1990-1993 (FORMERLY 4 YEARS- NOW CONDENSED TO 3)

[andrewlandon67]

some crudely hot-rodded mess on four wheels.

The best description of a late high school/early 20s car I've ever read. Hope you're about ready for another update!

[Jim Ratto]

Spring 1991 And The Pontiac Loses
I'd been thinking about this segment of time, these 3-4 years or whatever it was, recently. Funny how so much of what goes on today links back, and maybe is sort of determined by directions we went a long time ago. If you've read this novel up to this point, I hope you've read, that if anything, I poured every ounce of effort into immersing myself into not just the hot-rodding aspect, but learning everything I could about part numbers, and which ones fit which application, and which ones superseded, and where one part could be substituted for, maybe an obsolete piece, etc. To learn which brands were trustworthy and which were substandard. The job at BH was supposed to be a stopgap deal, to make some money maybe through winter of 1990, and then I'd find something else to do.
Two problems though:
1. I had no idea what else to do.
2. I was having an enormous amount of rewarding fun, pretty much every day, and getting paid at the same time.

Now nearly 30 years later, I can still, find all kinds of direct connection back to these days, and not just because I still own the same car. I still sell parts, though in a wholesale arena, and rarely for air cooled VW's any longer. But I still slide out that old Bosch ignition book for reference. Or that old WAWD or H&H catalog. I have hundreds of old photographs of this era, though I've lost probably twice as many.

Anyway, back to that late April Friday night, about an hour after sunset.... out on Frank's private road. Our very own dragstrip. As I mentioned last entry, BH's owner- Rich, his son, Chris, was a year younger than we were. He had a super clean Squareback that was more show than go (smart when you're 18-19, really if you ask me). He was also screwing parts to a white Pontiac Tempest, and had his uncle Jerry (my boss), build some big inch Pontiac motor, which I can't remember the bore and stroke (I never cared enough to ask), but it was probably around 400 cu in. Maybe more. Doesn't matter. It had all the stuff a kid would have wasted his money on, at the local Super Shops. A carb that was too big, and glass packs, and a Mallory Unilite and the big K&N filter. The car had some kind of steel stock wheels, probably widened at rear. It ran no hood.
Chris was a cool kid, just enough attitude to be fun to hang out with . He never really talked trash, car-wise, especially about the then 25+year old battle of V8 vs VW, as he was smart enough to know, if you had the balls and the money, you could have a VW, and answer to no one.
That Friday night, we obliged with Chris' request to bring his car out to Frank's road. It was around 9pm, Frank and I were doing not much of anything, at the far east end of the road, where you'd hang a sharp right, and follow a path to his ranch. About 25 yards west was the "start line." Soon we saw a pair of small sealed beams, way at the west terminus of the road, and soon after heard the tell-tale rap of a big motor barking through glass packs. As much as I was decidedly "Anti V8", I had to admit, the car sounded good. He came around the soft, righthand sweeper, onto the long straight and squeezed the trigger. Soon he pulled the Tempest along side my '67 and we razzed one another for a few minutes. I remember thinking, I still remember this.... thinking "This is better than anything else I could be doing right now, it's a Friday night, the weather's nice, I've got a job I love, and it's all tied to this metallic blue car I own." I knew Chris and I were going to go head to head that night, funny thing was, because we were friends. I wasn't anxious. I didn't feel like I had to prove anything. That was a new way of thinking, coming out of high school, just a few years before, as the dork with a VW.
And so we set the cars up. Me in the oncoming lane (I had done this and knew the sweeper at the end, in case anything came our way). I remember looking at I-580 going by, just on the other side of the chain link fence, that separated Frank's road from it. I thought "I wonder if those normal, grown up idiot people that have nothing to do tonight wonder what we're up to over here? Don't they wonder why a VW and this big hulking muscle car are both facing the same way, noses west, on this long, straight road.
Frank walked a few paces in front of us, with his chrome Everready flashlight. This was Bob Falfa and John Milner out on Paradise Road. Of course, we had to rev one another off, with the Pontiac easily drowning out my VW's dual quiet packs. Neither of us had any idea of what we were doing- which now adds to the candy-apple sparkle of nostalgia. Click went the flashlight, down went my right foot and up came my left. The entire car galloped in a fury of terrible wheel hop, and then a squawl from the tires, as the rear end wagged to the right. Chris was struggling as well, with lots of bravado and tire smoke, but not much motion. But he did find his footing first and shot ahead, while I found second gear.
And then it happened.
That marriage of the Pauter heads, the Engle 125, the merged header/mufflers and the time spent jetting the car, paid off. My 914 tach was of no use, so I had no idea what rpm things were now at, but I juggled watching the road, my mirror (looking for smoke), and seeing Chris's A pillar come close and then fall behind me, while my car still had more left in second. Into third and now his headlights were in my mirror (and no smoke). I could hear his car, and see he was just over my shoulder, but here it was. What I had watched at Baylands a few years earlier. What I had read about in Hot VW's. All the urban legends and wild rumors that cycled through the cold garages, the high school auto shops, about some guys with some Bug that tore up a Nova, or a Javelin or 302 Mustang... it had just happened. It could be done. And I was behind the wheel.
Just to "make sure" we repeated the effort a few more time. And neither of us suffered any broken parts, and the VW took him each time. It was now scientifically factual, we had proven, the VW could whip the V8's ass.

And then things went horribly wrong.

[Jim Ratto]

Speaking of life today linking to our pasts....
I took this picture of my 10 year old son, Lucas. His birthday was May 22, earlier this week. That engine, in my car? He assembled much of the lower end, last September. My distributor drive is a few teeth out of index, but no leaks, no pulled M8 studs, no mystery sounds. He also helped set up cam timing.

Don't be surprised if you find him sharing posts here sometime soon.

