The Cal-look Lounge

just wanted to bring back a topic that Jim started about cars that are fun to drive. if can remeber corectly he was refering to cars that may not be the fastest or the best cars on the market, but rather something that puts a big smile on your face when you drive it. and still is able to kick you in your seat when you push the pedal.

i have come up with the same thing over the last weeks. as i am building the new engine (well in my mind at least) i have caught myself thinking about it's performance as well.
at first i would have been happy with an engine that had a slightly better power output as the previous one (say around 120HP) and a more reliable combo
but then i got to talk to Steve at his shop and was telling me about his heads being able to reach 150HP (the style he suggested for my engine anyway). so at first i was pleased to hear that, but soon i realised it takes a lot more effort and planning to have such a powerfull engine in my car... don't get me wrong, now i want the 150HP engine and if possible even better performance, but i could have settled for less. or would i?

well that brings us to the topic, what is a great power (hp/ torque) figure in any given car that has that wow-factor to it. maybe it is a 356 (light and decent power, but not as big as amercan cars of the same era). just what would be fun in my type3. i allready know it doesn't need to get the highest RPMs, but it needs to pull from 1000rpms till???, just like a ????

Hi nicolas, thanks for bringing this topic back up. I like what you're thinking. To me, there all kinds of car guys. Some guys are into having the best e.t. on time slips, and don't give a rat's ass how the car actually drives. Some of these same guys get upset with the slightest bit of dirt on the same car. Some guys enjoy collecting the desirable stuff that is drying up before our eyes. Some guys enjoy spending all their energy on getting every screw and circlip cad plated and so on. Some guys just want a car that looks presentable and works as a car, but want to scare the pants off themselves when they take the car out and nobody's around to slap their wrist.

To me, and I may be the only guy in the world that thinks this way.....but having a car be "fast" is made more from the sensation you get than from an e.t. at the strip. Sure, a car that boogies down the strip in under 13 seconds is obviously insanely fast. But to me, if that same car is a bitch to drive around like a "normal car" (so now we have to define "fast" and "normal" so far....) then it isn't "fun fast." To me it is about the sensation..  the snappy yowl from the carbs when you stomp the throttle, the whizz and zing from a nice tight valvetrain, the way the nose rises ahead of you when the cam comes on, the way the car has a pounding, off beat, hard-edged idle. The way the car gets through a corner under power, and brakes before a corner, and loads suspension....to me all this stuff makes a fun car that could be fast. If you want to talk numbers, think power to weight ratio... 13 lb per hp seems to be where to draw the line. So that's where I come up with the 150hp number. A 1900lb Bug with 150hp falls just below the 13lb/hp mark.
If you've driven or ridden in a car with a power to weight ratio in the 12's-13's then you know they are fast enough to wake you up.
Given that a VW has 60% of weight biased to the rear, I think that only adds to the rush when you accelerate. The car isn't going to waste a pair of tires like a front engine/rwd or front engine/fwd car is going to. It is going to squat and if it has sufficient rubber under the rear fender, it's going to launch. The lack of sound deadening and the noisiness of the air-cooled motor too... you hear it all with a Weber motor. Even a Kadron motor can sound mean and turn heads.
I'm not sure I have segued into this topic nicolas with what you were thinking, and I'm sorry if I just took the topic off in orbit.
have fun
Jim

mmh, poetry on the lounge  ;D

Dieds.. ::)

Anyway something else to think about.

"Fast" kind of depends on your surroundings too. Maybe the reason the 70's Cal Look cars seemed so fast was because all of the new "muscle cars" back then were being strangled like a goat by a python. Remember, this was the beginning of emissions standards. Six liter + V8's were making 150hp or so....now that's pathetic. And in a car weighing 3500lb +....now wonder little 125hp Bugs were cleaning their clocks.

