Given that there are no right or wrong answers but only those that work, many solutions come from unexpected places. It's always worth searching far and wide and considering any possibility besides looking at other race cars and reading race car books for ideas.
Chasing the best source also pays dividends in price savings and advice from various people who have done it. The help I've had from various people even sharing their all problems has allowed me to help them with new solutions and products.
The heart and lifeblood of any engine is oil supply and pressure. I'm happy to report the external pickup works fine as tested in Rod Smith's 2800cc T4 off-road, buggy Also the dry sump pump has allowed good uninterrupted oil pressure and the resulting better coolly under the harshest operating conditions. Rod's 2800cc engine puts out a whopping 350ft/lbs of torque with 50mm throttle bodies.
Porsche fans are another interesting Item with seemingly endless variations. Five, 11 and 12 blades with plenty of different ratios in the pulleys available. Race Porsches run close to 1:1 gearing and street Porsches 1.4:1 and taller. However, these fans are not that easy to find so it's a matter of gearing the one you get to suit your requirements.
In case you are wondering, a Porsche fan and alternator were used for the superior cooling of the bigger capacity T4 engine as well as looks and that it fitted into the Type One. It's reported that head temperatures up to 100 degrees cooler can be had. When you see one up close its obvious that this fan has had some time spent on its design, it's used to cool Le Mans racing Porches!.
The crankcase on the Type 4 has to be radius cut for the Porsche fan to fit.
Vintage Vee Dub Supplies can do all the modifications and stock the parts for fan and oil conversions. New fan housings are now ready for installation with new tinwork.
Fully merged Type 4 headers are also made in two sizes for various applications. Street and racing ones have been designed and with the massive variation of valve size and engine capacities available, custom extractors can be made to order.
The electronic ignition chosen is a Bosch unit built into a OO9 with a special advance curve to suit the large engine. Coupled with Magnacore leads and special heat range and tip design Beru spark plugs while we also have a special Beru plug for turbo cars. Injection remains Microtech for simplicity and price. It has proven its worth on Boris Orazem's turbo'd Beetle and several other well known VW cars. Finer Filter air cleaners are used for their simplicity and the wide range of applications they offer.
Gearbox games have brought me the full circle from Porsche and Hewland back to the standard VW Item. The reasons we chose them are to do with their simplicity, price, repair costs and their availability not to mention their strength. Dave Butler has now gone to a Kombi box in his drag car but he never had any real trouble with a Beetle unit. The Beetle's box is not only lightweight but I can supply super strong gears for it and most important of all, a Quaife limited slip diff with either T1 drive splines or T2 drive splines will bolt on.
On the Dak To The Future race car, T2 drive flanges have been modified to 930 Porsche specifications. So the car has ended up with VW stub axles, a VW steering shaft, VW gearstick, VW gearbox and VW engine! In our opinion, that's enough for us to still call It a Volkswagen.
The last trick to the driveline is the clutch set-up. Several options were available and have been made up ranging from an 1800lb Kennedy pressure plate with an ultra lightweight flywheel to a 2300lb Kennedy with an 11.5lb T4/T1 flywheel and all the way up to a twin plate Tilton or Sachs unit fitted to a modified VW flywheel. That one delivers a whopping 3000lbs of pressure. This set up has also been made for Boris' turbo car and they can all be operated with a cable providing the '76 Beetle clutch lever arm is used and the gearbox of '72 or later.
Our next Instalment of the Dak To The Future build-up will show the completed car and we will enjoy and review the adventure of driving it.