A few more pics from the 36hp challenge from down under!!

Modern Motors July 1957

We here at the OSS strive to bring you the best in old VW performance articles from Australia, mainly because we have a TON of them sitting around. Don't ask. :)

Monaro Motors and vacation

We here at the OSS are taking a little journey to the other coast. Though no automotive related we do hope to find time

to get greasy. As always we will be on the look out for interesting VWs and cool old speed parts. If ya know of any old yards in the Oregon area give us a heads up!!

Since we are stuck on an aeroplane for the next few hrs we can start to tell you about our latest project. We were lucky enough to recently purchase a beat ass dual SU carburetor kit for the 25hp/36hp VW motor. This nifty little hop up kit was produced in Australia between the early 1950 till at least into the 1960s, as there is a 40hp variety. Pictures is the kit before it received it's full restoration in the basement off the shack. There our mad scientists stripped the carbs off he manifolds( no small feat as they were rusted on! Aluminum and steel do like to bond!!) at which time they were sent out to the rubbish bin and a pair of suitable replacements were found. These carburetors were decked out to the 9s by a gent named Chester from out west USA. Next our core group of scientists updated the manifolds with stainless studs, a proper cleaning, fresh coat of paint (instead of chrome) and an updated linkage that includes a cross bare made from 5/16 A2 to increase rigidity and decrease the chance of rust. They also replaced the old ball socket linkage with a self aligning ball joint and clevis package to insure smooth acceleration. Though perhaps we should have just pined the a wide open for best results!! Once the one-off custom air cleaners are completed we shall snap a few Polaroid and post them on up for your viewing pleasure.

We also have an article from the December 1955 Modern automotive that gives a little history lesson on the kit and some performance numbers. Sadly the scanner at the shack was acting up so no posting on the tasty treat till vacation is over. At some point we read, in an old ad, that the dual SU carburetor kit could produce up to 41hp. This may be a bit of an exaggeration but we here at the OSS do plan on seeing if we can pump 48hp out of these little fire breathing monsters! After 48hp the H1 SU carbs used will become restrictive and one would need to step up to the H2 carburetor. This would require a different flange and the linkage support bracket would need to be moved forward 1/8". Now you can't say we keep everything a secret here!!

The plan to this point is to build an engine specifically for this dual carburetor kit. Jeff Denham has taken on the head work while we will be choosing either a custom or at least performance cam for the project. This along with a fully merged equal length header and MAYBE a 69.5 stroker crank may be enough to pull the desired 48hp. Research is still under way on the exact set up and the tech will start the build when the weather turns again.

A brief history of the Dual SU carburetor kit and Monaro Motors.

In the early 1950s Monaro Motors started to produce performance parts for most Australian car makes. The best known of these were there dual carburetor kits for the Morris minor, Mini and other SU powered cars. They also produced and install the kit mentioned in this post for Volkswagens of the 25hp, 36hp and 40hp models. It also appears that this or a VERY similar were sold by Automotive Carburetor CO of Sydney and J Bee( whom also made a custom 36hp dual 28PCI carb kit) ** We have been told that Jack Bono at Jay-bee did not make a SU carb kit and the only data we have different comes from the Modern Motor article bellow**. All of these kits seem to advertise the same performance upgrade, which leads us to believe that the same company produced them all and distributed by others in the 1950s and into the 1960s. They are generally receded to as the Monaro Motors carburetor kit, we can only speculate why.

We will post some picture of this kit and more information in the following days.

Modern Motors December 1955

Here is an article on the Monaro Motors dual carburetor kit from Motors Motor December 1955.

Some pictures from down under 2010

We recently got the news that Greg Mackie and Stephen Muller were able to break some 36hp records over in Austrilia!! One in a sweet Ghia and the other in one of our favorite beetles we have seen in long time.

Here is the story from the horses mouth... or Greg's :

"Hi,

We have just returned from Lake Gairdner (salt lake) in South Australia, afrer a VERY SUCCESSFUL record meeting.

The two cars - both owned and built by Steve Muller - bettered existing records. Date - Wednesday, 10th March,2010.

Steve clocked 127.5 MPH in his Karmann Ghia - new Australian record.

I drove Steve's '56 Oval ( Stone Stock) to 75.1 MPH - new 36HP World Record (subject to confirmation).

Cheers, Greg"

So congrats go out to both Steve and Greg for there fantastic runs!!

Sale at the Shack!

Mud season is upon us and we here at the OSS are having a sale in order to push some of the projects forward! So without further ado here are the stars of our show...

#1 Bosch "383" with wire clips. Pretty sure the date on this one is 54. Comes complete with NOS rotor, black flat cap, points and new condenser.

$350 shipped in the lower 48




















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#2 BR9 1956-57 356 A distributor. Date code is 8M so August 1956 and it comes with no tune up parts. This unit has the same advace curve as the "383" but uses a standard cap.

$230 shipped in the lower 48.



















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#3 Bosch BR25 distributor. This is a proper distributor for a 1960 bastard 40hp bus motor. It has the same curve as the 010 distributor so it would work well on any hot vintage motor!! These come with no tune up parts has been fully rebuilt and i have 3 to choose from so ask for pictures!

$160 shipped in the lower 48

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#4 Bosch 019, fully rebuilt and ready to be put into service on your 36hp or 40hp motor!!

$150 shipped in the lower 48 Last one at this price!!




















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#5 Here is a set of New Judson compressor phenolic vanes that came with a Judson compressor that i had. They originally came from Split parts unlimited and are $100+ shipping

$65 shipped in the lower 48.






















More to come later on and yes we here at the OSS will ship any of these items international!!

If you wish to make a purchase contact us at theoldspeedshack@hotmail.com