Driveable Cal Look...

[Taylor]

  For years I have been "in the process" of getting my race program together, but when it looks promising I go out.. run good.. break something.. get pissed.. then proceed to leave my car abandoned in my garage for months. 

 Talking to my dad about all the cruising the guys of DKPIII and him do makes me jealous, coupled with all the reading I have been doing on early 356 carreras gets me Ratto mode!  So what I am looking at is getting back to having my car on the street and DRIVING it around MORE.  I am thinking of building a 2275cc with my Jeff d. 42x37 heads with a small cam .560 intake .525 exhaust 268 at .050. IDAs and all the trimmings I have had in my garage for ever.  My trans is a 4.12 with 1.48 1.04 which isn't the best for highway but will make the street driving fun.

So here is what I am looking for:  Get me back on the street and give me your input on what YOU would want in your street driver.  I'm talking about getting in and going.  Not to the corner store but driving it.  keep in mind I also live in Las Vegas but I am looking at taking my car to classic this year.

Thanks  Taylor

[Bryan67]

My old 67 was great for that. Stock 4.12 gearing but built, 2176, 120 cam, ported 40x35.5 044 heads, 8.5 to 1, 45 Dells, drop spindles, disc brakes, TIII drums, Berg shifter and Scat Pro 90 seats, Lecarra wheel, even a CD player with a good speaker in the dash. Now Luke has it but it has 1.04 4th gear so freeway travel is out. I drove it everyday with a baby seat in the back even.

[bmxnut65]

HeyTaylor, For years I drove my car with a 1.04 fourth and 4.12 r/p. I use to drive from Long Beach to San Bernadino every day for 3 months, 65mph .

[Bryan67]

65 is ok but 75 is better.

[team97]

Taylor, a 1.04 is very freeway-able......at this point in time I'm gonna change my 1.21 fourth to a 1.04.  Talk to Stephan, I believe he has a 1.04 in his oval.

[The Ideaman]

Then I think .89 fourth gear is a must.  I've been thinking about putting the '67 back on the road this spring.  For me, ida's on a daily are out.  Injection would be very cool.

[Stephan S]

Taylor, a 1.04 is very freeway-able......at this point in time I'm gonna change my 1.21 fourth to a 1.04.  Talk to Stephan, I believe he has a 1.04 in his oval.

Yep, 4.12/1.04 is the combo I use. Works great with my 2276 with FK-10, 42x37.5 heads and 8.6:1 CR. Engine made 187hp (on Roger Crawford's "true" dyno, too). Make sure not to go too high with your CR, especially since you live in Vegas! 9.0:1 maybe?

I drive 60 miles /100km once a month, back and forth to Nick's. Very drivable, but I wouldn't do it with 165-15 rear tires. I changed from 205/70-15 Pirellis to F70-15 Firestones, which are even taller. It made quite a difference! Not sure about the exact speed, but around 3,300/3,500, I drive around 65/70mph. Hope this helps.

[markvo]

Put on the tallest tire you can fit! I ran 205 75 15, 27" tall. Turbo it, That way it can be low compression (small cam if you want lower rpm) and have all the power you could ever want and if thats not enough you can add nitrous!

[Zach Gomulka]

Good to see you're going back to the street, Taylor!
I had the 4.12, 1.04 combo in a daily driver and I hated it. 65mph in the right hand lane sucks. Especially when you see that Ford Excursion in your rear view mirror barrelling towards you, realizing at the last second that you're "only" going the speed limit.

Stock ratios for me, thanks.

[Fastbrit]

Five-speed.

[Donny B.]

Ditto...

[Bryan67]

5 speed = 5 thousand as in dollars.

[TexasTom]

Ditto on the tall tire.
% speeds are NICE, I know
But if you cant, put the tallest rear tire that's reasonable.
I run 10.55:1 in Texas with a Web-86c and it's actually OK for cruising ~75, but I have 3.88 with .93 5th.
Run a 205/215 70/75 if it'll fit and DRIVE IT!