Nowadays with 300hp Evos and STi's and so on....it changes the playing field.

poetry it is, and exacly what i was refering to.

i got the idea of bringing back the topic as my dad has bought a 635CSI BMW form 83. and it has the same engine as a 535i he had when i was 18 and learing to drive. i know this car wouldn't run a decent quarter mile because of the weight, but it had a good sound and a nice reving engine. i liked how it was powerfull and how you need to know how to drive a car,otherwise it would set you off the road without any hesitation. a dangerous toy in the hands of an 18-year-old, but a great experience learning to handle it and 'feeling' the car.
but my fastback needs to be all that,but different. it needs to be lighter and more of a 2seater sportscar. i know a bug would suit my needs better,but it is a type3 that i have and that has to do the trick.

so i short all i need is the weight of my car, so i can decide what engine i need  ;D

thanks jim.
have a glass of red wine and some french cheese, that would look good on a poetry-night.

Then, apart from the tranny, i build the right engine for me. It's doing fine in traffic, stays cool, and i can drive it to Bitburg, do low 15's and drive back home at 130 kmh.  It might not mean a lot to you guys, but it gives me a smile on the streets all the time.

interesting topic indeed! i guess you'd need to look for more of a backroad engine like jim referred to some time ago.

completely off-topic, but i met a guy that put a 635CSI engine in a late 70ies 3 series. now, that sounded mean and looked scary when he took off  ;)

how about a tall cold beer and a double cheeseburger?

i would like it. it is somewhat what i am after as well. what engine is it in what car?


ah a very nice engine in a pretty light car. btw i love late 70's 3series. just look really cool. would love to have one.
whatever makes you talk!

cool.
BMW 320i, 323i, 2002, E24 6 series, E28 5 series....all cool cars, done the old way, all BMW's that were built like iron.
I had a buddy I helped out with his 2002. He did his own port work on an E12 head, found a Schrick cam that was much like a K8, and bumped displacement to 2190cc, fed by 45DCOE's. You want to talk fast? He's now running an S14 M3 motor in the car.

Anyway, very cool topic. I like to think this was what it was all about in the beginning of the scene.

thanks, i thought so when i read your post, but couldn't put it in words then. and hush hush about those other beatifull germans or we might be banned to the offtopic section.  ;D

Hi Nicolas, its a 2165 in a stripped out Mex - Bug.

(BTW, Let's keep Jim on a red wine and Cheese)

I would throw early British sports cars in that group. Bug eye sprites, MG TDs, Triumph spitfires. Not insanely fast. But they are light, you can build strong engines for them, your arse is inches off the ground, old style live axle suspension you can get out of shape on a curve, very minimal in nature. I loved my MG when I could get it to run. Get it side ways going around a curve then punch the throttle and get it going in the right direction again. Hitting a curvy road as fast as it would go, heal toe, tap the brakes to set the suspension then power through the curve. Of course, that was when I could get it to run.  ::)

For my '67 I want a good driving engine that has enough umph to scare me occasionally. I am more interested in power under the curve than ultimate horse power. Now I will admit to occasionally getting "Fastest Car in the Valley" syndrome but I usually can pull out of it. I would rather it be a car I am happy to get in and drive, quickly, than something that is a chore no matter what time slip it turns in. Otherwise it will end up sitting in the garage and not out on the road where it belongs. Besides, if I want to go insanely fast, I will build a dedicated race car. (Besides as much as I love VWs, there are better cars to go really, really fast in.)

--louis

Fast VW street car?
I've scared myself with 80hp Baja bugs and with street bugs in the rain. :o
I'd enjoy another bug with 180 hp with air cleaners and a nice muffler and a 5 speed close ratio box.
A close ratio like Beecher’s Porsche 5 speed with a long 1st and close gears in the rest the stack to effortlessly short shift from 0 to 60 as it paces all the newer import cars.
Given the choice fast on the street or the track?
Unlike the street, when you push a buddy at the track you'll only find faster/overtaking likeminded drivers in your mirrors. ;)
Just consider it, from fast VW to fast Porsche is an easy transition. ;D
(http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s39/TedDrake/th_ChasingGGRMikes59BlueRSR.jpg) (http://s148.photobucket.com/albums/s39/TedDrake/?action=view&current=ChasingGGRMikes59BlueRSR.flv)
 

aren't Wink Mirrors great 8)

Hi Gary,
Reading your quote just flashed an awesome image of your car in my mind.
Imho the wink ;) ;) is your car's signature mirror. :)
A Happy and healthy New Year to you!
Mike

Oah! nice Video. Where`s the track? For me it looks a little like Zandfoort, but there are more dunes  ;D

What kind of engine do you hav in the 911? Sounds like a 3.6 aircooled?

