The Cal-look Lounge

How about some talk and pics of Dave's black Euro '67...   I was stunned how fast this car went on 40mm heads @ Carlsbad when he brought it out.
If I recall, Dave it was a 2276 with some compresh, K8 and those magic Primo heads....
Tell us more about your car.
 8)
Jim

That engine in that car was sweet.  I remember the threads on the old CLF talking about the engine-everyone liked to give Dave a hard time for the small valved heads.  I think it had some funky jetting too like 150 mains and 150 airs with 40 vents, but the numbers didn't lie!

Did you smell something?? ;)

awww, shucks  ::)

I have never given the black car a name, but she has been a good little beast.  I will need to scan some photos from when I bought her.

Interestingly, I still have those heads on the car.  High 10's with 40mm valves.  hehehe

When we were building the car, I was on a very tight budget.  I built the 2276 with a Demello welded crank and a set of Rimco super rods.  Eventually, the crank cracked, but it held up to a lot of abuse.  The heads belonged to a friend that used them for a few years on his race car.  They were old 041 castings with a mild "D" port (unwelded) and 40mm intake / 37 mm exhaust.  Cam has always been an FK-8 with Berg rockers.  Compression was set at just under 10:1 and it did great on the 94 octane gas that we have.
The box was pretty simple with a super beetle mainshaft and 1.48 third and 1.14 fourth.  Car would cruise down the highway just fine at about 4000 rpm.

This was all going on during the height of the DKP era of the late 90's and I used to pick Jim Kaforski's brain about transmission combos and the like.  One day I asked Jim if he thougt I could get the car into the 13's with that combo.  His answer was ' not likely with those small heads'.   ;D

First time to the track was on recapped slicks and the heavy Americans.  First pass, the car pulled hard all the way into fourth and then went flat and nosed over.  Hmmm...weird.  Time slip was a 13.51 though!   :D  (turns out that the fuel vent was plugged and I was sucking the float bowls dry)

Never really made any major changes to get the car down to the low 12s aside from seat time and little tweaks (and slicks of course).  I tried to pull as much weight out of the car as possible when I went to the track in an effort to save the trans and shave hundreths off the time slip.

The car eventually ran high 12.30's on pure pump gas on a 90+ degree day at my local track.  Meanwhile, there were three "friends" who were participating in the Renn Kafer Cup class heavily and one spring, all of them mysteriously picked up 2-3 tenths with no changes to the cars.  Propelyene Oxide had been discovered by the Cal-Look world.  Pretty soon, myself and another Cornpanzer (who will remain un-named) started experimenting with the stuff and found with some jetting changes we could pick up a few tenths.  Eventually I had it down into the 12.20's with the fuel juiced.

Carlsbad was very frustrating.  At home, the car would rip off 1.58 sixty foots on a good day and my 12.20 pass at Cbad was a 1.64.  6 hund on the start is probably a tenth and a half at the big end, so I really think that the car would have been deep in the 12.0's if I could have got traction.  Without a doubt, it could have run in the3 12.20's at sea level Cbad on pump gas with everything else being perfect.

I still have everything to take it back to N/A when I decide it is time.  That is a great combo.  brutal throttle response and yet still VERY street drivable.  

hey, I got a bum rap for that  ;D  You really think that some guy from Ohio figured that out?  I was just the only guy who admitted playing with the nasty stuff!  :o

no matter valve size or fuel, your car hauled ass, Dave. The 12.30 on pump gas, you must be damn proud!  8)

Dave, as you will no doubt recall, you allowed me to take a spin in your car at Milan, and without a doubt, your 2276/K8/9.0/40mm combo had the best mid-range, and torque of any of those engine I have ever drove. As you say, brutal torque says it best. From 3500-4500, that engine flats gets your attention...

Ha, I will never forget that  :D
I figured the only way I was getting my car back was if you ran out of gas or got arrested!  Seriously, what you said and Schwimmer  said stand out as the best compliments that ever got.  My Cal-Look heros dig my car...what more could you ask for!

