New Fasty

Regular readers of my blog will know that the Type 4 engine, and Porsche 911 gearbox that I have built for the Razoredge has been borrowed for use in my salt flat race car. Whilst pondering on how much grief it would be to get it installed in both the Oval and the Ghia, and be able to swap them over without too much of an issue, I came to the conclusion that it was simply too much hassle.

Whilst I had always dreamed of the big Type 4 powered Type 34. Now, after some 15 years of building it, and having moved to a different country, I've decided that I simply would like to get it on the road. There's no point in having a fast road car here in South Australia. There are no drag strips, very few race tracks, and with cops that hide in bushes with radar guns, little point in having a 350hp Type 34.

So I've decided to fit a stock IRS, gearbox and EFI engine,so that I can complete the car and get it on the road. And whats more, I've even sourced a Fastback to act as the doner car.

The EFI controller will be replaced with an aftermarket unit - maybe something like a Haltech, and the stock plenum and throttle body will be retained. The IRS will be fitted with some adaptors to allow the Porsche calipers to be fitted, but the aluminium Porsche Turbo arms will not be fitted at this stage. The rear suspension has been too much of a stumbling block, and is probably the main reason that the car has never been finished. I am now on the third incarnation of the rear setup - having not been 100% happy with the first two, this coupled with the hassle of fitting a 911 box into a Type 3 pan has means that progress has been unnecessarily slow. This, has also added to my decision to simply fit stock running gear and get it on the road. Once it's on the road and running, tinkering with it will be a lot simpler.

As you can see from the pic, the EFI system has a certain elegance to it, and has always had an appeal to me, plus the best thing, is that it will look right at home in the engine bay, as the cold air intake, oil dipstick, cooling fan etc, will line right up. I will probably utilise a distributorless EFI controller, so all of the messy plug leads will be hidden away, and I may also change out the generator for an alternator.

One issue with the stock EFI controller, is that it is not adaptable, meaning that any modification to the engine, such as fitting extractors, will simply throw everything out of whack, there is no way to tune the map. Replacing the controller with an aftermarket one, will fix this problem, as the mapping can be tuned to suit the engine. This will also allow for any future modifications that I may carry out.

Type 34's were never sold with EFI - probably because they were discontinued before EFI become widely available on the Type 3 range.

Whilst it will likely just start off stock, I do have plans to to turbocharge it at a later date - utilising the EFI with an aftermarket controller, nothing too radical - basically a stock 1600, with a small turbocharger - just enough to make it more tractible, not a screaming 1/4 mile racer. A guy I know in the UK had a lot of success adding a small turbocharger to a stock 1600 bug. The stock cam lends itself very well to turbocharging, as it has very little overlap. He basically made up a header system, swapped the carby for something more suitable, and boost referenced the fuel pump. Instant horsepower - and cheap too. I took a ride in the bug one day, it was impressive to say the least, and doing something similar has always had an appeal. However, I digress...

First up is to get the fasty stripped out, and get rid of the rest of the car. Then set to getting the razor rolling again, which involves restoring the front and rear beams, and fitting them back in. Then I can get the headlining fitted. I will also give the engine a going over too, and paint up the tin. Then it's just a case of fitting it back together.

Not a massive task, but still a fair amount of work.

Watch this space...