How to make my cal Look engine 'period correct'

[Mabbo]

Hello,

I have restored a 1968 1200 standard model Beetle and have tried to make it look fairly period correct - Forumla Vee wheels, fat biscuit interior, hex T bars, no modern gauges etc.

Shortly after I built it I decided my engine was too modern looking for the rest of the car. I have changed the 45 DRLA for a pair of IDA on short reverse manifolds, and have just bought a Deano swivel linkage to replace the CSP. I have also bought a Magneto to replave the CB dizzy. What else would you suggest I change to look more traditional cal look?

Any suggestiong for the breather box?
As soon as I have some more money I will replace the sump and rocker covers for DDS or Race Trim, and I would like some Deano manifolds.
I'm un-decided on the black fittings for the breathers. I think they look more smart than just a hose clip but I know they are not period correct either.
Should I fit the stock velocity stacks?

Basically, Im looking for advice / opinions from you guys that were around 'back in the day' on how to improve my car

How it looks now:




Cheers,
Mabbo

[Tourist]

Good morning Neil ,

I'm probably not going to be much help , but both of Keith Seume's Cal Look bibles would help I think, unless you have them already


Martin.

[Mabbo]

Morning Martin,

Iv read them, prob still have them somewhere. More than likely in my moms loft.

Hope your well anyway mate.

[richie]

Personally I don't think many would have had all those parts, you were more likely to see a german 009, blue coil, IDAs on Empi or generic manifolds, stock valve covers, Berg sump, maybe a Santana pulley with stock original top pulley etc than the collector type pieces[DDS, Race trim, Truhaft etc] and a small breather box

cheers Richie  

[Mabbo]

Cheers Richie.

I did consider an 009 or 010, but a Magneto came up for sale and I love the way they look.

I'm currently running stock valve covers so will keep those and look for a small breather box. What sort of breathers were popular back in the day? I have read about people running a hose from each rocker cover with a slit over the gearbox to vent - I wont be doing that

Thanks again.

[richie]

Cheers Richie.

I did consider an 009 or 010, but a Magneto came up for sale and I love the way they look.

I'm currently running stock valve covers so will keep those and look for a small breather box. What sort of breathers were popular back in the day? I have read about people running a hose from each rocker cover with a slit over the gearbox to vent - I wont be doing that

Thanks again.

If you got the mag already then run it hopefully your linkage will clear it?

I don't know if there were any fabbed breather boxes back then, all I can think of is the small rectangle box like the DDS and Race trim boxes, there were several versions available with and without logo's but all similar in size and style

cheers Richie

[richie]

Someone much more in the know than me told me to be correct for back in the 70s with a Mag its important to have the correct brown cap, cant remember if it was a top entry or right angled entry to the cap though, all in the details

[speedwell]

richie , someone said to me that those breather box (small one DDS racetrim etc..) don't breathe correctly  big engine , just small displacement
is that true ??

[j-f]

richie , someone said to me that those breather box (small one DDS racetrim etc..) don't breathe correctly  big engine , just small displacement
is that true ??

I think you can't really make a strocker engine breath through the valve covers and the size of the breather box will not be that important. Oil return from the heads through the pushrods tube. Adding a breathed valve covers help the oil to return to the case because valve covers no more are airtight and help siphoning the oil from the heads to the case. If oil puke through the breather box, it's because there is still too much pressure in the case and the oil is pushed to the breather box.
On a bigger engine, adding a venting through the fuel pump hole seems to me a better option.

On the other hand, I'm not an engine builder or experienced hot rod VW guru, but that's something I've got some thinking 

[jhicken]

You have a beautiful car there. But if you want to be totally period correct, a true period cal look car wouldn't have trim. It would also use Lucas turn signals and shave the originals. Also you saw a lot of color matched headlight rings.



And although period correct, and even though I had a set of those same wheels on my '67 back in '77, the early Rivies weren't very popular. All the cool kids were running Empi 8's, later Rivies, Sprint Stars, Centerlines, and of course Alloys, on late model cars.

Burg Linkage, blue coils, 009's, and Santana pulleys were common. Hurst or DDS shifters were popular too.

