The Cal-look Lounge

Ok, after the short discussion with DKK Fred on the Keep on Buggin' post.... instead of turning their post into another topic I thought we could get a discussion going here.

DKK Fred (Mark), you seem to have a great eye and mind for the little details that make the big difference. How about some thoughts from you about your ideas and how you think of stuff. Like I was saying, your engine compartment on the orange '66 sure looked tidy. Same with your current '67 engine.

Bill Schwimmer has always had good looking engines in the ragtop too. I remember his 1776 42DCNF motor was one of the best looking and cleanest engines I had ever seen. And of course his big IDA motor has looked good for over 15+ years.

Another few of my other favorites, from pics or from seeing them in person....

John Dean's DUMPER 1776cc 48IDA motor.... one of the tidiest 48IDA motors I can remember. Only seen a few pictures of it. The glossy black 36hp shorud, Tayco linkage, polished manifolds, aluminum firewall cover and polished small crank pulley all look nice
together.

Gary Berg's 2110cc from his old Berglar, when Gary owned it. The way a high HP street motor would look if VW made it. All business...

Danny Gab's 2164cc from the black Ghia, the one off shroud, and linkage, 48IDAs, Vertex...

Jim Kurlinski's 90.5x86mm (whatever cc that is) in his java green '67. I remember this car blew my brains right out of my skull first time I saw it in 1991, at Jamboree. Imagine a stock looking java '67, I mean stock ... then just add real BRM mags, and a super clean 48IDA motor with all the best stuff, and a huge turbo muffler under the LH rear fender. Only those that know will know....

And of course the Pepco motor in Galassi's ragtop. No other motor makes guys scratch their heads wondering "WTF?" than Dave's little huffer motor....

I've always strived to try to get my engine to look half as good as these guys' motors...  paying attention to  wiring, hardware, routing of fuel hoses... etc.

What else? One thing's for sure...  to me those over-the-top engine compartments... polished cases, anodized stuff, billet stuff, chromed tin... they look just plain goofy to me. A hp engine should look all business. What are your ideas and thoughts?
Thanks guys....

Right on, Mark. I had some great pics of Bill's car/engine from 1990 or so, DKK Rick M. has them.... maybe if he comes back 'round he can post them for us?

Sarge's 2.0 liter too.... though I do not have a picture handy right now. Another good looking motor can be found in Dave Rhoads green '64!
(there was a copy of a magazine picture here somewhere recently, I think).
See, I grew up in North Calif, where it seems the VW scene was way different than Southern Calif. Khrome was King, function was flop. Most VW's up north were ratty stock 1600's smothered in cheap chrome tin and tacky bolt on crap. My maiden voyage to OC in 1990 to see Gary Berg's '67 at Jamboree sure opened my eyes as far as how engines should look.

All good choices so far.  But there's an important and seldom discussed aspect of engine compartment detailing:

How do you get your pretty engine back into the engine compartment without screwing it up?  Just go real slow?  That's not easy!

I use blue tape and terry cloth bath towels as I jack motor up into the car. I usually scratch stuff when removing/installing carbs.

Yeah, mostly common-sense stuff sounds like.  Sorry if I'm asking obvious questions, just trying to promote conversation about simple, yet important stuff we never get to hear about.

One of my favorite engines. With the black on black paint all you really see are the carbs and block.

--louis

I'm doing it the "virgin" way as well. First mate block to tranny, and start building her up. Guess what, still scratches. ;)
But i love to take a whole day or two just to do sparkleads, tie-wraps (hidden), oil/breather lines, touch-up, clean etc.
With some good tunes this is my favourite part, it's like putting your heart in that engine for the second time.

Many nice engines here motivating me to get mine back in the car and make a few small changes while its out.

Isn't there a household chemical that will remove anodizing from AN fittings? Oven cleaner or something?

Thanks for the tip. Keep up the good work, Mark. ;D

This was how I originally built mine I loved the clean and simple look. Pure old school here.
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/YAVE123/100_1980.jpg)

 Later I went with MSD and changed fuel system as well as polishing and powdercoating a few things it looks good to me like this too but at times I miss the old rendition.
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y42/YAVE123/P1030264.jpg)

  Well I guess some will say I ruined a good thing but it sure runs as good as it looks.

