WTB - JPS/CMS/Beck, etc...

@ZFNHSN-

  Good morning, Robert! Your car looks great (love the alloys!) and the engine sounds like it's a blast. Re the idle jet plugging- make sure the air filter tops and bottoms are sealing well. The chromed sheet metal pieces are known to leak and a little bit of grease (not sure what type you'd use- maybe someone can chime in here) on the bottom and top edges of the filter itself will help seal them up. If the filters have 1 screw holding the top down, I've heard of people distorting the hold down bracket a little to get the top to sit tighter. If you have cast aluminum pieces, make sure they are flat, the filter flanges sit within them properly and the bottoms sit on the carb tops properly. I guess I missed it- what carbs does the engine have?

Do you know what the heads flow? It would be interesting, given the narrower lobe centers on the cam, to see what would happen with 1.4 rockers. I'm guessing that since it is a 2276, adding more lift (and a wee bit more duration), while being more powerful, won't really detract from the bottom end/lower midrange that it already has.

And thank you for the concern re the my cousin's journey with pancreatic cancer, but (as you know, because you've faced it) watching from the sideline is nothing compared to what Robin had to endure. Al

AL, your comments is timely and I'm running dual Weber 44s. My muffler tail pipe points straight down and I don't like it, but at the time the decision served it's purpose given I wasn't sure what type of exhaust I wanted. The tail pipe is only a few inches from the ground and in some cases it blow dirt and debris up into the air especially when starting from a stop. The issue is compounded when reversing. Yesterday, I started the car after I got coffee and it was parked in a fairly dirty and unswept parking lot. It goes like this: Start engine and dust and dirt and debris (DDD) gets blown up and into the air. Back up the car and more DDD get's blown into the air and I drive through it. Going forward, I drive through the DDD again. I got around the block and the car sputtered, but recovered after a few miles. I never thought to check the seals at_the_bottom of the filter seal. I have a butterfly fastener to fasten the top piece - I'll check again.

On a separate note, my Pirelli Cinturato CN36s tend to pick up a lot of small stones and they get cast into the engine bay. I think they are coming from the front tires. As the pebbles and small stones dislodge from the tire, they bounce along the bottom of the car and find there way into the area around the tub area at the back of the car. Is this normal?

Unfortunately, I don't have the head flow nunbers - I wish I did. At a certain point, no amount of valve lift is going to increase the actual flow. I might have to use my butt dyno and proclaim 1.4 ratio rocker success! Certainly, not the preferred and scientific approach.

I suspect you are right on the money about how 'adding more lift (and a wee bit more duration)' would not detract from the current bottom and lower midrange. The first time I drove a Speedster was when I picked this one up at Greg's shop (Vintage). The engine was laying around in my garage for over a year and it was a temp engine for my 912 which is a heavier car by 300lbs or so (the 912 weighs 2237 lbs and with me in the driver seat). At the time, I didn't want a more radical cam because I wasn't planing on hitting +6500 rpm for the sake of longevity, heat, reliability, etc...Let me play around and see where to go from here.

I have heard of guys with sidewinders in Beetles with the tailpipe pointing down complaining about noise in the car as well as raising up dust on the road (or parking lot or ....). Extend the tailpipe a couple of inches horizontally past the collector (and so it's no longer pointing straight down- maybe configure it so the tailpipe fires out the side)- the car will seem a lot quieter and you won't be raising the clouds of dust every where that you are now. Extending it to exit out the center will work too.

Most 42x37 heads will react favorably when increasing the lift from .475 to .535" so it's worth trying. 

My Google-fu and SOG-fu have not yielded any direct answers so perhaps someone can shed some light on how to synchronize throttle plate WOT position when the accelerator pedal gets pressed all the way to the floor?

Initially, the throttle was opening less than 50 of WOT. So I moved the end of the throttle cable to the first position of the three-hole throttle lever nearest the hex bar axis and when the pedal is pressed down all the way, the throttle plates now open to about 75% of WOT.  I can manually move the center throttle link to 100% WOT with my hand so I know I'm not getting full stroke even though it appears there is nothing binding.

Should I adjust for full stroke with the pedal all the way to the floor and the plates at WOT? Or, should I reposition the center lever arm higher/up a 'notch'?  I don't see how extending the downlinks or repositioning the center hex bar throttle lever will fix the stroke. But that's all I can think of next to going with a fully adjustable angle iron Berg cross bar.

This is an old VS, built by Kirk. Running dual Weber 44s and Redline Hex Bar on a 2276.

Otherwise, the car runs great and is still plenty fast even at 75% WOT. Curious to see how much power this engine really has. 

