1970 1200 Beetle

[spoolin70]

It was a cold and frosty New Years day.

The little VW sat in it's house, patiently waiting. Not a single person was around. All it had for company was the spiders that shared its space. They too were patiently waiting.

The VW knew that one day, its time would come again. It would be a long wait but it would be worth it. Its heart had been removed, its driving force taken away. Much of its veins that carried its electrical power had also now gone. Some of its insides had been mercilessly cut out. It felt bad at the time when its old flat metal was cut away, but it had now  been replaced with a far stronger, tube structure that would handle far better the power its new heart would bring.

For now though, the VW sat patiently waiting.

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[richie]

Darren


good to see the build thread now and you posting pictures   Got to say it though, you have a really vivid imagination

cheers Richie

[spoolin70]

Thanks Richie, It must be the Christmas spirit (or cheap wine )

So I though this was a good time to share my project. Its the start of a new year and hopefully this will serve as a moment in time that I can look back on and refer to in years to come (and probably wonder why it all took so long). Also it might kick start some motivation that I've been lacking recently (I have reasons people)

So first some history - sorry I'm not much of a photo taker so you'll have to close your eyes and use your imagination.

I've owned my 1970 1200 model (although sometimes it feels like it owns me) for 20 years on April the 4th. I haven't decided on how to celebrate the occasion yet (it doesn't like surprises) so we'll probably settle for some engine noises and a pat on the bonnet

It came to me by way of an exchange for my first car, a '72 beetle that I owned for the grand total of 7 days. The '72 was bright yellow, wore empi 5 copies and was road scraping low (the bump stops had socks wrapped over them for some extra comfort). It looked cool but the ride height and hole in the master cylinder didn't make it too much fun to drive. It needed so much work to get it properly road worthy that when a straight swap was offered by a local 'specialist' for my seemingly better 1970, the deal was done on the promise that the '72 was to be scrapped and only the wheels kept (I found out later from the police that it was in a hit and run accident, so was probably scrapped pretty soon after that).

So my 1970 (here's the imagination part) was pretty standard. Slightly rusty bumpers, faded red paint with cream/white sides. Someone had gone around the white with black coach lines to add a bit of class. Stock, if a little grubby interior. I made the most of it and cleaned and polished where I could but I craved changes and I wanted them quickly.
I found another local specialist (cant remember the name but it was operated by a guy called Matt Ludwig). He'd built a few cars (a coral red car I kind of remember with coral fuchs and a tartan interior) that were doing well at shows so it was decided that he was the man for the job. A new heater channel was fitted, then some weld in adjusters helped get the front down with the back end following too. All chrome trim was removed. Bonnet and decklid handles removed too and converted to cable operation. One piece windows fitted. Dash smoothed and rear lights frenched. Bumpers removed and slots welded up. Some nice chrome mangels wheels fitted and the front seats changed for some from a XR3i. Even a 1500 engine found its way in to replace the wheezy 1200. All then repainted in royal red. I guess if you wanted to put it into a class of car nowadays, it would be 'back to 89'. It wasn't super radical but I guess it could be classed as a poor mans thump thump. I used it for college, drove to my mates and generally got that taste of sweet sweet freedom  

Tune in next time for chapter 2 - The pursuit of power !

Thanks for reading
Darren 

[spoolin70]

Chapter 2

I'm sure most of you can remember the first quick car you went in. Some of you might have been in something large and powerful like a big Mercedes that only gave away the fact that it was moving along at great speed by the amount of cars you were overtaking or the rate that the scenery was passing by. Others may have been in something smaller and noisier that felt and sounded fast even though they might not have been.