Remember driving it to that party the night before Milan on the freeway with slicks and the line of traffic behind us getting shotgunned by the stones off of the tires?  ;D   Had no idea why nobody would get close enough to pass us.  ???

Here are a few pics.  1) shortly after I bought it (in 93 I think) I drove it for a summer with a 1600, 8-spokes and blade bumpers.
2) painted it in the garage with a lot of help from my dad.  15 years later, the paint is starting to fail  :'(  3) eeeek!  Polished 5 spokes  :-[

I've said this before, but if there is one car that sits RIGHT, it is Dave's.  Of course the killer wheel/tire combo does not hurt.  Also, as far as the engine combo goes, once in a while I put on the OSV Carlsbad DVD and watch the few seconds with the engine lid up and the car idling/blipping the linkage.  For inspiration, of course.

Dave, I'm pretty surprised with the low compression it picked up anything with the "can".  Around the same time, we put some Propylene oxide into a low compression 2387, and it didn't do a thing except smell funny.  Other guys with high(12-13 to one) compression picked up 2-3 tenths.  Your car and the Palmers' were my favorites of the "Behind the orange curtain" tour.

I knew you were down in the 12's on pump... but I didn't know it was that far down!

Here's one vote for putting it back on IDA's ;)

never ridden in Dave's car, but it sure goes against "the need" for 11:1, megaflow race heads, FK89 and everything else that turned fast street VW's into nothing much more than "conversation pieces".

Thinking about it now, it was pretty silly to spend $50 a gallon on a toxic chemical in an attempt to eke anoth tenth out of the car if that.  I suspect that a tenth was all it ever gave me.

Thanks Jim for the kind words.  The car means a lot to me.  I dont play with it as much as I should, but it isnt going anywhere.

Like I said, the paint is getting pretty hinky, so someday I will go through it.  I have a lot of choices.  I keep telling myself that I am ready to chop out the roll bar and return it to the IDA spec...but then I drive it!  Seriously, that kind of power in a VW is a real hoot.  I am totally done with the racing thing, (way too lazy for that action any more) but part of me knows that there is a 10.50 or better in that car and I would like to have one last blast at driving to the track, laying down a mid 10 and driving it home.

Other days I look at it and want to strip it down, dechrome it, buggy bumper it and build a "real" Cal-Look car like these guys from the UK and Europe are building.  But I dont know...it has an awful lot of history just like it is.

The third option is to just freshen it up and return it to the way it was in 2003 when we drug the cars out to California.  I just cant leave things alone.  I have the attention span of a retarded kitten and I get restless if I'm not changing things.  :)

 :)

you and I are riding in the same boat. I look @ my car, and think how proud I was of it when it ran 12.60's, and though it did it on pump gas, it was still a close ratio, slick'd prima donna that truly was driven a fraction of the time I drive it now. My paint is definitely showing its 20 year old too, lots of nicks and knocks. I look at and think "one of these days....  I will repaint it same color, leave the brightwork, leave the US bumpers, leave the Japanese BRMs...etc", then I get into the groove of "nope I'm gonna build my dream California Look thing, Porsche 930 Ice Blue, fully dechromed, no bumpers, 911 alloys in RSR finish (7" rear), huge cc 230hp flashbulb motor, 5 speed, FTC m/s...etc...", but truly, I think I am going to let my kid's blossoming interest in VW's continue to grow, and end up letting him dictate what we do... within reason of course... (no Baja jobs  ::))
I think, if you enjoy driving the car with the turbo.... if it blows the cobwebs out of your eyes, then leave it dude... you have the 911S too for the 'refined' side of things, right?  ::)

For some reason that still stands out in my memory !?!
Remember the Corvette that passed you on the right on the shoulder  ?
 >:(  8)  :-X

Dave what kind of suspension set up did you run in the front and the rear when you were running deep in the twelves?

i am not a trim-fan, but yours and Art's green car are allowed to have trim.  ;)

There's nothing wrong with having a little "trim" on your car.

