Hot Rod VW General Stories Thread

[andrewlandon67]

I went out of town today to look at some schooling, and on the way home, got to play a little bit with a bright blue Porsche Cayman on a smaller state highway. While my little 1914 wasn't able to outright embarrass him, the huge smile and the thumbs up meant he was certainly impressed and probably a little shocked. At the next light, he asked me what size my engine was, and that's all I was able to get out and then the light turned green and we were off again. We kept next to each other for a mile or so through some traffic and once it opened up, the Porsche driver poured on the coals and tried to disappear. I had a slight delay, then dropped into third  and caught him not long after seeing the scary side of the speedometer in fourth, then we hung around 80 for a little ways. Huge grins all the way around, he turned off not long after that and as I passed, I rolled my window down and threw a jaunty wave. With the current population explosion in my area, moments like that are all too rare, and definitely treasured. Open roads, singing carbs, and a willing participant in a much fancier car are, to me, what the Cal-Look is all about and are a big part of the reason I keep coming back to this forum. Thanks all for the inspiration in setting up my car how it is, and the advice along the way! I'd love to hear some more stories from the rest of you guys!

[j-f]

Amen

[bedjo78]

good excitement ..... perhap 2332 

[andrewlandon67]

Maybe next time... for now, a stock stroke will have to do =]

[Glauco]

great story
I know dem has a simular story about a beetle embarrassing some little honda's on a (almost legal) streetrace night

[Neil Davies]

Even my little 1641 Ghia could get the drop on a Civic! Coming back from uni one night i pulled into Wolverhampton and ended up at the traffic lights next to a couple of lads in their Civic. Lights went green, they left sharp-ish so I followed. Next lights I left faster than them. Again at the third lights. Fourth lights they turned off...

[Jim Ratto]

Stock Stroke Satisfaction... Northern CA
Late summer 1989, had a day off from my day job making pizzas. Dropped my girlfriend off at her new job, and had no plans for the day. Had been curious about a two-lane road I had studied on Bay Area road map for the last few months: California State Route 35. Those of you local to Bay Area are surely familiar with it. In the 1980's there were no car or motorcycle forums. And the car guys I knew in high school rarely left city limits of our hometown Pleasanton. (I did every chance I could). Anyway, from the map, it looked long and twisty, stretching from southern San Francisco all the way deep into Santa Cruz mountains, where it joined CA SR 9 which continued to the city of Santa Cruz. I was planning on catching 35 at junction with Highway 92 east of Half Moon Bay and running as far south as I had time for. Had to be back at her office @ 5pm.
The motor was a 87 x 69 with 044 Magnum CB heads, and Engle VZ25. Fed by dual 36DRLA with 30mm venturies. Bosch 009 and on that day, a 4-into-1 header with a baffled stinger.

The road and that little engine were made for one another. It really was my first time finding out how much a day of freedom behind the wheel would do for me. It wasn't about driving to beat some speed record, it was finding out how every change of throttle angle offered a different noise. And how the motor would do different things at different RPM. I ended up in Monterey later that day, and had to make tracks to get back to Pleasanton on time, so yes I will admit to some sketchy moves and illicit speed on the trip back.

But what a day,

[Martin S.]

I know the feeling about the sounds!
When I first got my newly built 2332 turbo in the 68 it had the straight thru pipe from the turbo with no baffling so was very loud, sounding like a cross between a V8 and a sport bike. Steve offered to drive it at around 30mph down a city street while I tailed him, windows open, driving my nice quiet stock 71 Bus, him saying afterwards "I drove it different speeds so you could hear the different exhaust sounds it makes" Good times! 

[andrewlandon67]

The sounds are absolutely one of my favorite things. Between the carbs transitioning from a deeper growl to that scream right at about 4000 RPM on half throttle, the straight-cut cam gears at idle, and the hollow sound of dual quiet packs on a merged header at part throttle riiiiiight when the header really starts to work, I'm pretty comfortable with driving my car considerable distances with no music. The best part of the exhaust is that incredible, soulful howl is perfectly at the right RPM for me to drive through my neighborhood in second gear without pissing the neighbors off too much.