For me it was a twin turbo V8 Ford pop, the classic sit up and beg shape. I recall it being matt black and pretty rough. The side panels around the TVR derived rover V8 (3.9 or 4.2 I cant remember) had been cut with what looked like a can opener to allow for the turbo pipework and silicone hosing. The floor was made from plywood and the dashboard lights were from a fruit machine - hold/stop button being the oil warning lights and the nudge buttons used for indicator lights. Buggy seats and harnesses were the only comforts inside. The owner/builder/driver was a guy called Tim who I worked with at the time. A tall man around 6"5' with a curly mullet who always seemed to wear a tight leather jacket. He strapped me in tight and handed me some ear defenders, I knew at that point it was going to be fun !!

It was really noisy even at slow speeds. Everything seemed to creak and sounded like it needed tightening. The ride wasn't too harsh but every bump was met with another rattle or clang from the car. As he warmed the engine on country lanes heading to the motorway, it seemed reasonably quick but nothing too fast. An old Rover 216 we had hired on the isle of man felt like it would have kept up. It wasn't until we got onto the slip road to join the M25 that it changed. The revs picked up at their usual pace but this time got to a point then suddenly sped up - this was the twin turbos starting to build pressure. The noise increased along with the shaking. If the floor had fallen out or the roof peeled back, I don't think I would have been surprised. This thing felt like it was about to fall apart like a high speed clown car. We joined the busy motorway and got out to the fast lane as soon as possible. Most cars were willing to move over to let us through but a Porsche was not so obliging and sped up instead of giving way. With the revs rising and the noise increasing yet more, we edged closer and closer until the Porsche decided to save face and moved over. The second he was out of our lane, it was foot to the plywood and we roared and shook past him, the driver wearing a confused look, almost saying "you shouldn't be going that fast in THAT". It was only a junction to junction ride but it was enough for me - I needed my Beetle to be faster !!

Tim kept trying to convince me to turbo my car. I wasn't so convinced at the time. This was the late 90's remember and turbocharged VW's weren't as common as they are now. It seemed that a turbocharged engine could destroy itself far quicker than a normally aspirated engine. I wasn't one to take chances with my car, it was pretty presentable and reliable and the last thing I wanted was blown engine. Sadly all our talking came to nothing. The aircraft interiors business we worked at was bought out by rival company then shut down shortly after with everyone being made redundant. I did end up with some redundancy money so it wasn't all bad and being an apprentice, the governing body found me a job pretty quickly.

My next job was where I first met my good mate Tony, he had a 60's beetle at the time so we instantly had something to talk about. Tony is one of them people that isn't worried about starting any job or project and just gets on with it. He's made car frames, tools, rebuilt engines and even built the extension on his house.
In fact he's become so good at it over the years, that he know does work for other people. See https://www.facebook.com/Garageborncustoms for more info.

OK, back to the VW's. Tony's girlfriend at the time had a cousin (or maybe brother) that also had a few air-cooled cars and parts. He just so happened to have a nearly complete 1776cc for sale. A deal was done and my 1500cc plus some redundancy money was traded for the engine. First it had a single weber, then twin Kadrons (with splatter effect paint on the air cleaners) then twin 40 Dellortos. The acceleration was brisk with the 1200 ratio box still fitted but the top end suffered a little.
The large sound system in the car - lots of show cars at the time were fitted with multiple speaker installs which is what I as following with a large bass box, cd changer in the glove box and speakers dotted around - was slowly removed to reduce weight (the bass box and amps alone were enough for one person to carry).

The idea of turbocharging this engine was never far away though and when a mate of Tony's decided to upgrade his sierra cosworth, I found myself in the possession of a Garrett T3 that had previously been running 26psi. Tony of course was game but I still had the same reservations as before. The 1776 ran fine and I didn't want it blowing in a moment of over boost enthusiasm. Once again employment was to step in and Tony and myself were made redundant - more redundancy money though

You deserve a round of applause if you've kept reading this long and haven't skipped forward to the pictures - there isn't any yet haha.

Next chapter - More money, less time, but boost !

