OT: Engine for "The Mighty Spyder", Mad Scientist up to it again! Options

[Jake Raby]

I thought that you guys would appreciate this vehicle/engine project that I have the privelage to be part of at the present... Since the base for the car was a 73/914 I thought it would be even more interesting.
To say the least I am excited about this one!!!

Copied from my forum...

I have been working on this one for a few months now and just wanted to share a bit about it as I near assembly time.

Not many of us have cars that weigh in at 1200 pounds equipped with a coach built aluminum body, but a certain one of my very special customers from the UK does!

We'll refer to him as "The Mighty Spyder" and thats exactly what he is! He is having an ultimate vehicle built, so of course he needed the ultimate engine for it. Its a "replica" of a 550 Spyder, but man is it way better than the original. The original Spyder was also 1200 pounds of Aluminum bodied fury, and was coupled to the famed Fuhrmann 4 cam Carrera engine with twin plug ignition and an 8K RPM powerband right off the showroom floor, back in 1955.

So.... fast forward 50 years to the age of the MassIVe TIV, exotic components, modern processes and Fuel Injection....

When the customer originally contacted me he wanted a rather normal engine, but the more I learned about the car the more I wanted him to have an absolute one of a kind "Jake" engine... You see the owner is the kind of guy that will end up cruising this coachbuilt creation to Lemans, and Monaco on normal occasion. As soon as I saw this car and its detail work and craftmanship my mind started working.......... A few weeks later the customer schedules a visit to my shop so he could drop off his core parts- he brought them across the Atlantic in a suitcase and hand delivered them to me! He was a delightful chap that was very interested in what makes me and this shop tick.....

So as soon as he left I called Len and said "What if?" and he said "Yeah, that would be interesting" and then I made a call to the customer and proposed a change of plans! This change of plans would give him the ultimate "Super Hero" for his lightweight car and would mimic the powerband of that famed 4 cam Carrera engine, but in a much more modern and different way... He said "You are the expert and I'm game"... After a brief argument about how I hate experts he gave me the go ahead to do the "deed" and I went wide open.....

So what is this engine??? Here are some non proprietary specs...

Crank-69mm stroke crank with 2" Chevy journals... Lightened to 18 pounds!

Flywheel/pressure plate Since the car uses the 901 5 Speed we used 914 parts.. The flywheel will be 7 pounds and the pressure plate is the aluminum 911 "S" unit!

Conn rods-5.400 Crower Titanium rods with 20mm wrist pins

Pistons- 105.07mm JE Forged exacting the units in my 3.0, except lighter with 20mm wrist pins. Of course it has a set of Nickies!

Cam and lifters Billet RAT Roller cam and lifters with ceramic feet.

Cylinder heads Based on 2.0 914 cores.... All further information proprietary unless Len wants to share it.....

Induction RAT EFI arrangement with Direct fire ignition incorporated and possibly firing twin spark plugs! I plan on testing several different T/B sizes during the dyno work as well as different intake runner and velocity stack lengths.

The engine will receive RAT Superfinishing, full cryo, full coatings including DLC coated valvetrain components.

The engine will be outfitted with Silver Carbon fiber DTM(Aluminized fiberglass) to complete the "All Aluminum look" and will be topped off with every bell and whistle I can create.

The weight of this car and the transaxle choice has allowed me to build an engine that I have always wanted to work with on a scale like this. I have put many hours into the design of this combination and so far it appears that 250 HP @ 8,500 RPM is not too far from capable.

We are adding the pictures of the car/engine to the site later this week and I will keep you each informed of the status and results as I progress. I will start assembly as soon as I finish the current Run Offs FP engine I'm building and the Super 2 Liter R&D engine. I should be finished by late October at latest with the assembly of the engine and will dedicate a ton of dyno time to it.

I love to be a part of a very special project and this has to be one of the best yet- I am giving it 110% and can't wait to see the results!

Basically the goal is a free revving, smooth powerhouse that has the powerband of the 547 4 Cam but created with a totally different set of rules. Everything is lightened as much as possible and thats guaranteed to create insane throttle response, especially with the healty dose of CR this baby will be getting!

Since the car will be seeing Road Course time at both Leman and Monaco it will not be a drag racer, but it will be something capable of lighting up the tires from the exit of one turn to the entrance of the next with no problem at all..... Kind of the way that many racers explained the insane power of the Porsche 917/30 back in the day!

I'll write the customer an email and see if he's willing to drop in and hang out with us.... You can see some pics of the car at www.spyderclub.com just do a search for "Mightyspyder"

BTW- Yes this will be a daily driver, won't require extra maintenance and will be reliable- it's a TIV!