[gkeeton@zbzoom.net]

With 5 tracks within 150 mile radius, and an organized legal street race event once a month at a private airport, street racing no longer enters my mind anymore. With the population growing in my neck of the woods, and difficulties avoiding dumbass cell phone users at normal speeds, street racing for me is not if, but when something bad will happen. I've recently acquired a friends 67 with a 2276 I did quite a bit of work on. One evening, a retired couple in an early Audi TT followed me through town, and we ended up beside each other at a light going out of town. He jokingly asked me if I wanted to run, and I asked him how much money he had on him? The light changed, and we again stopped beside each other at the following light that was already red, just a couple hundred yards further down the road. Intrigued, he asked what was so special? I told him it had 3/4 the hp with 1/2 the weight of his TT. He got a puzzled look on his face, then we both cruised away from the green light. Part of the fun for me is making them wonder. The last time I did abuse the car at the track, when my friend still owned it, I beat up on a 95 ZR1.

[Jim Ratto]

Back in early 1992,
I'm jumping ahead of my 4 years story in the other post, but that's ok.
I had a 94 x 74 motor in my car, but this was the version that ran Super Flow 1 heads, with 44 x 38 +0.200" longer valves, FK87 and almost 10.0:1. It was also about 3 months after I had first switched to 48IDA from 44IDF.
I had gotten the car to run acceptably well, with 37mm venturi, spending a lot of time goofing around between 60 and 65 idle and scaling up and down with main jets. In any case, I'd run the car around the long, flat, straight roads in Livermore. Some were on the outskirts, way out in east extreme of city limits. Others were near the small municipal airport. Always went at night, traffic was nil.
One night I was out flogging the car out by airport, and I came upon an intersection, intending to turn right, onto another long, straight, quiet street. But to my left diagonal, appeared a wine-red Pantera. A man was driving, and he obviously didn't expect me to pick a fight. I wasn't sure what was going to happen, but I let him know, there was no doubt I wanted to rough him up a little. The 351's torque, got the better of me, but that big cam and the Super Flows caught him. I watched the needle go around to 7500 in 2nd and was on him. We ran side by side for probably 1/8 of a mile, neither of us willing to lift. I never saw the guy's facial expression, but imagine he called his Pantera tune-up guy the next day to make an appointment.

[andrewlandon67]

Damn Jim, one of these days we're gonna have to put together a third Cal-Look book with a few chapters filled with your stories, along with some of the other NorCal folks. Something starting around the time of the founding of DKP III and going up from there through the 90's and early 2000s. I know there were some low years in the hobby in that era but as has been said many times before, there's not much that can replace a simple looking, violently fast Volkswagen. There's just something timeless about them, like a nose down, faded black fenderless '32 Ford with a mean flathead and a slight roof chop. There's an attitude that's simply just not there in more modern fast cars, even ones that might beat us on the 1/4 mile. Whatever it is, it keeps us here and keeps us happy and hauling ass.

[Rick Meredith]

I once ran a BMW M1 from a stoplight up to about 70. He pulled me but I'm sure he was surprised with how little he was gaining on me.

[gkeeton@zbzoom.net]

Damn Jim, one of these days we're gonna have to put together a third Cal-Look book with a few chapters filled with your stories, along with some of the other NorCal folks. Something starting around the time of the founding of DKP III and going up from there through the 90's and early 2000s. I know there were some low years in the hobby in that era but as has been said many times before, there's not much that can replace a simple looking, violently fast Volkswagen. There's just something timeless about them, like a nose down, faded black fenderless '32 Ford with a mean flathead and a slight roof chop. There's an attitude that's simply just not there in more modern fast cars, even ones that might beat us on the 1/4 mile. Whatever it is, it keeps us here and keeps us happy and hauling ass.

What is it that has us hooked? The more vehicles I have the opportunity to work with/admire, the more I go back to VW's.

I find it hilarious that those finding out how fast an Aircooled VW can be in 2017 seem to think it's a magic miracle of modern technology. Sure, there have been some advancements in the aftermarket, but there were IDA'd 2180's smoking Detroit steel in the 70's when I was still riding my bmx bike.