[Donny B.]

I'm lovin' the story! Remember the surgeon general never said anything about smokin' a V8...

[Neil Davies]

Crikey Jim, Lucas has got tall! It doesn't seem like five minutes since you announced his birth! Great story about the Pontiac too...

[Brian Rogers]

Thanks Jim! Please don’t make us wait another month and a half. Tho I’m not looking forward to bad vibes, and can learn from others expearience.

[andrewlandon67]

Speaking of life today linking to our pasts....
I took this picture of my 10 year old son, Lucas. His birthday was May 22, earlier this week. That engine, in my car? He assembled much of the lower end, last September. My distributor drive is a few teeth out of index, but no leaks, no pulled M8 studs, no mystery sounds. He also helped set up cam timing.

Don't be surprised if you find him sharing posts here sometime soon.

Not like I'm all that surprised, but it sounds like he's growing up properly! The bottom end of my old 1641 was last bolted together by my dad and I way back when I was about 10-11, but it wound up sitting as a short block for a good 10 more years when my dad decided he'd rather take us fishing and snowboarding and so on, until I needed a car and had grown some sense of mechanical sympathy. Those couple of nights out in the garage were some of the coolest I can remember from that period. I only wish I'd stuck with it instead of waiting for so damn long to get my act together and start working on cars instead of just reading about them and beating on them.

[Brian Rogers]

Paging Mr. Ratto,
Paging Mr. Ratto,

Please sir, it’s time for our monthly installment. I and a few others here have a need to know what went wrong.

[Jim Ratto]

Spring 1991 What It All Meant

More talk about the "down time" of the period.

Not surprisingly, during quiet periods, in between work, ditching community college classes, working on the car, one could almost hear my head working away, processing the very vivid input of what were still very new cars in my awareness. The previous summer, 1990, it seemed I had finally sort of found a square hole to insert myself into, after colliding with so many round ones. The VW parts job was so much more than a job (looking back, the pay in the beginning was pretty awful). I would have worked for less. I had become, in a year's time there, sort of the "go to" guy for a lot of issues. I was in charge of the West Coast Metric and Weber carb inventory and parts management. I'd get handed the phone when somebody had an IDF tuning question. If a prospective big cc engine customer strolled through the door, I was asked to "go show them" with a ride in my car. When we'd bring in stock orders from various WD, I got to go through and weed out the lesser quality stuff to return, and buy more of what I found to be "the good stuff." The trips to Costa Mesa, Bakersfield, and Phoenix set my fate in stone, I was now at a point of no return (and now 28 years later, still holds true).

Gary Berg's blue '67- I now had a few copies of the December 1989 issue. By this time, I had almost memorized the article, word for word. I had pored over the photographs countless times, squinting to see every small, indistinct detail, the water spray kit, the way the heater-merged worked, the engine wiring harness. Seeing this car in Costa Mesa, under a blue sunshade anchored by 4 black, 12lb flywheels, had reworked how I saw most of the world.  Obviously this car had been assembled with one goal in mind, only the best parts had been selected and for me, it came into my awareness at the perfect moment.

Dave Mason's black nitrous car- While this car didn't have quite the jewel-like quality of Gary Berg's car, when it came to what this car seemed to mean, it didn't matter. The lack of perfection in its appearance made it all the better. If there was ever one Volkswagen that was making wise-cracks (with a straight face) to the V8 world, this is the car. In the 32 years I've been into VW's, no other car has said "fuck you" as well as this one. If you've never seen this car in person, I'm sorry. It's like meeting the Devil.

Dave Rhoads' green '64- The first of the green California Look cars that would start a sort of obsession with me. So much of this car was from another wavelength to me....  a) the combination of no chrome molding, the BRM's, the lack of bumpers and the green paintwork stood out, b) The cooling shrouds and fan housing smartly paint-detailed to match the car and how clever and neat the engine compartment appeared to be, the wiring, the routing of fuel and breather hose-work. The dipstick temp sender, c) The engine specification; Frank and I saw Dave's car in action @ Phoenix, running deep into mid-12 sec, and later hung around Dave and the car and learned it was 88mm bore. Wow! And "just" 40mm valves and "just" a 130 Engle, yet it had posted an ET faster than a lot of the actual race cars that day, d) NOTHING about Dave's car "fit in" to the VW scene of the late 1980's-early 1990's. It was obviously built, not caring to adapt to what I saw as a pretty silly phenomenon, with the mirrors and speaker boxes and laser show paint jobs. Again, this car fit into a need of my own, that I didn't even know existed.

Bill Schwimmer's ragtop- I saw this car for the first time, at Costa Mesa, same time I saw Gary Berg's. This was before it was featured on the cover of Hot VW's in fall of 1990 or so. When I first saw Bill's ragtop, I knew, somehow, that this car was going to get noticed. I couldn't put my finger on one aspect of this car, but everything about it was subtle, yet it still stood out. I think it stood out, again, because it was completely apart from the scene I was becoming more and more frustrated with. The interior of Bill's car just looked "right", there were no fluorescent stabs of color or cheapie carpet kit. It was extremely sensible, done in this classic grey tweed look. It fit well with the VW color. And you have to remember- at the time, "custom" VW's almost never wore a factory VW color. This was the period of pinks, lavenders, aqua-green, graphic, murals, etc. Yet here sat Bill's car in the original coral VW color, another car on BRM's, and with just enough odd hot rod stuff to make you keep looking under it, and in all the nooks and crannies. His engine at the time was the DCNF-carbed 1776. So much of how this engine was presented was new to me. The DCNF's were sure different from the DRLA and IDF's I knew a little about. The Berg carb linkage looked very complicated and it took me a few times of seeing Bill's car to understand how it worked. Underneath his engine had different AN- hoses than what I had seen before, instead of the typical blue and red thread-together hose-ends, it had fittings that appeared to be made as part of the hose. The traction bar looked a lot stouter than the bars I had seen on cars up north. And he had his oil filter muffler-clamped to the bar, not bolted somewhere on the car. The car ran a merged header and no heaters, and in turn ran a fan shroud without air ducts, but it looked like a factory VW shroud? (It was, at the time I didn't know what a Thing shroud was).  All these small tidy details were enough to make Bill's car the car that always seemed to flashback in my constant daydreaming about these cars.