[spoolin70]

Chapter 3

Nothing really happened to the car while I was between jobs, living in Australia for a year didn't help matters. I had a job interview pretty much as soon as I got back though a mate I had been in college with. The pay was OK but the hours where long and the more I got into it, the longer I was staying away from home which meant even less work on the car. The other heater channel got replaced by Jim Wotton at VeeDubs in welling. The car was still reasonably presentable but as people do over time, you get used to the speed and want more, and I still had the turbo sitting on the shelf. At the time Matt Keene was at Hastings. This was when his place was called fat VWs and his car, All Torque, was nothing more than a shell on a dolly. He was only around an hour drive from me so over a cup of tea or two, we discussed engine sizes and parts and what would go into the new engine and car. As luck would have it, a college at work knew a pilot who regularly flew to America. He was willing to bring engine parts back for me. A list of parts from CB performance was put together, and in stages was sent to various hotels in the US for my willing courier to bring back, making me a nice saving on the cost  

A Rancho pro drag gearbox was sent down by Paul Hamilton with a Ron Lummus 6 point cage to stiffen the floorpan. All the interior was stripped out and the two front seats replaced with some narrow Cobra race seats. Wheels were changed for some powder coated Porsche boxster wheels. All that remained from the old engine was the turbo spec carbs that were rebuilt by Matt. Once enough parts had arrived, they were delivered to Matt to begin the engine assembly. 2028 was the decided cc with CB ultra cnc heads. A engle TCS20 cam was used with scat 1.25 rockers. When the time was right, my car was driven down and started to be stripped of its old parts. I took 2 weeks of work to help out but spent most of my time trying not to get in the way and making the tea.  A solid mounted mid mount was fitted with CSP trapeze bar to help keep the rear solid along with the cage attached to the frame horns to keep it all together. A naca duct from one rear window was connected to the firewall to help get cool air to the fan and another duct fed a cowl over the charge cooler pre rad that was on the luggage tray with an opening underneath with a small fan fitted too. A chargecooler was made by Matt to just about fit under a closed decklid. I cant recall the exact power this all made but I think it was around 245bhp at 14psi boost. It never ran hot, 7.4:1cr helped, started every time and got me that extra power i was looking for. It was even displayed outside at the VolksWorld show one year, decklid open showing off all the polished pipework and anodized fittings (its the only show it was ever displayed at and it only got in thanks to an invite from Jim Wotton).

I had a car for work so the beetle was only used for early Sunday morning drives and visiting a couple of shows. While the work car was comfortable, quiet and relaxing, he beetle was the complete opposite. Noisy (no carpets or headlining and metal door panels) with pretty stiff suspension which needed a firm grip of the wheel when pressing on. For some reason it always made me slightly nervous when I filled up at a petrol station. That kind of job interview type nervous you feel in your stomach. Due to the noise inside, I rarely went out with a passenger, most of the time it was too loud to talk (the exhaust was only about 6" long).Don't get me wrong though, it was great fun. The 2nd and 3rd gear pull off of roundabouts was very addictive.

The one niggle I did have was the engine had a very slight stutter at a certain rpm. The carbs were rebuilt which improved things but it was still there, the annoying hiccup that would ruin an otherwise perfect pull through the revs. After a couple of years and growing accustomed to the performance, I made the decision to convert the engine to injection in the hope that it would improve the general road manners of the car, but also crucially allow for a little more boost. With help from John Mayer, all the parts for the conversion were ordered. Jenvey throttle bodies with spacers were used to mimic the height of the Dellortos so all the pipework could be retained. I made up the new fuel lines in the car to handle the higher pressure and fitted the majority of the DTA made wiring loom. The alternator and coil was removed and swapped for a wasted spark system and the berg pulley was notched for the crank trigger pickup. Once I'd done as much as I could, the car was once again entrusted to Matt who had annoyingly now moved to Cornwall. I figured he knew the engine and car well so was the person to complete the conversion. The last little parts such as sensor mounting and testing were carried out while the DTA 48exp ecu was mapped by a local mapper under Matts supervision. Water/Methanol injection was also fitted to help cool the now increased charge. With a change of turbo to a T34 and the boost raised to 18psi, the bhp was just over 300. A nice little hike in power but the actual drivability was so much smoother. The annoying stutter had gone and with the solenoid controlled by the ecu, the boost was kept under better control - it had bounced slightly just using the wastegate spring alone. Fuel consumption was now down to single figures under boost but what the hell, this was no BMW

After a few years of happy driving, I once again got the urge for more power. Here is how it looked in its final guise - yes actual pictures.