[Neil Davies]

I was pretty satisfied with my second run on Sunday against a Volvo 850 T5R - i was ahead right up until the end of the strip. I don't think he expected that!

[Martin S.]

Is it still considered a burnout if the road is wet? 

[Martin S.]

Making the hole shot to the other side of the intersection with the right lane blocked 
1776 and 165s. Wet road. 

[Matt Tobias]

One day I was driving home from work in my 65 bug. That 65 had a 2276cc with Street Eliminator heads, FK-8 cam and 48 IDAs.  As I'm approaching a four-way stop light I press down on the brakes only to realize I have no front brakes, just rears. The rear brakes lock up and I start to slide toward the intersection.  I'm going fast enough to I know I'm in trouble if I let off the brakes and I'm going to run through the middle of the intersection if I don't do something.  There were some stragglers going through the light but luckily there was a clear spot for me and I had a brilliant flash of what to do. As I reached just the right spot I pushed in the clutch, revved the engine to about 3 grand and simultaneously popped the clutch and turned hard right on the steering wheel. The result was the most awesome thing I've ever accomplished as a driver.  As you can expect the car threw itself around the corner in a tire screeching smokey display of ass-hole-ish-ness I don't think many people have ever witnessed LOL.  The car made the turn perfectly and I took off like a bat out of hell in case they were any people of authority that might have witnessed what had happened. When I look back on that it puts a huge smile on my face cuz I was terrified the whole time but it worked out so amazingly well.

[Jim Ratto]

A lot of good memories of the VW club I was in, during mid 1990's, taking our cars to Sears Point for the trophy weekend drags.

We had:
a 1969 Bug with 1776, stock valved heads, Engle 125 and 40IDF's going very low 15's
a 1969 KG with 1904, 041 heads, Engle 125 and 48 IDA going a little quicker (in all fairness, this car was geared way too tall)
a 1972 Super Bug with a bone stock 1600 with Kadrons, 4-into-1, and Bosch 010. With a switch to projected nose plugs we got this car into mid-17's
a stock 40HP 1965 Bug, modified with a velocity stack, 022 Porsche distributor and gutted tailpipes, running 20 seconds
and my '67 with 2276 and low compression (semi hemi) heads, K8 and 48's running high 13's

Sure, blasting the VW's down the track was fun, but a lot of the fun was the prep, the drive up, the jack ass talk in the pits and learning. Nobody got hurt and we were all able to drive our stuff home, and to work the next day. The words "period correct" and all that bullshit hadn't entered our consciousness yet.

[Sam K]

I've been meaning to post a few stories here from the days when I was younger and more foolish. For a couple years around 1999/2000, my car had close ratio gears and much higher compression than it does now which as you would expect made for a lot of fun between stoplights but it was terrible on the highway. One particular sunny day, a fiend and I were driving on a street called Arapahoe road in an area of town that was pretty sparsely populated at the time. Some guys rolled up inthe lane to my right in an early fox body Mustang hatchback and after a couple miles of cruising next to them with some rev throwing and trash talking, we ended up next to them, we ended up stopped together at a light. As you would expect, when the light turned green we both went for it. Through first and second gears, our cars were pretty evenly matched but when I hit third gear, my bug pulled away from them. While that part wasn't too spectacular, as I shifted into 4th, my friend leaned out the window and waved goodbye to the guys in the 5.0. When we stopped at the next light and the Mustang, the passenger was laughing so hard that he was in tears. The driver wasn't amused and when my buddy asked if he wanted to try again, he declined. Good times. 

[Bryan67]

Around 13 years ago I had a Lotus White 67 daily driver with Ansen wheels, a stock geared built trans and a 2176 with 45 Dells. It was a great sleeper of a car. And most of the time it had my daughters booster seat in the back. One day. I was just running errands and headed home. Driving down one of the 6 lane main streets here in Fresno. Just trying to get home when a young couple in a new 2000 Mustang GT convertible pulled up next to me at a red light. He looked over at me and smiled. I have always had a hard time saying no so when he revved it up and looked at me, I did the same thing. The light turned green at it was on. When I pulled up first to the next light, he did it again, and I beat him again. After three lights with the same results he pulled up next to me at the fourth one and his girlfriend was laughing. He didn`t look very happy. I waved goodbye and turned right and went home.

