Pfeil

Well, I've had good luck with mine with a Q-Jet sitting on a RA4 intake with no heat crossover pipe. I also don't have a choke and prefer to start the engine the old Porsche way. Which is to crank the engine for oil pressure. Stop cranking and depress the pedal for about 4-5 times then crank and use the throttle blades as the choke. I've had the car start this way with temps below 17 degrees and never had a hard start issue. So, periodically I have inspected the spacer in the 31 years it's been on the engine, and I see no deterioration. The reason I used it was to keep heat away from the carb and to keep the throttle blades out of the intake manifold.

What is the reason for the spacer?

They are VERY rare these days. Funny you mentioned the old engine. There was a redesign on the 40hp that happened in 1966. From 66-78 the 40 hp gained cam bearings and the large oil pump that the 1300, 1500, and 1600 got. I also have a 64 113 (deluxe) that I bought from the original owner in 1974. The original owner blew up the original 40hp in 1966 and bought through the dealer a factory remanufactured engine from the Kassle Plant and that engine was a 1966 40hp with all the goodies mentioned before. That engine went from 1966 to 74, and from 1974 when I got it to 2012 before I needed to tear it down 168,000 miles later. The crank didn't even need to be turned, just micro polish. The crank was a 10/10 from the Kassel plant. To keep the engine all German I had to put a big bore kit in it from Mahle. Only the Chinese make 77mm stock piston/liner sets. So now my 1200 is 1385.

Yes, Canadian Customs had a gas gauge. Euros didn't. And like all Customs they use the old long steering column and the 1956-1959 deluxe steering wheel. also, Canadian Customs have an MPH speedo instead of a kilometer speedo.

There was no 1200"A" (former standard model called 1200"A" after 1964) in Canada in 1966. The cars Canada would have was a deluxe model and the 1200 Custom. VW didn't sell the 1200"A" (former standard) in Canada, just the 1200"A" Custom which is a subset of the 1200"A". The difference between a 1200"A" and the 1200"A" Custom would be body molding, bumpers, door handles, chrome headlamp bezels, front turn signal housings and hub caps would all be painted L328 steel gray instead of chromed. The last no gas gauge model would be 1967 in the 1200"A" Euro model. 1974 would be the last 6Volt car. The last German beetle built would be from the Emden Plant in Jan 1978, it was a 1200 40hp swing axle Beetle. The first Canadian 1200 Standard Custom model would be in 1961. Unlike the Euro models it would have the new 40hp engine while the Euro models would continue with the original design 36hp through until 1966. Below the ad for the first Canadian Custom. 1946 Beetles had door panels and just like newer Standards and later 1200"A" and 1200"A Customs and would have limited carpeting on door sill, kick panels and would have a 3/4 headliner. The glue the British were using on the headliner in 1946 was fish glue, and when it rained or there was high humidity the cars stunk of fish.

When you say early. What is your cutoff? You can only use that wooden gauge up to 1960. How about what was the last year a beetle was built without a gas gauge??? What type of glue did the 1946 beetle use on the interior trim??

1951 VW Beetle diesel. Joint VW/Porsche project. probably based on the Porsche engine case note generator stand like the bolt on 356 engine. 356 engine

As long as you do the maintenance schedule to the letter. And remember spark plugs come out for cleaning or replacement every six months or 6,000 miles, always clean the oil strainer every oil change and oil changes are every 1500 miles or six months whichever comes first. Depending on what temperature you always use the appropriate Straight weight oil. Valves are adjusted every 3,000 miles. When starting a cold engine always warm the engine before taking off (114 degrees oil temp before driving off). Never rev a cold engine. And while driving never lug (below 2,000 rpm) or over rev (over4,000 rpm)- their cruise sweet spot is 2200-2800 rpm. The car below (65, 1200"A" Custom Euro Sedan) I've owned for 55 years. Original engine, I rebuilt it in 1971. Because it's a 1200"A" it used the old design (Reimspiess) Engine that goes back to 1937. I drove the car today, like a Swiss watch!

What unique feature do these engines have in common. 1938-1961, 1938-1965 in the standard model. Franz Reimspiess design cast in Generator stand Fuel pump to the left of distributor 1961 and later VW engineering design Bolt on Generator stand, fuel pump just left of center <original 356 A Porsche case bought from VW. 356 , 3 piece. The 3 piece was designed (year wise) between the Reimspiess design and the 61 VW engineering redesign. It's fuel pump remains in the original position, but a removable generator stand is new. Unique to all of these engines is one cam lobe operates two valves.