Reguards,
Dirk

Music to my ears...

Although it isn't a callooker,the idea of a fast streetcar remains.This has been my daily driver since 1993.Repainted in 1999 because it was 80,s purple but allways driven to all the meets incl bugjam and raced.

It had a 2.4 typ4 with 175 bhp so it's nice to play with most other cars.
(http://www.keversite.nl/fotoalbum/fotos/62907.jpg)
(http://www.keversite.nl/fotoalbum/fotos/62906.jpg)

I eventualy sold it in august because I needed funds to build the tikimadness,But I kept the engine ;)

michael

One thing that comes to my mind when talking about fast street cars is the setting of goals and the achievement to get to them. I like the achievement part, or the trip to get there, as it contains a challenge. When it is done, it is done and new goals have to be set. So I am not in to driving fast but I set up three goals for my car.
1. It should do sub 13 ET:s on the strip
2. It should manage to give a mileage of less then 20 mpg
3. Cruise comfortable at 60 mph

So it took me some 5 years to accomplish it but it was years of fun and a learning curve. This is what I have accomplished so far:
1 12.35 @107 mph is the best ET to date but a 7.80 in the 1/8 mile on a non prepped track is promising…..
2. Mileage is 19.60 mpg doing 60 mph for about an 1 hour (non city traffic)
3. Comfort zone is best at 55 mph but it works ok up to 65-70 but then the sound is to evident for an elder men like me

So after trashing some camshafts my new goal is a little better ET, same milage and cruisning speed but I need to work on the sound and longevity of the camshaft (2 cams have gone flat). Also, it would be fine if the wife liked the comfort and essence of the speed and the sound of the Webers....but that is an other story :)

(http://www.braclub.se/galleri/org/Torsdags%20Körning%207/6-07/20070618211718.JPG)

I had similar goals except for the 1/4mile times.I went to bugjam had fun on the strip and then drove to monaco to have a holiday with wife and friends.4500 km in 2 weeks and no trouble at all. ;D

best 1/4 mile in that car was 14.3

sam engine in new car gets the time down to 13.6

michael

Agreed. Back when I got into it a 13 at 100 + was the benchmark and that's what I aimed for with my car but now I'd quite like a 12 as that seems to be the new benchmark. Whatever though, in the terms of our branch of the car hobby a 'fast street car' has to have a quarter time or we might as well all get a German Looker or far worse still a Resto-Cal!  :o


Why? I get in excess of 26mpg cruising and though I haven't done a 12.35 I'd say that the art of the street is as much gas mileage as possible?

Shall we say MILEAGE IN EXCESS OF 24MPG?


I prefer a car to be comfortable at 80.  8)

nice one Mat

i think the 'rules' set out by DKPIII is a good reference as well. But time slips will not tell the whole story. i think a 1776 that does a 14 sec run is as worthy as a 2276 doing a 12...

but glad to hear this tread is on a roll!

Hey Tikimadness,i liked the car when it was purple with the big bass speaker in the back and that you had to drive with sounddeathning earprotectors, ;D

To me my experience with fast streetcar is like Jim mentioned,the sensation rather then a time slip of a 1/4 race.
That sensation was brought to me with my first 1679cc engine with all the works.
Having previously run in a stock 1300 beetle and then upgrading to a 1679cc back in the 80's with some 80-90 hp brought a smile to my face,especially when i installed a superdiff in the stock gearbox and i could do donuts and put some rubber with both wheels on the tarmac.