-jeffrey

[Zach Gomulka]

Good looking car you've got there. I would swap out the alternator for a generator, and put a Santana pulley on the crank. A power pulley will give the best look, if you can afford the cooling loss. Some chrome tips on the QP's would be a nice touch also.

[Jim Ratto]

from what I have seen the engines of the era ran real VW stale air fan housings (with the indent clearance for stock air filter in top-center). Stock IDA air horns, not the Jaycee ones. Low gloss black finish on shrouds. And no breather. Most guys ran the dump-hose right off stock VW filler down through rear tin and/or breather hose up over trans, connecting each valve cover, with a small cut at highest point over hose. Somewhere there's a thread of DKP at Featherly Park 1972 here with the pics you need to see. Nice car.

[Jim Ratto]

have a look.... http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,17153.msg248244.html#msg248244

[56BLITZ]

What else would you suggest I change to look more traditional cal look?

Basically, Im looking for advice / opinions from you guys that were around 'back in the day' on how to improve my car

I was looking at cars built in the mid-seventies when I was building my cars in the late-seventies . . . SO, what year do you consider 'Back in the day'?

I always had the backing plate chromed before bolting it to my Motorola alternator.
I could afford to have just a few things chromed . . . at the chrome plating shop!  At that time, the cheap, pre-chromed junk was not drowning us yet!

+1 on the Santana pulley & stock VW rocker covers for my cars.

[MC Dyno Don]

Self improvement tip>> lift and tuck the muffs.....   Nice car, .... just keep it simple and clean..!!

[johnl]

You have a beautiful car there. But if you want to be totally period correct, a true period cal look car wouldn't have trim. It would also use Lucas turn signals and shave the originals. Also you saw a lot of color matched headlight rings.



Here is a bit of a history lesson.  The Lucas light originated on Greg Aronson's white '63 sedan.  Greg Aronson and Doug Haydon worked at the AJS Foreign Car Parts store in the machine shop and I worked in parts.  One day Greg was walking down one of the parts isles and spotted the Lucas light and the rest is history.  The building is still there and is located at 1515 N. St. College Ave. in Anaheim between the 91 freeway and Orangethorpe Ave.  I can't tell you how many sets of those lights I sold while employed there and later at Auto Haus.....

And although period correct, and even though I had a set of those same wheels on my '67 back in '77, the early Rivies weren't very popular. All the cool kids were running Empi 8's, later Rivies, Sprint Stars, Centerlines, and of course Alloys, on late model cars.

Burg Linkage, blue coils, 009's, and Santana pulleys were common. Hurst or DDS shifters were popular too.

-jeffrey

[Rick Meredith]

Here is a bit of a history lesson.  The Lucas light originated on Greg Aronson's white '63 sedan.  Greg Aronson and Doug Haydon worked at the AJS Foreign Car Parts store in the machine shop and I worked in parts.  One day Greg was walking down one of the parts isles and spotted the Lucas light and the rest is history.  The building is still there and is located at 1515 N. St. College Ave. in Anaheim between the 91 freeway and Orangethorpe Ave.  I can't tell you how many sets of those lights I sold while employed there and later at Auto Haus.....

I too sold Lucas lights and 48 IDAs out of the same store on 1515 N. St. College when it was owned be BAP/Geon

[Mabbo]

Thanks for all the replys guys

As for the body, I know it wouldn't have had the chrome but when I restored it I wanted to keep the body as close to factory as possible. As its a 1200 base model the indicator housings are painted body colour - which I like as you don't see many. I'm not a big fan of the way Lucas indicators look on late wings either.

I want my car to look how someone may have built it late 70's. Someone commented on Rivieras not being popular in the late 70's and the cool kids were running Empi 8's or Sprints etc... I don't mind not being in the cool crew I don't really mind if the car has parts that weren't popular, as long as they don't look out of place. I chose the Rivs as they are not very common and were around in the 70's. I didn't want a repro wheel and loads of people run Sprints.

So, were there any big differences between mid to late 70's styles, and early 80s? I don't mind if its not 100% correct - I just don't want modern parts like MSD ignition, billet top pulley, turbo muffler, autometer gauges that you see so often. I will change out the Jaycee stacks for the stock ones.

