Any VW Air Cooled racers out here?

[roadcow]

Hi, and Nobie questions soon to flood the board I'm a member of the IDA ( Irish Drag racing Association) based in Northern Ireland. I live in Northern Calif. now and 5 members of our group are going to try to run a 1958 Bug with the stock 36 HP engine ( just under 1200 cc) in 2009. I'm planning on attending the World finals next week and would appreciate talking to other VW drivers/builders. We've ordered a rule book and I've sent off for membership forms from the ruling body. Can't wait to experience Bonneville!
Thanks,
Britt Grannis

[tim schoeny]

You need to talk to Tom Bruch-long time VW mechanic and racer.He lives in Iowa.Think he's taking a bug to Maxton Oct. meet in an attempt to break the "36 HP" world record-whatever that is.Phone #319-651-7361

[dwarner]

Hook up with Mike Manghelli, White Goose Bar Racing, at the race next week. He runs a VW truck, blue and yellow in color. Looks like a can of WD40.

Pit location? you can't miss us, we have the only trailer with a stripper pole installed.

DW

[GH]

Dan, what is a stripper pole? Does that have anything to do with paint stripping? Cya

[Sumner]

Dan, what is a stripper pole? Does that have anything to do with paint stripping? Cya

I hope so, hope it doesn't have anything to do with Dan  ,

Sum

[Stainless1]

Dan, what is a stripper pole? Does that have anything to do with paint stripping? Cya

I hope so, hope it doesn't have anything to do with Dan  ,

Sum

Wow, what a scary visual I didn't need....    :|

[jimmy six]

Bob Stahl of the Gear Grinders has been running VW bugs for years. They have aerodynamic problems at speed but with 36HP if I were you I would get a Hyway Patrolman to stand by the edge of the road with a speed gun and run 2 miles and get a speed. That will save you a lot of money and may not be breaking any speed law if it's like any of the 36's I had for work cars. At 90 degrees and a corrected altitude of 9000 ft and low compression I would not be hoping for too much. Sea level is a lot different than Bonneville..Good Luck

[roadcow]

Thanks everyone! I'll contace Tom. Yes 36's are a bit anemic sp? but we wanted to start with something slow that wouldn't break the bank. The idea is to calculate what type of Hp is required then stuff a 1600 cc engine in the car and see what it takes to get it above 96 mph or there abouts ( current class record).Then will try to build the 36 hp based engint to dyno same hp and stay together. Have a Formula V engine builder in Belfast who wants about 30 36 hp cases and a like number of heads to do some R&D work on.

[Evil Tweety]

Thanks everyone! I'll contace Tom. Yes 36's are a bit anemic sp? but we wanted to start with something slow that wouldn't break the bank. The idea is to calculate what type of Hp is required then stuff a 1600 cc engine in the car and see what it takes to get it above 96 mph or there abouts ( current class record).Then will try to build the 36 hp based engint to dyno same hp and stay together. Have a Formula V engine builder in Belfast who wants about 30 36 hp cases and a like number of heads to do some R&D work on.

96 mph record?  I don't have my book with me, but I didn't think there were any 1 liter or larger records (for cars) under 100 mph . . .
We are talking Bonneville, right?  (BTW - 36 hp sea level got us 82 mph at Bonneville with the Honda Z600 . . . probably lower Cd and lower frontal area.)

[Jonny Hotnuts]

The engine class breaks are:
H=1016-1523cc
G=1524-2015cc

a 1600cc motor will put you early in the G class and running with 2.0 motors.

Also there are ways to be able to come up with a HP required to acheve a speed per vehicle without having to do a test setup. It is not 100% accurate but I have found it to be about 10% so it is really fairly close.

I know that they are somewhat more expensive but a 1500cc (high in the H class) 356 IMO would be a really good car to do a LSR in if you wanted to remain air cooled.
Really good CdA for a stock bodied car.

Check out the stuff @ Dr. Mayfields site.

Good luck with whatever you do.

-JH

[roadcow]

I must have not made myself clear. We will just put the 1600cc engine in to test the car and make sure it's safe. My 96 mph figure was off the top of my head and I'm sure wrong, thanks for pointing that out. Yeah I'd love to run a 356 but as stated we don't want to break the bank first time out. The 36 hp will go in for our attempt. Hope this clears up any missunderstanding. Thanks for the constructive criticism, it's appreciated, we want to come as well prepared as possible.

[interested bystander]

Loved your suggestion, Jimmy Six-$$$s saved.

If you're dead set on a 36 horse effort to get your feet wet (DEPENDING ON THE SALT---get it?) maybe you could talk an old Formula V owner out of the engine that's  gathering cobwebs in his garage.

Those people learned to cheat, er, rather bend the rules, big time. 

[Evil Tweety]

I must have not made myself clear. We will just put the 1600cc engine in to test the car and make sure it's safe. My 96 mph figure was off the top of my head and I'm sure wrong, thanks for pointing that out. Yeah I'd love to run a 356 but as stated we don't want to break the bank first time out. The 36 hp will go in for our attempt. Hope this clears up any missunderstanding. Thanks for the constructive criticism, it's appreciated, we want to come as well prepared as possible.

That's what we did first  time with the Honda.  Had a goal of getting through tech and doing 80 mph.  No huge stress or lofty goals.

Made it a lot more fun and it's the way to go IMHO!

They tell you every time - be safe, have fun, go fast - in that order.

[GeneF]

Haven't done lsr and don't know a lot about the 36 h.p. motor but have a lot of 1600 on up to 2+liter experience, but the principles are the same. As you probably already know, the first order of business for any v-dub is keeping the bottom end alive, a 8 dowelled, counterweighted crank, lightened flywheel, case savers and good studs are vital. Next: do whatever you can to get and keep the oil pumping: deep sump, Berg pump, dial in clerances etc. A good place to start would be Demello Crankshafts out there in Ca., they do quality work and I believe they offer a performance 36 h.p. crankshaft package. They may also have a line on some con-rods for a 36 h.p. motor that aren't made out of wet noodles.

Once you get the bottom end to live, you can work on H.P., which, as you probably already know, will be found in your (single port ) heads. The best advice I can give is: bring all your lucky charms, keep your fingers crossed and pray that you don't kick all the rods through the case before the first mile. 

[salt27]

I understand the bend in the road gang can really light a fire under a VW engine.