Thanks in advance! 

What about moving it up 1 hole and shortening the throttle cable?

I did move the cable end up one slot a few weeks ago and it got me to 75% WOT. Shortening the cable or turning the throttle arm clockwise/downwards would get me to 100% WOT, but what I gain in stroke length at WOT end I will lose on the idle side. Not sure if that is a valid assumption.  Are there any adjustments on the carbs linkage to get the throttle plates in sync with the pedal stroke? What I mean by "in sync" is when the pedal is to the metal, the carb throttle plates  are fully open. 

This where the geometry and physics class comes in handy. Angles and leverage ratios.

No I don't think there are travel adjustments on the linkage itself. We can't tel what the problem is from that one photo.

The only thing I'll add is that you definitely don't want the cable twisting the throttle plates against the stops. That's how you end up with a bent throttle shaft in your carb. Think about it, the throttle stop is on one end, and the linkage is on the other.......

Zeffenhausen wrote: "Initially, the throttle was opening less than 50 of WOT. So I moved the end of the throttle cable to the first position of the three-hole throttle lever nearest the hex bar axis and when the pedal is pressed down all the way, the throttle plates now open to about 75% of WOT."

Ok, similar to Danny - this is a Geometry 101 exercise.  Looking at your top photo, you're now at the topmost smaller hole in the throttle lever and that gives you 75% throttle open (TO) when the pedal is all the way down.  Each higher hole gives you a different rate at which the throttles open versus the movement of the cable/pedal.

Moving the lever up one flat doesn't look promising because it will then be straight out towards the rear and will be difficult to get off-idle....The geometry would be all wrong, so leave it where it is.

The next place to look is at the accelerator pedal itself - I've seen some, especially the roller pedals, that don't seem to travel as far as others.  Take a close look a the pedal swing to see if something is preventing full movement OR if the movement can be increased.  That might be an answer.

Beyond that, the easiest solution I can see is to find a new barrel connection (Ace Hardware) with an OD that fits inside the bigger hole right at the top of the lever, and a hole that fits your peg at the end of the cable.  That will give you the maximum amount of cable movement versus the throttle plates.  

Ultimately, I would think that your pedal will then move less distance between the idle stops and WOT, so you'll then have to play with the cable length by moving the cable terminator (the peg attached to the end of the cable that fits into the barrel connection) farther into or out of the barrel to get to a compromise - WOT when fully depressed, sitting on the idle stops when no foot on the pedal.

BTW, I have a big throttle return spring (Ace Hardware) mounted between the fan shroud and that throttle arm on the hex bar to push everything back to idle - You might consider that, too.   ( can get a photo if you need one).

Please be aware that this change will, as you've already found, make your accelerator pedal feel more sensitive as a small foot change makes a bigger throttle change - you may or may not notice that.

Those are the best ideas I can come up with.  Check the pedal travel first.

The other direction to take would be to get longer arms for the ends of the hex bar such that the throttle levers (at the carbs) would move farther given the same pedal stroke.  Maybe you can check to see if the hex bar supplier has different length actuator levers and just get something a bit longer for the carb ends.

I just looked at the Redline site and none of their linkage images will display for me, so that wasn't much help.  Sorry, but see if they have carb actuator arms (Cross bar clamp on lever?) about 1/2" longer than what you have, OR can explain why you're not getting enough travel for the throttle levers you have - maybe they have an easy solution.

It's great to get some input. Nice (or not so nice) to know I wasn't having a captain obvious moment. I learned geometry by pedaling an average of 90 miles per week on my road bike. Cycling gearing, crank and cadence theory applies to carb linkages too!

 20 yrs ago, I had a carbon fiber road bike (still have a hand full of bikes in the garage) that weighed less than 16 lbs. I used to be what they called a 'weight weenie'. I didn't want a triple up front (there were many hills/mountians where I live) so I hacked together an XT long cage derailleur to use with an actual mountain bike xt 32x11 cassette and a compact 50x34 crank instead of the std 53x39. I was more of a velodrome track rider, but I needed billy goat gears to keep up with climbers. I was before my time. I think single line is the new standard for mtn bikes now.

I ride my Trek 950 mountain bike maybe 4 times a year.  The rest of the time I’m on my Trek Madone 5-series road bike, cranking out the miles, usually hovering around 150 per week if weather permits.   Most of my local friends do the same mileage routine and we all get together on Sundays for a casual group ride, sometimes around here and sometimes down into Rhode Island.

Except this year.  It has rained 4-5 out of 7 days each week, hovers around 45° in the morning and you may get out there only to get soaked on the way home.  I’m hoping for improvement in May.  

