Sebring Exhaust Pix Pushrod Engine

[super9064]

Originally Posted by gmund

"Expensive" is a cheesy way of saying I haven't quite made friends with the idea of spending $1200 on an exhaust system that is relatively unknown or reported on.

Price is now more like $2000.00 plus shipping. 356 Products used to carry these, made in USA. I think they made a production run, sold out, then never made another. Maybe if there is enough interest they would make another run. I'd buy one

http://www.356sales.com/

[gmund]

My 356 was started for the first time in 2 1/2 years last night. I wanted to post an update to my experience so far with the Karmann Konnection Sebring exhaust. It's a nicely constructed piece and appears to be made out of quality materials. The installation has turned out to be very difficult and is going to involve cutting the flanges that bolt to the head and changing the angle to fit my car properly (about 3 degrees off). There is very little information on Karmann Konnections website and they haven't responded to several emails inquiring about installation issues. My mechanic is also going to need to cut a section of tubing out and weld in a concave piece so the exhaust will clear the rolled back edge of my "A" body. This is an added expense and not really what I would expect when purchasing an exhaust designed as they claim for the 356 and 912. My engine and all related mechanicals including all engine and trans mounts are new. This is a 912 engine in a 356 A body. There is no "sagging" and from what I can tell my engine is in about the exact location as it was intended to be. I will be getting my car back with my original exhaust/header system for now until the modifications are completed on the Sebring. I will report back at some point on how I feel about the sound and performance aspects. I will at least have some back to back time with my existing Bursche style and the Sebring.

[spyderwerks]

Ive used several of these exhausts over the past 8 years. The first design was created by Jim Constance of MI. I had Jim make one up for my 58 Speedster in mild steel, back then the price was around $900.00 The Speedster was running a stock 62 S90 engine and this system needed some added back pressure to gain optimum performance. The system came with a flat steel plate you could affix to the end of the Stinger but this wasn't the best solution. I found that I could tune each engine by experimenting with varying back pressure created by my self made bung. Heres what I came up with. I went to the local Hardware and got some alum. mesh. Its sold in sheets. This is the heavier gauge stuff. I then cut out a section with tin snips , approx letter size. I then rolled the mesh so it would fit tightly inside the tail section (stinger) of muffler. I then fab'd. a piece of 16g flat steel that I affixed to both ends of mesh bung. Here you can get creative and drill holes in the flat stock to create the desired back pressure. I ended up with one oval hole at each end which approximated the shape of the stinger . This bung is oval in shape and the metal ends are drilled around the edges 1/16 holes and wired to the bung.Once the bung is inserted you have to come up with a solution to keep it in place. My solution was to create ears on the outer piece of flat stock (the one just wired to the bung) . Here I drilled through the outside edges of the stinger. inserted the bung marked the ears and removed & drilled same. Using a slightly larger stainless sheet metal screw and secure bung to stinger. This system worked to create the needed back pressure & served to really bring down the DBs. Its easy to remove if you want to play the loud pipe. Good luck & Have Fun

[gmund]

Thanks for taking the time to write about your experiences with the Sebring style exhaust. I'm sure I will try some of your suggestions in regards to back pressure and exhaust sound. My Sebring exhaust is still sitting at my mechanics shop awaiting modifications. I will post again when it's installed.

[matara]

Hi,

Did you end up getting the Sebring exhaust fitted? I'd be interested to see how you got on.

Thanks

Steve

[gmund]

It's funny you should ask. It's been a couple years since my full mechanical rebuild and my 356 is back in the shop for some minor work. I decided to ask my mechanic to revisit the install of the Sebring exhaust. It never got sorted or fitted during the rebuild and was left to gather dust. It looked good hanging on the wall, but that's not really what I had in mind for it. Since my rebuild, my mechanic bought a 1940's Piper Cub (I think it's a 1947) and made some new friends in that hobby. One of those friends is a vintage airplane exhaust maker. My exhaust was sent off to the airplane exhaust guy for some tweaking. It's back now and trial fitted to my car. I'm including a picture of the very recent trial fitting. According to my mechanic, there are still a couple of small cuts and welds that need to happen for a perfect fit. I don't have all the particulars on just what the airplane guy did. I will. I'm looking forward to getting my 356 back with the Sebring exhaust installed and will give some feedback and more pictures at that time.

In the meantime, I'm working frantically in my own garage trying to get the vintage 1977 Scorpion Whip Snowmobile I recently purchased up and running. Carb and fuel pump rebuild, all new fuel lines, etc, etc. It has a German 2 Stroke engine (JLO/Rockwell/Cuyuna branded engine depending on who you ask.

[C. Clark]

Congratulations on a well thought out project.
To TurkTurk I could be interested in the exhaust system.

[gmund]

Well almost 6 years later the Sebring exhaust was cut, welded and manipulated enough to fit my 356 and create the needed back pressure and even cylinder head temps. It sounds fantastic outside the car and really helps with all over throttle response. It does generate some hard to love frequencies in the car at varying RPM. The supplied pop in baffle has gone missing, so I can't comment on how that will affect the sound. I do hope it turns up in my shop or my mechanics. I can't say I recommend Karmann Konnection for anything. This exhaust was completely unusable when it arrived. Not even close to fitting my engine. They were completely unresponsive to any request for info through email. The materials were nice, but the execution and support completely lacking.

