VW Trends Dyno Day

The following test involved the chopped turbo Ghia of Ray Mejia--he also brought the yellow Oval seen later in this article. The fairly heavy Coupe is well known for prowling the streets of L.A. and Orange County, and best of all it recently crossed the quarter-mile finish line in 10.84 seconds! The 7.6:1 CR 2442cc (88x94) uses a variety of high-performance components: Eagle 5.6-inch H-Beam rods, Engle FK-8 camshaft, CB Street Eliminator 42x37.5 heads, Turbonetics TO4 60-1 turbo, Demon 750cfm carb and MSD Digital-6 ignition control with Bosch 009 distributor. Ray's pink KG recorded 284hp and 309 ft-lbs. of torque with 28lbs. of boost.

Another turbocharged contender was the blue '62 Ragtop of famous racer Muffler Mike Shelden. He recently built a 2332cc (84x94) based around a new Autolinea aluminum Type I case (Scat 5.7-inch H-Beam rods, Engle 125 camshaft, Bugpack Superflo-2 44x37 heads, Garrett TO4 turbo, Holley 650cfm carb, MSD7AL ignition system with Bosch 009 distributor). Mike was quite pleased with his results: 283hp and 265 ft-lbs. of torque with only 18lbs. of boost. Then came one of the most impressive vehicles of the day: Scott Fetherolf's blue '56 Oval, featured in detail in this issue. This weekend driver sees regular street use... and runs 10.77 in the quarter mile! By turning the boost to 26lbs., the chopped missile reached 336hp at 5200rpm and a mind-blowing 392 ft-lbs. of torque at 3900rpm, the highest figures of the day. "No wonder I have traction issues on the line" said Scott, adding with a smile "I was thinking about putting the Chevy Tahoe on the trailer and towing it with the Bug to the next event." Way to go Scott and congratulations on your Highest Horsepower and Highest Torque trophies in the turbo category!

We then witnessed a bracket car built with budget and reliability in mind: The orange '65 Sedan of Ron Rice using a naturally-aspirated 1915cc (69x94, Rimco VW Super Rods, Engle FK-87 camshaft, CB Street Eliminator 42x37 heads, 7.1:1 CR, Weber 44IDFs, Bosch 009 distributor, Berg 1-5/8-inch header). Nothing high tech as you can see, but it still managed to make 110 horsepower (no torque reading available).

AJ Sims followed Ron on the dyno, and many spectators wondered how the primered '68 Bug fitted with single-throat Kadrons would perform... This race-only Bug runs 11s and relies on a 2276cc motor (82x94, Scat H-Beam rods, Engle FK-87 camshaft, CB 044 44x37 heads by AJ Sims, 11.0:1 CR, Kadrons bored to 48mm, Mallory distributor, Berg 1-5/8-inch header). The team of Magnaflow squeezed 155hp and 144 ft-lbs. of torque from this great combo.

The next vehicle on the agenda was Michael Meyer's Super Gas '65 Sedan, sponsored by VW Trends. Michael, who writes our drag racing column every month, drove from Northern California specifically for the event. He himself assembled the 2175cc engine, which reads like this: 78.4x94, CB Performance 5.5in. H-Beam rods, Engle FK-89 camshaft, Bugpack Superflo-1 48x37 heads, 13.0:1 CR, Weber 48IDAs, MSD6AL ignition system, and 1-5/8-inch header. It reached the marks of 185hp and 156 ft-lbs. of torque during the second dyno pull, after some jet changes.