Went to school for these two. <W-J-34 Worked on these, note three turbo compounds The turbo compounds do not compress the intake, but rather each PRT or power recovery turbine drives a driveshaft to the crankshaft. 3350 cubic inches and 3350 HP. Combination of two 3350's and two Westinghouse J-34's (the J34's burn 145/115 recep.gas) Full Power on takeoff each of the 3350's use ADI (Turbo Rocket fuel for you Olds guys) from a 25-gallon tank in the wheel well behind the engine. Not many planes with two propulsion systems. If I could have any piston engine plane to fly it would be this one, Maximum speed: 763 km/h (481 mph, 412 kn) at 6,500 m (21,300 ft) A-6 690 km/h (430 mph; 370 kn) at 5,300 m (17,400 ft) Cruise speed: 685 km/h (426 mph, 370 kn) at 7,200 m (23,600 ft)

Doesn't concern me so doesn't bother me.

Styling wise, like a 1953, 170 Mercedes or VW beetle right out of the 30's

FYI while you're in there. On these old VW/Porsche engines. Check the pressed in tubes on the fuel pump and inlet to carburetor. Give them a good yank. I've had them pop out while driving. One time the output from the fuel pump popped out and doused the whole engine compartment. Lucky, the car didn't burn to the ground. Also check and make sure there is a rubber grommet in the engine tin where the fuel line comes in behind the engine is there. If not, the engine vibration will cause the fuel line to rub against the tin and cut the fuel line in half (right over the rear left side of the cylinder head) for a nice fire. Note if a fuel tube is loose on carburetor or fuel pump, just pull it out, put in a vise and slightly oblong it, bend it and scuff up the tube, then clean it and the carb or pump hole and epoxy it and tap it back in and let it dry and harden up. It won't come out again. FYI fuel pressure is 2 1/2 psi

Yes, it's the Oakland/Pontiac V-8. Here is the Chrysler Hemi V-8 notice the lifter gallery, single plane for all liters and pushrods. Below is the engine BUICK was going to make but didn't. notice the lifter gallery, dual plane for intakes and exhaust Notice where the intake valves are sitting. Exactly where the intakes are on the Buick Nail head are. The Buick Nail head brings all the valves together on the top to save production cost. Below is the production Buick,

How about a V-8 engine whose valves are in the block like any flathead except the valves are over the pistons.

Sorry Frank and Glenn, my fault I misspelled the name. Safe-T-Track. If Frank looked it up the way I just spelled it, he would have found it.

My 1962 and 1963 Pontiac Catalinas came stock with 2.69 rear axle ratios. This was the standard axel ratio for the standard 389 V-8 (267hp) with an automatic. StarChief on the other hand (389 V-8 & 283hp) being 7"longer and heavier had a 3.08 and Bonneville (389 V-8 and 303hp) had a 3.23, still the 62 Grand Prix had (389 V-8 and 303hp) a 3.42. BTW those Pontiacs could be ordered with a 2.56 all the way to a 5.10 rear axle ratio. When my dad special ordered our 59 Catalina out of the zone office it came with a 3.08 safety track (to run on the street) and a 3.90 and 4.10 safety tracks in the trunk for drag racing. In 1968 I ordered a 1969 Pontiac LeMans with a 330hp 354" engine, M40 (T400) and a 2.56 safety track. I also have a 3.08 and 3.23 safety tracks for it. I still have that car and right now it has the 3.23. That car ran high 14's with the 2.56 gears and went through the traps in 2nd gear. My 76 Olds Omega with a 250" chevy six, T350 automatic came stock with a 3.08 posi. I wanted to order a 2.56 but they wouldn't let me. I felt fortunate though because the let me get the THM350 instead of the THM 200 it was supposed to get. -The advantage of ordering out of the zone office!