I kept a mental notepad on all of the above. In addition, I started jotting down on same notepad, more and more extreme engine ideas. These times of quiet thought would begin to turn into things changing in my parent's garage, very soon.

[Eddie DVK]

I think we are of almost the same age Jim. 
Started buying (collecting) Hot VW's and VW Trends and german VW scene at the begining of 1990. (ooooh also british Streetmachine magazine that featured a lot of beetles at that time)
And started looking for those nose down hot rodded beetles, than came the september 1990 issue of Hot VW's damn I was hooked.
That were the cars to have.... From that point on I was building my to have car in my head.
But it took me longer, after college and a first job, to own a nose down beetle.
But you brought up some good memories.

Cool Jim.

[Brian Rogers]

Thank you Mr Ratto. I’ve been Cal Look drooling since the very early ‘70s. Never enough cash or time to build or work on my own. Helped a few friends in Whittier, SoCal. But was involved in a round about way. When I’d moved to Utah I bought my 1st Bug a ‘67. Is just gotten married and started a family. The bug was just transportation, bringing home my 1st 2 babies and lulling them to sleep in the bug with a car ride. Sadly the ‘67 got sold. Then Feb ‘75 HotVWs came out, the dream continued but it’s just been that a dream until recently. And my healt got in the way. A ‘67 vert sits in my garage in a state of disrepair. It’ll happen soon. Be in SoCal in Sept.

[Brian Rogers]

Paging Mr Ratto,
It?s that time again!

[Jim Ratto]

Hey guys, I went through and added some kind of time stamp. The next period of time is fuzzy as to what exactly happened, when.

Over the next couple of months, spring 1991, going into summer, the following happened:
I changed the W125 cam out for the VZ35 (and ran it for one week)
I drove from SF Bay Area to Ventura, and back, for a VW show- running the VZ35 cam. Horrible trip.
I stripped the motor back out, and swapped the W125 back in place.
I break a valve spring.
I made plans to go drag race @ Sacramento Bug A Rama, Memorial Day Weekend, with the guy Roger (white '67 with Super Flow heads). First time ever on dragstrip for me.
Some exhaust swaps happen.
On a drive home from Irvine, on a Sunday night, an intake guide comes loose.

Plenty more to come....

[j-f]

Spring 1991 What It All Meant

More talk about the "down time" of the period.

Not surprisingly, during quiet periods, in between work, ditching community college classes, working on the car, one could almost hear my head working away, processing the very vivid input of what were still very new cars in my awareness. The previous summer, 1990, it seemed I had finally sort of found a square hole to insert myself into, after colliding with so many round ones. The VW parts job was so much more than a job (looking back, the pay in the beginning was pretty awful). I would have worked for less. I had become, in a year's time there, sort of the "go to" guy for a lot of issues. I was in charge of the West Coast Metric and Weber carb inventory and parts management. I'd get handed the phone when somebody had an IDF tuning question. If a prospective big cc engine customer strolled through the door, I was asked to "go show them" with a ride in my car. When we'd bring in stock orders from various WD, I got to go through and weed out the lesser quality stuff to return, and buy more of what I found to be "the good stuff." The trips to Costa Mesa, Bakersfield, and Phoenix set my fate in stone, I was now at a point of no return (and now 28 years later, still holds true).

Gary Berg's blue '67- I now had a few copies of the December 1989 issue. By this time, I had almost memorized the article, word for word. I had pored over the photographs countless times, squinting to see every small, indistinct detail, the water spray kit, the way the heater-merged worked, the engine wiring harness. Seeing this car in Costa Mesa, under a blue sunshade anchored by 4 black, 12lb flywheels, had reworked how I saw most of the world.  Obviously this car had been assembled with one goal in mind, only the best parts had been selected and for me, it came into my awareness at the perfect moment.

Dave Mason's black nitrous car- While this car didn't have quite the jewel-like quality of Gary Berg's car, when it came to what this car seemed to mean, it didn't matter. The lack of perfection in its appearance made it all the better. If there was ever one Volkswagen that was making wise-cracks (with a straight face) to the V8 world, this is the car. In the 32 years I've been into VW's, no other car has said "fuck you" as well as this one. If you've never seen this car in person, I'm sorry. It's like meeting the Devil.

Dave Rhoads' green '64- The first of the green California Look cars that would start a sort of obsession with me. So much of this car was from another wavelength to me....  a) the combination of no chrome molding, the BRM's, the lack of bumpers and the green paintwork stood out, b) The cooling shrouds and fan housing smartly paint-detailed to match the car and how clever and neat the engine compartment appeared to be, the wiring, the routing of fuel and breather hose-work. The dipstick temp sender, c) The engine specification; Frank and I saw Dave's car in action @ Phoenix, running deep into mid-12 sec, and later hung around Dave and the car and learned it was 88mm bore. Wow! And "just" 40mm valves and "just" a 130 Engle, yet it had posted an ET faster than a lot of the actual race cars that day, d) NOTHING about Dave's car "fit in" to the VW scene of the late 1980's-early 1990's. It was obviously built, not caring to adapt to what I saw as a pretty silly phenomenon, with the mirrors and speaker boxes and laser show paint jobs. Again, this car fit into a need of my own, that I didn't even know existed.

