UPGRADES

Whew, saw the price of that steering wheel set and nearly fell off my chair until I read the description, Bahts! Thailand baht conversion is 1 baht equals .029 cents. The set goes for roughly $1725. 

I've used a handful of the MSW wheels, nice piece.  I have not used the turn signal unit.  The steering wheels (and I believe he now offers some hub adapters also) are specific to your spline pattern, so keep that in mind when ordering.  We have also custom machined hubs to work with their wheel and our splines since we are different from everyone else.

Vintage Speed makes some really nice parts also.  The shifter that is listed as "Intermeccanica" is pretty much what we all used from Vintage Speed.  I like the 11.5" version as it is tall enough to not look like stock VW but not so tall that your hand gets close to the dash, or stereo or AC (if equipped).  They now only make the "IM" version in bulk for us and do not sell them retail.  They wanted all of their shifters to have the trigger lockout for reverse, which I do not like and don't use (just personal taste).  I know Greg has them in stock in stainless shaft, and I have them in stock in stainless, ivory or black shaft.  Once the ivory and black are gone they will be NLA and we will all only have stainless.

We used some of their exhausts early on and at that time they did not have heater boxes offered, so maybe their heater boxes are specific to their exhaust (flange orientation) because in order to run stock flanged heater boxes we had to fabricate our own connecting pipes and change the orientation of the flanges also.  Again, this was very early on and things have probably changed.  I really liked the exhaust look and quality, and we've even modified them to use on some Suby cars recently, however any of these large canister type with short tips have a tendency to promote backfiring and popping..  Unburnt fuel vapor seems to collect in the canister and not be properly expelled and once it gets hot it will suck fresh air into the short tips and reignite the leftover fuel.  

@chines1 posted:

I've used a handful of the MSW wheels, nice piece.  I have not used the turn signal unit.  The steering wheels (and I believe he now offers some hub adapters also) are specific to your spline pattern, so keep that in mind when ordering.  We have also custom machined hubs to work with their wheel and our splines since we are different from everyone else.

Vintage Speed makes some really nice parts also.  The shifter that is listed as "Intermeccanica" is pretty much what we all used from Vintage Speed.  I like the 11.5" version as it is tall enough to not look like stock VW but not so tall that your hand gets close to the dash, or stereo or AC (if equipped).  They now only make the "IM" version in bulk for us and do not sell them retail.  They wanted all of their shifters to have the trigger lockout for reverse, which I do not like and don't use (just personal taste).  I know Greg has them in stock in stainless shaft, and I have them in stock in stainless, ivory or black shaft.  Once the ivory and black are gone they will be NLA and we will all only have stainless.

We used some of their exhausts early on and at that time they did not have heater boxes offered, so maybe their heater boxes are specific to their exhaust (flange orientation) because in order to run stock flanged heater boxes we had to fabricate our own connecting pipes and change the orientation of the flanges also.  Again, this was very early on and things have probably changed.  I really liked the exhaust look and quality, and we've even modified them to use on some Suby cars recently, however any of these large canister type with short tips have a tendency to promote backfiring and popping..  Unburnt fuel vapor seems to collect in the canister and not be properly expelled and once it gets hot it will suck fresh air into the short tips and reignite the leftover fuel.  

I have the INTERmeccanica version in my IM and it replaced an EMPI.  for my subie tranny.  

All I can do is quote Henry: “ it is amazing to me how significant a difference this shifter makes”  Which is Absolutely true.   My colour is soft gray and IM painted the Knob to match.

pict during install.

In regards to the steering wheel, Marty had a really nice VDM GT like nardi replica wit the big horn button.  

I have been on the look out for a 420 VDM or MSW real banjo with ring but in 420mm no one seems to want to make it.  I have a nardi, style with hub 400mm but my original 356A 1959 had a 420mm and the large wheel just made the car driving seem more 50’s style with the extra leverage.

Hi Kevin,

I to have a 2013 vintage VS with their standard 1915 engine with 40 Webbers, and incorporated all the changes you reference above between 2014, 2016, and 2021, and 2023.  In my experience they all have been working great… probably 40K miles and counting.  A few thoughts for your consideration;

exhaust:   MT Lee ( the owner I believe) recommended I stick to the standard exhaust, not the supper flow, if I believed my engine was under 125hp… which I’m sure it is.  It’s been working great since installed no backfiring in my experience…Also, my car had standard VW heater boxes, and I had no issues pairing the, with their exhaust using his recommended flange adaptors.  Parts numbers ordered below;

shifter;  MT Lee is great, he allowed me to order his Classic 11.5” quick shifter.. same as his now called IM shifter, and made some custom changes… he had bandwidth, and I caught him on a good week.  I ordered part number : 155-795-50900. Painted black, with 10mm knob thread so I could use a P-car 356 knob I purchased from NLA, and shortened the shifter to 10.5".   I wanted it a bit shorter shifter  as I  have a retrosound stereo in the car, and wanted a little space between the knob and stereo/dash…. sometimes I flip flop between shifter knobs, and the wood ones I use are a little taller than the 356 knob. ( picture below)   As mentioned above by Mr. H, MT no longer carries these shifter part number, so if you can snag one up I believe you would love them.  If you don’t like the 11.5 length, cutting and rethreading is not a big job.

side note, I made the rubber transition piece between knob and shifter for the wood knob because the step transition bothered me when driving.