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Crank trigger pickup

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Hand made breather tower by Pete Bolas. The cap was hand made too with a removable screen so the density of the filter media could be swapped if required.

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Tune in next time for chapter 4 - is that 4 inches in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me ?

[spoolin70]

Chapter 4

This time I decided I wanted a bigger increase in power than the swap over to fuel injection and increase in boost had given me. I had it in my head, for no other reason than it was a nice round number that 400bhp would be the figure to aim for. I decided that part of this increase in output would be made by upping the cc to 2332 using my existing case as the basis. Water jacketed heads were an option such as comp-eliminators but it was a bit too experimental for my liking. Yes, Russ Fellows more than proves it works but its not exactly commonly used. The more the list grew of parts that would need changing, or would like to change, the more it seemed viable to just start again from scratch. The case could have been re-used but then I would have ended up with a pile of engine parts, much better to keep it all together as a working complete engine I reasoned.

Now I know many of you followed Richie's well documented build of the 4" engine. Well this was going on at roughly the same time that I was thinking about my own parts list. When the parts were advertised for sale, it was one of them all in, push your chips across the table and lay your cards down moments. Why go 2332 when you can go 2789 I figured. A bit of thinking time took place and discussion with a collaborator, my good buddy John (more of him later), a couple of emails were sent to Jo and Richie and the deal was done for some of the parts. Sadly the budget didn't quite stretch to the heads and rockers. A meeting in a motorway hotel carpark, an exchange of boxes and that was it – I was going 4” !! One thing that does stick in my mind about the transaction was being asked what kind of horse power I would be looking for from the engine. Not wanting to sound over ambitious, I replied “somewhere around 375”. Richie's answer was “if you only get 375, you've probably got a plug lead off”. If you need parts from Richie or Jo, here is their website - http://www.rjvolksperformance.com/

From that point on, it was apparent that everything had to be a level above, a bit stronger, a bit tougher than usual. Now don't get me wrong, there is absolutely nothing wrong with a VW pushing out 200bhp, lots of fun all day long, and I’ll admit at times, the simplicity of an engine bay with only a couple of carbs and a distributor is very appealing. When your looking for 3 times that output, and I probably should have considered this more at the time, everything has to be that much more capable. Driveshafts need to be stronger. Pistons able to take more power. Cylinders to take more pressure. Ignition system to deliver more spark. Tires for more grip and better brakes to slow it all down. Clutch to handle the power and a gearbox strong enough to match. Some of these things have now been considered, some even purchased, but some, I'll admit I haven't even thought about.
So with these new parts obtained and the direction of the car, kind of decided, my complete running engine and gearbox was put up for sale. A buyer came forward and thankfully he was a patient man as it took a good few months to get everything out, labelled and packed up. The gearbox had to stay in for a while as I still needed to be able to roll the car around, plus it would make it easier for it to be loaded on the trailer for its next trip.

Now I know my limitations in life and how far my skills can take me. I know you should try new things, it's the only way we learn, but chassis work is something I'm not willing to undertake (at this moment). Understanding stresses, tube size, wall thickness, load on brackets etc is a bit beyond me so this is something I would need a professional for. Step forward and take a bow Mr Jim Smith of Cotsweld racecars - http://www.cotsweld.co.uk/. I know some of you know Jim anyway but for those that don't, hopefully some of my pictures later on can do his work justice. I'd actually visited Jim at his old premises a couple of years earlier to discuss things and generally have a look around what he was doing at the time. As we drove away after him giving up an hour or two of his time and a few cups of tea, I knew he was the one to carry out the work needed. He even quoted me for the work and honoured the price when my car was finally delivered a few years later (we'd only kept in contact by a couple of cursory emails). If your thinking of having any chassis or cage work done, I cant recommend Jim enough, I'm sure there are a few others on here that would say the same.