After that i wanted to go faster and so began the quest for speed and upgrading to bigger engines till i began dragracing which i still do on a semi pro level. 8)

I think that the use of a EFI would effect gas milage in a positive way. The use of sound killing intake systems like they use on the German Look cars would also contribute to comfort. To me EFI has only one disadvantage and that is the price of the parts, too mouch compared to a regular 48 IDA. I went the route with enlarged 48 IDA:s back in 93 and that is what I have today. I might be narrow minded but I have not, so far, seen an attractive sulotion on a sound killing device that fits in to the small engine bay with a big motor/carbs so I guess what we have for the time being, that is it.

As I stated I need new goals. I might go for 10 seconds and N2O or I might go for better milage and comfort. But for the time being I put the priority on technology and knowledge when it comes to having a valvetrain that can live for a period of time that I am used too/or can tolerate.

To each and every one his own goals. I just wanted to state that having a fast street car can include having more than the few goals a race car can provide you with and the goals can be set by yourself based upon your own situation/aims/funds/friends/rules/regulations/racing ambitions/skills/knowledge/what ever there is that stops you from living your dreams with no boundries!!

Happiness is a Hot VW!!

I think EFI is great, not for top end power so much as through the range power. I've seen dyno charts where EFI motors are very close to peak from 4K up. That said I went with IDA's with Version 1.2 of my engine. I had actually considered EFI for V1.2 but the cost was an issue, I got the IDA's in exchange for 2 peanuts and I needed at least a packet for one throttle body alone but that's not to say it's expensive as such. In addition I think EFI needs crank trigger ignition and the changes to the motor were minimal since it was only a (30,000 mile+) refresh and at the bottom all it got were bearings. There wasn't time to get everything balanced again. If you start from scratch I don't think there's a huge difference in cost between carburettors and EFI though? Everytime I buy jets it seems to cost me £100+ for some reason! When all is said and done though we started from scratch with an engine for my girlfriend and ended up opting for 48DRLA's and I'm sure the plan originally included EFI so I'm not sure what went wrong there.

I think the personal goal thing is very important, there's no point chasing someone elses goal posts. I've watched people who can kick further and more accurately than me and whilst I'd like to run their numbers I appreciate that I don't have the patience, knowledge or time to run a car on those numbers. If I'd have chased those numbers I'd have probably have been out of the game a long time ago so I guess I'lll stay happy playing a league or two down. I get a kick out of watching people prod at the outer limits for sure though. As nicolas says above a 1776 running a 14 is good comparison to a 2276 doing a 12 and both are relatively fast though ofcourse there are people pushing those displacements much quicker than that these days.

Whatever and however for sure, Happiness is a Hot VW!!

Good luck sorting that valve train and with where ever else that leads you to.

 :)

As everyone gets hung up on quarter mile times, let's put all this in perspective... (most figures from Car & Driver, who are notoriously more optimistic than most other mags)

Aston Martin V-12 Vanquish – 12.9
Audi RS6 – 12.63
Bugatti Veyron – 10.8
BMW M3 – 13.6
Caterham Seven Superlight R – 13.0
Chevrolet Corvette ZO6 – 11.5
Dodge Charger SE 440ci – 15.2
Dodge Viper GTS – 12.2
Ferrari Enzo – 11.2
Ferrari F40 – 11.8
Ford GT – 11.6
Lamborghini Murcielago – 12.0
McLaren F1 – 11.7
Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG – 12.39
Oldsmobile 4-4-2 HO 455ci – 13.9
Plymouth ‘Cuda 440 – 14.0
Porsche 911 Turbo S – 11.9
Porsche 911 GT2 – 11.9
Shelby Cobra 427 S/C – 12.7
Volkswagen Super Beetle – 21.1

Bear in mind, these figures take all day at a track to achieve – they're not the result of a one-off blast down the strip. I reckon there are plenty of scalps there to be taken by a well-set-up Looker that runs consistent low-13s...

This was probably @ 125mph.