It’s funny, but if I have the time to take the Speedster out or go ride my bike, I always choose the bike.  What does that say?

Come to think of it, I might have used an 11-34, but I was +200 lbs rider that loved to climb. The four tooth jump to the lowest gear was pretty crunchy, but climbing Bobcat Pass at 9820' elevation and 100 miles into the Enchanted Circle Century (NM) and especially when one lives at sea level, smooth gear changes are not a priority. That gear set suited me well for a while. I did a fair bit of climbing in and around Santa Barbara - Painted Cave with it's +18% switch backs, Gibraltar Rd (not so bad at 8% and 9 miles). I eventually went to an 11/12-21/23/25/26/27 cassette. The 11t is because I love to descend.

For a few years during the riding season, I averaged roughly 200 miles per week (pre kids):

• 70 miles - commute along the South Coast Hwy 101
• 40-90 miles - Sat. AM
• 30-40 miles - Sunday AM recovery

When I WAS in shape, I rode my track bike on the shorter A and B rides albeit with a single front brake. I had to work hard because with the single front break that could only be mounted on the top bar, I never drafted for safety sake. I enjoyed riding in the front dishing out pain to everyone behind. The FUN part was coming up with the proper gear set depending on the terrain of the ride and showing everybody, that one didn't need gears especially on a relatively short intermediate climb. Always enjoyed taking mental note of the faces of every rider I was able to pass on my track bike running +/- 95" gear on the road.

The track bike however, stayed home if there were going to be any roads steeper than 4% and longer than 3 miles. Now, on my road bike, I ride at the back and need to get to the the front at the beginning of a climb so I don't lose contact

When I was down to 155 lbs post surgery, I got blown up hill for the first time. I never understood why those lighters guys ever complained about climbing

My favorite bike has +30K miles. It's a Trek Madone 5.2 (non flared seat post) running on Mavic Cosmic Carbones - 35mm deep fairing. I used to be able to make the wheels sound like a full disc on the road. Sounded cool, but everyone could hear me coming or winding up to contest the 'sprints' along the route. I think now, I'm running an 11x27 cassette.

When I put the Suby in Bridget I came up short on the throttle pull. There's no adjustment on the throttle body so I drilled a hole about an inch above the one on the pedal (roller) arm and reattached the cable there. An inch is about as far as you can go without relocating the throttle cable tube's tunnel exit. 

It's a lot more PIA than working on the top of the engine, but was my only option.

It worked.

I didn't make it to SLO 🙁 But I have made progress. WOT issue solved and full stroke at the pedal means 97-98 % open at the throttle plates. Now when I rev the engine the response is really quick and responsive. I've got a Web 86b 105 degree LSA cam in conjunction with a LWFW and the motor likes to rev really quick. 

Remote external oil filter is in too and along with the external oil cooler, the oil temp is steady at 180F-ish around town and during normal freeway driving. After 30 minutes of spirited driving the oil temp hangs around 208 degrees. It would be interesting to see where the oil temp settles when ambient temperature rises to mid 80s - 90s in a few months. Though I'm on the coast and so I may have to drive inland to get the hotter weather.

Setting up the Speedster for CHT is next on the list as are four new shocks. The camber compensator still needs to be installed.

I'm going to remove the Fuchs deep six hearts (borrowed from my 912) and replace them with a set of driver condition Porsche 5 1/2" steelies. The steelies are HEAVY. A single steel rim WITHOUT a tire weighs approx 20 lbs where the 6" Fuch rim WITH a 195/65 tire mounted weighs 21 lbs!

I'm going to have to drill 72 lbs (18.1 lbs x 4) worth of holes somewhere to make up for the weight 😄

ZFNHSN posted:

I didn't make it to SLO 🙁 But I have made progress. WOT issue solved and full stroke at the pedal means 97-98 % open at the throttle plates. Now when I rev the engine the response is really quick and responsive. I've got a Web 86b 105 degree LSA cam in conjunction with a LWFW and the motor likes to rev really quick. 

Remote external oil filter is in too and along with the external oil cooler, the oil temp is steady at 180F-ish around town and during normal freeway driving. After 30 minutes of spirited driving the oil temp hangs around 208 degrees. It would be interesting to see where the oil temp settles when ambient temperature rises to mid 80s - 90s in a few months. Though I'm on the coast and so I may have to drive inland to get the hotter weather.

Setting up the Speedster for CHT is next on the list as are four new shocks. The camber compensator still needs to be installed.

