Cal-Look.com - Nostalgia Corner by El Dub

This title is borrowed from Hot VWs and it reflect very well what the Iguana was all about. Bill's words on previous page are very informative, but here's what the Popular Hot Rodding related about this H/Gasser way back in 1971.

"Its a Volkswagen, but not like any other. By the time you get trough looking at the cool pearl lime green with gold panelling and a Dodge tow truck painted to match, you get the message. A ferocious looking portrait tops the Iguana name and you just know that this VW means business. Then, too, a 110.45 mph from a Volks is not bad, nor are ETs that range beetwen 11.9 and 12.1 seconds.

One thing about Bill CLARKSON's VW : it definitely has one of the biggest engines going - 2343cc of it. Wouldn't it have been better to just install a Corvair Engine? "Not on yourlife", says Bill. "VW Cylinder heads are a good design, the engine weight less, there are less space problems and, besides, it fits right into H/Gas right at the lower end of the class."

This machine was built the hard way. Since no known combination of VW strokers and cylinder barrels add up to 2343cc, Bill had a job on his hands. Fortunately, he works as a machinist for Ray Litz's Competition Engineering in Altadena, Calif., and he knows how to make those Bridgeport mills talk.

Bill hold in hands the Iguana decklid with help from Tom YONTS. Note the finless cylinders...

Work began with a '69 VW Crankcase being clearanced to accept a 82mm SPG roller bearing crank. With a roller bearing crank, the rods are stronger, thanks to a full circle forging and no parting line. With no bolts swinging around, it is also easier to fit the block without extensive hand grinding (...). You'll look in vain for any traces of fins on the barrels - there aren't any, primarily because of lack os space.(...) The pistons are built in semi-Hemi fashion to provide a 12.5:1 compression and have a dome angle of 22 degrees plus the appropriate valve reliefs. (...)

Bill uses 40mm intake valves and 34mm exhausts, makes his own chromoly seats. Intake porting is quite unusual, squared out rather than round in the section where it meets the Weber intake manifolds. The theory is a little vague but Bill tried heads with an without the squared port and found that he made more horsepower with them.

Tom shows the benefits of running a full flow oil system... Don't forget that we are in '71...

The valve train begins with a Norris experimental cam followed by some specially made Smith Bros pushrods with chromoly tubes long enough to clear the extra stroke. Add to this some EMPI rocker arms with a 1.41 ratio. The Norris aluminium valve springs retainers are specially designed to clear these rocker arms.

On this engine, the big 48 IDA Webers are right in place. In fact, the displacement is large enough so that the Webers do quite well with a 42mm venturi as opposed to the usual 36. This is understandable, considering that the Iguana leaves the line at 5000 rpm. Headers consist of a set of four 30 inch runners with a 1.5 inch outside diameter, merging into a 24 ich stinger.

Dave Enmark of Precision Automotive in Monrovia (Calif.) gets credit for some unusual transmission development work. Dave picked up a 40hp transmission for its lower gear reduction and then pakaged in some EMPI close ratio gears for third and fourth.

The Iguana is a perfect fit for H/Gas. Class requirements of eight pounds per cubic inch called for an 1144 pound weight, and this machine comes in at 50 pounds over the mark with an all-steel body. Most of the window glass has been replaced with plexiglass. All of the front panels went, together with the dashboard and part of the firewall. Also gone are the frame head and the stock front suspension. In their place came an SPE torsion bar assembly. The whole unit, tube, arms and bar weight only 13 pounds and is welded directly to the VW floor pan.

H/Gas is a pretty hot running class. Currently, the ET record is held by Dean Lowry screaming VW at 11.47, as opposed to 11.90 for the Iguana. The 114.79 mph record held by Barnes and Berona's '64 Chevy is also close to the Iguana's current 110.45 mph capabilities.

Now it's up to you to turn your little VW in a terror of the strips bug... Just follow the way they were built in the good old days...