[merbesfield]

Do you have an update on your exhast/car? I too am restoring/building a 57 356a w 912 motor and would like a sporty sounding exhaust but do not want interior cabin drone. Thanks

[gmund]

Not much more to add than what I've previously reported. I would not recommend this exhaust. There is some drone at highway speeds. You can alleviate it by changing your speed/rpm a bit, but it's something I'm aware of most times I drive. It's also a nightmare to install onto the engine (major cutting and tweaking). I think it looks good, and the performance seems to be about the same as a more easy to live with and much cheaper traditional header. I will keep it because of the time and money I've spent installing it.

[merbesfield]

Great to know. I will pass on this one for sure. Thanks

[gmund]

merbesfield - I just noticed your list of vehicles. I clicked the link to your FJ45 - very nice! I'm including a photo of my FJ55. I've had it 7 or 8 years. I don't drive it as much as I should. Great rig though.

[merbesfield]

Gmund, funny, what year is your 55? I had a 79 FJ55 that looked exactly like yours, exact same color, that was sacrificed to my 45 for its complete drive train. Unfortunately it was a total rust bucket that I was not willing to repair, way too gone. But the rig only had 135K so it made a great donor. Get out and drive yours, don't let it sit and go bad. Cheers

Edit, PS I just noticed you to have a 356A Coupe. I have a 57. Pelican will not let me edit my signature for some reason. Here is the link.

http://porsche356registry.org/356talk/4/28838.html

[gmund]

Mark,

I haven't visited the Pelican for too long! I peeped the threads detailing your 1957 356 resto on some of the other forums. Very nice. You are doing some really nice work. It's amazing how long these projects go. Your car reminds me a lot of mine. Mine came through with a 912 engine, disc brakes, 12v conversion etc. I stuck with the mild outlaw theme as well.

I ran into a "ghost in the machine" with my 58 356 after thinking everything was sorted. I would take off for a drive, and like clockwork the engine would start to sputter and cough like it was out of gas about 2 miles into the drive. It was back and forth to my mechanic 5 or 6 times over the course of a year (after spending 3 years there already). Coils replaced, carbs synched, fuel pump rebuilt again, electronic ignitions considered, carbs "milled", etc, etc. Nothing fixed it!

Turned out to be a not visible hairline crack in the fuel pump body. The original fuel pumps are scarce now, and we ended up having the crack repaired. It solved the problem, but it was a tedious and expensive journey.

I still have my Land Cruiser. I also picked up a minty 1985 Vanagon tintop with a 1.8 Turbo conversion. It's lowered with Konis and 17" Porsche Twist wheels. I had a Vanagon years ago, and somehow got the bug again. This one came up for pennies on the dollar and I had to have it. I'm loving it. The 50/50 weight balance, fully independent suspension and rack and pinion steering create quite a fun driving van.

Anway....I'm rambling. Enjoyed checking out the threads on your 356.

Shayne

[merbesfield]

Originally Posted by gmund

Mark,

I haven't visited the Pelican for too long! I peeped the threads detailing your 1957 356 resto on some of the other forums. Very nice. You are doing some really nice work. It's amazing how long these projects go. Your car reminds me a lot of mine. Mine came through with a 912 engine, disc brakes, 12v conversion etc. I stuck with the mild outlaw theme as well.

I ran into a "ghost in the machine" with my 58 356 after thinking everything was sorted. I would take off for a drive, and like clockwork the engine would start to sputter and cough like it was out of gas about 2 miles into the drive. It was back and forth to my mechanic 5 or 6 times over the course of a year (after spending 3 years there already). Coils replaced, carbs synched, fuel pump rebuilt again, electronic ignitions considered, carbs "milled", etc, etc. Nothing fixed it!

Turned out to be a not visible hairline crack in the fuel pump body. The original fuel pumps are scarce now, and we ended up having the crack repaired. It solved the problem, but it was a tedious and expensive journey.

I still have my Land Cruiser. I also picked up a minty 1985 Vanagon tintop with a 1.8 Turbo conversion. It's lowered with Konis and 17" Porsche Twist wheels. I had a Vanagon years ago, and somehow got the bug again. This one came up for pennies on the dollar and I had to have it. I'm loving it. The 50/50 weight balance, fully independent suspension and rack and pinion steering create quite a fun driving van.

Anway....I'm rambling. Enjoyed checking out the threads on your 356.

Shayne

Hi Shayne, that's very good info to know. Sweet bus. I'm crazy for those as well, ESP the old ones, but my project days are over, haha. I just bought a 66 911 form second owner. A little hotrod style. So the 356 has stalled for some time til I get the 911 out. It does not need much so I put it ahead of the 356, but then neither does the 356. Here is the link to my 911. My Land Cruiser sets patiently collecting dust.

Introduction to 302397

Cheers

[Jay Laifman]

Is anyone still out there on this one?

I'm curious about the square boxes in the pipes. Does anyone know if those are "just" open boxes for cross over? Is there anything special inside of them?

And I mean from the factory, not how any particular aftermarket shop did them.

[merbesfield]

I am reviving this extremely old thread. I am still working on my 356, but closer to the end. My engine had to be rebuilt twice bc the first mechanic, Jack Lewis, of Jack Lewis Enterprises completely screwed me, but that’s another story. Regarding the exhaust, I have a stock exhaust to go on the engine, but I’m stuck on the idea of having a Sebring exhaust. Anyone have any updated information to add to this thread?