Dave's car is one of my two favorite Euro 67s.

Sorry.. you can't have the IDAs back.... i'm using them.

I love that car and those Americans. Hairdryer or IDAs its still a kick ass car.

--louis

IDAs maybe, but leave the rollbar in. If it goes shiny side up even running 12's it'll ruin your morning... The bar in there may stop it hurting through the afternoon too. ;)

Branden, its always had the same simple set-up.  Stock torsions in the rear with bus snubbers and cheap oil shocks.  In the front I had a 2.5" narowed beam with drop spindles and three way drag shocks

exact beauty 67 lol

Nice comments here for Dave and his sweet car. 

Dave, I never saw the pics with the polished 5-spokes.  You really got the nose down low huh? :D 

Perhaps you should toss the IDA's back on and add a 5-speed?   :P

Blowing the dust off this one. Hopefully you guys can provide some motivation for later this year. Finally uncovered the 67 after about three years in the corner of the garage. The paint is really starting to look rough after 25 years. The motor is wounded and the gearbox is suffering. If I can find time, I’d like to pull the motor out this winter and throw the IDAs back on. Jason at Paradise is sending me some Weber rebuild kits as we speak. Had a lot of fun with this car… need to get it back together.

Thank you for such a wonderful post!

Hearing this car in front of voa so many years ago is the reason I’m still hanging around these cal look forums/cars

go for it, Dave! hope to see some pics

Well that's one hell of a way to get the Lounge excited... Any thoughts on what you'll be doing with/to the motor aside from taking it back to IDAs?

Awesome Dave!  If you need some pointers on getting the paint looking good enough for you send me some photos and I will provide some input.  I used to detail on the side and there has been so much advancement in detailing products over the years it is crazy.

Looks like you still have one of my surgeon general stickers...ha ha!

Good eyes Don. And the seats have the release handles on them that my dad bought from you 25 years ago.  :)

Cool...!

Go for it.
I always liked the articles in ultravw about your car.

Henk!!!

One of the sexiest Cal-Look ever done and you ask yourself what to do with?  ;) ;)

What size and lug pattern are the Americans?

Still such a cool car!

5x130

Yeah, Porsche bolt-circle.  7” in the rear and custom narrowed 4” in front.

I have a set of 14 x 7 and 15 x 8 in the Chevy pattern. Bought for a great price but ment for a 1st gen Camero. Guess I could drill another set of drums and rotors.

Ha - I did the same on my TTDs - narrowed 7s to 4 on fronts but needed to narrow the beam 3 to get them to sit right.
You need to narrow the beam Dave?

Yeah, narrowed the beam 2 1/2” before you could buy narrowed beams.  Probably 1995.

So...Been a stressful week.  Had some time to kill this afternoon and decided to stop at my buddies shop and look at the 67. One thing led to another and before long  I had jerked off the turbo and carburetor. Polo shirt, khakis and my brown dress shoes, standing in the back seat floor removing all the turbo stuff for the last time. 
Next thing to do is pull the motor. I may wear more suitable clothes for that.
My friend has an old Vertex magneto. Hmmmm...

Don't you just hate getting your nice clothes all dirty with what you thought would be a 5-minute wipedown? I'm excited to see some progress though, it's always good to get something done, no matter how small.

Can’t wait to see it back out Dave!!   No more stinger distributor?

Like Andrew says !!  ;D ;D

That's usually the more imprected productive times,  getting in the shop, looking at things, thinking to just thigthening a bolt and ending with more stuff done in a few hours than the last few months  ;D ;D
You can clean or buy new clothes, good time is priceless  ;)

... the car did fall over from what you did to it though...