oh the MSW steering wheels… Had two, yes two… I really loved them …both unfortunately sold shortly after installation to local P-Car guys who didn’t want to be bothered with ordering from overseas, and paid me ~30% over retail.  … so I now have a 3rd, waiting in the garage to be installed ( this one with the VW spline adaptor since the last P-car guy purchased the whole kit from me) …. But been super lazy- busy with kids— and enjoyed driving the car this summer vs wrenching.  Originally I ordered a complete kit from MSW- I.e.- wheel + steering shaft kit.   very nice solid wheel and horn ring, and steering shaft fit perfectly… but when I purchased it he didn’t list it on his site as a complete kit.  after a couple emails and some pictures he put it together for me. I believe he may now have it listed on his site as a complete kit.

this below wheel ( my 3rd… now waiting to install) is actually ivory, but pictured off white… bad light I guess).  Also, I prefer the half horn ring he makes.  The wheel is 400mm, noticeable as compared to a more typical wood/nardi style/ Lempert 380 wheel.

picture below of the complete wheel+ steering shaft kit originally purchased… also came with a gaskets+rubber seals/o-ring kit required for the install.  old pic from my files.

Let me know if you need their emails ( MT Lee for VS or Chung for MSW)… both owners were super easy to work with, and shipping was uneventful.  Mostly…. Only item worth noting is shipping does take +4 -6 weeks.  And the last wheel I received did spend two weeks stuck in customs- my fault—  I though the calls from customs office where marketing/span calls and ignored them.  Fortunately after a few ignored calls an agent left a voicemail, and I quickly called to address their questions, clearing customs and showing at my door within a week,  Something worth accounting for.

Wow great job as usual. You provided all the information for us to replicate what you’ve done. Thanks for this!!! That who’s that who’s that

BTW I had emails MSW and asked if he would make a 420mm wheel never got a response, but I would have to modify my Ididit column to mount it.   Presently i have a hub with a Nardi 6 bolt mount and I have a 9 bolt Derrington hub if I want to change it.  Any ideas Luis?  

Thank you Ray.  I did find emails where I asked Chung in 2018 and 2023 if he would ever consider making a 420mm and he said no both times . His tooling and shops are set up only for 400.  He tried making one badge, but had problems selling to the the P-car crowd…so he does not want to repeat that.

in regard to the 400 wheel and hub  he makes to fit VW spline… he does make his own hub and sells hubs that fit both 1960-1974 and post 1974 spline patters.   the wheel  bolt interface  pattern is slightly different than  the ISP West hubs we are all accustomed to seeing… so unfortunately the  banjo 3 bolt/nardi-6 bolt /Momo 6 bolt/or 9 bolt standard hubs don’t quite accommodate ( don’t bolt-on with his wheel).  I tried them all since I have the various ISP hubs on the shelf.  One could tap one of the ISP 6 bolt nardi hubs to match his bolt patter… but that seemed like too much work for me.  Also thought of making an adaptor to fit on a banjo hub like IsP did years ago with the 9 bolt pattern- pictured below.  ( the engineer in me went wild with ideas, but that was too much work and $$$, so just bought an adaptor from him -MSW).

are you looking for a 400 or 420 wheel specifically?  Only 420mm I have found are refurbished originals… and those do require the new shaft .. same as the pre 1959 split window VW spline pattern. But they were too big for me to fit comfortably around it… I’m 6.1”, 190lbs.   The 400 is pretty solid!!  Big size difference…. Attached picture I kept in my files from another SOc member who did this size upgrade and side comparison years back. Leg space between seat and wheel is greatly impacted.

Here is my 400mm wheel and I still have more than a few inches for it to touch my leg … 420mm is less than an inch and I wanted to try it but I might end up being forced into a 400mm

You can see the hub without wheel and the Nardi set up.. below you will notice the Nardi wheel on the hub with 6 bolts is a bit tapered. and the IDIDIT hub is a big big IMO.  I also posted below a part of Marty’s wheel and his IDIDIT set up is more balanced in looks … anyway still pondering but maybe a beige coloured from MSW and half ring might fit well with the shifter.

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Kevin, like Luis, I have the Vintage Speed shifter and exhaust. He's covered most of the bases, but here are a few more data points.

I've posted these photos before of how the shifter looks in ivory with Kirk's 'light tan' interior (which I think is what you have):

I did the upgrade around the same time Luis did, and my part number is the same as his (155-795-50900) or 'Classic 11.5"' on the box. The photos show the shifter forward, in 1st gear. There is plenty of clearance between the lever and the wheel and bottom of the dash.

My car was delivered with Kirk's stock 1915, but I upgraded to a locally built 2024cc stroker a year in. This required larger diameter, 1-5/8" headers, and I chose the VS exhaust, mainly for the stock look and sound.

I also wanted heat, and a few years ago this wasn't a big deal. The now defunct Aircooled.net stocked 'heavy duty' heater boxes in the oversized 1-5/8" size. These have more internal baffling than the cheapest aftermarket boxes available and have worked out well, producing lots of heat.

I see that AC Industries is now making heavy duty boxes in 1-5/8" and they look great, but the cost is eye-watering. Maybe @chines1 can comment on their suitability. Of course, if you stick with the 1915, you won't need oversized pipes.

Note, too, what Carey said about having to modify the flanges on any heater box if you want to use them with the VS exhaust. My mechanic had to cut the flanges off my heater boxes and reweld them to align with the VS flanges**. Here are some photos, one of which shows the welds:

** The AC Industries boxes come with loose flanges, to be welded on as part of the installation.

Finally, here's a video of the exhaust sound of the VS on my car. I think it sounds pretty close to the original 356. Not recommended for hooning.

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