[mg]

Near the end of my 45 year Cal Look phase I was inspired to create some fun Cal Look events for all to enjoy.

First initiating and promoting the heck out of this 1999 Carlsbad VW event and was honored to co announce it with Dyno Don.
Coordinating the event between VW Paradise/dkp and sent out 100 faxes (before emails) to VW shops soliciting sponsors for a couple dozen "Best of trophys" for participants.
Although I was too busy to race at the event we stayed busy working at it.
It was fun day spent working in the announcer's tower with my wife helping by placing the entry card with car/driver info in front of me as Dyno and I announced the action and the drivers as they entered the track.
VW Paradise sprayed the track with VHT and made some fast passes.
The added grip was hard on gearboxes, there was reported a total of 17 broken boxes at the starting line.
Turned out it was one of the biggest events held at Carlsbad raceway since the funny cars in the mid 70s.
The event poster was designed by Dean K, thanks Dean for all the help and advice back in the day.

After that with input from Jim Kaforski and Doug Mische we invented Der Renn Kafer Cup and were then able to sell the idea to Rich Kimbal and Hole family
Der Renn Kafer lasted on the west coast for over a decade.
Here's an old Video of some Renn Kafer action.
The last pass at Vegas is me, my one and only lucky Renn Kafer win.
Fwiw Renn Kafer was a combined Show and race result competition.
https://youtu.be/8hjUpADqURg

So while I had 40 years of Cal Look with 20 or more VWs my success with the Carlsbad event and the Der Renn Kafer Cup series were most satisfying.
That and in 1989 with Tickled Pink at Famosa winning bracket A at a big VW event and getting paid $400.
It turned out to be the last time I got paid for racing. 

Since then did volunteer work for PCA and R Gruppe helping organize/announce a PCA parade AX and plotting R Gruppe Treffen tour books.

Now I just want to road race my car at Laguna Seca.
Today satisfied to have 3 sound free Laguna vintage race weekends planned for 2018.

[brian e]

Good topic!

My first proud moment was when a real good buddy in his Acura TL type S, and me in my lowered '67 with a hodge podge 2054cc I had just finished a few weeks earlier.  It was my very first engine build.  We both left my shop in our cars, headed the same direction.  He rolled through the stop out onto the highway and got on it hard.  I also rolled through the stop right behind him and also got on it.  I went into the far lane and drove around him and just kept going.  I remember hearing his quick little Acura must have been spinning 7k+ as I was pulling past him.  We kept on it till about 80mph.  He was starting to make up some ground, but I had already seen his wide eyes and the look on his face as I pulled past him. 

That poor 2054cc was a mess.  China crank, non-line bored case, I bored the cylinder bores with one of those drill press cutters spinning at mach 8, w110, 8.5cr, hogged out stock valve heads, 1 3/8" hideout, and 40mm Kads.  I was pretty proud of it at the time, but I certainly know more now. 

Brian

[andrewlandon67]

Had another one of these yesterday at the Denver Bug In, people had a hard time believing that my car was running 15.0's with "just a little 1914," but I assured them that my cam and heads more than made up for the relative lack of displacement... My first pass was fun as I'd lined up next to a beautifully detailed white early car with a ragtop and gasburners, and once I finally took notice of the green light, I kept my front quarter panel right next to his rear and went through the lights with my speedo well past 90. Hope y'all have been out having that sort of fun with your hotrods!

[andrewlandon67]

I mentioned in my post earlier that I'd tell the story of my Friday night, including my car's first 14 second time slip, and figured this would be the best spot for it, which is also why I changed the thread name. Feel free to post up any good stories you have about your lookers, old or new!