My favoured street car is this next to mine . It is a 1302 model , painted like the old Salzburg Rallye car . I build him a 2,7 250 hp Type 4 engine . It has a Gene Berg 5 speed . So he can HAVE it ALL . 11's on the strip , 150 mph on the street and fun on the circuit track !!
At the race on the picture i pulled him to a 11.6 !!

Udo

nice car, i recall being taken 4 a spin in this badboy! back in 2005 on the streets of spa,belgium, man it was farst! think we toped out at about 120mph! i had a big smile on my face all day! :) 8) 8) regards terry

150 hp in your type 3 should be fun, but the torque values and a broad powerband are what really matter in a heavy car. If this is your true street car and you want to pull from 1000rpms be a little more conservative with parts choice. Is it really necessary to turn more than 5k rpms in a "street car." Tell your head porter EXACTLY what you want to do and the two of you should be able to decide on an engine combo for you. I would build a 2110  because it will provide plenty of torque and the thick cylinders are a wise idea in a type 3.  Engle 110 cam with 1.25 rockers. Smallish ported heads (d-port ???) with 40x35.5 valves maybe 8.7:1 compression ratio. It does not need IDAs, but they sure are cool. :D Good luck, nicolas. Let us know how things turn out.

I have almost the exact combo lawrence describes in the fastback, except for a k8 and CB roundports.  IDA's are tough to get under the lid on a type 3.

Engle 110 is too small for a "torque" motor even. The K8 is a good choice nicolas or W125 with 1.25

A motor needs some duration in order for it to breathe. And cool.

well i have posted it before. but it all seems to fall into place lately. so here is what will be the combo. 78x90.5 with a fk8 on 1.4scats and heads will be 40x35 heads fully reworked by stevesvwshop. we talked about the combo and indeed came with the same idea about the engine as you lawrence. it will be able to pull up to 6500 rpms max, but it will do it from 1000. so it should have some nice torquefigures as well.

anyway i got a enginestand yesterday and 2 sets of pistons to start measuring everything out. i am a bit nevervous about this as itneeds to be done properly and i dont have all the fancy, but very usefull machinery i see on pictures here on the lounge. i just have a small hobbytoolbox and can get myhands on some good standard measuringtools.
and the best news for me is that the longstroke pistons and cylinders have a sticker on them from Johnny Speed and Chrome parts!!!! somehow i am a sucker for that brand. i just like the parts a lot and i think the reflect that 80's look perfectly. i have no idea how these pistons made it to Belgium, but they seem to be in a very good state and still greased, so i think they are of good quality.

and one last think i have been thinking about: does a 'sporty sports car' need to have rearwheel drive? just a question. i have thought a lot of these cars mentioned in this post are rearwheeldriven...  ;)

Sensation from an 11 sec race car compared to 13 sec street car is light years apart. I piloted a low 11 sec S/G Karmann Ghia for a year or so. Everything happens about as soon as you think about it. Leaving the line is way different (car had spool too), power came in @ 6K and went to 9K, if you lifted in 3rd or 4th, the car nosedived, then if you got back on throttle, it was instant acceleration. My Bug, even when it went 12.70's-12.90's on slicks was like driving around town compared to the KG. Everything was "softer", "quieter", and delayed.
To me, a fast street car needs to have a "hint" of race-car in it, which means the above mentioned sound and fury and a little fussiness. We can get a little off topic here and I will discuss my old WRX 2.0 compared to my 2006 Legacy 2.5 Turbo. The little WRX was 2.0 liters, made 227hp, and I had equipped it with a large bore Prodrive silencer and removed the stock intake silencer. So the car had a throaty, hard-edged sound, along with being fairly quick. The Legacy, on the other hand, is 2.5 liters, with variable valve timing, and makes 250hp. I haven't swapped mufflers on it, and intake is stock, plus car is light years ahead of the WRX in sound dampening. So even though the Legacy is a few ticks quicker in 0-60 and 1/4 mile, it "seems" slower due to sedate sounds it makes (though it's flat four does have a nice, but subtle growl to it when stomped on). The WRX had a fussier powerband too, it was all 4K and up, while Legacy will grunt from down around 2000. My point?
Well it much to do with what I have been looking for since I have been into hot-rodding VW's, and have achieved only very, very few times. Building my 2276 that went 12.60-70's isn't it either.

