Period race motor

[Steve Wright]

Relative newbie here, and not exactly on topic, but I thought you might like to see the new motor Ian Clark is building for the tow vehicle for my 356 race car. The bus is completely standard aside from a CSP front disc brake conversion, 4 into 1 exhaust and twin 42mm DCNF Berg Specials. On the hills we're down to 45mph so for this winter we thought we would assemble a new motor, but build it exactly as it would've been had we done it in period, exactly as the rest of the bus and 356 has been built.







The collection of bits comprises an SPG 82mm roller bearing crank, Denzel repro front pulley, NOS EMPI 88mm slipper skirt pistons and Mahle aluminium barrels, Sig Erson 1.4:1 ratio rockers, Vertex magneto, GB cam (sorry forgot the spec), Race Trim deep sump and valve covers, 356 oil filter housing (modified to act as a breather box), and NOS gaskets and pushrods. This little lot will be dropped into the existing motor and heads will be VW 044's ported by Ian. The crank has been apart, refurbished, welded, with modified oil holes for the bearings, and the magneto rebuilt. The motor has just 9,000 miles on it from new so should need nothing other than a freshen up. 82x88 = 1995cc and the SPG should let it rev like there's no tomorrow, so along with decent heads and the slipper skirt pistons it should make a hot little motor, although we will keep the compression sensible and put a decent cooler and fan on it. Certainly it should get the bus up hills at slightly more than 45mph...! I was hoping to have it in the bus for the Oulton Park weekend but Ian said it might take a wee bit longer to build than 5 days

[ianmac]

Very cool love the 356

[Donny B.]

Back in '99 drove back to Phoenix from Detroit in a '71 camper with an 82x88 with Berg 42 DCNFs and we cruised at 75 most of the way, even up hills.  Of course we weren't towing a Porsche...!

[vwcab]

Sounds interesting,and a NICE combo you have. 

[Rocket Ron]

Sounds a lot like the race shop crew cab pickup engine spec

[speedwell]

it wouldl be a interesting tread for me , i will keep a eye on this one often

same combo i would like to have on my  61 , but not with a SPG roller crank and i've have a set of empi 88mm on my hands , but to expensive for me  

[autohausdolby]

Awesome combo!

[reijo5]

great rig 

[71CALRIPPER]

Cooler than cool

[vwhelmot]

Nice, what`s happened to the 'special'  build threads? Any progress?

[stretch]

The 356 looks fantastic.  What a cool combo.

What series do you race the 356 in?

[Steve Wright]

Thanks - Glad you like it. 75mph sounds just the ticket I'd had the bits for a long time but finally got my act into gear when I saw the Race Shop bus and realised I had almost all the bits! Seemed silly not to get on with it.

VWHelmot - the Special is still progressing, albeit slowly, but I've been distracted with racing the 356. will update the thread shortly.

Stretch - I'm racing in the HSCC Guards Trophy series (pre-66 sports cars basically). We're hopelessly out-classed as we're racing against AC Cobra's, E-Types, GT40's, TVR Griffith's, Lotus Elan's, etc. But it's great for learning race craft and the European circuits and a huge amount of fun.

[Jim Ratto]

very cool project! 

[freakpower]

Relative newbie here, and not exactly on topic, but I thought you might like to see the new motor Ian Clark is building for the tow vehicle for my 356 race car. The bus is completely standard aside from a CSP front disc brake conversion, 4 into 1 exhaust and twin 42mm DCNF Berg Specials. On the hills we're down to 45mph so for this winter we thought we would assemble a new motor, but build it exactly as it would've been had we done it in period, exactly as the rest of the bus and 356 has been built.

Nice ride.
I have questions about the trailer.
Which brand?
How heavy is the trailer alone?

[Lee.C]

Nice to hear of another SPG motor being built