70s fiberglass gasser project (Super Steeler from Massachusetts)

[Vwfreak53]

Well I started tearing into this car today. The body is in excellent shape but the chassis is toast. The elements have taken their toll on not only the pan halves but also the bottom of the tunnel. I'm currently looking at a couple of options for a clean donor pan. The interior was packed to the roof with old engine parts. Some from this car and some not. There's a case bolted to the transmission and mocked up with some pieces but a lot of the bottom end stuff was in the car.





Among other stuff, I found an old SPG roller crank, DDS cam, and these OG empi rockers. I'm gonna try and blast them and see if they can be salvaged. The tips that contact the valve stems are like new so I may be ok.



I also found an old parachute inside the car as well. Must have been a wild ride.

I'm gonna strip down the mocked up case tomorrow and start on rejuvenating the original 48 IDAs. I'm hopeful they can be saved. Throats are like new. Fortunately someone had sense enough to put stack covers on them before they parked it.

[Vwfreak53]

BTW, the Deano Dyno Soars can is marked DDS 146. Anyone with old catalogs know the specs on this cam or an Engle equivalent?

[65bug]

God I hate rust!

[Lee.C]

Cool..... I'll be keeping an eye on this one 

[Mirco Jufer]

Very very nice Car!!!
Do you have more Pics?
Whish you all the best with the Restauration

Regards from Switzerland

[Shane Noone]

Be real cool if all those old parts clean up and are re-useable - period motor 

[Vwfreak53]

That's my hope. I'd like to reuse as much of this stuff as possible. I'll post a lot more pics today. The exhaust is especially wild.

I've gotta say I've long been a fan of these early drag bugs. With guys like Russell Ritchie and the Schley Bros revitalizing these cars and Dean Kirsten documenting the history, I've been really inspired to find a gasser project of my own. Granted its not even close to the same league as the Lightning Bug, Tar Babe, or Inch Pincher, I think it still deserves a second chance at opening up it's IDA's again. The owner told me this car raced for 10 years. 1972-1982. I've got a long road ahead, but having a body pulled from the same mold as the original EMPI Jouster is all the motivation I need!  

[speedwell]

i think this tread will be a cool one,
here're some folder  from dds catalog  and there's nothing about a DDS-146 cam , now may be someone have more info

[Vwfreak53]

  The plot thickens! Must be a super secret prototype Deano special cam! I mean, how else do you explain the 250 hp? We've found the secret ingredient! LOL

[Vwfreak53]

[56BLITZ]

VERY COOL!!!!! I wish you much success in the restoration!
The 8 spokes go very nice with the spindle mount 12 spokes. Must be a '68 transaxle, right?

[dannyboy]

really cool adventure this is going to be 

[Zach Gomulka]

Very neat car. I think it should be known as the FiberGasser.

[Vwfreak53]

Thanks gang. I'm told the tranny is from a 68 Type 3 and has close ratio gears.

Fibergasser is brilliant! Love it!

[Vwfreak53]

Tore into some of the engine parts today. Got the IDAs pulled off and they look like theyll bounce back with rebuild kits and a soda blast. I'd like to shake the hand of whoever had the foresight to put the stack covers on. I really like the vintage crossbar linkage. Very primitive but cool in how it mounts at the manifold/carb. I also found EMPI markings (upside down) on the top of the manifolds under the mounting stud edge.







When did they switch from the globe design to this stamping? I've seen both styles on the samba...

[Black Sheep]

loving the linkage , less is truly more , manifold / carb grounded linkage ensures adjustment doesn't go outta balance as the motor warms & stretches 

[Zach Gomulka]

Globe style came later.

[Jens-Ole]

Now this is really something! 

[Fritter]

Very cool find!  I love it!  Some cool parts so far for sure.  Run the magneto, it's period correct and also gives better spark. 

I looked up that cam in my Deano stuff and I couldn't find it, maybe it's a later (mid 70s) Deano cam of some sort?

What type of front end is on it, a Deano?

[Duck]

Awesome, shall be watching this. I would imagine the hunt has already started for in period pictures by someone on here

[Neil Davies]

So pleased to see you go this car! I've read the threads and I'm bringing my thoughts together here!

If it was mine, I'd look for a new floorpan, as you've already stated, with a VW beam up front, swingaxle rear. I'd cut the cage out and replace with a fresh mild steel one that's as close as possible to the original so you can use the interior aluminium panels, but without the rust and updated to current specs (adding sill bars and a diagonal in the roof for example). I know you said that you won't be racing it competitively, but it wouldn't hurt to have it "right"!
Keep the body as-is if possible, like Russell did with Stutt Bee - it's a shame to lose the look of the car, even if it's not that well known.
Motorwise, I'd use the 82mm crank and H-beams and build a high-compression race gas 2180 with the DDS cam, IDAs and magneto, so it's a period perfect look and feel but still reliable. As for the gearbox, check out what's in there already - you might find it's perfectly suited to the motor part you've got!

[AntLockyer]

I agree with Neil.

[Vwfreak53]

That's awesome advice Neil! And that's also along the lines of what I'm thinking.... As much as I'd love to see this car shiny and new again, they're only original once. This car just oozes cool as it sits. A new cage is definitely at the top of my priority list too. I'd like to make this car as safe as possible, seeing as how the fiberglass body doesn't offer much in the way of protection if the unthinkable were to occur.

Yes, my hunt for period goodies for the motor has begun. It's evident by the prices on some of this stuff that it's still highly collectible!

I found a Deano cam grind 141D on the samba. Anyone know if the specs for a D cam are different from the 141 listed in the spec sheets above? Also, are these a 1:4 cam or 1:1/1:25?

Has anyone had problems with these old cams flattening lobes when being used with today's insane spring pressures?

[Black Sheep]

I agree with Neil.

X2

[Vwfreak53]

After reading the entire Stutt Bee revival thread, my mind is made up. This is the way to go. Today was spent stripping the car down to prepare to separate the body and pan. Hopefully it's stable enough to hold together. The fiberglass seems fairly thick.

[Fritter]

Maybe instead of a real Deano cam, you could just find a new cam with specs the same or very close to a real Deano cam.  Keith Seume's aircooled interchange book would be good to find the right cam.

[Vwfreak53]

I'll check that out. I haven't been able to find anything out so far about the specs of that particular grind of DDS cam. Thanks for the tip!

[Shane Noone]

Any pics of the heads yet and are you going to try and re-use them. Guessing they have been extensively hand ported and re-worked  hey maybe by the legendary FF himself !

[Vwfreak53]

I'll try and get pics of them today. Problem is I don't know if these were the heads the car actually ran or not. The "engine" it came with was a mocked up mish mash of parts. So far, though, it's yielded an SPG roller crank, DDS cam, OG empi 1.4 rockers, and OG Empi IDA manifolds with Italian 48 IDAs. All parts definitely match the period when the car was built-1972. So we will see what else is there...

[Vwfreak53]

Sorry it's been a couple days... Finally got the 63 ragtop put away for winter which freed up space for the gasser. Jacked it up today to see what I've got going on with the front end. Don't know if its a Deano unit or not-but certainly representative of tube beams of that era. I'd really like to switch this over to the new donor pan...











Spindle mount wheels are marked American Racing