We lost another one of the VW world's good guys today

[Martin S.]

When I heard of Steve Szczepanski getting cancer a few months ago, I couldn't help but think of the worst and thought about that saying,
'When you do things for yourself, they die with you, but when you do things for others, they live on forever.'
Can't help but think of him and all he's done for me and my VW collection.
It's too bad he didn't even make it into his 40's when many people go on to do some of their best work of their lives.
Many will remember him for the crazy 2-stroke front engined Type 4 powered Kars & Trucks race bug, as well as building and tuning some of the fastest cars in the world, like Red Victor the fastest street car in the UK at one point a few years ago.
Here's a pic when we were out for the first big ride with my new 'race engine tuned for the street' 2332 with the laptop, man those were exciting times a few years ago...

[Peter]

RIP

[AngelzDD]

Rest in Peace

[jamiep_jamiep]

Damn that's way too young RIP

[Martin S.]

He drove to my house to drop off keys I left at his shop one day, and to my surprise he was driving his RX7. Just idling down the block it set off all the car alarms! I think it had over 2000 hp at one point. How many street legal cars have a chute at the back? Check it out in this vid  http://www.streetfire.net/video/mps-mazda-rx7-3-rotor-20b-peripheral-port-turbo-w_39704.htm

[leec]

Such a shame. Clearly a talented guy in a dream job.

[Martin S.]

Here's some of the story on his VW van, a local legend...

'This is fast!!

This bus started out as a stock westfalia, all the body modifications were made more out of need than for looks. Right now housed in the rear of this beast is a 2.7L Race Prepped Porsche 911 RSR engine coupled to a modified 915 5-speed gearbox. Oh did i forget to mention the custom 10" dia. turbo, and intercooler from a Western Star tractor trailer? This isn't as wild as steve's projects get but it's his daily driver and I'll add the insane stuff when the website is more complete. The engine's bottom end is fairly stock and using a nice set of JE pistons. The cam lobe profiles were designed by steve and cut to his specs. For injection he started with a stock 911 Mechanical injection which was torn down and modified to supply the mass amounts of fuel this beast drinks. He ran the bus for a year without turbo and it ran a 14.5 in the quarter mile even with the tall gears in the porsche tranny (It was bearly into 3rd gear at the traps).


Now the bus has the turbo installed and is running great. As the bus has no injection computer, steve made up an ingenious fuel enrichment circuit that is adjustable in infinite ways and reads the boost pressure from the intake. Unfortunatley we don't have a 1/4 mile time for the bus with the turbo but let me assure you IT IS FAST! What I can tell you is that on "closed road" testing we have hit 275 km/h or 170mp/h using a megellan GPS unit for the speed reading. This doesn't mean that the van won't go faster, we just didn't have the courage to push it any more. The engine had plenty more to go.


Getting the bus stable at speeds well above the posted highway limits was quite a chore. The first thing to go was the westfalia pop-top as it wasn't designed to stay affixed to the roof at the speeds the bus was reaching (every type of hinge setup was tried before steve decided to do away with it all together). Next was to shave everything that stuck out and grabbed air. The front was cut off and a new smooth front with old style headlamps installed. Just to be sure, the body was extended down five inches all around to keep the air out from under the bus. The suspension was also lowered 3 inches and good gas shocks installed. A custom rear wheel disc setup was designed and installed for added stopping power. You might be wondering where the side mirrors are, well there aren't any. They were tossed and little camera's installed which provide better vision day and night. The dash was also tossed and a custom one installed.It features full 911 instrumentation. The end result is an aerodynamic (and I use the term loosely), toaster shaped beast, that is very stable and is as much a joy to cruise in on long highway trips as it is to blast up the highway for a quick speed fix.



Engine: Porsche 911 RSR (1974), RSR Connecting Rods, Cam Shafts, Valve Sizing, JE High Compression Pistons, Running Individual Throttle Bottle, Time Mechanical Fuel Injections, Mild-Port and Polish, Porsche 930 CB Joints Axles. 3-2-1 Tubular Headers, Custom Turbo (4” Diameter Compressor Inlet), Wholesale Cartridge with Garret. Kenworth Tracker Trailer [All Piping 3” Mendrel Bent (4x4ft)]. Custom Air Filter (8”x14”). Porsche 915 GearBox-with modified drivegob between 1st, & 2nd gears. Short Throw Shifter, Custom Linkage by Kars N Trucks (KNT).


Chassis: Debagged, Front Head Lights (From A Beetle’65), H4 Lenses (Integrated Turning Single). Body Shaved (Mirrors, Door Handles, Front Shaved, Bumpers). 4” Body Skirt (Steel). Two CCD replace the original sport mirrors. Two 4” C/LCD Screens to view the CCD. Sunroof-Steel Reinforced (5ft x 3ft). Suspension-Adjustable Rear/Front Torsion Bar, Shocks-KYB Gas Adjust. Chamber Adjuster by KNT. Camper Top Removed (due to high speed). Door Handles removed-Keyless door Entry [Early GM Power Door Lock Solenoids].


Wheels: TSW Stealth 7x15”, TOYO Proxes T1-S 205-45-15.Rear Brakes- Mercedes Benz 190 - 2.6 Rotors (Disc Conversion).Front Brakes-Stock.Calipers- ETE Factory Volkswagen


Inside: Custom Steel Dash (Steve’s Personal Work), Stock VW Golf ’89 Seats, Full 911 Instruments/Gages. All Westafalia Cabinets Removed


ICE: Nakamachi TD45 Head Unit, MF51 CD Bank, External DA Converter, Dell Inspiron 7000 (Running MP3’s). Rockford Fosgate Symmentry EPX2. Rockford Fosgate 400A4, Fosgate 252A2, Hyphonics Bulltar 400Watts. 8 X 12” Crunch Performance Plastic Cones, 2 X 6.5” Moral-with 3” Voice Go, 2 x 2” Coil Pureless Mid Tweats.



VW BUs with porsche rsr engine (http://www.needforspeed.ca/stevefeature.asp#)

http://www.needforspeed.ca/img/features/steve/sideleft-BIG.jpg
http://www.needforspeed.ca/img/features/steve/mainpic-BIG.jpg http://www.needforspeed.ca/img/features/steve/sideleft4-BIG.jpg

[Martin S.]

Here's the vid of the Race Bug - Supercharged 2 Stroke 2.0L Type 4 front engined drag bug getting tuned.
The whole project only took three months. I like how the engine sounds like a dirt bike when he's revving it in the vid.
When I asked what happened to the motor, he said it sheared off the 5 bolts holding the flywheel onto the crank as if they were laser cut!

http://www.streetfire.net/video/mps-supercharged-2-stroke-20l-type-2-front-engine_39692.htm