Arriving at the track around 4:30 in the evening with only a few people having taken their first runs, I quickly said my hellos and got my car down the track in wholly unremarkable 15.3. Waiting around for another hour or so, I idled my way down to the staging lanes for my second time trial and got my fan belt undone while waiting in line. Fast forward to going around the water and creeping up to the lights. Same stuff as usual, bring the revs up to about 3500-4000 rpm and gradually let the clutch out as the throttles stay wide open, what I've been doing for the past few years with no issues. Staged and the lights come down and for some reason, I'm not paying attention to timing them until I see a green flash from behind my tach and jerk my left foot up. The rest of the run was more of the same other than the world's slowest Mustang convertible in the other lane falling further and further back, but I knew it was a good run as soon as I let off the gas at the top of the track. Pulling around to the timing booth, I couldn't wait look at my slip as I pulled off to the side and I immediately grinned ear to ear as I saw the numbers 14 followed by .907.

I'd finally done it, gotten my car to the official mark of what makes a "fast car." Grabbing my wrench, screwdriver, and belt out of my door pocket I shoved both my hands up as triumphantly as I could to try and flag down my buddy Sam who'd run right behind me in his berserk Mustang. I couldn't really stop grinning for about half an hour, and didn't calm down for even longer than that. The first two rounds of eliminations, I launched more like my usual self and ran two 15.0 passes, the first one knocking out one of the points leaders in my class and the second being a perfect 15.000 pass with a better reaction than I'd ever expected of myself. After a quick explanation to the guy who I'd run against in the second round that "no, it's still a bug motor," I went back to my team's spot in the pits and sat down with some teammates.

I had been sitting down for maybe 4 or 5 races when I heard the announcer call out for my class to come down for the third round and I jogged over to my car, key in hand. Something was wrong though. I couldn't get my ignition switch to turn. It'd been acting up lately, taking the right touch to turn, but this time was different. I finally pulled my key out and saw that it'd been bent somehow, most of the way to the base, and the tip pointing down. I touched it to see if it'd hold and it immediately split into two pieces. Fuck. Not only did I just break the only extant key to my car, but I had to be down in the staging lanes about NOW. I ran back over to my friend Sam in the stands and over the next five minutes we pulled the ignition switch and ashtray out of my dash, made three little wire extensions out of the spare wire I keep in my spares box, and pulled the fan belt off.

Belt off and with three lengths of differently colored wire sticking out of my dash I bolted off to the lanes. If you've never been to Bandimere, the pits are up above the track, with a long road along the outside that loops down around the south end of the pits to run into the staging lanes. I've always been sympathetic to my car and have never run it without the belt for very long, but I told it that I'd give it a good valve adjustment in the morning and went for it. Pulling around the outside of the waiting cars of the faster class, I saw the track marshal standing with a flashlight and was told to head down through the tunnel. I'd made it, just barely in time, for as I pulled in the guy who'd been hopefully expecting a bye run pulled up to the burnout box. I'd actually made it with about thirty seconds to spare, as there was one more pair of cars to go ahead of us. I won't bore you with the details, but I ended up losing as I'd been a little distracted by the live wires hanging about half an inch from my Berg shifter's handle. No matter though as I'd successfully made it a few rounds, gotten my car into the 14 second club, and had run a race in a hotwired car.

I ended up hanging out for the last few races of the night and had a friend who'd come up to spectate follow me back to the home base, just in case something in my homebrew ignition switch went wrong on the 10 mile drive. It was, without a doubt, the most insane and eventful night I've ever had at the track, and I couldn't be prouder of my car for getting me there and back without a single hiccup relating to anything other than the key. The morals of this story are: it never hurts to have a ridiculously packed spares box with several different colors of wire, a friend who is willing to help with just about anything relating to your car, and a SPARE GODDAMN KEY OR TWO!


I also thought it was funny that my shoe polish number's drip was a little... altered by the speed

Anyways, thanks for reading, and a biiiiiiig thanks to my friend Sam for all his help and inspiration throughout the years and the insane night!