[Taylor]

Yep its been decided,  I have 205/70 on my flat 4 brms and I am going to pull the trans that has 10 miles on it and change out 3rd and 4th with stock. I either miss typed or had a brain fade but it is a 1.14 4th.
I'm pretty handy so the gear change shouldn't be that hard for me.  Cross your fingers on that one.

If I don't get heads for my nhra super stock motor soon it might happen sooner than later. I have a complete short block consisting of an 80mm wedged crank, pauter rods Cp pistons,  Fisher balancer, crank trigger and raceware head studs. Over kill for sure but I am itching to drive it.   

[Bryan67]

You won`t regret it. I love the my 67 would pull third gear.

[Jim Ratto]

Taylor, pm me sometime (again). I run my car 1000-1300 miles a month on 91 with minimal headaches.
4.37 x .89, 9.8:1, 86C (though, I did prefer the Pauter cam it replaced).
Feel free to drive my rig next time we're in same town.

I use 195/65 Eagle GT in rear. Car goes everywhere and anywhere as long as it isn't too gravelly or dusty, (no filters)

[Jim Ratto]

Taylor, one thing, if you're looking for same kind of characteristics of old 4 cammer Carrera, you need to build something similar cyl cc... 2276 will be fast as all hell, but it will pull hard down low, unlike the old Porsche. Biggest, torquiest Carrera motor was 1966cc.

My friend Richard and I are building something "different" sometime soon, not really in the Cal Look mold. 

[Tim Walton]

Cool!

[lawrence]

I would build what I have in my car right now. It won't set records or any garbage like that, but it is a lot of fun. I drove it to Fullerton, from the SF bay area and back, for the Classic this past summer. A total of 1200 or so miles that weekend. Here are the specs: 1914, 8.3:1 compression, drd 40x35.5 with d-shaped ports, webcam 86b and 48 IDAs. The cooling consists of a scat doghouse and the oil system has a berg sump and remote filter. Nothing over the top or expensive, but quality, new parts were used. If I could change one thing on my engine it would be the compression, maybe 9.0?, because the 86b probably likes a bit more and then the engine would run harder.

I have never driven a VW with close ratio gears and I'm sure it's a blast, but I really do not see the point if it is a street car. I assume that close ratio gears were made for VW transaxles years ago so that the engine would stay in its powerband on the DRAG strip. Forego all that race stuff and build something you can drive. My car has a 4.12 with stock gears and it cruises at about 65 to 70 mph. The cockpit is still really loud and I wear ear plugs or ipod with noise canceling earbuds on long drives of 2 hours or more. Taller tires would increase my cruising speed, but I chose to put 185/65/15s on all corners since I wanted my car to handle well.

Good luck with the project dude. Using small cc porsche engines as a base for something is a cool idea. I would just change specs around so the engine turns out with less of a narrow powerband. I know that sometimes I imagine a banjo wheel and speedster dashboard in front of me on my favorite backroad.

[Udo]

HeyTaylor, For years I drove my car with a 1.04 fourth and 4.12 r/p. I use to drive from Long Beach to San Bernadino every day for 3 months, 65mph .

It depends on where you live. i drove my last street car up to 130 mph on the street , so you need longer gear ratios 
. For cruising the 1,04 is ok ...
Udo

[Ben67]

Dude...build an engine like your Dads.  He drives the wheels off his car.

[Jim Ratto]

I know that sometimes I imagine a banjo wheel and speedster dashboard in front of me on my favorite backroad.

 

[Taylor]

I was working on the gearbox today changing third and fourth gear.
 I forgot how badly I hate the smell of gear oil.

[Neil Davies]

I was working on the gearbox today changing third and fourth gear.
 I forgot how badly I hate the smell of gear oil.

Peter from Cogbox once told me that gearbox oil is a lot like blood - it only takes a little bit outside of where it should be to make you really panic!