There was couple of reasons why this chassis work was required. I wanted the suspension converted to IRS, I have aspirations of high speed cornering so swingaxle was never going to do. While converting, I had hoped to get the mounting points moved inwards to allow for wider wheels at the rear and as such, more grip. Jim knew the easiest way to achieve this would be to do away with the frame horns. The engine power meant a engine plate was added to the list along with mounts for coilovers as the torsion bar would be redundant. A couple of extra tubes were added to help the existing cage plus some gussets for good measure.

The only slight deviation from the usual, would be the use of Renault UN1 gearbox. I'd liked the idea of a 5 speed gearbox (with new internals these can be made into 6 speed) for some time. The previous gearbox had been close ratio so motorways were more of a deafening cruise than high speed blast. Porsche gearboxes were a possibility but the prices were high for a used gearbox of unknown history. So the idea was suggested by my buddy John and that's firmly were the blame will be directed if it blows at the first sign of boost ha ha. I've known John for a few years now. He started working at the same place as me after I returned from Australia. At first I had him down as just another VW bore but we have stayed good mates through our interest of not only VW’s but cars in general, drag racing, hill climbs, circuit racing and everything in between. At the time I'd never considered a UN1 but John sold me on the idea, helped somewhat by the fact that his business is old Renault's (alpines, gordinis etc) so He's rebuilt quite a few, knows them well and what they are cabable of, and will hopefully tend to mine if it ever needs attention. We have a Quaife to go in plus some cryo treated parts already. He knows his VW engines pretty well so He's actually assembling my engine too (with me eagerly looking over his shoulder) See some of his work here : https://www.facebook.com/jlengineeringuk/

So with an empty gearbox and engine case for mock up, some wide wheels and slicks, IRS arms and coilovers, the car was delivered to Jim at Cotsweld. A couple of weeks went by, I'm quite patient but I did wonder what was happening. Then the first pictures arrived by email and I was speechless……


Tune in next time for chapter 5 – A quick fumble around the back……with pictures !!!

[spoolin70]

Chapter 5

The pictures that I received showed big changes. The parcel tray had gone to make way for the cage and engine plate. The inner arches removed due to the width of the new wheels. If this was ever going to be restored to stock, it was too late now  

This was the sight in the car with all the engine related parts removed. A few more holes than usual but still pretty much as you'd expect -

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Now it looked like this -

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The usual engine bay now had lots more room. It had changed from this -

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To this -  

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[spoolin70]

This is a mock up for the position of the rear wheels. I'm realy pleased that Jim could get them under stock width wings. Wheels are 10.5" wide.

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[spoolin70]

This is some of the work that Jim done to the rear suspension mounts to allow the wheels to fit -

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[spoolin70]

Some more in progress pictures -

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[spoolin70]

While the car was at Jim's, I also got him to make the rear wings and valance removable by dzus fasteners. Many times I'd laid on my back under the car trying to route a pipe or tighten a nut, struggling with the space and itching from the heat wrapped CB hide-away turbo header. A 4 stage Pauter dry sump pump is being used so there was no way I want to be struggling with multiple AN  fittings tight behind the valance.

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[spoolin70]

Before the car was shipped off to Cotsweld, one of the vital measurements Jim had to know was the overall width of the engine. Wide rear wheels, tucked in rear suspension and a wide engine (86mm crank and 6" rods) meant that it would be tight.