With Dynaflow you are (unless you are manually using LOW) you are only in one gear, high gear Just like the original Chevy Power Glide until 1952. The torque converter is doing all the multiplication or reductions instead of gear changes. As said earlier your rpms in high range seem as it should be. Buick designed the transmission to utilize the best engine rpm for the application of load, road speed and throttle opening. Even though Hydra-Matic transmissions are in direct drive in the mechanical section of the transmission the output to the tail shaft isn't really direct because of the connection between the engine and the transmission has slippage from the torque converter. The only automatics that were designed to somewhat remedy the situation was 315 Controlled Coupling Hydramatic, 375 HydraMatic (Roto) and 1961-63 Tempest Torque transaxles. All three of these automatics have a feature called "split torque" where in high gear power is divided mechanically and through either the fluid coupling (315 and Roto) or torque converter (TempestTorque) For example when Roto HydraMatic is in high gear only 40% of the engine torque goes through the coupling and 60% it is in mechanical connection. In high gear these transmissions were more efficient than any other automatics until automatics started coming with lock up converters. CVT, Constant variable transmission with converter lock up are very efficient. They put the engine rpm exactly where it's supposed to be depending on load, speed and throttle position. For example if I'm driving at 70MPH on level surface, with cruise control on my rpm is 2,100 and approach a slight hill approaches rpm gradually climbs to 2500 to meet the condition of the load. Throttle and the variable transmission ratio work together seamlessly. At that same speed I decide to pass a car, I floor it The ECM and the TCM work together to put the engines maximum HP and Torque and apply it to the transmission ratio. That means the engine goes right to the sweet spot and stays there and as road speed increases the trans variable ratio is going higher to maintain the engine in that sweet spot. With one of my cars that amounts to 6,200 RPM, that's where the highest hp and torque intersect. This very same idea is what Charlie Chayne was trying to do in the mid 40's with Dynaflow. His problem solved the gear change problem through the torque converters multiplication, but could not control the RPM sweet spot perfectly, nor eliminate the amount of slippage wasted. Todays cars solve the problem by using CVT or by using multiple speed automatics 5,6,7,8,9,+ speeds-they come close, but they can never stay in the sweet spot like a CVT, plus they are very expensive.

That's right. You want to be all in mechanical at 2100 rpm, 36 degrees 400" and smaller and 34 degrees for 421-428-455.

Do you know if someone ever made a T shirt that said (and had a picture of) this is not your fathers Oldsmobile (showing a 2004 Olds) and, This was your father's Oldsmobile!! (showing a 442 or a 57,88, J-2) And one to wear at a Chevy event.

Why not tag this one for the worm hose clamps as well? And that rubber carb fuel hose (is getting heat transfer from the rad hose!) should be a solid hard line from the fuel pump to the carburetor. As far as the battery cable clamp is concerned and I know it doesn't apply to this car's battery cables but if you can find me a stock battery clamp that will take an "0" gauge wire I would use it, otherwise this clamp is perfectly fine. Before inserting the wire, you put the end of the wire in a soft jaw vise and gently without much pressure shape it, then solder the end before inserting and clamping down. Pontiac has had its share of starter motor problems. Remedies include upside down solenoids on starter motors on cars with factory headers used in NASCAR, and heat shields on RA3 and RA4, and H-O long branch iron exhaust manifolds. As an adjunct, "0" gauge wire should also be used especially if your battery is located in the trunk!

Funny that you mentioned the two door models and convertibles being the top rung for styling. When John DeLorean became general manager of Chevrolet sometime in 1970 the 1975-79 Chevy Nova X body was being designed. DeLorean was into European car design and liked the three box sedans, especially performance four door sedans. DeLorean made sure this new Nova would follow that trend. The 1975-79 Nova styling image leader was the four-door sedan instead of the other way around. Also Nova chassis was taken straight from the F body (Camaro-Firebird) so now you could build a sports sedan or police car. Within a week of owning the Olds version I installed 9C1 police Nova steering box, T/A springs and sway bars and Koni shocks-all out of the G.M. parts bin, except for the Koni's, straight bolt in. The two door is iffy, but the Landau doesn't blend at all.

It was more like my buddy's pain, but I know what you mean. Some time ago I went to a local cruise night with two friends. Bill and Wynn were father and son and they had two matching black 56 T-Birds. I had already eaten, but Bill and Wynn hadn't so they went in the burger place while I walked around. When I got back to the T-Birds there was a girl sitting on the deck behind the seat (you know, black and white seats) with her shoes on the seat with her boyfriend or something taking pictures. Just then Bill and Wynn showed up. I had never seen Bill so mad, I thought he was going to explode when he ejected her. As you said and so true, " Some people have no respect for other people or their possessions."

Yes! At a car show sitting behind my car talking to a friend next to me who had just painted is 69 Grand Prix, a woman walks between our cars with dog on leash and a large handbag (the ones with metal knobs on the bottom) whips around doing a 180 and the bottom of the bag goes right across the quarter panel in an arc about 10 inches long, past the paint, past the primer sealer, past the sanding primer, past the epoxy primer and into the metal. She didn't say a word and kept on going until my friend caught up with her. Don't you just love it when they say "it's just a car".