Eh?  ???

it was meant as a joke... sorry, it must be my sense of humour. the nose is supposed to point to the left in the picture, not down.  ;)

WOW, look who's here :o  I had to set the computer screen on the floor and lay on my side to view your pic... WTF!?!  I'm OLD for christsakes!

yes!  ;D

does this make me old too?  ??? ;D ;D

sorry to highjack your tread Dave. with all due respect, I am glad for you that you are working on your car. I love your car (I have the picture of the line up with your car in California, it also had troy's white ragtop in it. his vw trends feature had the same location as that shot)

Sorry.  I don’t know how to fix that picture...who’s old now? 🤣. Sure is nice to hear from you Sarge.  Hopefully can get out there and see everyone again soon.

What size is those rear tires and what is your gearbox ratio like.

Rear tires are Firestone slicks with Caldwell recaps.  20+ years old and NLA for a long time.  Going to have to replace them with something new, but not many good options.

Stuff is happening...slowly...

Yeehaw

I feel so much lighter...

Lighter is a good way to feel... except for my car, lighter just means I need to get my shit together and fix some rust. Glad to see you're still plugging away, slow progress is still progress!

Wow! If that were mine . . . I'd have bricks in my toilet right about now!!
AWESOME Dave!  8)

     ....FIXED!!! ;D

But do you think you are at 25 inch diameter on the rear tires.

Without the cage does the DVKK sticker have to go?  ;D

Nope. It's a life time badge of honour.  Kinda like a war medal for turning 100 mph in the quarter.

And it ran 100 in the quarter long before the cage.

Sam I were just talking about this, and the legend of the 40mm heads... Any progress on the re-IDA-ification?

Unfortunately nothing significant.  Collecting a few parts.  Hoping to get the gearbox out soon so that I can pull the spool and change the R&P.

You could get a limited slip form about $1500 from Paul Gard.  I got myself one for Christmas. He advertises on the Samba,

Don, I’m a cheapskate.  :D
I’m just going to throw a super-diff in it and be good with it.

God Luck~

Seeing as how a Quaife would easily double the cost of any good gearbox, it's hard to blame you there! And nothing wrong with slowing down a bit to collect some parts, it's better than getting halfway through a job before realizing you need another $750 worth of parts to finish!

A better answer is that Superdiffs are significantly lighter.

Jeez, how much are Quaifes over there, then? Quaifes are amazing value for money – at least, they are over here. Just paid roughly £700 UK for one for my 901 Porsche trans. That's cheap.

in a porsche a quaife is the cheap part, in a vw not so... in both it is a good part to have  ;D :P

Last I checked, a Swingaxle Quaife runs about $1,500-$1,600. I paid about $1,300 for my "built" 4.37 'box three years ago with H.D. axles, superdiff, hardened keyways, 3.78 mainshaft, etc.

We might have finally found the anomaly, the one Porsche part that's actually cheaper than the VW equivalent!

In case anyone is interested- Dave is interviewed on the Lets Talk Dubs podcast. Good episode.

thats a TBD. his limited slip was USD2200

Dave’s not home

Who’s this Dave guy…

I'm following this instead of making a phone call or just stopping by. Not trying to bother Mr.Conklin.  ;D

Finally got the gearbox out yesterday.  I move slow nowadays.
Ordered a new linkage from Berg since I have somehow lost the one I bought from Mark Herbert back in 2000 or 2001.  It was off of the Quaife test engine…gutted that I can’t find it  ???

Maybe it's because you've been driving the '62 so much. It might be time to get back in the '67 and reclaim a little pep in your step!


also... if Berg is backlogged on the linkage let me know. I can pull one out of the stash for ya  ;D

Jason at VW paradise started working on my engine. Goal was to have it together this weekend. Unfortunately inspection of the cylinder heads show the both of them are cracked from the combustion chamber through the ports.  Sad day. Those were such killer heads.  Honestly though, I’ve had them for nearly 25 years. And I bought them used off of another race motor. They certainly served their time.
New wedge ports  from CB are on order. It’s going to be a really different motor… I’m sure it will be fine though

what kind of cam will you go with?

damn... I feel for you. the whole fuzz about your car is 50% what you achieved with these heads  ;D but onward and forward. maybe this 'new' technology isn't that bad  ;D

good luck. I do hope the fk8 is still good