Here is the engine put together just enough to get that measurement -

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The decision on what heads to use was finally made during a trip to JPM dyno day in 2012. I had strongly been considering some MS230 heads but seeing the MS250 in the metal and realizing it had 6 stud mounting (compared to the 230's 4) and the fact that  this engine was going to see some boost pressure, it made sense to upgrade. Plus the cylinders that came with the engine had provisions for the extra studs so that only left the case needing the extra stud holes. Some weld was required to be built up at the areas where the stud holes needed to be. This was done by Pete (who made the breather tower on the last engine).

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The extra stud holes were expertly drilled and tapped after machining the welds flat by John's mate Lee at classic autos one Saturday morning. It sure does help to know someone that has a bridgeport mill at work and only takes chips and salad as payment for a good few hours work .

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[andy198712]

Wow.......

[Trond Dahl]

Wow.......

That pretty much sums up what I was thinking looking through this

[Shane Noone]

Great narrative and pics Darren ! I really enjoyed reading this and look forward to seeing you get your poor old Beetle ( waiting.....patiently  ) back out there.

Cheers

Shane.

[vwhelmot]

Hardcore project. Love it.

[spoolin70]

Thank you Gentlemen - Much appreciated  

So the car made it back from Jim Smiths with a dolly under the rear end to allow it to be strapped down on the trailer. The wide wheels weren't ready to be fitted (the reason later) and the trailing arms need some work plus the rear disc brakes needed some attention. Although these are all things Jim could have handled, they are easy enough so it made sense to get the car back for me to finally get my hands dirty.

That was the plan but sadly it hasn't quite worked so far. I normally work 6 days a week so progress will be slow anyway. For the first couple of weeks, I managed very little 'garage time'. When I did find some time, I would just stare into the pipework and try to picture what would be going where and how it would look. It felt a little like writers block at times. Before the car had boundaries and limits. There was a firewall to mount things to, a parcel tray to bolt things down against and inner wings to avoid. There was a engine bay, an area with confines. Now all of this is gone, its like there is too much room. Is this like the prisoner who finally gets set free into the world but cant be without the walls of his cell ? How you guys cope with a full chassis car I don't know !
I've read since its easier to get the main components in place, the ones that cant be moved, and work on from there connecting them all together.

All of this was starting to make sense and i was getting a very rough idea in my head of where everything was going to be and then at the start of November, I was off work sick for a few days that turned into 3 weeks in hospital. I wont go into details but lets just say being fed by a tube up your nose is no fun and  being in isolation can get pretty boring !! I know I'm not the only one on here that's had an illness that's put them out of action but i can now appreciate what it can do to motivation. I was discharged from hospital around the start of December and have managed roughly an hour in the garage since (mainly to sweep the floor and wipe the condensation off the roof). The mind was willing but the body was not !

Lets not dwell on it though, I'm getting better now but that means I've got to go back to work soon. Slow progress is better than no progress right ?

Here is how the car is at the moment - pictures taken this morning

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First job is to remove the trailing arms, cut the shock mounts and bump stop mounts off, give them a clean up and paint and replace the wheel bearings. One of the bearing cages has collapsed and the others feel pretty rough. Once that's done the stub axles can go back in and i can think about getting the wide wheels on. Its not just a case of bolting them on, that would be too easy. The wheels are 5 x 5 inch pcd bolt pattern with inserts inside the bolt holes. Now 5 inch is 127mm which isn't too far from Porsche 130mm which my discs are drilled to. The inserts are 18mm bore (the camaro they came from had large studs). So there is a bit of room to play with as the VW bolts are roughly 14mm OD.

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To make life a little easier, they are split rims so once I've got the tyre bead broken (had to visit a few places to find a machine that could press the tyre off the 13.5" wide wheels i also have, the were the camaro's rears which I'll remake to around 8" for the front of my car), I'll get some new inserts made without the centre drilled. Press them into the holes like the originals, mount the centre to a mill rotary table and redrill the holes to 130mm pcd. Rebuild the wheels, put the tyres back on and fit them in place. Sounds easy if you say it fast haha. That should at least give me some idea of the clearance at the side of the engine. I'm not even going to get into where the planned 4x oil coolers are going, dry sump tank and 2x rod gear shift linkage that will be above the tunnel.

