Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Pretty piece of History.
































































During our OSS lunch we posted about the newly found Rometsch Porsche racer. Now that little gem is being restored at the Prototyp museum in Hamburg Germany. We here at the OSS had heard of the Prototyp museum but never took the time to seek out more information. Well that changed to day and we were VERY impressed by the multitude of beautiful cars being stored there. Now many of our neighbors across the pound may be familiar with this car but we had never heard of, let alone seen this amazing one off ride. Based on an early VW with a 25hp motor and one of the most beautiful bodies we have ever gazed upon. Not sure why the engine has a Bosch blue coil and later distributor, so we will have to take a little vacation to Germany in order to find out!

Pictures were "borrowed" from History of cars.

Piece of Porsche racing history found.

















Read about it here.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

On Holiday back soon.

Since the OSS is out on holiday we though we would leave a little something for every one to look at.

Blackline and Birks DSS Beelte
















The Gaylen Anderson & Tom Bruchs NA36 Beetle







.




Beever Geezers and Britt Grannies SS Beetle
















Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Latest updat on the 36hp Challenge

Just in case you don't receive or have not read Burly's latest update on the 36hp Challenge we here at the OSS though that it would be a good idea to go ahead and post it here.

"Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:46:52 +0000

Subject: 36hp Challenge Press Release WOS 09

The USFRA's 2009 World of Speed event on the Bonneville Salt Flats came to a conclusion Saturday afternoon after torrential rains early in the week, possible cancellation of all the racing activities and finally blue skies and sun, warm weather and great racing. A record number of thirteen Volkswagen powered cars, both air and water cooled, both gas and diesel, ran for top speed. There were streamliners, pick-ups, bugs, bajas, Formula Super Vees, a turbo powered big VW motored splittie bus(94.891 mph) and even a VW Lupo powered Honda Insight hybrid. All in all, it was a record event for Volkswagen land speed racing. This event also welcomed the largest contingent of VW spectators supporting the racers with folks from Michigan, Oregon, Arizona, Nevada, Texas and elsewhere coming out to experience to aura of Bonneville and be witness to the Challenge.

The 36hp Challenge saw three new records set in the five available bug classes and a baseline Ghia record established with a Ghia equipped with a rare Denzel modified 36hp motor. Two new 36hp Challenge "1" Club members were initiated into the elite club which also consists of Dick Beith and Tom Bruch (yes, just four total !). The Blackline 57 project which so many folks have been following on the Samba and Ultimate Air Cooled Vintage Speed forums returned from being dead just three weeks ago thanx to Chip Birks who donated his street car for the effort to establish a new DSS (Vintage two barrel carb) category record of 103.056 mph and qualify for the "1" Club. Team Irelands Britt Grannis, along with the Beaver Geezers crew of three different drivers vied for the SS (Stone Stock) record with the Beav's Al Leggett eventually driving to a new 36hp record of 73.492 mph.

Tom Bruch and Gaylen Anderson brought their record holding bug back to the salt with more gear in the trans and a Weber 40 DCNF carb on top of the turbo and boosted the all time 36hp bug and NA36 (New Age 36) record to a new high of 106.514 miles per hour. The carb provided the power but ran out of fuel at sustained high RPM's and damaged the engine, preventing further speed run attempts.

Richard Troy worked on his 58 low-light Denzel Ghia back home in Northern California through half of the meet overcoming the normal pre-race obstacles that seem to pop up when time is of the essence, threw on the tow bar, drove through the night and arrived on the salt for the very last days racing. With no sleep and just a half a day to race, he tuned and with the Blackline/Birks crew helping taking care of small details, was able to not only get all his passes in, but gain membership in the "1" Club with two passes above 101 miles per hour topping out at 101.163 miles per hour.

Experiencing tradgedy and frustration, all the 36hp Challengers muscled through to set four new 36hp records and make the 2009 World of Speed the most successful 36hp Challenge event to date. Bruce Cook from North Carolina, holder of two of the records that were exceeded called to offer congradulations. At next months ECTA Maxton, N.C., meet, Bruce's Canadian 51 split will attempt to reclaim the DSS record from the Mcallister brothers with a Whitey Worsham tuned 36 engine and if that does not do the trick, he recently acquired an Okrasa set-up that will also enjoy Whiteys magic touch.

2010 is just around the corner and the 36hp Challenge just becomes more challenging. Hope you find the opportunity to view these little mighty mouse motors racing down the blackline or even participate with your bug, bus or Ghia. For more info and 36hp Challenge links, visit www.saltflats.com
or go to www.burlyb.com .

See you on the salt........................

Burly"

Picture to come later!