Bill Schwimmer's ragtop- I saw this car for the first time, at Costa Mesa, same time I saw Gary Berg's. This was before it was featured on the cover of Hot VW's in fall of 1990 or so. When I first saw Bill's ragtop, I knew, somehow, that this car was going to get noticed. I couldn't put my finger on one aspect of this car, but everything about it was subtle, yet it still stood out. I think it stood out, again, because it was completely apart from the scene I was becoming more and more frustrated with. The interior of Bill's car just looked "right", there were no fluorescent stabs of color or cheapie carpet kit. It was extremely sensible, done in this classic grey tweed look. It fit well with the VW color. And you have to remember- at the time, "custom" VW's almost never wore a factory VW color. This was the period of pinks, lavenders, aqua-green, graphic, murals, etc. Yet here sat Bill's car in the original coral VW color, another car on BRM's, and with just enough odd hot rod stuff to make you keep looking under it, and in all the nooks and crannies. His engine at the time was the DCNF-carbed 1776. So much of how this engine was presented was new to me. The DCNF's were sure different from the DRLA and IDF's I knew a little about. The Berg carb linkage looked very complicated and it took me a few times of seeing Bill's car to understand how it worked. Underneath his engine had different AN- hoses than what I had seen before, instead of the typical blue and red thread-together hose-ends, it had fittings that appeared to be made as part of the hose. The traction bar looked a lot stouter than the bars I had seen on cars up north. And he had his oil filter muffler-clamped to the bar, not bolted somewhere on the car. The car ran a merged header and no heaters, and in turn ran a fan shroud without air ducts, but it looked like a factory VW shroud? (It was, at the time I didn't know what a Thing shroud was).  All these small tidy details were enough to make Bill's car the car that always seemed to flashback in my constant daydreaming about these cars.

I kept a mental notepad on all of the above. In addition, I started jotting down on same notepad, more and more extreme engine ideas. These times of quiet thought would begin to turn into things changing in my parent's garage, very soon.

Those cars and people light the fire of the passion for Cal Look for most of us! Reading this make me want to work on my stuff again. Thanks Jim.

[Jim Ratto]

Longer Days of Spring 1991 and The Learning Curve Gets Steeper

Sorry, this period of time, as I mentioned earlier, is a little foggy, as to when things happened or in which order. Up until this point, I had been running around in my '67 with the 94 x 74, Mexican new case, Engle 125, 44IDF's and at first, my old Magnum 044 CB heads, which had been ported next door @ Hannan's, and then the brand new Pauter 40 x 35.5 non-welded oval port jobs that I found in the bowels of the machine shop @ Buggy House. The new heads had smaller chambers (through deeper flycut) and resulted in an increase of compression ratio from 7.8:1 up to 8.8:1. Of course the valvetrain geometry had to be dealt with too, but only because I was being helped by someone that actually understood such things (had it been left up to me at this time, heads would simply go on and the parts would grind themselves into history, like in the past, and as we will see, the future as well). The increase in compression really lit this engine's fuse, and it still ran very cool, and with a very civil nature (civil when compared to issues I would soon encounter and continue to encounter through being ignorant and quite hard headed).

During the down time at work, I could be found digging through the towering piles of parts catalogs that were shoved in every crevice under the front counter. It looked like, for years, a new parts catalog would show up from a vendor, and get crammed in the closest open spot, with no thought to alphabetizing or organizing by type of vendor or part. Sometimes I'd be rifling through the books so they could be organized, or sometimes I'd be daydreaming about how to spend more money that I wasn't making. One of my favorites to scan was the Johnny's Speed and Chrome catalog, at least for trick engine stuff. This and the SCS book. Both seemed to have "everything." From cheese grater stainless firewall covers to Autometer monster tachs... from oil pressure booster springs to full on welded, "hand ported" race heads.

The Johnny's book had a great section on Engle cams.

Some of you may know, since the early-mid 1990's, I have been known to suffer from VW cam schizophrenia. In the last 27 years I have run in excess of 20 different cams in my car. With the amount of time, effort and money it takes to switch cams, I know it's a disorder. This is how it came to be.

I had been reading (but not comprehending) a few different books up until this point, on engine theory and tuning and stuff like that. And, the Hot VW's article on Gary Berg's 2110 build had just hit the stands. Gary's engine, in so many terms, was the ultimate, as far as I was concerned. The images of the cylinder heads alone, convinced me. I knew my Pauter heads were not quite to the same level, but I saw similarities. Granted, they had nowhere near the level of portwork (impossible, as they were not welded, with exception of plug holes had been and redrilled/tapped for 12mm), and were only 40mm x 35.5mm vs Gary's 42 x 37.5. But look at cam choice for Gary's rocket... the FK87.
JSC book listed the FK87 as "Drag racing competition only".
But Gary's car was a legitimate street car. I'd seen it. So obviously the JSC book was wrong.
(never mind things like stroke length, trans gearing, ring and pinion, carburetion, etc.... none of that was anything I understood, so why bother considering it).
The only hangup I saw with running an FK87 had to do with cost and complexity (two things I was well aware of- to AVOID), was the need for high-lift ratio rocker arms. These rocker arms just seemed incredibly complicated and exotic, and seemed best left to real race cars and the guys that could be involved with that sort of thing. To me, ratio rockers could be grouped in with stuff like Dzus fasteners and parachutes and Nomex driving underwear. Nothing I needed to get tangled up with.

And anyway, look right here.... here is a cam, in the JSC book that lists the same usage description as Gary's FK87- AND it shows it to be used with 1.1:1 ratio rockers ONLY:

The VZ35.

