Fan Shroud fit up

How much wider are you? With some ingenuity, it's amazing what you can make fit; I have an 86 stroke engine and my sheet metal fits without any spacers. Al

Al, get that IM on the road so we can go for a cruise to Princeton for lunch.

I've been doing some work on it, Ron...

 

Aircooled (do you have a first name?)- An 82mm crankshaft with stock length rods (5.400") and "B" pin height pistons should come out pretty close to stock. You shouldn't have much in the way of problems fitting sheetmetal. Al

I'm using the same stroke engine and used aftermarket tins.  No problem at all on the fit. If you can use a stock fan shroud you probably should.

I used OEM shroud on my CMC - at first hinges hit top corners of shroud.  I flipped hinges side to side and it just clears.  Might be able to do same on yours.

When I purchased my CMC, it had a stock doghouse shroud and it fit fine. Not sure if the previous owner did anything to make it fit.  I'm running a 36 HP shroud. My temps haven't changed a bit since swapping over.

Ted

Hi Al...My name is Bruce Williams. I live in Arcadia Calif

BRUCE!  Now we know you're Bruce.

 

Al Gallo and I just re-installed his 1915 into his VS Speedster.

 

His engine builder used the late-model (1971 and after) fan shroud and all of the other tin work.

 

Went in and fit like a glove.  Believe me, I would have noticed if the cover hinges were too close but everything fit fine.

 

Same deal on my CMC - post-1971 tinwork and shroud and it all fits just fine, but I have no idea of the differences between VS and CMC in the hinges.

 

Gordon

Hi Bruce! Great to meet you; it just seems so much more personal when there's a first name attached. I'm in the Vancouver, British Columbia area (immediately around the city itself is called the lower mainland); not always so affectionately known as the wet coast...  Al

 

PS- If you sign off some of your posts it'll be easier to remember your name (at least it will for me; it usually takes a little while to sink in). Much appreciated.

 

PPSS- Where exactly is Arcadia? I know the general layout of CA, but Arcadia escapes me...

 

Ron- a cruise up to Princeton (or even Kamloops) would be a blast! A good friend has a place in Tulameen (1/2 hour northwest of Princeton- on the south end of Otter Lake) and it's a fantastic drive. Have you ever done Lytton to Lillooet? It's that kind of drive.

 

 As a much younger man I once did Kamloops for lunch with a friend; we were in a beetle of mine and we ended up "just having one beer" (yeah, right) with the friend we were visiting and spending the night. No toothbrush or clean underwear... a smart man would have just gone and bought a toothbrush and a 3 pack....

 

 

Hi my name is Frank, Alb. Is that short for Albert? Just kidding

Hey Frank- I remembered your name; we did the introduction thing a little while ago, but thanks for reminding me. It's actually Allen, but my brother calls me Alvin (think of the guy in the cartoon yelling AAAlviiinn!!!), and a couple of high school friends call me Elmo, but on here it's Yoda. Someone a while ago (somewhat jokingly) said (after a post; I don't remember what I said) "who do you think you are, Yoda?" and I said no, but I like that! A few minutes later (with my son's help, of course!) my avatar appeared... Does the guilty party remember that incident? I don't remember the thread where that happened. I thought it was pretty funny!

 

Do you remember what we were discussing way back when? And just call me Al... (come on; you know the tune!).

Thank you Gorden...That's just what I needed to know.....Bruce

Hi Al.

I think the thread you are looking for was from June 2013 and here is the link:  https://www.speedsterowners.com...7#330480109994006187

 

It was Jim Kelly that suggested calling you Yoda and this is what he said:

Hi Al,

 

You may not believe it, but some Subi owners may actually be capable of the dedication and altered states you describe.  Such condescion actually sounds somewhat humorous.  Shall we now address you as Yoda?

Hi Al....Arcadia is the city just east of Pasadena in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains. You seem to pretty knowledgeable on topics which come up on this site. I enjoy reading your comments and your humor (also the little yellow econ!) You helped me realize that my name would be useful on my posts so I put it up in the avatar and as a sign off. Again Thanks.

Thanks Troy. How'd you remember/find it? Looking back, it was an interesting thread; Stan said some good stuff. And thank you Jim.

 

Bruce- I looked on a CA map and while I couldn't find Arcadia, I did see where Pasadena is so I have an idea. Is that considered still part of the LA area/basin? The VW knowledge comes from driving and hotrodding these cars for the first 15 or so years of my driving career (a pretty much misspent youth, playing with cars and drinking too much beer but I turned out relatively ok, so maybe it wasn't too much...). I have the speedster in the garage and friends have always had different projects on the go; I also read a lot to keep up with what people are doing. 