Monday, September 21, 2009

One thing forgoten

One thing that we forgot to mention is that the Bonneville bus was NOT running a 36hp motor. Rather it carries a larger displacement fire breathing turbo engine. Thought we should clear that up.

The first days of fall.

Ah the weekend is over and fall has busted down the door here in Vermont. That means that time is running short and we here at the OSS need to get our asses in gear and button up the beetle for winter storage. If we are lucky the bastard oval will drive to it place of rest, if not then we will be making a 3” narrowed tow bar to facilitate the moving. BUT you have to consider that there is nothing more beautiful, except Mrs. OSS, than a fall morning here in the great north east. So stop by for a cup of barley pop and some serenity.

Here are a few pictures to make your normal Monday little more eventful, now allow a little time to day dreaming while you enjoy.



























































































































































Picture courtesy of Volksarama.com

Saturday, September 19, 2009

More Salt

**Update from the flats**

The Denzel Ghia has pulled a 101 run and the Volksarama Bus has a top run of 94mph with no windows!

Looks like things are wrapping up for the day.

Assault on the salt 2009

Well our inside sources, the interweb, tells us that there has been more runs this morning
on the flats in Boneville an a few new records set yesterday! It also appears that a few new
car have showed up either this morning or late last night. These include theDenzel powered Ghia and the Volksrama Split window bus... with no windows?!?
















Looks like Roadcow has sold his 74 super(but not the motor) to Burly who is headed home with that jalopy in tow. The turbo powered bug(Bruchs/Anderson) seems to also be done for the year. So three guys out and two new car in.

Our insider tells us that the Ghia has made a first pass of 74mph... the SS(stone stock) record is 73.something so that is not very impressive. But at least it showed up.

The Volksarama bus has had some ignition trouble but reportedly it is now running on it own steam.

So the records set at this point are:

New Age 36hp
Bruchs/Anderson went 106.514mph to set a new Bonneville Record.


DSS
Blackline 57 went 102.495 to not only crush the Bonneville record but also set a new world record that was set in Maxton, elevation 400ft. The McAllister Bros. have now joined the elite 100mph Club. They offered there is a lot left in the engine and keep in mind this is in the borrowed Chip Birks car. They pulled the engine out to do a valve adjustment, check things over and fatten up the fuel mixture. They will be back out on the Salt later today when it cools off and the air is better.


**UPDATE Justin McAllister and crew have now gone 103mph!**

These records are curtisy of Greg Urrutia over at aircooled unlimited.

Well that appears to be all the new happenings so far this afternoon, it is currently 2:48 PM in Utah so there should be a few runs later this afternoon when things cool off a bit.

The OSS will keep you updated during our short breaks from slaving away on the beetle this afternoon.




Friday, September 18, 2009

Another record is set!

It appears that this morning Justin, who recently totaled the 57 oval that he was suposto be driving, has broken the DS 36hp challenge record with a run of 102.49!

More on this and Justin's story to come!

*Edit* Burly, the man who runs the 36hp challenge, email updates and here are a couple on Justin and his beetle.

9/01/09 10:03 AM

FLASH !!!

The Blackine 57 ( www.blackline57 ) 36hp Challenger 57 beetle was destroyed in a low speed crash Sunday afternoon. The builders, Justin and Colton Mcallister were on a brief test drive less than two miles from home after adjusting the clutch when they hit a road depression at 50 miles per hour throwing the freshly finished 57 oval sideways. Justin corrected for the slide which then threw the car into the opposite direction, tucking the inside wheel and rolling the car five times. Colton sustained minor injuries but otherwise, both were unhurt.



Sadly, the Blackline 57 was totalled as seen in the attached photos. With less than five miles of street driving on the bug, their hopes for competing in the upcoming 36hp Challenge at the World of Speed with the car on September 16th were dashed. Fortunately, the powerful 36hp engine which has been detailed on many Samba Vintage Speed forums and in extensive detail on their website, was not damaged and now the young brothers are searching for a partner with a clean street legal bug in which to install the engine for the Challenge. This engine definetly has the potential to not only break the DSS record of 99.815 miles per hour currently held by Bruce Cook of North Carolina, but possibly even the all time 36hp bug speed of 103.496 miles per hour that was set last fall by the Bruch-Anderson NA36 turbo beetle.

The engine is certainly a "1" Club contender.

Our hopes are the boys will be successful in their search and be able to join us for the upcoming Challenge.

Burly Burlile















9/05/09 8:18 PM

Flash ! ! ! !

Tonights great news is that the ghost of Blackline 57 lives and will be coming to the salt afterall under the guise of Chip Birks 1960 drag racing street beetle.We are now expecting at least five 36hp Challenge cars to compete at this years World of Speed.