Wonder is that will work for rims too. I want to strip the clear finish off my gasburner replicas and re-polish them.

--louis

Doug Mische has another great looking engine. I really like the carb treatment.

--louis

I hope Danny Gabbard can take a break from being Mr. Al Borland Home Improvement and tell us a thing or two here.

i'm currently detailing my engine parts.....i'm going for  totally black & gold anodised.  sorry Fred! ;)

just want to do something a little different and besides.....it matches my cat

(http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c260/jick-r/Image289.jpg)

going for solid fuel lines in gold ano,  gloss black magneto and gold clamp. pretty much everything else gloss black.

we'll see how it turns out.....

two colors needed for engines. Black and Grey.  8)

Cat's Name ?? My Sam is checking it's first IDA inlets as well.

that's how i'd love to build my engine too!
but i don't think my girlfriend would agree to have it inside  :D

as far as engine detailing, IMHO wiring is key!! therefore i have one question... where can i get something like this:

(http://frenchysrides.com/images/scan00765.jpg)
(preferably click-on)

i'd like to have it as 70ies as possible!! clean looks, generator, tayco linkage. i love looking at frenchy's ghia engine:

(http://frenchysrides.com/images/scan00825.jpg)

WTF you mean "have it inside"....
"It" is an insult already Died

hi there Harry....how's things?

its coco the cat. ;)

Well Coco Rocks !!

For me real engines are black!

well tim I mean jim just bought a new table saw and jig saw. just kiddin . well everybody's car's have really stepped up all you guys in dkp the motors look bithen and they run. I can't even remember having a vw that ran or moved on it's own with out pushing it in and out of the shop. But its always fun makeing one off stuff.

heres mine. nice details i think ;) (http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s32/barnabus_bucket/DSCN0933.jpg)

Very nice mate. (but you knew that ;)) Loving the hard lines for the fuel/breather. 8)

I will try brian seens how I'm in nevada this week, Mark look at stock breather and cyliinder tin were it meets fan shroud and area around manifolds more reworked area's

Now THAT'S TITS!! 8) 8) 8) 


As ratty as my old '63 was on the outside, I always took extra time making sure all was sano under the deck lid.  That meant polishing the generator pulley, voltage regulator, coil bracket and anything else that semi-chrome would shine.  Always sprayed the shroud and tin with black refrigerator epoxy, too.  The pic is of the 1700 I had for a short time in the '63..., the one with the Engle 125 that overlapped up through the carburetor so bad I could hardly stand to drive it.  The device by the distributor is an E-Up that supposedly made the car run WAY BETTER, but actually did nothing other then flash it's red lite when the points opened and closed.  It was COOL though ::) ;D

 writings on the rear lights were white ???

Thats called "not gettin rid of all your polish" ;) :)

another one  ;)

I will keep my mouth shut on the whole "running right" part for now! If it isn't one thing its another. But about the "look", I wanted the all business deal too. I've had the motors that required taking crap apart to repolish and puss out if you know what I mean. So over that. I tried to keep it simple, no polish stuff, stock but detailed hardware and of course, the semi gloss green. I did not want the motor to stick out and say look at me, but I did want it to be noticed. ;)

(http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i313/vishfab/IMG_4981.jpg)

Yeah, those are VERY RARE  ::) ;)


Casey, your motor looks awesome! 8) 8) 8)

i like this one .
the guy who owns it is Mirko , out of vancouver
(http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x216/iancross182/mirkosengine.jpg)

Darren (L) and Mirko at Bug In-32.  Sorry about the B/W..., those are red cups ::) ;D

I hope Sheep doesn't see that pic or it's back to the drawing board with his motor...... ::)

WTF ??? >:(  Do I LOOK like I need a kick in the pods and who the f@#* is sheep??  sheeeeesh ;D

What strikes me is that all these engines have alternators... never been a fan of the look of those...

As far as my engine goes, it's all satin black, nothing fancy but i think it looks clean  :)

(http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=6365.0;attach=20267;image)

looks perfect!!!