The numbers that I understood looked good, scary good, in fact. I had found the loophole. The VZ35 belonged to the same family as the good old VZ25 I had run (along with kids I knew well) in high school. It ran well, and this was 2 sizes up, so it was a no brainer. The numbers showed almost 0.500" lift at the valve (without the cost or complexity of those dumb racing rockers). That had to mean "fast". It also listed it @ 309 degrees of duration. Here I had my own way of understanding: My VZ25 from two years earlier was listed at 286 degrees, my W125 from 1990 was listed @ 301 degrees, and the VZ35 was 309. Gary Berg's FK87 was listed @ 320 degrees. So my choice to focus in on the VZ35 seemed more and more logical, it was a definite step up from where I had been, but not quite to the "GB Level" yet.

So one morning I called my sales guy Rick Sadler, at Johnny's and ordered the cam. I distinctly remember Rick double checking with me "You said the VZ35, right?"
"yeah, VZ35 you got it."
Rick: "Jerry building a sandrail or buggy or something?"
"No it's for my car."
"Off-road race car?"
"no my driver...."

Rick went on to ask me what I was running and why the VZ35 and I felt pretty intimidated and on the spot so I said "I'm just trying something," so I wouldn't be exposed. In the end, it was actually the truth.

The VZ35 became a very brief and unfortunate experiment.

[andrewlandon67]

What's funny to me about the whole ratio rocker thing is that the first thing I did to my old single port to really wake it up was put some cheap Empi 1.25s on it. Hardly an all-out race car, but then again, they're not what I'd use on a real hot-rod motor either. Glad you're still working on writing all of this down somewhere!

[Jim Ratto]

What's funny to me about the whole ratio rocker thing is that the first thing I did to my old single port to really wake it up was put some cheap Empi 1.25s on it. Hardly an all-out race car, but then again, they're not what I'd use on a real hot-rod motor either. Glad you're still working on writing all of this down somewhere!

In the context of the late 1980's when I loosened my first 8mm nut on a VW engine, and later in the shadow of how things were done at the shop I worked at, high-lift ratio rockers were sort of an urban myth. You knew they were available, and there were unclear fables about local boys that ran them, but mostly, that was it. We all ran stock VW rockers with swivel-ball (Courier feet) adjusters on solid-bolted shafts. If you strayed from this you were asking for trouble. You have to realize, the guy that ran the shop had a very strong personality. You just didn't argue with him (until later when I learned how to go around him and prove my case first and then argue). So what he prescribed (at first) was taken as gospel.
Thing with our relationship, even when I was 16-17, before I worked there, is that he knew I wanted to push conventional thinking. Hence the 1641 I built with his help in high school. The typical East Bay Area street VW at the time, if slightly breathed on, was a 1641 with a mild regrind, 041 heads, and Dellorto FRD34 or Weber 34ICT. Kadrons were considered clunky. Weber progressives were still feared because of icing issues and flat spot issues. Dual 2bbl carbs were exotica, and complicated at the time.
Jerry and I figured out my 1641 at this time, and to contrast the "norm", it was a 69mm Rimco cw crank, Rimco super rods, 12lb flywheel, VZ-25 Engle, 044 Magnum 40 x 35 heads, 9.5:1, and dual 36 DRLA 2bbl Dellortos. He never told me I was crazy. One day he helped me adjust my carbs and told me "I wish other kids put in what you put into this thing." I took it as a compliment.

Within a few months, though, I had ordered a set of Scat 1.4's, midsummer of 1991 for my project at the time. I still run them on my car today.

[andrewlandon67]

What's funny to me about the whole ratio rocker thing is that the first thing I did to my old single port to really wake it up was put some cheap Empi 1.25s on it. Hardly an all-out race car, but then again, they're not what I'd use on a real hot-rod motor either. Glad you're still working on writing all of this down somewhere!

In the context of the late 1980's when I loosened my first 8mm nut on a VW engine, and later in the shadow of how things were done at the shop I worked at, high-lift ratio rockers were sort of an urban myth. You knew they were available, and there were unclear fables about local boys that ran them, but mostly, that was it. We all ran stock VW rockers with swivel-ball (Courier feet) adjusters on solid-bolted shafts. If you strayed from this you were asking for trouble. You have to realize, the guy that ran the shop had a very strong personality. You just didn't argue with him (until later when I learned how to go around him and prove my case first and then argue). So what he prescribed (at first) was taken as gospel.
Thing with our relationship, even when I was 16-17, before I worked there, is that he knew I wanted to push conventional thinking. Hence the 1641 I built with his help in high school. The typical East Bay Area street VW at the time, if slightly breathed on, was a 1641 with a mild regrind, 041 heads, and Dellorto FRD34 or Weber 34ICT. Kadrons were considered clunky. Weber progressives were still feared because of icing issues and flat spot issues. Dual 2bbl carbs were exotica, and complicated at the time.
Jerry and I figured out my 1641 at this time, and to contrast the "norm", it was a 69mm Rimco cw crank, Rimco super rods, 12lb flywheel, VZ-25 Engle, 044 Magnum 40 x 35 heads, 9.5:1, and dual 36 DRLA 2bbl Dellortos. He never told me I was crazy. One day he helped me adjust my carbs and told me "I wish other kids put in what you put into this thing." I took it as a compliment.

Within a few months, though, I had ordered a set of Scat 1.4's, midsummer of 1991 for my project at the time. I still run them on my car today.

My main thought here is that, in 2014, ratio rockers were/are 1 step up from a cheap "extractor" header as far as performance goes, especially when coupled with a pair of Kadrons. Just as cheap and simple as a hotrod vw can get. And yet, 25 years ago, they were seen as proper racecar stuff, on the same level as a true merged system or IDAs. What I really like about this whole story thread is that it shows not only the similarities, but the differences in the scene between when my dad was driving around in my '67, learning how to rebuild a stock single-port, and when I got into it, learning how increasing lift would affect an engine's character.

[Clatter]

Another thing that really strikes home here is what it was like doing all of this before the Internet..

Unless you actually worked at a shop like Jim here,
You had a near nil chance of learning much.

