Col,s new combo for 2013 racing season. Shannons Show photo,s

Okay, first up i,ve been a little slack in not posting up what Larry and i have been doing for the last 6 months.
As some of you will already know i havn,t raced since Bathurst in April, i was not happy with the cars performance after a xmas recam and freshen.
I took the engine down to Larrys in late April and after a tear down and inspection all looked spot on, but my backside dyno just wasn,t happy😂
The conversation wen,t from lets put it back together as is, to recam again, to well, you guys know how it works.
After a couple of months and strict money saving i had a box with all the good exciting go fast bits which included, DPR crank, Wiseco Pistons, Engle cam, Dave Butler machined and lightened flywheel a set of Larrry special new cylinders, new rings, bearing seals etc.
Larry went to work machining the case, cleaning up the heads before assembling the engine and running in the cam.
I installed the engine 2 weeks ago and today had my mate Allan fron Muffler Fit and Fix make me up a new muffler.
I wanted a longer head pipe inbetween the collector and the muffler to carry more exhaust pulses and therefore help with increased torque. Well thats the theory.
I need to paint it up yet but Allan did a top job of tucking the muffler under the rear apron for max ground clearance.
So here she is, my new 1999cc Hillclimb combo.

Cheers Col

Another angle.

Col

Looks very tasty!! 😵

exhaust and motor looks good; I'd say that's about as good as a rear facing collector muffler gets!

Show off, nice Col

Good work Col, you will love the increased torque the stroker (and other Larry mods!) will give you 👍

P.s. love the burnout marks on the garage floor !!!

Colin,

Looks GREAT!

Can't wait to see You at Some of the events Next year, All The Best!

From Dylan

Craig Torrens wrote:Good work Col, you will love the increased torque the stroker (and other Larry mods!) will give you 👍

P.s. love the burnout marks on the garage floor !!!

The devil made me do them!😂😂😂

Cheers Col

DylanTheDubber wrote:Colin,

Looks GREAT!

Can't wait to see You at Some of the events Next year, All The Best!

From Dylan

Thanks Dylan for your positive comments.

Been following your progress with your car, keep at it. You know the saying, good things come to those who wait.

Cheers Col

Looks tops Colin. Cant wait to see you running with your new beast next year. Congrats & Tops!

colin wrote:

Craig Torrens wrote:Good work Col, you will love the increased torque the stroker (and other Larry mods!) will give you 👍

P.s. love the burnout marks on the garage floor !!!

The devil made me do them!😂😂😂

Cheers Col

😂😂😂😂

I made some phone calls about getting my new muffler set up hpc coated.
Worked out to be approx $200.00 including freight to Newcastle.
I had a think and ended up buying a tin of VHT Engine enamel, this stuff is rated up to 350 celsius. You can also buy VHT Flame proff which is rated to over 1000 celcius.
While it,s not as good as hpc coating i,m happy with the final finish, and the cost $16.00.
Finished of the project with stainless steel socket head screws and nylocs.
Started up the car and heated up the system to cure the paint, now all done and ready for a dyno tune.

Cheers Col

http://www.borla.com/products/universal.aspx

looks like a strong combo ,I used to run borla mufflers lasted for ever and sold it still in top nic when I parted out my car..

Col, what cam did you end up going with.didnt like the pauter cam?

cnfabo wrote:Col, what cam did you end up going with.didnt like the pauter cam?

Pauter Cam is sitting in Larrys shed along with all the other parts we have tried over the years.
Probably got enough for another engine.
Because we have now increased the stroke, this opens the door for a larger cam.
Chose a old favourite, genuine Engle FK87. With my berg rockers and Street Elims the total lift calculated out at .610.
Quite big lift, but the stroke and close ratio box i use should cope nicely😏

Cheers Col

Purchased a new set of Uni Filter socks, or as some people call them pods, for the carbs on the weekend.

First thing i did was wash all the oil out of them. I don,t recommend doing this with a street engine application but for me it lets the socks flow more air which on a prevoius dyno tune equaled another 4 hp.👍

Cheers Col

wow you must have had a lot of oil in them to gain 4hp !

