TURBO

[Hotrodvw]

I think it needs to be inducted in to the "Cal-Look" scene.  If Cal-Look is all about the 'look' and performance........a turbo should qualify.   

[Trond Dahl]

I love IDAs as much as anyone in here, but I don't see why performance enhansing parts should not be accepted in todays society.
The cal look history can't be changd but the present is what it is...

[danny gabbard]

Just got to know the secret hand shake !

[.]

If the present is what it is....
Why are you still driving a vintage Beetle ?
 

[jamiep_jamiep]

Speaking as a turbo convert....

I can't see how it isn't cal-look?

Q: Is its purpose to increase the performance of the vehicle or to enhance its appearance?
A: Increase the Performance

Q: Was it in use on the strips (and occasionally streets) in the 70's?
A: Yes.

Don't get me wrong, an engine bay stuffed with pressure hosing and all that is never going to look as good as one sporting a set of IDA's, but isn't the ethos of cal-look for form to follow function?

[Black Sheep]

Did someone mention turbo and cal look in the same sentence around here again 
Pass him the soap and wash that mouth out good this time 

[sofaking]

YEA! why do we get fround at for going faster?!?!? More boost please

[Hotrodvw]

I'm a hair dryer convert......just wanted to make sure I wouldn't get the boot.   

[Trond Dahl]

No worries :-)
I'm currently building a new turbo engine myself so boost is OK :-)

[Neil Davies]

I'm a provisional yes - got to look period perfect or not worth doing. And no blue hoses!

[jamiep_jamiep]

Hey Neil, I was running 'period' pressure hose supplied by Rayjay as part of a 25/30 yr old kit last season, black with a red stripe through it, reinoforced with steel wire. It was hopeless!!!! Ballooned every time I went on boost, and off boost (under vac) sucked nearly closed. Result: terrible low speed running. Not sure if it will have effected on boost running much. This season I've got Samco (blue!) hoses.... they don't look 'all that' admittedly, but if they can keep in 20psi better than the 25+ yr old stuff I was running before I'll be happy.

I might paint 'em black....
 

[qubek]

Hey Neil, I was running 'period' pressure hose supplied by Rayjay as part of a 25/30 yr old kit last season, black with a red stripe through it, reinoforced with steel wire. It was hopeless!!!! Ballooned every time I went on boost, and off boost (under vac) sucked nearly closed. Result: terrible low speed running. Not sure if it will have effected on boost running much. This season I've got Samco (blue!) hoses.... they don't look 'all that' admittedly, but if they can keep in 20psi better than the 25+ yr old stuff I was running before I'll be happy.

Cal-look is about being period-correct. It doesn't necessarily need to work. You can't judge how something works from a picture in a magazine or on an internet forum. What you can see is THE LOOK. This is why style is the most important thing in cal-look world 

[thejohn66]

I'm another turbo convert. I am trying to build my car in the cal look spirit, keeping the engine bay as clear as possible but embracing modern technology in order to extract a decent amount of reliable streetable power out of the air-cooled flat four. I do however feel it is still a cal-look car in my eyes, stance, single colour paint job, original porshe wheels etc. All the turbo stuff is hidden away so at a glance from the outside it could quite easily have an IDA lump there instead.

[Zach Gomulka]

I don't have visions of setting the world on fire with a Beetle, so maybe that's my problem. Sure, the power is great... once you get on boost. Wait for it, wait... THERE IT IS! There's no aesthetically pleasing way to package a turbo in a Beetle, and in my mind it complicates a simple, uncomplicated car. I've also never heard a turbo system on a Beetle that sounds good. Even the ones that are well tuned (which are few and far between), still have the high pitched shriek of the turbo gobbling up air, and then the awful pop off valve. I'll take lightning fast throttle response with a side of IDA bark, and finish with a healthy, free flowing merged header and muffler. You can have your extra 50hp

[Cornpanzer]

50 hp?  Is that all the difference is? Seems like you measure HP the same way you measure inches....

Just because you AND your girlfriend are satisfied with less, doesn't mean everyone else should be!   

Luv ya Zach....

[Zach Gomulka]

I'm talking pump gas! Not E85 or whatever else, just straight 91. I know the wick can be turned up, and along with race fuel very impressive gains can be had. But for me the marginal extra power you can have (on street gas) doesn't justify the expense and complications

Your car was waaaayyy cooler running 12's on IDA's and you know it!

[Neil Davies]

Hey Neil, I was running 'period' pressure hose supplied by Rayjay as part of a 25/30 yr old kit last season, black with a red stripe through it, reinoforced with steel wire. It was hopeless!!!! Ballooned every time I went on boost, and off boost (under vac) sucked nearly closed. Result: terrible low speed running. Not sure if it will have effected on boost running much. This season I've got Samco (blue!) hoses.... they don't look 'all that' admittedly, but if they can keep in 20psi better than the 25+ yr old stuff I was running before I'll be happy.

I might paint 'em black....
 

Wrap 'em in black tape Jamie! I'm guessing the age of the hoses was a big factor?

I tried a turbo on my race car years ago, a side draft 40DCOE with a Mitsubishi Lancer turbo, on a homemade manifold and a homemade header. My 1600 had run 16.4's at the time, and with the turbo it ran 18.4's! Two second slower, BUT it picked up at the top end - the 16 second runs mph were usually about 78mph or so, but on the 18 second runs I was crossing the line at 82mph! What I had failed to take into account (or had just got wrong!) was the ignition timing - I had turned my 009 back to 24deg total advance, which meant that at idle it was mega-retarded! It took that long to get to the correct advance that half the track had gone by then... I couldn't work out what to do so took it all off and put it back in the garage, and within a couple of weeks I read something in VW Trends where they used an 009 on their turbo project car and merely bent the stops inside the distributor to prevent it advancing to 32degrees...