I'm going to remove the Fuchs deep six hearts (borrowed from my 912) and replace them with a set of driver condition Porsche 5 1/2" steelies. The steelies are HEAVY. A single steel rim WITHOUT a tire weighs approx 20 lbs where the 6" Fuch rim WITH a 195/65 tire mounted weighs 21 lbs!

I'm going to have to drill 72 lbs (18.1 lbs x 4) worth of holes somewhere to make up for the weight 😄

Paging Doctor @ALB Paging Doctor ALB. We need a surgical consult.

Robert M posted:

ZFNHSN posted:

I didn't make it to SLO 🙁 But I have made progress. WOT issue solved and full stroke at the pedal means 97-98 % open at the throttle plates. Now when I rev the engine the response is really quick and responsive. I've got a Web 86b 105 degree LSA cam in conjunction with a LWFW and the motor likes to rev really quick. 

Remote external oil filter is in too and along with the external oil cooler, the oil temp is steady at 180F-ish around town and during normal freeway driving. After 30 minutes of spirited driving the oil temp hangs around 208 degrees. It would be interesting to see where the oil temp settles when ambient temperature rises to mid 80s - 90s in a few months. Though I'm on the coast and so I may have to drive inland to get the hotter weather.

Setting up the Speedster for CHT is next on the list as are four new shocks. The camber compensator still needs to be installed.

I'm going to remove the Fuchs deep six hearts (borrowed from my 912) and replace them with a set of driver condition Porsche 5 1/2" steelies. The steelies are HEAVY. A single steel rim WITHOUT a tire weighs approx 20 lbs where the 6" Fuch rim WITH a 195/65 tire mounted weighs 21 lbs!

I'm going to have to drill 72 lbs (18.1 lbs x 4) worth of holes somewhere to make up for the weight 😄

Paging Doctor @ALB Paging Doctor ALB. We need a surgical consult.

Too bad you've gone to the steelies- 72 lbs is an awful lot of holes to drill! I don't even know if that much is possible on a car of this size. And yeah, a 15x6" Fuchs weighs just over 12 lbs. Even the cast copies weigh 4-5 lbs less than the same size steel wheel. Sorry, having a bit of a brain fart here- what's a LWFW?

On re-reading your post- you've added 8-10 lb per wheel going from the forged aluminum Fuchs to steel so you're only looking at removing somewhere in the neighborhood of 32- 40 lbs to make up for the wheels, but that will still keep you busy for some time to come (write off spare time for the next 6 months or longer). Generally a 15-20% weight reduction is fairly easy and quite often 30% is possible, but it's a lot more work. Fabricating out of aluminum is the way to go, as al weighs about 40% of steel. That's why the Speedster recently for sale (2? 3? months ago?) with the aluminum sub frame was so cool- 120? 150? lbs lighter to start! 

At Carlisle @edsnova suggested I start a thread showing the weight reduction I've achieved with various parts. It may be time- stay tuned Ed, for "Some Of The Holes I Have Drilled" coming soon!

Yoda out.

Figured out LWFW- light weight flywheel (I didn't have an epiphany or anything- it was in your engine specs near the beginning of the thread!)

ALB, LWFW = light weight fly wheel. Yes, I miscalculated and you caught it. But, wheels are rotational and unsprung weight so maybe I'm back up to 72 lbs or more

You must be talking about Alan's old project. Yes, I tried to bring that car into CA and I was close. But ultimately, I found a VS through Greg and I didn't have to go through the SPCN SB100 Certificate of Sequence process.

I drove the car tonight (it's 65 degrees on the coast right now) and when accelerating spiritedly,  I scrape the EMPI exhaust's turn-down tip on the pavement when taking off in 1st gear (the exhaust tip is hanging only 4.25" above the pavement) and then again when I shift into 2nd. There is no scrape when shifting into 3rd, but sometimes I can hear/feel the rear end break loose.  I'm going to try to rotate the EMPI can and cut off the turn-down and weld a single (or a double tip) center-out exhaust. But I really want to see the tangle-of-a-mess CSP Python hanging out from underneath the rear end - because it just looks so cool. And then maybe I'll add a turbo while I'm at it, etc...

Good morning Robert- Yeah, wheels are unsprung and rotational, so if you're looking for the best performance the lighter they are the better. I don't think any amount of weight removal any where else can compensate for heavier rotational weight. And your Speedster sure looks bitchin' with the alloys! What about keeping them on the Speedster since you drive it more? The 912 would see them in the garage every night so he'd know they were close.

Yes, I'm referring to Alan's old project. As I said earlier, with the weight reduction the aluminum sub-frame gave, I would have thought jumping through the hoops to get it SPCN SB100 certified would have been worth it. But that's a whole 'nuther topic...