Roll top velocity stacks will give you a gain too.......so might be worth changing to those as well 👍

When I was dyno tuning mine there was no HP gain when I removed the air cleaners.......BUT.....I don't use the socks, just the K&N oval style.

Craig Torrens wrote:wow you must have had a lot of oil in them to gain 4hp !

Roll top velocity stacks will give you a gain too.......so might be worth changing to those as well 👍

When I was dyno tuning mine there was no HP gain when I removed the air cleaners.......BUT.....I don't use the socks, just the K&N oval style.

Thats really interesting,
The socks dry, made a big difference on my engine. I also dyno tuned the car with large roll type trumpets for a zero hp gain.
Just goes to show that all engines are a little different in some small ways.
I love learning and experimenting to gain that extra 1%.👍

Cheers Col

dont go large hole roll top, stay around the same size. 😉

colin wrote:First thing i did was wash all the oil out of them. I don,t recommend doing this with a street engine application but for me it lets the socks flow more air which on a prevoius dyno tune equaled another 4 hp.👍

Cheers Col

Hi Col

When I last had my 2275cc motor on the dyno, I took the air cleaners off & got another 2hp at the wheels & the power line was a lot smoother, no little ripples in it. Very surprising

Jak

I don't have a hp figure, but with the EFI I found when I switched from oiled Unifilter's to the K&N style ovals (fuid'd up of course) that my A/F ratios changed.

Basically leaned off right across the rev range... only very slightly, but consistently. Since air temp etc. was the same and using TPS for tuning figured the K&N's flowing more air had to be the reason.

Like they say I guess - it's all 'dem little things....

👍

btw - definitely looks the goods Col - given it a thrashing yet ???

😉

This morning was the big day.
After Larry working his magic i took the car to my local dyno operator to tune the engine and see what all our research and hard work would amount too.
First dyno pull the so called heatproof paint blistered and finally caught on fire on my exhaust, not a good start.
After about 10 pulls from memory she spat out 146.6hp.
Very happy with the result.
Don,t take to much notice of the rpm graph on the bottom of the sheet, it,s a little out, about 800rpm.
Here,s the sheet and a link to the dyno pull.

Cheers Col

Good stuff!

Didn't think you had a hope in hell with that paint Colin 😁

Thats a Fantastic result Colin 👍 I only had 98hp atw (111hp with the small "bolt" pulley) when I was racing in hillclimb........so with 146hp you will slaughter them !!!

And to think, you and Larry achieved 146hp with carbs and only 4 spark plugs !! 😂😂😂

Fantastic Col!!
Good to hear your work continues to bring improvements

Looks like a nice engine but can someone explain how your HP figure can be accurate if your RPM figure isn't? I suppose the only dyno that matters is the track 😂

Nice power Col. That pulley is tiny 🙂

SuperOwen wrote:Looks like a nice engine but can someone explain how your HP figure can be accurate if your RPM figure isn't? I suppose the only dyno that matters is the track 😂

Those dynos usually calculate wheel power based on the roller rpm.

The engine RPM scale is normally aligned with the tach in the car,
or previous settings,
since the RPM lead for the tach point for the dyno is probably too short to reach the engine at the back.

Those are some great numbers Col and Keith!!
Well done!!

dangerous wrote:

SuperOwen wrote:Looks like a nice engine but can someone explain how your HP figure can be accurate if your RPM figure isn't? I suppose the only dyno that matters is the track 😂

Those dynos usually calculate wheel power based on the roller rpm.

The engine RPM scale is normally aligned with the tach in the car,
or previous settings,
since the RPM lead for the tach point for the dyno is probably too short to reach the engine at the back.

Those are some great numbers Col and Keith!!
Well done!!

Thanks Dave, couldn,t have explained it better.
Larry and i are chuffed with the number, a few Corona,s are being sunk up here in Tamworth as i type this post.
Larry and i are allways thinking and researching idea,s and thoughts on how to squeeze more hp from our engines. It,s nice when all the hard work comes together with a good dyno number.
Larry and i are already talking about a shorter carb manifold length to extend the rpm power band, but thats in the future, for now were happy as.😊😊😊

Cheers Col

Just another update on the dyno results, the engine peaked at 143 foot pounds of torque at 5800rpm, with a nice flat torque curve.