Alter....... What  ??? ;) :) you can't have one of those - looking good Roland  :)

Well said, Roland! ;)

I see that some 36hp fan shrouds in this thread have the coil bracket attached. How are you guys doing this. Threaded inserts?

I actually like the black hoses over all the SS braided hoses you see these days.

--louis

my buggy engine

Hmmmm that reminds me of......... ;) :)

Is the new ultra vw mag out in ca. yet

What about a nice Okrasa Engine?

(http://blogsimages.skynet.be/images_v2/002/548/818/20080914/dyn009_original_640_480_jpeg_2548818_c7715b3dbf089eb5500aeddf4c5fe35d.jpg)

and empi/speedwell   ;D ;D

One of mine - now in the Race Shop Ghia.

Red anodising, blue leads and manifolds, nothing more. nothing less... Mmmmm, magneto...
(http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t318/Photokernow/76ac858d.jpg)

"You touch the red pole while I give 'er a spin..."  :o :o :o ;D

The whole skin of the fan shroud was made from scratch and the ends of engine tins

A LOT of pretty faces here! Frenchys engine just rock my boat! But it lacks the Magneto  ;)
I'm amazed by the small dimensions on peoples breather tubes, smaller than stock in some cases... not for high rev'ing applications I guess.

Has anyone done modifications to the engines mo make them easier to work on? Not necessarily visible... show your tricks ;)

Since the topic didn't say nice detailing nor killer engines I can probably post picture of mine, which at the moment looks like shit  :-[ :'( I have to sort it for next summer as I need to remove it from the Oval anyway to get the gearbox overhauled. The car is 53 year old original paint one so at least the engine isn't prettier than the car it's in  ;D

I got ill-fitting repro tinware, visible especially around the dipstick. The fact that it's an Oval and I live in city and have to park it outside doesn't help; if it's raining, and it sometimes does in Finland, the water runs straight into engine bay as the drainage was introduced in 1958(?). The Cabriolet lid adds to the looks but lets even more crap into engine bay.

(http://www.terovirta.com/images/2006_MyOval_31.jpg)

I am using the Lumenition ignition with the 009 so there is more wiring than I would like to have. Besides cleaning, re-organizing the wires, new breather box, black dizzy cap & pulleys are on the list too.

here my new powder coated tin ware in the car  8)

My little runaround.. Daily driven.

very cool rune! very oldschool :)
how about some specs in the engine thread?

Here is my new type 4 engine:

WOW!! If I can get mine looking half as good I'll be chuffed :D

    Great thread discussion when I did the engine and the engine compartment on the Ghia I was 25 years old and if I had to do this engine again I would of had done the connectors with shrink tubing and soldered the ends as well at the time in 1975 no one was really into this type of anal detailing I learned it from Shaky Jake my mentor into the hobby I owe it all to him. If you want to see more engine detailing you can see my latest project my 1932 Hot Rod on our website ( Frenchysrides.com ) As soon as the 32 is done I will be posting pictures of it.

  Good discussion
  Thanks
  Frenchy

Agreed dude cool thread, I have always admired your work, I learned ALOT about "detailing" when I worked at a Ferrari restoration place a few years back now, the kind of suff we had to do was just ridiculas! How about lining up ALL the bolt heads on a 1950's V12 Testarossa motor  :o :)

    I am sure a lot of people think that I maybe to anal for a lot of thing I do but anybody can have a nice car with nice paint job and interior but the most important is to have some detail which will make the car more appealing and have more taste my 2 cents. Also you can not always have all of the head bolts facing the same way especially if the torque specs is telling you where it stops you cannot go any further. As can be seen on my V12 Lincoln motor in my 32 Ford

    Thanks
   Frenchy ( Doc Detail )

Yeah I know exactly what you mean, There are Soooooooo many cars out there these days it takes that "Little somthin" to make you take a second look  ;) :) Aslo I know what you mean about torque setting etc, I'm mainly talking about rocker cover bolts, ancilaries etc - Not the important stuff  ;) :)

black , black and black !! and generator thats all for me...

Here's my 2007cc.  I kinda like the contrast.