When I was 14-15 years old, a friend of mine in high school had an uncle that was into autocross, timed events held in a parking lot, course defined by pylons. Anyway, he competed in a completely street legal 1970 Datsun 240Z that was warmed over with Weber sidedraft carbs, Isky cam and custom headers and glasspack mufflers. He took me for a ride around Pleasanton in the car and it was all about being a "fast street car", to me, then and now. It made all the right noises, garbling and snorting Webers down low, then as revs climbed, everything smoothed out and the motor pulled and pulled and pulled, shoving me in the seat harder and harder all the way until tach showed 7K. Everything seemed to come into play after 4K or so. I still remember that ride like it was 10 minutes ago. The way that car went through gears and screamed made it feel "FAST." Yet I never looked at speedometer, so who knows.

My first venture into the VW stroker motor arena in 1990 made my '67 feel like it was a very fast street car, though in reality, it was a 14 sec car. It ran Weber 44's, Engle 125, 40 x 35 heads, dual merged muffs. Again, it was the powerband and the sounds. Together they made my '67 feel incredibly fun and fast.

Probably the VW motor that captured the "fast street car" certification in my book, more than any other, was Frank (sheep's) Seifert's 1914 that we screwed together out of garage left-overs. It was an incredibly simple, but potent motor, with little $ in it. Made up of a Mexican AS21 uni case, Rimco 69 crank, Rimco rods, 94's, Crown 6lb flywheel, K8 cam and the heads from my stroker motor and of course, 48IDA's. We never took that car to the strip, but the way it accelerated the car made the motor feel like an uncaged animal. It probably would have laid down high 13's.

Anyway, this whole discussion is pretty much in line with why I am probably going to drop 86C in my motor. The FK45 is almost too streetable. It's awake @ 2600 rpm and doesn't have the yank and that power curve like the Datsun and sheep's 1914. It zips up quickly and then noses over. More than likely, it's faster than it needs to be, but I'm used to it. Besides what is more fun than getting oily in the garage?

First of all let me say that it is more fun to drive a slow car fast, than a fast car slow ;)

Ive got a couple opinions on this subject. First the true daily driver car that takes you everywhere and you wouldnt hesitate to fire up right now and drive it across a couple of states (or countries ;)). Its going to be a little on the heavy side to make it more comfortable, and its going to have stock or slightly taller gears for easy highway cruising. Reguardless of the engine size, I think this engine should be capable of 1hp and 1ft/lb of torque per cubic inch. So for instance a 1915cc engine that produces 117hp and 117ft/lbs or torque. An engine like this will need a conservative cam, and thus wont beat itself to death with high rpms, proving itself very reliable over the long run.

Second is the "street" car ;) It is light, and has close ratio gears perfect for running down the strip or trips around town. Wheel horsepower to weight (with driver) ratio of about 10:1. Capable of 12's in street trim (street tires, muffler, belt), and 11's with all the stops pulled out.

alot of talk around a 1914 size.is this a good streetable size and whats the opinions of the internals.

yes 1914 can be built in all different states of tune and be streetable.

The K8, 9:1, 40 x 35.5, Weber 44-48mm's is a favorite recipe of mine.

Good point. Stroker motors can get away with having larger cams due to the torque, but he could always change the cam if he wanted to, right Jim ;)  ;D

67worshipper, the 1914 is a great motor! I love mine. I used a counter weighted crank and scat I beam rods with arp bolts. Nice heads are important. An engle fk 43 sounds like an interesting cam ???
Type "1914" into the seach function and you should be able to find a lot of information on many combinations that people have built. Good luck.

thanx for the info boys. buying parts as and when i can afford so plenty of time too make my mind up about a combo!