Cheers Col

Thats a awesome result.

In regards to the comments about filters and stacks. Socks will dissrupt the laminar flow around the edge of the bell mouth, so with socks it won't matter which type of stack you use. If your using a thick bell mouth stack you should notice the difference with a sock vs K&N. I have always thought that a too small K&N would have a similar affect to a sock, as the filter would result in very messy airflow around the bell mouth. The thicker the lip on the stack the better, in theory anyway.

109kW & 194Nm; pretty impressive numbers next season is going to look interesting especially if Craig T was setting good times with 115hp

Congrats; must be stoked with the work

How much hp was your last combo colin

sander288 wrote:109kW & 194Nm; pretty impressive numbers next season is going to look interesting especially if Craig T was setting good times with 115hp

Congrats; must be stoked with the work

All my class records (Including 7 state titles and 6 Australian titles) were set with 111.6hp running the very small pulley. I didn't have the power, so I just had to drive hard !!😂

It must be a real buzz to race a VW with the amount of power Colin has. 😎

cnfabo wrote:How much hp was your last combo colin

For the 2011 racing season,and couple of events i attended this year i had 121.9rwhp and 113 foot pounds of torque to play with.
I am looking forward to the 2013 racing season, as Nathan will have his green injected car, Glen with his refreshened Pobjoy rocket, and off course the man to beat Heath, in his Durie inspired car. I,d love to see Greg Ward get stuck into the sports sedan class again too.
It,s a real buzz racing with your mates in Beetles cheering each other to go faster and push the limits a little more.
Hopefully my driving talent can keep up with my car.😂😂😂

Cheers Col

Great numbers Col, best i ever had out of my 1998 was 126hp atw with e8 haltech go get em

Nice work Col!!!! What hapened to you and Larry at Warwick???? I was expecting to see you guys there

whathaveidone wrote:Nice work Col!!!! What hapened to you and Larry at Warwick???? I was expecting to see you guys there

Yes both Larry and i were a little bummed as we couldn,t make Warwick this year.
Larrys wife started a new job and was rostered to work all weekend so that counted Larry out, he got babysitting duties.
Also my man CT and his wife had a baby a week before so that was him dusted.
First one we have missed!
Never mind there,s allways 2013.

Cheers Col

After a succesfull day on the dyno tamworth sporting car club held a lapdash on the 18th of November which i entered.
I wan,t to get a feel of the car with the new engine.
It was a misrable rainy start to the day but i looked forward to a fang.
Straight up the car missed and spluttered over about 4500rpm and i returned to the pits a little dissappionted, after checking all the things i could in the rain and muddy pit area i went out for another run, but same problem.😬
I loaded up and came home wondering how it could be perfect after a dyno day yet so bad straight after?
Last weekend i went over the car completely, checking every terminal and electrical connection on the car.
Hours later i checked fuel delivery at the carbs and changed the fuel filter and plugs. I checked the MSD system, reset the float levels on the carbs, blew out the jets, and checked the rocker gear and springs, hell i double checked everything again.
Fired her up in the shed, quick warm up then big rev and no problem. Okay fixed?
Yesterday i took the car out with a mate to an isolated country private air strip for a confirmation blat.
With a few puzzled farmers watching i blasted off down the strip, ohh shit it missed and sputtered again.😬😬
I returned to the trailer with my mate and the farmers waiting, there faces and expressions were priceless.
Even with a misbehaving car the farmers thought it was a jet😂
It turned my bad mood into a laugh just seeing there reactions.
While the car was cooling i heard a loud bang, my mate said "what was that" I answered i reckon that was a rocker stud breaking.
I loaded up and came home, straight away i popped off the tappet covers and found the culprit.
Fun and games huh.

Cheers Col

Special stud col or stock?

Looks like aftermarket

Err, bummer Col.

What's the theory - coil bind or a sticking valve ?

hellbugged wrote:Special stud col or stock?

I use Berg rocker studs.
It,s not the first one i have broken but, hey they work dam hard!
Geometry is spot on, Larry doesn,t take any chances with that.
I will have to organize another test run soon.
Theory was it may have been working it,s way out slowly, pesky bugger, it had me stumped. 🤪

Cheers Col

Cars just have a poor attitude to their job sometimes 👍

Maybe some valve train issues, springs, pushrod, rpm harmonics ???