(http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a6/Hotrodvw/2007cc/0122092324-01.jpg)

Here is my engine. I really wanted a clean look with minimal wires and hoses.

We need to ask Gene Berg Enterprises to manufacture their linkages without the cutout for the coil bracket...

Paint it to match, and it's not as noticeable.

Great shots. I am glad this post is happening as my old 2332 is know a 2442 with a thing fans shroud, ditching the berg linkage to custom made empi style. no berg breather,fuel lines behind shroud, new improved computronix coil set up and ???. Car is at gab-fab north(nevada) making a rear removeable apron. Lucky to have danny as new neighbor, Talented...New Pics soon. bill

NICE!
you TOO NICE !

I had the engine out of my bug a couple weeks ago to lower the compression and fix a couple oil leaks, so I decided to powdercoat the tin and replace all the hardware with allen head bolts. Now I am much happier with the look of the engine.

(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f315/67bug/013-2.jpg)

How did I miss this thread!? Probably because my motor is a greasy mess! ::) It's hard to keep a daily driver hospital clean... well at least for me it is.

Love this motor. If I ever ran type 4 power, it would have to look like this. 36hp style shroud, 356/912 breather... It all looks like it should be there, no afterthoughts. Well done.
(http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=6584.0;attach=28931;image)

Bill,
The license plate lights in the pre-heater hose holes for "trouble lights" is a great idea !
:-)
Richard

i love the cleanness mick ;) have you thought about changing the crank pulley? something black or dark grey perhaps.

Here's mine... 1600cc, home ported heads, Kad's, Bosch 019..... 2017cc is in da works...

Here's mine.
How it was and how it is 8)
1.2Ltr type1 +/- 30bhp.
2Ltr. type4 +/- 120bhp.

Paul.

Thanks for the comments DKK Fred and Zach.

Took a couple more pictures today:

dude, the cleanliness of your car is amazing.
put some miles on it, burn some rubber, you're making me feel ill. i'll never have a car as clean as yours  ;)
all kidding aside, amazing detailing. and you're running that thin oil cooler again (right?). is that the second oil cooler, or do the hoses run to that one in a loop. nice!

ok, 2332 k10 out, 2442 fk46 in, same heads...Eng compartent goal is to hide as much as possible,fuel lines,breather lines, ign , etc.Car is at gab-fab north.May ditch eng turned firewall, Damm, it was alot of work and looks old school too.Danny is also filling in rear apron holes while making rear apron REMOVABLE...Also pics of eng tim. Chech out lengthred cyc tin..Come on more pics and ideas.??? bill

Dang Bill ... SUPER nice!
Love to see more pics when you get the chance.
Love the rolled edge around the manifold/plug opening. Now that is detail!

When you're talking to them, get them to make that angle piece from Al instead of that piece of old bed frame.

Very nice and very clean!

A little tip, add two shrink rubbers to the valve cover bail so that you do not scratch it so badly. It also increase the pressure = less change for leaks.

 ;D  LOL   My guess is it's steel for rigidity.

Looking good bilboa

say hi to Gabbard for me

danny wanted a better shot of fixture for tinwork, so here are a few more, firewall fittings are portside-fuel supply,(fuel pump up front)starboard fuel return.possible fuel inj one day..aye matey's..bill

I will post some pictures also. I will be makeing these peices for sale. The advantage's #1 are they are 1/2 inch shorter for stroked motors so motor tin does not hit body #2 clearanced for scat-trak manifolds with flanged edges, #3 you can tilt tin towards fan shroud and not have gap, #4 by leaning tin toward fan shroud now you can touch spark pluds, #5 If your tin is short next to case, With added flange on peice that I make , You dont have to weld strips on the end of cylinder tin

Sold.

Sheep just gave me a set of OEM Vw tin, but I'll wait for yours Danny.

HAHAHAHA that's rich!!!

ok, danny here is other shots, thanks.. Can't wait to show trick removable apron progress...bill

Nice talking to you in Hanover today Rassor, this is really a verry good detailed engine bay.

Your car looks bitching, thumbs up.

Paul.