A few have mentioned a Santana pulley... I will keep an eye out for an original Also, I would like a dynamo, but my Alternator is brand new. I will change to a dynamo when the alternator gives up.

I had already planned to chrome the muffler tips at some point, I spent ages looking for a Thunderbird or similar duel quiet pack with flared tips but couldn't find anything, so went with one from Richie as it had flare tips that I could chrome later

What are peoples opinions on the Berg 207 breather box - http://www.geneberg.com/images/IMG_4046%20(Small).JPG
When were these available?

Some very cool pictures on the DKP road trip thread. There are a few more than I expected that ran the chrome trim. I have to say, I love Mark Thurber's dash.

Another current engine pic if anyone is interested:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/25351215/Mabbo/IMAG2708.jpg

I would like to change the black fittings for the breather hoses too I think.

Thanks again for your comments,

Mabbo

[glenn]

I would loose the aftermarket 36hp shroud and go with a stock Type 181. Also a Bosch 010 over a mag.

My 2180, while not 100% Cal Look, it's heavily influenced.

[Sarge]

Here's the "period-correct" 1835cc I was running in my rig just before we parted company back in 1972.  What a rat's nest... but it DID run good
As for venting the valve covers and breather boxes... to this day, I still run the vent hose over the trans from one cover to the other with a notch cut
at the high point and no breather box.  Old habits are hard to break.

[70slooker]

Those red manifolds are great!

[HERB]

The breather? Just a piece of braided cloth hose running from the oil filler straight down through the engine tin.

[Jim Ratto]

I would loose the aftermarket 36hp shroud and go with a stock Type 181. Also a Bosch 010 over a mag.

My 2180, while not 100% Cal Look, it's heavily influenced.

in the "how to do it right" encyclopedia of hot rod VW stuff for sure.... right here.

[Stevo_L]

as said before, change alternator to a dynamo, change the dizzy and a blue coil.
here is my version of a tsz-h dizzy from a vanagon in an old housing.
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what about an modified oilfilter for breatherbox?
seen on www.oval56.com

http://www.oval56.com/bilder/Motoransicht.JPG
http://www.oval56.com/bilder/181106%2004.jpg

or a breather box on the alternatorstand from a 356/912 model?

and maybe change the carb linkage to a berg..?

[glenn]

I would loose the aftermarket 36hp shroud and go with a stock Type 181. Also a Bosch 010 over a mag.

My 2180, while not 100% Cal Look, it's heavily influenced.

in the "how to do it right" encyclopedia of hot rod VW stuff for sure.... right here.

Thanks

[Mabbo]

Glenn,

Love your engine, and your car for that matter. I would have gone for an 010 direct from you, but a Magneto came up for sale fairly local and I really like the way they look, and its something a little different from the norm... From photos Iv seen, it looks like a few people used them in the 70s/80s - Not as popular as an 009 or 010, but more in keeping with the theme than a CD / Petronix / MSD

Sarge - Cool pic. Those red manifolds are ace.

So, I fitted the DDS linkage. I had to put a slight bend in one of the arms to clear the Mag:


Magneto:


I also decided to replace the 36hp shroud with a 181 style shroud. I took a stock doghouse shroud, drilled the spot welds out the bottom corners so that the
air that went to the snorkels now goes over the heads:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/25351215/Mabbo/IMAG2785.jpg
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/25351215/Mabbo/IMAG2783.jpg

Trial fitted the flaps - They required some trimming but they all clear ok now, so I welded up the snorkels ready for prep and paint:


I will fit that once I have decided on a breather to replace the CSP box.

Cheers for all your advice guys

[Lids]

nice linkage

[speedwell]

engine looks more period correct , change the alternator to a dynamo , the breather , and for me , would go for non shiny paint for the tins i prefer the "original" color , as an original engine ,  for me john plow(cornpanzers) had a nice period correct enfine  may be richard roth have some photos 

[speedwell]

or here's another good example of cal look motor made by DOC DETAILS aka Frenchy

[speedwell]

another bice engine , is DUMPER 's engine