Chev or VW dia. springs?

What brand rocker studs do you use?? I have seen this with some POS EMPI parts before.

Springs are CB VW650.
Rated up to 8500rpm and 630 thou lift.

Cheers Col

the 650's are great, i use them too but with alloy pushrods

Time for another mystery miss update,
So after replacing the broken rocker stud i again took the car for a blast down the road.
The so and so missed again😬 This was really starting to ping me off.
Last weekend i triple checked everything again, and found in the tiny carb filters one was blocked with gunk, eureka! i hope?

So off to the dyno this arvo to check this time wether i had finally fixed the car.
First run massive billows of smoke, super rich, big miss at 4000rpm. Well that wasn,t it.
Blue the dyno dude says to me take the air filters off, i commented that Larry mentioned that weeks ago!
Next run engine oil at 105 getting hot, dyno run YAHOO! All is good!.
It was sucking the air filter socks in causing the car to run super rich and choke itself.🙄🙄🙄
Well f__k me!
Geez i love these cars😁

Cheers Col

Sometimes its the simple things. I am glad you have fixed the problem. I've sucked those filter socks in a few times with the RX2 and Datto rally cars. I am so looking forward to next year.

do you run the wire spring inside the filter sock?

BiX wrote:do you run the wire spring inside the filter sock?

Your onto it, sortoff.

The last air filter kit i purchased had the long springs supplied with the filter sock.
This new kit had only short springs and i didn,t give it a thought. That is why it only missed under load and when the mains came in.
Problem solved, now it,s time to detail the car inside and out, and throw the car cover over it.

Cheers Col

put some plates on it and go for a blast !!

Here is a photo were you can see the difference in spring sizes.

Cheers Col

Lol that would do it !

You always have such nice rags 😉

BTW Halle loves the towel. She can't wait until she can support her own head so she can go to the beach.

CT

My Dad allways said " an ounce of handling is worth a pound of horsepower".
With those words of wisdom ringing in my ears i have been trying to figure out how to gain more caster in the front of my car.
Caster is the angle created in relation to the struts being pushed forward at the bottom. In other words a motorbike runs lots of positive caster.
When the car turns the positive caster angle on the loaded side creates more camber and the car turns more effectively.
Now the beam guys simply put shims under the bottom beam, to easy. However it,s not that simple for a Superbug.
I have redrilled the top of the strut holes to increase both caster and camber but you are limited by the strut top plate.
K-mac do an adjustable strut top plate product but i have given up trying to contact that company.
After a little head sratching i found on the Topline website they do a offset front d-bush, i contacted them also but they don,t send overseas.
Easy fix, ring my mates at Pierside Parts and get them to buy the d-bushs and then ship them to me.
After 10 minutes of fittting here are some photo,s, i,ll keep you all posted on how the caster angle changes when i do an alighnment.

Cheers Col

Hi col have a kmac top cam adjust plate on my L bug great product but what u need is a whiteline adjustable front sway bar Boris at vintage sells them are custom bend set up for lower ride height as well cheers Rudi

bigrudi wrote:Hi col have a kmac top cam adjust plate on my L bug great product but what u need is a whiteline adjustable front sway bar Boris at vintage sells them are custom bend set up for lower ride height as well cheers Rudi

Thanks Rudi,
I have a Whiteline heavier front sway bar but i don,t use it. I found that with hillclimbs as apposed to circuit racing the speeds are alot less and you never get front tyre temps up, therefore you need the car to be pointy.
With the heavy bar i found it did not let the weight transfer to the loaded front wheel because it was to stiff.
This is however only my experience and driving style and others may really like a stiff front sway bar.👍

Cheers Col

Hi Col

If your not happy with your caster now with the topline bushes let me know and I will give Kevin at KMac a hurry up, I dont live very far from his shop.

I have his strut tops in my new bug.

Are you allowed to alter your front suspension very much under hill climb rules?

Steve

So i took the car into work this morning to give it a wheel alignment again.
I found the d-bushs have given me another 3/4 a degree of caster angle, not a huge difference but a step in the right direction.
Adjusted and evened up the camber and checked toe, all good.
Bring on the first round.