Sometimes, you would get a job at a shop just to learn, if you could.

We always went to shops on Saturdays and tried to get the old timer behind the counter to start talking.
We'd ask all kinds of questions, and, sometimes, they would be willing to share.
(We hardly ever bought anything because we had no money!  )

I remember moving to the Bay Area in the late 90s,
My friend and I went to all the shops we could every weekend;
Donsco
Volks Authority
Bugformance SJ
Bugformance Sunnyvale
Peninsula Automotive
Ellsworth Brothers
Far Performance
Plus a bunch of others I can't even remember..

There was one guy who was really really generous with his knowledge,
An absolute gem of a guy, who I'll always be a fan; Bill Brister of Bugformance.
He would take all the time in the world to teach us whatever we were trying to learn..

I remember reading HotVWs All About Performance VW Engines (version 1) back in the late 80s,

Then, when All About II came out, I was taking CalTrain from Mountain View to SF for work every day.
I read that thing every single trip for an entire winter; memorized EVERY WORD.

How else would anyone learn things back then?

There was no STF, Cal-look, Samba, etc..


When i finally saved my money and 'splurged' on the Berg Blue books (it wasn't actual parts, you know..  )
It changed my way of thinking forever.
Mr. Bergs writings on how to make a powerful engine survive on the street long-term resonate to this day.

Sure, we mostly use our aircoolers as toys now,
And don't drive them every day to work,
but,
when some stroke on one of these forums tries to bash on the Berg Blue Bible,
I still take it as a deep personal insult..

Back in the old days,
When you couldn't associate with like-minded people online every day like we are doing here now,
Aircooled VW was like a secret society, or perhaps, a religion..

[Jim Ratto]

Billy @ Bugformance Sunnyvale was a wonderful guy. I haven't talked to him in a long time. He was a customer of mine for many years, always one of my favorites. If you still talk to him, please say Hi for me and wish him a Merry Christmas.
Ray Schubert @ Volks Authority is another one of my very favorite guys, we still talk on an almost daily basis.
Donsco was fun to visit.

Jim

[Eddie DVK]

Another thing that really strikes home here is what it was like doing all of this before the Internet..

Unless you actually worked at a shop like Jim here,
You had a near nil chance of learning much.

I learned a lot in the 90's reading the specs of cars in HotVW s and Trends, plus the tech articles in those with a lot of pictures.
Used to read those and mark them so I could find them back.

Also as you, learned a lot from an old mechanic, who could repair everything on a car with a 'hammer and screwdriver' as we liked to say.
Not even a beetle mechanic, but learned the most form him... priceless tips..

[Brian Rogers]

Please continue!

[Jim Ratto]

Another thing that really strikes home here is what it was like doing all of this before the Internet..

Unless you actually worked at a shop like Jim here,
You had a near nil chance of learning much.

Sometimes, you would get a job at a shop just to learn, if you could.

We always went to shops on Saturdays and tried to get the old timer behind the counter to start talking.
We'd ask all kinds of questions, and, sometimes, they would be willing to share.
(We hardly ever bought anything because we had no money!  )

I remember moving to the Bay Area in the late 90s,
My friend and I went to all the shops we could every weekend;
Donsco
Volks Authority
Bugformance SJ
Bugformance Sunnyvale
Peninsula Automotive
Ellsworth Brothers
Far Performance
Plus a bunch of others I can't even remember..

There was one guy who was really really generous with his knowledge,
An absolute gem of a guy, who I'll always be a fan; Bill Brister of Bugformance.
He would take all the time in the world to teach us whatever we were trying to learn..

I remember reading HotVWs All About Performance VW Engines (version 1) back in the late 80s,

Then, when All About II came out, I was taking CalTrain from Mountain View to SF for work every day.
I read that thing every single trip for an entire winter; memorized EVERY WORD.

How else would anyone learn things back then?

There was no STF, Cal-look, Samba, etc..


When i finally saved my money and 'splurged' on the Berg Blue books (it wasn't actual parts, you know..  )
It changed my way of thinking forever.
Mr. Bergs writings on how to make a powerful engine survive on the street long-term resonate to this day.

Sure, we mostly use our aircoolers as toys now,
And don't drive them every day to work,
but,
when some stroke on one of these forums tries to bash on the Berg Blue Bible,
I still take it as a deep personal insult..

Back in the old days,
When you couldn't associate with like-minded people online every day like we are doing here now,
Aircooled VW was like a secret society, or perhaps, a religion..

In the beginning and for a long time afterwards, I was making $5.00 an hour working counter and phones @ BH in 1990-91. The previous job, working graveyard @ Colombo Sourdough I was making $18.00 an hour. I was 19 years old. I would have worked for free in the beginning @ Buggy House, simply because I was exposed daily, no, make that hourly, to all the stuff I had read about in Hot VW's... the parts, the brands, the engine stuff, the people. This wasn't a job. I look back now, and it really never was a job, in the traditional sense. Not sure what it was, but this wasn't work.