You were talking about taking the turn down off and adding to the tail pipe to solve the dust and noise problems- have you got to it?

PS- Have you figured out your gas pedal/cable/linkage issue? Are you getting full throttle? I've seen pedal clusters that have dirt/gunk built up and the gas pedal isn't getting full travel.

@ZFNHSN- A couple of pics of lightened 356 wheels (yes I realize yours are 5x130) for inspiration. I don't think you'll take off 8 lbs/wheel though. How strong the first one is I know not...

ALB, Alan's #43 was the one that got away, but I'd probably still be dealing with the DMV-CHP-BAR-Three-toed-Sloth if I had went that direction. But, as you know, I live my life quarter-by-quarter which is why I haven't ordered CocoMats for the delivery is 2-3 weeks

I know a few of us here were interested in Jim's 2332 motor (with all the goodies) and or the car or both and I really did my research on that car. +220 HP in a 1600 lb-ish (special 'one-off' light weight body from unknown origin including sub-frame) Speedster makes for a beast. And it already had Porsche 5x130 bolt pattern so my extra set of Fuchs would have been a direct bolt on. I had spare motor (this one) and I could have also used Jim's old motor in another project.

That said, SPCN SB100 is entirely doable and I researched every aspect of the process too, but I didn't have the overhead for SB100.

The exhaust turned down is still an open action item. And the WOT throttle issue is solved - engine spins up really quick. I recommend the 86b cam with 105 degree LSA in a 2276 for street performance. Around town, the engine runs 1300 - 2300 RPMs as I short shift all the time. On the I-5, the engine is happy to cruise at 2900 RPM easily and still keep up with traffic. Peak torque comes in around 3600 RPMs (the torque curve is flat and long) so bursts to 85-90 mph (to keep up with traffic of course) is easily achieved - the aerodynamics of the Speedster body is sooo great

I'll be looking into 1.4 - 1.5 ratio rockers (currently running 1.25). I think this is a necessary progression. I've started to research turbos

Where have I been?

I have certainly missed you guys and this forum. I've been out for a bit dealing with a third recurrence of my Pancreatic Cancer. I'm down a lower left lung lobe and I'm currently back in remission / no evidence of disease. Rather than opt for chemo, I traded a lung lobe. Not many get a chance to fight metastatic stage four Pancreatic Cancer the way I do (<1%). Now back the matter at hand, and that is...

I'm about to swap my current Deep Six Fuchs 6x15 with Pirelli Cinturato CN36 N4 spec round shouldered wheels in 185/70 to my spare Porsche OEM steel 15" wheels with a more modern 195/65 tires. I'm adding approx 20 lbs of rotating mass to each corner! But these steel wheels are driver condition and perfect for the winter here in S. Cal.

Glad you're back (have you shared your first name with us or are we going to call you ZFNHSN for the rest of our days together here?). You do know that even when you're not actively driving or working on your car you can still post and some of us will still talk to you... And call me Al (come on- you know the tune! _{(do I have to give hints?)}

His name is Robert.  He's a super nice guy with a vast knowledge of P cars and a very sweet replica.

Nice to see you back on here Robert. 

Thank you Troy

Hi ALB, Troy,

Well, it looks like I need spacers for the rear. For perspective, one 5.5" steel wheel with 195/65 weighs as much as two 6" Fuchs with 185/70s 😳

My local go-to bug shop in San Marcos is closed on the weekends now. Maybe I'll check NAPA or LAS and get lucky. I'll need perhaps 1/8" minimum spacer. Will have to try several. 

Done. I used 5mm spacers all the way around. Deep Six 6" fuchs have a different offset than the 5.5" Porsche OEM steely. I have still have 3cm between the rear outside wheel and inner fender so I can go upto 205s if needed with a thicker spacer (non adjustable spring plates allow for the room).  

4 x 20lbs of rotating and unsprung weight certainly affects the driving experience, but the 2276 with the narrow LSA cam seems to not mind as much.  The Speedster is less zippy but I'm happy to cruise around in beater driver wheels during the harsh San Diego winter season 😁

My seven year old daughter was happy to set my tire pressures and push the 912 out of the way before the test drive. 

Happy than my lung function is back and I am able to work on the project (Speedster) that was 'supposed' to free me to work on another project (912) which used to be my daily and with a higher priority deadline. So much for that plan 😳

You have the cutest shop assistant of the week!

Glad you're feeling better and can get out in the shop for a diversion........

I've got a new hero. You rock, Robert.

Welcome back, Robert.

Good for you!

Great to see your beautiful daughter working with you. Perfect!