Problem with that is, there is also plenty of time to change your mind again, and again and again and... ;)  ;D

--louis

1914cc gets you the best bang for the money. I am a sucker for WebCam Camshafts. Try their asymetrical grind 110/163 on 1:1.25 Ratio Rockers.
VALVE LIFT .435 /.422, DURATION 284°,  DURATION @.050 256°/249°. This gives you strong power range. It pulls nicely of the line and it gets real snappy above 4500 RPM. Less duration and lift on the exhaust valve compaired to the intake valve on mouse motors can be benficial for the dynamic compression ratio. I even experimented with diffrent rocker ratios between the intake and exhaust valve. This will give you lots of fun with a lot less money spent compared to a stroker engine. My engine makes 118.99 HP (120.64 PS) @ 5813 rpm and gives me 107.45 ft/lbs (145.2 Nm) torque @ 5625 rpm. It is a fast street car, ask some BMW and Audi drivers around my hometown  ;D

When I built my 2276, I picked up a set of head secondhand for $500.  They were an unwelded "D" port head with 40 intakes and 37.5 exhaust.  I chose a FK-8 to go with it.

 My goals were to run mid-13s, but I had several (read everyone I talked to) of the west coast gurus tell me that the car would never run a 13 with such small heads.  Nevertheless, that is all I could afford at the time and I went with it.  At 10:1 compression, that car had the best powerband of any aspirated VW I had ever been in.  It would start pulling about 1000 rpm earlier than most and was done by 7000 which saved parts.  The first pass ever with street tires and a fuel delivery problem in 4th netted a 13.51.    ;D

Eventually, that car ran 12.4's on pump gas and 12.20 at Carlsbad with a bit of fuel additive  ::)   The best thing about that engine is how it performed on the street.  It was soooo snappy!  You could roll around around the neighborhood in second gear and slap the throttle and it would instantly respond "WROOOMP" and stretch that front suspension to the limits.  No bog, no hesitation.....almost electric. 

I would play around on the street a lot and - first and second gears, nothing crazy and nothing would touch that car! The point is that bigger is not always better.  That motor probably made barely 200hp (if).  I drove a popular DRKC car of that era once.  It had the biggest of everything, huge valves, huge heads, 12.5:1 compression and the powerband of 125cc dirt bike.  The car was a PIG.  Would overheat even with race fuel, was nearly impossible to drive at low RPM - lurching and bucking.  Worst part about it was that this car was only about .15 quicker than my car.  Clearly not worth it.

Now that my car has a turbo, it is WAAAAY faster.  Every time I drive it I come back with my hands shaking just a little bit.  You can go from 40 to 100 in one gear.....in just a matter of two or three seconds.  Yet, I dont enjoy it on the street like the aspirated combo.  Not because it isnt fun, but because I  recognize that if I use even 50% of its potential I will eventually end up in jail.  ;D

Dont let that illusive 10 or 15 HP haunt you.  A lot of times, they are just numbers

Perfect post Dave. Your motor is what I wish some of mine would have turned out like, and few have. I tried the bigger is better route a few years back and well, we know what happened. Can you say burnt out??? Wish I could have ridden in the black car when it was carbed. Your e.t.'s proved everybody wrong. Nice work.

Thats why i'm building an under the 2 liter engine ;D

For bigger cc's i turn to my pro racer ;D

That motor was just magic. I still wonder how those parts added up to that kind of performance. Unreal...

Dave helped me out with some photos of those ports and I used those as a guildlien when I assembled a motor for a friend of mine. 40*35,5 heads and not to wildly ported heads. 84*94 with 5,5" rods and 11,8:1 compression ratio...Egle 130 cam and 1,25:1 rockers....48 IDA with 40 vents and a 1 5/8" exhaust...with a 4,37 R/P and 3.89/2,06/1,32/0,93 gearbox, a set of MH street tires and with stinger and no belt it pulled 13.60's. The drivebillity of that combo was unreal. Pulled from idle to 7K and no hesitation at all and when cruising it, it was as a stocker!!! I love those tiny valved heads on big motors!!!!  8)