Thanks for reading my VW story, past and present. Any questions, see me after class  

Over and out
Darren

[hotstreetvw]

Very cool project.

[spoolin70]

Thanks - I've been watching the progress of yours too.

How are you getting on with the throttle body ?

Thanks
Darren

[spoolin70]

The sun was out

The neighbours were out

Time to get the grinder out  

Attacked the shock and bumpstop mounts. After a short while they were off and free.

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Change of wheel and smoothed the areas out.

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Next job will be to clean them up fully and give them a coat of paint. I'm half tempted to sandblast them and maybe even powdercoat but the lazy man in me thinks flap wheel and hammerite will get me to the point of fitting the rear wheels far far sooner.

I also found some time to have a hunt around in my loft. Now I only have a single garage so all my boxes have to live somewhere. I've decked some of the area out but recently its got a bit untidy and I shamefully admit I'd lost track of some things that I'd bought previously. I cant be the only one that's seen an eBay deal and thought "if that goes for cheap, I'm gonna bid on it".

Either that or I have oil cooler amnesia haha

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Somehow some Kenlowe fans slipped in too

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[modnrod]

Next job will be to clean them up fully and give them a coat of paint. I'm half tempted to sandblast them and maybe even powdercoat but the lazy man in me thinks flap wheel and hammerite will get me to the point of fitting the rear wheels far far sooner.

Yep, MUCH quicker!  

Gotta love hammerite.

[spoolin70]

Not much achieved this weekend due to weather and work but I did have one of them 'I wonder' moments.

I had been reading the Pro street style thread on here (cant recall the posters name) and there was talk of how high the engine would be if the trans was raised. Now I know my gearbox is higher than usual but I hadn't really thought about exactly how much higher it was. The A-arm brackets are actually under the gearbox due to the amount of narrowing that has taken place so obviously a gearbox at standard height was never going to work.

As luck would have it I had a case in the garage that was waiting delivery to Pete the welders for some magnesium welding (thanks to hoover mod breakout) so with some longer bolts, it was mounted in position to be then stood back and looked at with the kind of expression a confused dog gives - head to one side, one eyebrow down.

First thoughts were it looked good, easy access to top of engine, dry sump pump connections and pulley will be easy to get to -

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[spoolin70]

So that didn't look too bad. Then I remembered that the engine is pretty wide, about 34inches with valve covers fitted. Here is a tape measure 17inches out from the centre - more cutting required  

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I got this old fan housing a while back. I'm not totally sure what it actually is but it was cheap and is pretty battered - actually has some filler down one side so I'm not too bothered if it needs cutting a bit. Using the mark one eyeball, I think it might actually fit if I loose the hinges.

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Something I've always wondered though is how well any fan housing performs with the oil cooler removed ? There must be an imbalance of airflow if it was designed to have one from the factory ?

  

[spoolin70]

Flap discs + Hammerite + Sunday sunshine  

In progress -

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and painted -

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Still waiting for my custom made pistons. Feels like I've been waiting weeks (because I have been).

Sent an email to CP - no reply.
Thought I'd try an English company so email sent to Acralite/Omega - no reply.
Let's try American again, email sent to JE - hooray !! Reply in less than 24hrs.
You can have my money  

[jamiep_jamiep]

What a kick ass project, loving this!!!!

[spoolin70]

Pistons arrived !!

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Rings too

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Custom made from JE. Big dish to get the compression down to 8.5:1 with the JPM heads.

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A big thank you to my buddy John (JLaw) for his measuring and spec expertise that was needed with ordering these beauties.
I only shouted out the number when we needed the expected horsepower  

[andy198712]

I love/hate Pistons like that
Love the fact they look lush and are beautifully made, hate the fact you'll never see them once built