Two Utah drag racers, members of the Salt City Air Coolers VW club, have jumped in and volunteered their car and safety equipment to Justin and Colton to help bring their 2009 racing effort back to life. Thanx to both from all the folks following their effort on the Samba and Ultimated Air Cooled forums. Hopefully many if not all the the SCAC, Northern Utah Air Cooled VW Club and the VW club in Provo will come out to the salt and support their effort.

I just got off the phone with Colton and Justin and Chips bug is at A.C.E. and the turbo motor and trans have been removed and they are getting ready to start readjusting the equipment for the salt. All plans are go and if everything goes as planned, they expect to have the car on wheels and running by Friday. If anyone can accomplish the task, it is the hardworking Blackline 57 crew!

Burly Burlile

Here is a picture of the motor...





























36hp Challenge links

Here are a few links to 36hp Challenge posts else were on the internet.

Volksrods.com Bonneville post

Vintage and Land speed forum over at aircooled unlimited

The Samba Vintage Speed forum

*Flash* 36hp challenge updates over at the Samba

Start you'r engines!

This is the first day of 36hp Racing at the salt flats in Bonneville and there has already been a new record setting run in the SS(Stone Stock) class at 73.255MPH!

Here are the records so far, borrowed from Greg Urrutia on ultimateaircooled.com

"First runs today....

New record in Stone Stock (SS)
Glenn Patterson went 73.255mph in his Orange 58' Beetle.
Glenn wants to make sure I mention he is running a Ed Fall prepared carburetor.



Blackline 57
Justin Mcallister went 99.360mph in the DSS Class at the wheel of the borrowed Chip Birks car.
That number is 4 tenths off the record.


Bruchs/Anderson New Age 36 Turbo entry only had 8lbs. of boost.
They wired the waste gate closed and changed from the 28pci carb to a Weber DCNF.
Their next run in about 1/2 hour.

Still to run Britt (Roadcow) SS Super Beetle"

Monday, September 14, 2009

Rebuild Part 2

So its time for the fun part of the rebuild. You could spend a bit of time crushing your fingers with some channel locks, pulling with all your might with a set of pliers and even vice grips... none of those will work to pull out those two little pins in the pivot ball!

The pins in question are sticking out of the big ball in the picture bellow(pivot ball). It is not one big pin so NO it does not go all the way through so don't try hitting it with a hammer, just pull each one out. The easiest way we have found to do this is by locking them into my vice and tapping on the shifter with a rubber mallet. FUN! But if you are not careful you can crush these little bit and in which case you will have to make some new ones.


Once you pull the pins the shaft of the shifter and the pivot ball and the shaft/ball the goes into the shift rod will come apart.





Now you have it apart and need to clean up thing and reassemble. But that is something that will be covered once you have had enough time to clean up all the greasy, grimy parts and paint that old rusty cage.


Stay tuned for more exciting rebuild action!
__________________

Friday, September 11, 2009

Another muffler ad.

One more Abarth ad from the net.























Oh and a 356 exhaust for $45!!!






















What to do on a cold wet weekend.

Hurst shifters were one of our favorite thing to do at the OSS, well until the recent price hike on made buying cores rather prohibitive. And since we are rebuilding a copper Hurst Bus shifter this weekend we though we would reprint our "how to" on Hurst shifter rebuilds. It will be broken up in 3 or 4 parts that will be posted here over the course of the next week or so.

*One thing to keep in mind when rebuilding one of these bad boys and you want it done right, that there is some machining needed on the white shift blocks.*

PART 1:
Well its time to learn how to rebuild a Hurst shifter so we took the old copper shifter that Rob traded to me and broke it down.

Thing one needs to do this job.
A
Hurst or EMPI trigger shifter for parts. (only use the empi for the white bushings as the rest is crap!)
A vice
A rubber mallet
Needle nose pliers


When we got this shifter it was easy to see that it had been rebuilt at some point. The clips that hold the white guide bushings had been replaced with nuts, bolts and locking washers. In the process they also enlarged the hole in the white shift bushings.
The reverse lock out cable was also replaced with a much thinner and weaker piece of wire.

Oh well the shifter still need to be taken apart.

Here is what it looked like when we took out the bolts holding it together. Not much use to anyone in this shape.



























Here are the clips that will need to be drilled out. We drilled off the base of the pins coming up from the bottom with out drilling into the bushing or the cage. Though sure someone could come up with a better way to do this.















Now the first thing you will need to do is to straighten out the reverse cable at the bottom of the shifter. Be gentle when doing this or it WILL break.



















Next you pull the cable out the top of the trigger and take the trigger off.

















So now you have drilled out the pins that hold the bushing to the cage, removed the reverse lock out cable and trigger.

Your shifter should look like this:















Alright more to come later!