One day I'll have another go!

[Rocket Ron]

Did someone mention turbo and cal look in the same sentence around here again 
Pass him the soap and wash that mouth out good this time 

says the guy with TRIM 

[danny gabbard]

If its a COOL vw, and hauls ass, Thats COW-LOOK

[jamiep_jamiep]

I'm talking pump gas! Not E85 or whatever else, just straight 91. I know the wick can be turned up, and along with race fuel very impressive gains can be had. But for me the marginal extra power you can have (on street gas) doesn't justify the expense and complications

Your car was waaaayyy cooler running 12's on IDA's and you know it!

Even on pump gas its more than 50 horses. I haven't the dyno sheet to prove it, but do have timing slips - a 2 second drop in ET and 23 mph raise in terminal speed. Not at crazy boost figures either (12 psi).

Both on pump gas, although I HAVE run the turbo on race fuel while setting up just for a safety margin..... but my quickest runs to date have been on premium unleaded fuel.

[Black Sheep]

Did someone mention turbo and cal look in the same sentence around here again 
Pass him the soap and wash that mouth out good this time 

says the guy with TRIM 

think the needles well and truely stuck in that record 

[Zach Gomulka]

I'm talking pump gas! Not E85 or whatever else, just straight 91. I know the wick can be turned up, and along with race fuel very impressive gains can be had. But for me the marginal extra power you can have (on street gas) doesn't justify the expense and complications

Your car was waaaayyy cooler running 12's on IDA's and you know it!

Even on pump gas its more than 50 horses. I haven't the dyno sheet to prove it, but do have timing slips - a 2 second drop in ET and 23 mph raise in terminal speed. Not at crazy boost figures either (12 psi).

Both on pump gas, although I HAVE run the turbo on race fuel while setting up just for a safety margin..... but my quickest runs to date have been on premium unleaded fuel.

Ok, so everyone knows a 200hp 2.3L n/a motor can be built to run on pump gas. What can you get out of the same size motor, boosted, on the same fuel? For me, not enough to justify the hassle

And lets us not forget, a 200hp n/a motor and a 200hp turbo motor are not equals.

[Jim Ratto]

Hey Neil, I was running 'period' pressure hose supplied by Rayjay as part of a 25/30 yr old kit last season, black with a red stripe through it, reinoforced with steel wire. It was hopeless!!!! Ballooned every time I went on boost, and off boost (under vac) sucked nearly closed. Result: terrible low speed running. Not sure if it will have effected on boost running much. This season I've got Samco (blue!) hoses.... they don't look 'all that' admittedly, but if they can keep in 20psi better than the 25+ yr old stuff I was running before I'll be happy.

Cal-look is about being period-correct. It doesn't necessarily need to work. You can't judge how something works from a picture in a magazine or on an internet forum. What you can see is THE LOOK. This is why style is the most important thing in cal-look world 

Gosh I sure hope none of the above is true. Why everybody insists on "coloring within the lines" when it comes to this hobby is something I can't comprehend. Tastes and technology have changed a bunch in the last 40+ years, and coming from a guy that's been into VW's for 25 years now, I can tell you, this business of the "old stuff" looking "cool" is a current trend, well at least since maybe 1998, with only recent emphasis on being so historically correct, down to running correct linakge decals and the like. This is just my take on it, but the whole hot rod VW thing is not just about looks. Luckily what looks right usually is right. Honestly, I'd love to build a aqua colored late model with polished 8 spokes and a full on 80's ARPM motor, with none of the "in vogue" crap on it and go run 11's all day with my white Fomuling wheel and VDO gauges.

[.]

Maybe Gagen will sell you his vintage DEVO BUG license plates ! (for historical correctness)
:-)

[Donny B.]

I agree with Jim.  Looks like the king of the original cal-look guys Ron Fleming is using the latest in high tech available for the VW doing his thing....

Cal-Look is different in each person's eye.  Personally I prefer to use the latest in quality parts for my ride.  I want it as reliable as my Honda.  Sorry for that one....

[Zach Gomulka]

Looks like the king of the original cal-look guys Ron Fleming is using the latest in high tech available for the VW doing his thing....

So I've heard

[Ian M]

The only folks I've found to dislike a turbo are ones who've never driven or ridden in a good running turbo car. Pulling like a freight train in 3rd and 4th gear (and  breaking the tires loose during a 4th gear roll on the street )makes you forget how cool IDAs look. 

[stealth67vw]

If you've got a octopus of exhaust and intake tubing, a huge 4 barrel with no decklid or huge decklid standoffs that show everybody what you're all about and what you have......it's not Cal Look.

If you've got a sleekly engineered under the deck hidden turbo system that hauls ass, it fits my interpretation of Cal Look. A wolf in sheep's clothing.

[Rennsurfer]

If you've got a octopus of exhaust and intake tubing, a huge 4 barrel with no decklid or huge decklid standoffs that show everybody what you're all about and what you have......it's not Cal Look.

If you've got a sleekly engineered under the deck hidden turbo system that hauls ass, it fits my interpretation of Cal Look. A wolf in sheep's clothing.

Quoted for truth. Especially that last part... VW used that in their old Rabbit GTI ads in the '80s.

[thejohn66]

If you've got a octopus of exhaust and intake tubing, a huge 4 barrel with no decklid or huge decklid standoffs that show everybody what you're all about and what you have......it's not Cal Look.

If you've got a sleekly engineered under the deck hidden turbo system that hauls ass, it fits my interpretation of Cal Look. A wolf in sheep's clothing.

Thats what I was trying to say, totally agree.