[andrewlandon67]

How about a little change up, let's hear all of your guys' stories about your first experience in a really fast bug! I don't think I'll ever forget what it felt like to slap third home on a close ratio tranny for the first time and feel the front of the car start to go light at 65 mph, IDAs with 40mm vents causing a reverberation in the stripped out shell of the car I was in at 5k rpm. Just the memory of the big electric fuel pump starting to growl at the first click of the key and the starter being fought by race-gas-only levels of compression as the big 78mm crank begins to do its thing. Of all the times I drove that car on both the street and the drag strip, nothing will ever compare to that first time, where my life was well and truly ruined.

[j-f]

How about a little change up, let's hear all of your guys' stories about your first experience in a really fast bug! I don't think I'll ever forget what it felt like to slap third home on a close ratio tranny for the first time and feel the front of the car start to go light at 65 mph, IDAs with 40mm vents causing a reverberation in the stripped out shell of the car I was in at 5k rpm. Just the memory of the big electric fuel pump starting to growl at the first click of the key and the starter being fought by race-gas-only levels of compression as the big 78mm crank begins to do its thing. Of all the times I drove that car on both the street and the drag strip, nothing will ever compare to that first time, where my life was well and truly ruined.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYlm39VLMp0

Not on a dragstrip but Francorchamps racetrack. Car is 1303 with a tired 2.4l typeIV engine, dry few years old slicks. Passenger side bucket was zip tied to the roll cage 
The sound, smell and overall sensations to be in a racecar was overwhelming and sure make a big impression to me 

[flatfire]

I have had some fantastic times in my Bug. It never entered my mind in my youth that I would never get home in my trusty bug. We used to drive down to Santa Pod and Stratford on Avon and rag the 1776cc with engle 120 and twin 40 dells with my first performance box built by Jim Kaforski, it was built proof. It used to run 15 seconds all day long. 14 seconds with a hint of gas. Lining up next to Dave Rhoads at Avon park. I suppose taking a photo before the start wasn't the smartest idea.

Then came the Jim Kaforski special. He built an engine for me and a five speed box. Ran 12.5 seconds and you could comfortably sit on the motorway at 80 mph. We drove the car down to bug Jam without a problem. A 900 mile round trip. My Wife also drove the bug to the second European bug In for the Powder Puff.


When you live in Scotland people just look in bewilderment when you pass them on road. My Uncle Brian who is in his 70s saw my latest Bug sitting in the driveway and asked if we could go out for a drive. I ragged the car as I do, his face was a picture. We got back into town. At the time the British open was on and load of Americans were crossing the road they began cheering at the bug as we went along the road,obviously alcohol played a part . My Uncle cant stop talking about it

[Sam K]

How about a little change up, let's hear all of your guys' stories about your first experience in a really fast bug! I don't think I'll ever forget what it felt like to slap third home on a close ratio tranny for the first time and feel the front of the car start to go light at 65 mph, IDAs with 40mm vents causing a reverberation in the stripped out shell of the car I was in at 5k rpm. Just the memory of the big electric fuel pump starting to growl at the first click of the key and the starter being fought by race-gas-only levels of compression as the big 78mm crank begins to do its thing. Of all the times I drove that car on both the street and the drag strip, nothing will ever compare to that first time, where my life was well and truly ruined.

I can only assume you're referring to my '63... that is a fun little car. I need to get my act together and get it on the road again.

[Sam K]

My first ride in a seriously fast bug would have been in the spring of 1997. My friend Eddie has a black '63 sedan was and still is a very quick street car. He had just finished putting together a 2110 for it. If memory serves correctly, it had street eliminator heads, an FK-8 and 48 IDF's. That combination was good for high 13's in Phoenix on a stock ratio gearbox. We put it in the car on a Saturday and spent the weekend driving around raising hell. On Sunday night we decided to go downtown and look for trouble. At one point, we were crossing a pretty large intersection where the road dipped down, came back up and then went down again. For some reason, Eddie blew through it at a high rate of speed. I swear that the car left the ground. When it came down, it scraped the deep sump, bent the traction bar, and tore a hole in a full flow hose. We didn't know about the oil hose so we kept going. A couple miles later, the oil light came so we pulled into a parking lot somewhere. He stayed with the car and I walked to a pay phone and called my girlfriend to come rescue us. Good times.