Sonntag, 27. November 2016

California trip: Burbank Car Classic July 30, 2016

The major part of the California trip was about exploring nature and cities, but at least there was 1 car show I wanted to visit. The 5th annual Burbank Car Classic - A Salute To SoCal Automotive Culture.
It was only a Saturday afternoon show in the heart of Burbank, but the visit was worth it. From a Toyota Corolla with 1UZ FE (Lexus V8) engine swap to classic aircooled Vee Dubs to some precious vehicles from the Peterson Automotive Museum - like a De Tomaso Pantera from Elvis Presley - to high class hot rods and even the Chip Foose modified Lotus Europa! All sorts of cool stuff, here is a small extract:





(I am almost sure this one was another Overhaulin' project)

some air cooled classics




some hot rods with loads of fabrication were on display, too:




an old school classic:





this one was beyond believe:




and the Lotus Europa, heavily modified by Chip Foose in an episode of Overhaulin'



here is a fun fact, the episodes make you believe it only takes a few days, but this one took over a year to complete. Lucky Costa, of Hot Rod Garage fame, did a lot of work to finalize this build.

You can find interesting stuff about Lucky on his own channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsAaakmE0dAtG7AVFb7oUEA

This guys has loads of skills!



Turbo's of the size you could live in!






The 1 UZ FE Lexus V8 4,0 liter swap looks absolute factory!






The Elvis Presley DeTomaso - with bullet holes in the steering wheel and driver's foot well:



Batman was there, too:


a clean BMW E30 M3 is also appreciated in the US!


 Not only the big american muscle cars were present:



This crazy V8 offroad monster 4 seater was equipped with big stereo and  it was street legal!



Meyer's Manx


and Meyer's tow'd - which uses a type 3 rear sub frame - that was new to me!


Unfortunately, the light was everything but perfect, as it was too late in the afternoon on a narrow street, but to see all these cars in one place was a pleasure. I was kind of expecting to meet Jay Leno there, but he wasn't there...

Samstag, 19. November 2016

Throttle linkage update

The idea to mix the Weber carbs and the VW throttle linkage was good and simple, but the Webers require more travel, compared to the Solex PDSIT carbs. As a result, the Webers didn't really show their full potential.
The VW throttle lever is a multi piece, spot welded bit with some steps and special details - not easy to duplicate...
So, to address this issue I modified the existing VW linkage for greater travel - a simple extension of leverage!
 Using the original mounting points for the ball joints as attachment for the extension,
I mounted the new lever on the underside of the exisiting one. A large diameter hole allows the lever to still be mounted to the original post:
 Now the Webers can "breath freely" as the butterflies are maximum opened on full throttle - that is what we are aiming for: WOT = Wide Open Throttle!