idle. I sent a message to the 356 talk list and several told me to check my float level. I did so and found everything to be fine.

While driving last weekend, I found that I lost significant power. Once I limped home, I found gas pouring out of my left carb. Upon disassembly of the carb, I found the float to be stuck, thus allowing the bowl to over flow. I replaced the float with a spare from my parts stash and the problem went away.

In addition, the stalling at stop has gone away. Looks like the guys on the talk list were right. My stalling problem must have been related to the float.

Lone Star 356 Roundup

The Lone Star 356 Club (Houston) is hosting the Lone Star 356 Roundup in Marble Falls, TX November 2-4. Looks like it will be a geat event. Sadly, we will not be able to join the fun.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

This summer has been extremely wet for us in Houston. I think it has rained at least weekly since April. As I sit here, it is pouring outside again today. Between my new job and all this wet weather we have not been able to put too many miles on Annie. We have made a few short drives and made a few improvements.

Brakes Pull Right - All of a sudden, the front brakes started pulling to the right. I could temporarily fix it if I jacked up the car and re-adjusted the adjustment stars. I could drive around the block once or twice but eventually it would again pull to the right. I jacked the car up again, disassembled both front brakes including the brake cylinders and found nothing obviously wrong. I even bled the brake lines looking for air in the system.

While standing there in bewilderment (and on my 4th beer), I noticed that left drum had radial scores on the inside wall. It appeared that the brake shoes were so wide that they were rubbing on the drum preventing the shoes to expand to the stopping surface. Rather than grinding the shoes to make them narrower, I swapped the right and left drums. Surprise, this did the trick. I still don't know why we could put 200 miles on the car and then start having this problem. In any case, this was the fix.

Door Threshold Hardware - I installed the lower door threshold seals and trim. No big task (although it took 2 full days) but the chrome looks pretty cool.

Installed Sound Installation - I purchases sound insulation from JC Whitney which they strangely stopped carrying after I ordered it. I found that the original manufacturer was Great Southern Insulation. The material was supplied in 10" squares about 1/32" thick, and had an adhesive on one side. I could easily cut it with scissors. I applied it to the engine wall on the interior and it has greatly reduced the noise from the engine. I don't plan to add any more to the car as it is a convertable and I don't know that it would add that much benefit.


Installed the last of the engine tin, dash light, drivers window assembly, and various other trim parts. Within the next few weeks we will buy the carpet kit and start shopping interior shops for the upholstery.

Porsches and Wine - Oh So Fine!

Come out to the Haak Vinyard in Santa Fe (God's side of town) between noon an 4:00 October 7 for the quarterly Porsche Club of America concourse (car show). This will be our first official competition of Annie and will sure to be fun. There will be plenty of Porsches to drool over and you can tour the winery and sample local wine?

We need your votes for "fan favorate!"

Can it get any better than fine wine, expensive cars, and a cool fall Sunday?

Map to Haak here.

Call us on the cell if you plan to come in case the event changes times or we get rained out.