How do you make it rain in California?... buy a speedster.

4 week rehab!? Mine was nearly twice that and I'm not quite done yet. 77/105 is impressive! Was that at the crank or at the wheels? You're running dual Webers and a stroked cam, so you will produce excellent power. What heads are you running? What cam?

Mine is just a mild 1915 with little old Kadrons and a svda with an electronic ignition. Engle 110 cam and 40/35.5 heads. I'll be lucky to see anything close to what you're showing. Maybe a touch more HP, but nowhere near that torque number. I'm toying with installing 1.25:1 rockers, but I'm not clear what that will offer vs the amount of work it will take. Ultimately I'd like a 2.0l or a 1968 stroker. Maybe someday.

Let me get it running well and then get that cooler installed before I start talking about tweaking the motor any more.

It's voila, and it's a French word. Honestly; you 'Merican's....

 

Ted- I don't know if, with your engine, how much difference 1.25's would make. Are the heads on this engine ported? If you have the rockers, then it would be interesting to find out, but I suspect the carbs may not let the combo reach it's potential unless they have bigger venturis installed. Stock vents in kadrons are 28mm, and I would think your engine could benefit from 30's. Once you have it running well, figure out how where it peaks in 3rd gear; remember that it will rev higher (500?rpm), but you want to know where it makes the most power. With the W110 it should go to 55-5700rpm; anything less and the carbs are holding it back.

 

What happened to fire breather you were looking at? I thought you'd bought it?

 

 

Good Morning Al,

This is the same motor. I'm just not sure that I'd consider it a fire breather quite yet. Especially when you compare it to the likes of Teby's 1905 or Mr. Knuckles 5 speed beauty. Until I get er all dialed in, it's just a lil ole 1915...

Good point on the carbs. I actually re jetted them and installed new venturis. I went up to 30-40's. You are correct, stock they came with 28-40's.

As far as the RPMs go, when I got it running on Sunday it was running a bit rough as the timing was jumping a bit due to the aforementioned missing distributor drive gear spring. Even though I had yet to really synch the carbs, at about 2500 RPMs the motor really came alive. It was a kick to watch the tachometer zip up to the red line. It felt like it could still pull bit past 5500. It will be interesting to see how it runs once I get it all dialed in.

As far as I know, the heads are just run of the mill 40/35.5s. No port work has been done. It's good to know that the motor may not benefit from the added expense of the rockers. Maybe I can put that out of my mind, or at least put them off for a bit.

Teby and the rest of the Fresno gang - we should totally go in January. I'll need to check with Alexis, but that would be a blast. I hope to have the motor dialed in enough to drive it that far. If not, I can always bring the daily driver.

Thanks for tuning in...
Ted

Santa was generous this year. For Christmas I was fortunate enough to receive many fun upgrades for the Speedster.

 

 

I scored:

• Vintage Speed Speedster shifter, with matching ivory colored handle. Along with that
• Vintage Speed center pull linkage
• (http://vwparts.aircooled.net/V...-p/315-001-02idf.htm)
• Unique Parts Accelerator pedal 'speed ball' (http://unique-parts.com/?wpsc-...ade-kit-2-fits-67-79).

 

I'll find some time to get the parts installed. Should be fun.

 

Ted

 

 

 

awesome Ted.

 

I like the accelerator peddle  thing. I might check into that. I watched the video.  

 

 

So you want to race for pinks?   Lol lol. Can't wait to see your car at 2015 SOC meeting in Slo. Or before that even... 

 

Tebs

Ted; your car looks cool, ship shape as they say.  If the 1st and 3rd gears are not engaging on the Vintage Speed shifter, try moving the aluminum shifter base forward a bit.  If then 2nd and 4th don't engage, you went too far, go back to the rear a little.

 

It has been 24-28 degrees, every morning this week. Damn cold for the Santa Cruz mountains!!  Probably a little warmer your way.

 

Happy New Year!

 

 

Art

Thanks Art! 1st through 4th are working well so far. The one thing I've found it that sometimes I can engage reverse without pulling up on the shift lever. This is problematic because I'm usually tolling and trying to go for second. :yikes: Not fun grinding gears on a brand new trans. I've read up on it and I've found that I need to keep moving the shift base to the left until that goes away. 

 

The car is currently taken apart while I clean up the pedals and install the roller pedal. 