Cheers Col

whats your total caster now ?

Craig Torrens wrote:whats your total caster now ?

Still only have 2 degrees 41 minutes left and 2 degrees 48 minutes right.
Way not enough, but gives me something to work towards.

Cheers Col

Had a final spanner check and adjusted the clutch up a tad today.
Looked over the car trailer and fixed the brake cable and adjusted it aswell.
All now ready for some fun at Cooperbung Hillclimb.👍👍👍

Cheers Col

Hi Col

Have fun.

You should do a few practice runs with the Go Pro. Worst thing is turning it off when you want it on and vice a versa.

Are you taking any little people that are good with technology?

Steve

1303Steve wrote:You should do a few practice runs with the Go Pro...

Yeah - especially when you've got an airstrip to practice on nearby !!!

Got something you could measure out (say) 600 feet with ???

😀

1303Steve wrote:Hi Col

Have fun.

You should do a few practice runs with the Go Pro. Worst thing is turning it off when you want it on and vice a versa.

Are you taking any little people that are good with technology?

Steve

Unfortunalely my 13 year old daughter is not to keen on racing, 😂 So i,m going to do practice on the Saturday so i can get familiar with the Go pro and my new engine combo.
My 7 year old son however loves the Beetle, and the "revving", as he says.
Maybe i,ll have a pit crew man in a few years.

Cheers Col

colin wrote:All now ready for some fun at Cooperbung Hillclimb.

Cheers Col

When is this on Col?

Thanks to Jeff and Dylan for giving a good cheer on Sunday.
The car performed really well with only a minor electrical issue giving me a few probs for the last 2 runs.
The ignition fuse was corroded a little making my tacho not work and blinkers go crazy😂.
Easy fix tonight.
I will check the car over and also check the tappet clearance, but the engine is spot on with no oil leaks or any sign of excess crankcase oil pressure.

Cheers Col

Hi Coil

So how did the car behave with more caster?

Steve

1303Steve wrote:Hi Coil

So how did the car behave with more caster?

Steve

Didn,t really notice anything different. However Cooperabung is a fast track, and i beleive the caster improvment will help with the slower tighter tracks.

Cheers Col

Spent some time in the shed yesterday and this morning checking the car over etc.
All tappetts were virtually spot on with only 3 needing a very slight adjustment, maybe 1 thou.
The engine bay was clean with no signs of crankcase over pressure, and no oil drips on the floor of the shed. After 2 runs at Cooperabung i changed the mains fron 155 to 150,s and noticed an immediate improvement in run3, i was using the air cleaners as it is very dusty in the pit area.
For Bathurst however i will be racing with no air cleaners on so i have changed back to 155 mains.
I will see how humid it is on the day and make a final choice as i go.
Time to wash inside and out, then clean tyres and store away for Bathurst weekend.

Cheers Col

Thats good to see Col. Like you I am also getting the bug ready for Bathurst. Have you got the bug targetted scruit done yet?

Here is a shot of the dusty pits.
Yes mate my car has had that done.

Cheers Col

bat69 wrote:Have you got the bug targetted scruit done yet?

What is this ?

All cars running at state level have to be what they call targeted scruit. And it has to be done every 4 or 5 events. Its a full on look over the car, jacked up, wheels off etc to make sure the car complies with safety rules and regs. Once regoed for the state champ you then have to organise the check with someone on the list of state wide regional scruitineers.

After a long week and a big let down from Bathurst i got into the shed this weekend and started checking over the car.
I had a small oil leak problem out of the breather tower so i removed it and found my rubber chair leg bungs had gotten brittle and leaked oil.
I will take it to my mate who works in an engineering shop to weld two nipples onto the ends then i,ll put caps on them.
All tappetts were also checked with none needing any adjustment👍
The car copped a floging this last weekend but i,m very pleased it came through with flying colours.
The improved caster angle i felt helped with the cars high speed stability with zero understeer all weekend despite the low track temp.

Cheers Col

colin wrote:After a long week and a big let down from Bathurst i got into the shed this weekend and started checking over the car.