[Jim Ratto]

Misfire: 278 degrees @ .050" in an otherwise mild street engine. Spring 1991

In 3-4 days, UPS pulled alongside the freight door in the south-facing wall of Buggy House, right on time. Among the TMI interior boxes and Jerry's RC car parts from Great Planes, there was a shoe-box sized box from Johnny's. We didn't stock items regularly from Johnny's so I knew it was my Engle VZ35 cam. It was now time to make the list of other parts needed and schedule the transplant.
This would be the first time I'd gut the lower end of the 2054 since it went together, and in my mind, it was like starting over from scratch, so the list of parts went something like this:

KS STD/10 main bearings for the Demello welded 74mm
KS STD rod bearings
2 sets of Metal Leve stock cam bearings or 1 set of dual thrust, depending on what was on the shelf
1 set of Scat lifters
1 Sabo 1600 gasket set
1 fresh tube of high-temp RTV
2 cans of VHT black-oxide engine case paint
1 tube of moly engine assembly grease
1 case of Kendall 30wt non-detergent

Once I had my box of parts etc, the boxes went in the front trunk and passenger seat of the Fiat X19. That night I began the job of stripping the engine from the top, disconnecting the oil-lines, draining the cold green Kendall and lowering the long-block from the car. This was before I owned my own engine stand, so most of the engine disassembly was done on my parents' garage floor, in dim lighting. Imagine chasing an oily VW shortblock around on a cold garage floor, trying to extract a Melling oil pump, without the VW puller tool. And without first remembering to loosen the M8 nuts around the edge of the engine case. It was a hard fought, losing battle. The shortblock slid in ellipses, around my parents' garage, like a drunk iceskater that was bleeding green engine oil. Eventually I gave up and resigned. I was going to have to drag the mess to work and admit defeat, and ask for help. Which I hated doing.

[andrewlandon67]

Misfire: 278 degrees @ .050" in an otherwise mild street engine. Spring 1991

In 3-4 days, UPS pulled alongside the freight door in the south-facing wall of Buggy House, right on time. Among the TMI interior boxes and Jerry's RC car parts from Great Planes, there was a shoe-box sized box from Johnny's. We didn't stock items regularly from Johnny's so I knew it was my Engle VZ35 cam. It was now time to make the list of other parts needed and schedule the transplant.
This would be the first time I'd gut the lower end of the 2054 since it went together, and in my mind, it was like starting over from scratch, so the list of parts went something like this:

KS STD/10 main bearings for the Demello welded 74mm
KS STD rod bearings
2 sets of Metal Leve stock cam bearings or 1 set of dual thrust, depending on what was on the shelf
1 set of Scat lifters
1 Sabo 1600 gasket set
1 fresh tube of high-temp RTV
2 cans of VHT black-oxide engine case paint
1 tube of moly engine assembly grease
1 case of Kendall 30wt non-detergent

Once I had my box of parts etc, the boxes went in the front trunk and passenger seat of the Fiat X19. That night I began the job of stripping the engine from the top, disconnecting the oil-lines, draining the cold green Kendall and lowering the long-block from the car. This was before I owned my own engine stand, so most of the engine disassembly was done on my parents' garage floor, in dim lighting. Imagine chasing an oily VW shortblock around on a cold garage floor, trying to extract a Melling oil pump, without the VW puller tool. And without first remembering to loosen the M8 nuts around the edge of the engine case. It was a hard fought, losing battle. The shortblock slid in ellipses, around my parents' garage, like a drunk iceskater that was bleeding green engine oil. Eventually I gave up and resigned. I was going to have to drag the mess to work and admit defeat, and ask for help. Which I hated doing.

This makes me feel extra proud of the huge old workbench in the garage at my mom's house, as though it's somehow better to have the motor sliding around at about chest level. Glad you're still up for writing a bit here and there! And happy new year!

[Jim Ratto]

Misfire: 278 degrees @ .050" in an otherwise mild street engine. Spring 1991 (Part II)

I look back and find it somewhat disturbing that nobody involved at the time, tried to stop me. Either nobody was paying attention, nobody knew any better or maybe nobody cared. Looking back now, had I witnessed what was about to happen, I would have strung a tripwire immediately. I think everybody at the shop had their own stuff to worry about at the time.
In a few days, I had transported my shortblock to Buggy House, and on my lunch break, enlisted our engine guy Rob's help. Within a few minutes, he made quick and easy work of (first undoing all the M8 nuts around case) using a claw-looking tool to remove oil pump and also an air gun to whizz the gland nut loose so I could pull flywheel off. Of course he asked me why I was taking the motor apart after only a few months of getting it running after the addition of the Pauter Machine ported heads. I told him I was swapping the Engle 125 out for a VZ35. His only comment was "that cam is only going to want to accelerate, good f-cking luck driving it." Best news I had heard yet.

Over the next few nights, I built up the engine, using as much care and patience as I could. But really knowing nothing other than to keep things ultra clean, and to follow torque specs in one of the manuals I had. I have no idea how I avoided cam-lobe to lifter interference, or if I even checked it. The VZ35 has something like 0.445"+ lift at the lobe, so I guess the head on the Scat lifter was designed for this. The engine went together pretty easily. Considering what most of us know about the VZ cams, and that the -35 was at the head of the class when it came to violence and chaos, how stupid was it of me to not go through and replace and shim up a good set of dual springs. Nope, I simply bolted the heads back on, using the same outer spring and flat damper inner that came with the heads when I bought them. Coil bind? Never heard of him.

To avoid the fury and fists with my parents' neighbor, I thought I'd grow up and extend a modicum of courtesy to the guy and walk next door and let him know I had a brand new Engle VZ35 cam in my VW and that it had to be broken in at 2500 rpm for 20-30 minutes,-  this coming Friday night. He just gave me a blank "OK" and that was it.