Early on JYT motor and tub
(http://intercreativity.com/volksnut/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/buggymotor.jpg)
(http://intercreativity.com/volksnut/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/buggybefore1.JPG)
Then, well.... all hell broke loose, you all read that story

Hmmmm interesting - where did you get that belt cover ??? :)

Cool engine from the Zenith to the dual Cop callers!

~DR.

Belt cover came from the Samba, think I paid $25 for it, it's gone now though, never did put an id on it, it had some #'s cast in it (kind of what CB does) but couldn't find it's maker, believe it or not that Zenith pushed the buggy to 12.30's at a 102 in the 1/4....the cop callers were just that, didn't last a day on the car....went with the Scat set up, then a turbo on top of the flange :o

Hmmm interesting - I kinda have a thing for those Cast style covers - Thats the 5th style I've seen now - its pretty cool  :)

Here's mine - These are now being sold by Mark at Flatlands Engineering :)

Thanks!    Nice talking to you guys too.

Shaw Geers engine

(http://blogsimages.skynet.be/images_v2/000/049/279/20080612/dyn007_original_922_692_jpeg_49279_3337086b835ac611e983c94887529f32.jpg)

 :o WOW :o ;D

Hey, can`t belive that nobody posted a typ-3 engine yet.
They can look good...  ;)

My 1776cc setup:
(http://www.airmighty.com/index/Gallery/albums/DFL_May-Cruise-Madness_2009/IMG_3712.jpg)

That type III looks clean Felix.

there are some exceptions, but type3 engines don't have that much appeal to them. i like them, but there isn't much to see/show.  :-\

anyway here is mine.

Thank`s Cal 56 & Fred for that kind words.
Next step`s: install polished fuel-lines, some ldetails and update to 2178cc  ;)

So many nice engines in here what a blast.
Here is another one I really love cause it really has that 70`s look.
My club mates Tobi`s engine:
(http://www.dflvwclub.de/getimage.php?imgsrc=images/cars/tobi/8/tobi_4.jpg)

Go on...

Tobi's engine is AWSOME "period perfect" what dizzy is he running ???

Here is my original 1776 with 42 dcnf's with claudes buggies aircleaners and german 009 with pertronix 2.

And here is my 2332 ,fk89,12/1 comp.,Ida breathing beast!

Hey Matt there's something on top of your carbs.... :P

An old Mallory/Scat/Treuhaft I think. Have a couple of those laying around, both dual and single point.
I think these look awesome, but I guess they kinda suck since "no one" is running them these days.

Ups, that´s my engine! :)
You are right Johnny, it´s a Treuhaft "010" dissy. I use it with a Mallory unilite modul and didn´t have any trouble with it, yet.
Bye,

Tobi

How good would it look with a MAGNETO though ??? ;) :)

That is a SUPERBLY detailed engine dude - I love the wiring deatil and those SHORT manifolds - PERFECT!  ;D

Thanks, Lee! 8)

Yeah I know the dont look as good as open stacks.  :-[ But pluged jets and fouled plugs arent fun to change with short intakes. :-\

Hi

On a German type 2 pick up

(http://blogsimages.skynet.be/images_v2/000/057/252/20090512/dyn007_original_800_600_jpeg_57252_a9469fbb3ab5b67678a9477dafc70bb5.jpg)


.

Seriously Clean & cool  ;D

(http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=6584.0;attach=29761;image)

Nice stacks!!! ;D
I had a pair of the cool cast aluminium stacks, picked them up off thesamba.com for cheap. But they wouldn't fit under the filters. So I traded those to Steve Hollingsworth for a pair of Berg stacks he had lying around, drove over to Sil Modesti's place and he shortened them. Then I took them to HPC for some fancy ceramic coating. I think they only rise .400" above the carb (total height was about 3/4") and probably do nothing, but I was so proud of them :)

and so am i!

i like them as well. they fit perfect, but indeed could have been a bit higher, for more effect, but anything is better then nothing. i haven't run them with the filters, i thought there wasn't much clearance, but i'll try it some day.

btw the carbs must look familiar as well.

I would definitely make a shortened breather tower for that pickup engine..certainly not fun to add oil with this configuration :-)

finally got my 82x88 in the 61 ;)