And no one will forget your name now.  Al

 

PS- The B in ALB is the first letter in my last name (Blanchette).

Thanks, Troy.  In my doddering near-senility, it's amazing how fresh a thread seems on a reread, even though it's only 9 months old.  The portayal of Subi vs. a/c seems to be somewhat exaggerated to me.  Like comparing a 1960's motor drive Hasselblad camera to a current off-the-shelf point and shoot model.

 

The argument is more nuanced than that.  The common enemy we all face is engine heat.  You would think that the solution would be pretty standard by now.  But it really isn't, is it?  We still have threads in which we can't agree on whether air is entering or exiting the engine compartment from deck lid louvers.

 

I still can't get my EJ255 turbo to cool properly.  It's mid engine mounted, with a radiator and inter cooler in the left rear wheel well.  It's pretty simple to get a n/a model to run cooler, but, when you add the turbo, engine waste heat soars.  From an engineering viewpoint, 1/3 of engine HP goes to make power, 1/3 goes out the exhaust, and 1/3 is lost to cooling.  That means when we up the HP ante, stock cooling can't do what it needs to do. 

 

My engine is detuned to put out 207 wheel HP.  Until I get the cooling straightened out, that's the maximum HP for a safe operation, since boost is limited to about 4 lbs.  It's a fun challenge to determine where the actual installation design fault is, and then, what is the best method of correcting it.  In my case, NACA ducting may channel more air to the rad and inter cooler, but, after heat soak, a more effecient rad with enclosed fans will likely be needed.  High volume water pumps, wetter water, silicone hoses, cross flow rads, the list goes on and on.  More expensive and advanced fixes will include fender vents like the modern water-cooled 911's.  Line in the sand: I am not building a wind tunnel.  Weeeell, not unless I can disguise it as something else I REALLY need. 

 

Most of us, like me, are not the best wrenchers in the world.  We don't have mechanical engineering degrees.  But, like it or not, we're the front line.  Our fumbling attempts are inefficient, when compared to a pro like Jake, but somehow, we muddle through.  More HP = more headaches.  That's o.k, with me, I've got lots of aspirin in the medicine cabinet.   

Jim, I'm always fascinated by your remarks here, but always confused with the fact that you want to go so fast on an island in the middle of the Pacific somewhere. What's your hurry? 

Jim's car is in LA I think.

Hi Rich,

 

It's a bifurcated life.  I live and work in Fiji, but the car is in California.  I get back to CA every 8 months or so.  A final, final retirement will occur in the next few years, and we will move back to central Cal.  Like many of us, I do want to be able to go fast, very fast.  I know it's not very logical, mature, or even sensible, but it's sure lots of fun.

Really, Jack? I always pictured it on Fiji somewhere? Says so right on his avatar?

 

OK, Jim; that made my morning! Al

 

PS- Thank you for the moniker, btw; it's serving me well.

Damn, my imagination has been squashed again. All this time I had pictured you and Marlon Brando screaming around the island. NO BREADFRUIT FOR YOU JIM!

 

BTW, "bifurcated"... Good one!

 

Great thread, Jim!

 

Heck, if the members of this forum were sensible there wouldn't be a forum, because none of us would own a 356 replica. 

Insisting on keeping this antique technology alive and even reveling in the joys of trying to improve upon it; what's wrong with us?

 

And Rich- Although I now remember it being mentioned (that the car was in CA), that was pretty much the image I had too.

Yoda wrote "Insisting on keeping this antique technology alive"

 

Boy has that been driven home on my engine spruce-up.  The lower engine tinwork (which came from the original 1969 donor car) was in sad shape - over half of the mounting tabs were either mangled or broken off, so I ended up fabing new tabs and after gas welding the first one on I went the easy route and pop riveted the rest in place.

 

Now they're half painted and I'm moving on to the breastplate, headers and mufflers while waiting to see if any of my backordered stuff (from two different suppliers) ever appears.  Seems like whoever you order from these days doesn't have everything you need - Except for Berg.  You can't order from their website and the lady you talk with has never yet told me "we're out of stock on that".

 

I was inspired by the freshly new and detailed engine that Al Gallo got back - it is really pretty with some nice cosmetic touches, like torx metric hardware all over it.  Very nicely done.

 

Anyway...Hopefully, everything else will be totally ready when my transmission returns (whenever THAT is gonna happen).

Wish I could claim that I have a great memory, but I don't.  I just did a search of the word Yoda and found it.

Why didn't I think of that...