Friday night came and a few undone details had to be finished up, stuff like throttle cable and wiring up coil and alternator. After pouring Kendall non detergent 30 into the motor and the Fram HP1, it was time to light this off. Three, two, one, pump throttle and turn the key and instantly the night air was punctured with the strident sound of Webers>dual Phoenix quiet packs>lots of valvetrain. I walked quickly back to the carbs and screwed up the idle until my 914 tach was showing 2500 or so RPM. It wasn't just noise, it was a sensation you could feel in the hollow parts of your body. My bones could feel the engine thrumming and hammering away, a rough texture of staccato exhaust, carb gargle and the thrash of the rockers getting worked like never before. Soon the garage grew warm and began to smell like heated VHT paint and Weber idle fumes. No sign of the neighbor yet, only 18 more minutes of this, and I can shut it down. Oil pressure gauge is showing 60psi, oil temp is just beginning to wake up, no drips yet. No funny sounds. But man, this thing sounds DIFFERENT.
Different enough for me to feel doubtful. After the break in period was over, and with no interference from the neighbor or Pleasanton's finest, I felt safe in turning the idle down and adjusting mixtures. With my synco-meter snail I set the idle right @ 1100 rpm and realized this was a whole new motor now. The 125 had always given a serious engine note at idle, but in comparison, it was civilized to what was in front of me now. The motor with the VZ35 had an almost tribal-dance beat to it at idle. The mixture screws didn't react like they had with 125 either. With the 125 it was 1-1/4 turns or so and things were dead on. The new cam seemed to not allow the carbs to decide where they wanted to be, as 1-1/4 turn out sort of brought the idle into place, but it was iffy. And then it would get ruffly and oscillate. I had never dealt with that before. What in the hell?
By now it was far too late to button things up for a test drive. I'd be pushing my luck with the neighbor. Instead I finished up, put the decklid on and planned on driving it to work the next day.

[j-f]

I can't wait to read the rest of this story 

[Trond Dahl]

I'm glad this is stored in a database now for the future to read also :-)

[Jim Ratto]

Misfire: 278 degrees @ .050" in an otherwise mild street engine. Spring 1991 (Part III)

The following morning found me in the garage a little earlier than normal, as the somewhat ragged idle and angry engine note had left me with some doubts about how well this new cam would be accepted by the engine. In all seriousness, I had very little, idea of what I had just done, by vacating the W125 and moving in the VZ35. As mentioned a few posts above, I fell under the spell of just 3 pieces of the pie here:
a. 0.490" lift at valve
b. 309 degree duration
c. no need to invest in high-ratio rockers

I don't even ever remember seeing the 278 degree at 0.050" lift entry in the JSC catalog, or on the cam card. I had yet to buy a dial indicator and had no clue as to what "checking cam timing" meant. These were all numbers and chores that "didn't matter" unless you were manufacturing cams. A guy as smart as I was didn't need to be bothered.

And something else here- and let this be a lesson to those that don't take the time to read, understand, re-read and study things like this, and also to some of the manufacturers out there!
I had yet to stick my nose in any of the Gene Berg literature (this was coming soon though). I had thumbed through a blue catalog at work, but there was so much to read, and from what I had actually read, it seemed very opinionated and maybe even forceful in what it had to say. I couldn't have my spirit broken with all that "you must..." and "only at the time of ordering all your engine parts from us..." hassle. So I didn't pursue reading it much more (but in a few months that would change). So instead, when it came to cams, and what they were for, and description, the "less is more" tactic was perfect. In the Engle book or the JSC book or the SCS book, there were no foreboding warnings of valve spring early death, or keeper grooves wallowing out, or matching heads and compression to the cam. They gave you the numbers (which I only understood, maybe 1/3 of them, really) and the layperson's description of their intended use. How could a guy go wrong with such concise and simple information?

The initial drive off, in first gear, leaving my parents' house, wasn't all that bad. Not even that different from the W125 incarnation. If anything, the engine, at this load and low rpm, just seemed less refined and more present. Like the engine was now in the back seat, as far as noise. There was a more chunky, mechanical noise-quality to the sound and feel. As the engine was cold, I was very careful going through the gears as I headed west to I-680 near Bernal in Pleasanton. So far, this seemed ok. I headed north, getting on the 680 onramp, engine still cold, so I proceeded with care, with light throttle and clicking from 2nd to 3rd to 4th at maybe 3000-3200 rpm. In a few miles, it was time to take the 580 exit, which is a tight sweeping offramp which loops you back under 680 freeway and spits you onto a long, slightly uphill approach ramp to merge onto 580. By then the oil temp gauge had come off its peg. As I exited the curve, in 2nd gear, I squeezed some throttle on- and waited. At around 35-3800 the engine almost STALLED. The hesitation was so bad, the car's nose drooped for a split second, and I remember glancing in rear view mirror to look for parts leaving the car or fuel or maybe the whole motor fell out? And then, all hell broke loose. In the time it took me to focus on the lane ahead of me and get composed the motor was screaming and the 914 tach was swinging like crazy way beyond 6,000. Into third, but revs never fell much so it just PULLED. But now into fourth and back out of it some, as I had no clue in hell what had just happened. And now in fourth the engine was running like a plug wire was off then on then off then on. Again, around 3500. Applying more throttle, no change, until the revs came up and then it was too late, as I'd be right up on some minivan's rear bumper.
My first thought was I didn't get the carbs sorted, as I was rushing after all, and looking over my shoulder for the mean-ass neighbor.
No problem, I'll get it to the shop, and on my lunch break, go through setting them again.

So lunch break came and I asked Jerry if I could borrow his Unisyn. ("What in the hell for??!" [as if there are multiple uses for one?]). After pulling KN air cleaner off the 44's and going through the entire procedure again, I found, really, nothing to be "off", as I made it run with basically the same settings it had been dialed in with. Maybe a vacuum leak? I grab each carb and gave them a tug to make sure a manifold wasn't loose. Nope. Grabbed some brake cleaner and sprayed around base of manifolds as the engine idled, no change. Ok maybe it's ignition related. Checked all the connections, nothing seemed off. Checked static timing with the "blue spark" method, no, it was pretty much dead on, 10 deg BTDC. So now what??? Maybe there was crap in the fuel. I'll go drive the life out of it with the time left in my lunch break.
Which found me chugging and faltering along the MacArthur freeway, west out of Hayward. Right at the usual cruising rpm, the engine missed, bucked, choked and hiccupped and then became uncaged and went full kill. This was going to be a huge problem.

[karl h]

i can SOOOO relate to all this