 

Where I am so far - 

 

Pulled back the coco mat and removed the two 17mm nuts. Lots of junk in there:

 

The break pedal piston and the funky little clip that holds it in:

 

The old accelerator pedal arm:

 

Gunk and goop on the pedal assembly:

 

 

Dirty parts and pedals:

 

 

Blown apart for cleaning:

 

The clutch pedal is an odd arm. Not sure what's going on with the sideways pedal and what's with this nutty little tab?! Al... Al... Al... what were you trying to do here?

 

 

All cleaned up and almost ready to go back in. I just need to clean up the pedals and apply the pedal covers.

 

 

Ready to go back in! 

 

Can't wait to try out the new pedals. I hope they work as good as they look.

 

Ted

 

 

Another shot of the original pedals before cleaning and modifications. I'm not sure why the clutch pedal was slightly askew and rotated 90 degrees. Maybe Al (previous owner) had a really big left foot? I wonder if the donor car has some sort of hand controls on it? What else could that extra tab on the clutch arm  be used for?

just an idea: maybe it is the Rest oft an self desingned hydraulic clutch sysem

That was certainly what I thought.

Maybe it was an old school theft deterrent system hooked to the steering wheel? 

Great job re-doing your speedster! 

 

Gary

 

Ahh... yeah maybe. The tab is threaded. Maybe that's the answer!

 

Today I'll go out and see if I can get the clutch cable hook to engage without having to jack the car up and undo it from the trans. 

 

I'm really digging the 356 pedal shape upgrade. It was a modification I kind of whipped together on the fly. I had ordered the pedal covers from Sierra Madre on a whim. I figured one day I'd get around to trying something. Who'd of thunk it'd work so easily.  Never under estimate how a $20.00 or 12 pack will motivate a muffler shop owner into action.  Mike, from Kings Muffler here in town was just about to shut down for the day (at 4PM!) when I asked if he'd be willing to help with a project. I produced the pedal assembly and the pedal blanks I had cut out of some sheet stock. He said "Ahh! The ole bug to Porsche pedal trick..."  I knew I had the right guy! We chatted about his ole 'bug' days. Before I knew it, he had everything all tacked and welded up. He asked if I had a grinder to clean up the welds. I did, so he handed over the parts. I slipped him a 20 and I was off.

 

I always think that really need to learn to weld, then I find a kind soul who's always willing to lend a hand.

 

Now the question is, do I cut off that tab on the clutch arm or just leave it as a reminder of ole' crazy Al?

 

Bob and Gary - thanks for the kind words. This ole girl has been a labor of love. Maybe at the 1 year mark I'll go back and compile a list of everything I've fixed, upgraded, and tweaked over the previous 365 days. As per everyone's suggestions - I will NOT add up the receipts.

 

Ted

Yay! All installed and working great! I also dropped in two Crow racing belts. I'm having a shoulder harness bar built to go behind the seats. It will be level with the tops of the seat backs (about shoulder height.). This will appease SWSBO.

Next up are the SETRAB cooler and the new linkage.

Thanks for tuning in...
Ted

"SWSBO"?

 

Anyway, beautiful job, Ted.  Not only are you having fun, you're meeting new local people with the same sickness and making your car more personal all the time.

 

Happy New Year!

 

Gordon

The Speedstah Guy from Massachusetts

I think Ted just hit the wrong key, Gordon. Alexis is also known as She Who Must BE Obeyed...as is the lovely Beth in my household and probably most of our significant others...

Ted's slowly moving to the darker side of speeester ownership, Al.

SWSBO is She Who SHOULD Be Obeyed. Pretty soon, after more engine mod$ and new Fuch$ it will become She Who, or SW?.

 

Ha!

 

I was going with She Who Shall Be Obeyed.  But your version works too!

 

Today I'm working on some projects on her list of 'to do' items.  Painting the new mantel I built for the fireplace and wrapping up the final newel post for the stair case.

 

The only thing that will happen with the speedster is that it will get sawdust on it.

 

Ted

 

 

Brilliant move, Ted!

 

She thinks you're working on her Honey Do list, while you're really giving the Speedster that 'barn find' patina.

 

 

 

Ted and Terry- that was all I could think of, guys. Any version works; it just means we know our place in the world. 

 

Mitch- speaking of patina (2nd one's my favorite; my car's even white. Hmmm....)-

 

 

 

       
       

In true honor to the car do it at day 356.