Your car did everything you asked it to do, it didn't break, and you achieve 2 PB's........sounds like a successful weekend to me, not a 'big let down'.

Good to hear all in order Col !!!

As to the "big let down", I took it as the horrible coming back down to normal from such a huge high... that's definitely how I felt through the week !!!

😂

Sides wrote:Good to hear all in order Col !!!

As to the "big let down", I took it as the horrible coming back down to normal from such a huge high... that's definitely how I felt through the week !!!

😂

Sorry Craig poor choice of words, spot on Sides, huge high of weekend then back to reality and the mundane things in life.

Cheers Col

ah ok 👍👍

My mate Rob finished brazing on the bungs for my Berg style breather tower, and today i picked it and the rear breast plate up from Al at Alan Barnes Smash Repairs.
I thought it was leaking out the rubber chair leg bungs but when Rob cleaned it up ready for brazing he found a 2 inch hairlin crack down the breather box. Now that makes sense.
I fitted the pieces back on and am now cleaning the car inside and out as i have been invited to display the car at the Shannons Country Classic Car Show.
It is held here in Tamworth on the weekend of the 27th and 28th of this month. It,s an invite only show, so i need to clean up the Beetle real good.
During last weekend when i was cleaning i managed to stumble across a few items that i replaced or removed to lighten the rear end.👍
I,ll post a few pics of the show later.

Cheers Col

Hey Col,

I picked up those items for you which may give you the record breaking edge you've been looking for. I'll post them to you on Monday. Not that you need them for hillclimbs.

CYA CT

fullnoise wrote:Hey Col,

I picked up those items for you which may give you the record breaking edge you've been looking for. I'll post them to you on Monday. Not that you need them for hillclimbs.

CYA CT

😂😂😂 onya CT.

Cheers Col

fullnoise wrote:Hey Col,

I picked up those items for you which may give you the record breaking edge you've been looking for. I'll post them to you on Monday. Not that you need them for hillclimbs.

CYA CT

Testicle inplants ?

just joking Col, no need to send me a PM 😂😂

Very cool to get the invite to the Shannons event Col! Legend 👍

Craig Torrens wrote:

fullnoise wrote:Hey Col,

I picked up those items for you which may give you the record breaking edge you've been looking for. I'll post them to you on Monday. Not that you need them for hillclimbs.

CYA CT

Testicle inplants ?

just joking Col, no need to send me a PM 😂😂

That actually damn funny👍

Cheers Col

The Shannons car show kicked off today with a good crowd of people coming through all day.
We had lots of interest with the 3 Tamworth Sporting Car Club Cars on display.
The highlight today for me was when i spotted the man i bought my car from many years ago. He was gobsmacked when i pointed out that it was his old beaten up car. His smile was absolutely priceless, he kept opening his mouth but no words came out, Gold.😊

Cheers Col

Had another great day at the Shannons Show.
Could have made a fortune charging little and big kids for a sit in the Beetle, people jusy love to sit in one. Lots of adults and mostly females loved the snug fit, and getting a feel of being in a race beetle strapped in with the harness.
A big surprise was i was lucky enough to be awarded best European car at the show.
Hears a few pics.

Cheers Col

A New New Beetle.

My dream tow car , a V8 diesel Touareg👍

Liam got to have a sit in a new Audi R8, very cool.

Cheers Col

Awesome effort Col!!
The beetle is looking good and going great 👍

This weekend I spent in the shed.
First job was to wash and clean the car inside and out, there was dust everywhere. After cleaning the engine bay of dust I found no evidence of excessive oil pressure blow by.
Larrys secret 😂 mod was working a treat. I then checked the tappets and all were spot on, then a spanner check of the front end components and steering.
While I was cleaning I was thinking how dissapointed I was with my cars lack of grip and my efforts to cure it on race day.
I usually have a good understanding and feel for the car but last weekend I just couldn,t get it to turn in for me. Old tyres don,t help but I,m not using that as an excuse.
This is my last run of the day, I was going really well and on track for a good time until?



But this got me thinking😵‍💫 I have now taken steps to try and give the car more grip, and this will, if all goes well, happen next season.
Until then I,ll just try to set the car with the best I,ve got.

Cheers Col

Tamworth Hilllcimb Pit Area, VW only.