After this site came back on-line last week, I needed my Fix of 914 info here and came across the archived "Ralph Meaney" chat thread.
I had taken my car to Ralph's shop in Framingham Mass. for service many years ago and after he left this area, his Engine Builder stayed here and opened a shop not far from Ralph's old shop.
This man, Don F. ended up becoming a good friend to me and many of the Crazy Porsche Obsessed Kids in Massachusetts back in the mid 1970s. I knew Don had a Reputation as a Master Engine Builder, but really never really knew to what Extent.
He is a quiet man and was way too modest to really let on.
He took many of us kids in and let us hang out at his shop and he allowed us to work on our cars and he built engines for us that we would have never been able to afford otherwise.
My wife and I spent many hours in that shop and really Grew Up there, not realizing how lucky and privileged we were to be in the care of someone such as Don.

What I found interesting in the content of the archived "chat" here is where Ralph was asked about the engines he ran in his 914-6's and he said 2 liter Twin Plug engines running crazy RPM's

I was visiting Don's old shop last week, where his Partner continued working after Don retired and was amazed to see and hear of a bunch of early cars coming in for service or freshening up that had 2.4, 2.7 or 3 liter Twin Plug engines in them that Don had built more than 25 years ago and they still sounded and ran well.

Guess we don't always realize how good we have it ????

Here is a picture of a Prototype twin distributor set up I had made back then because the 12 cylinder distributors were so expensive, Don was sure we could come up with a more reasonably priced way to do it. We all wanted twin plug engines and tried all sorts of ways to make it we could afford them...

Click to view attachment

That's real fabrication ....

Wow!

Now that would be cool!

Since I'm dwelling on the past a little here.

Around 1976 ? I bought a 1965 911 engine and decided to put in my 6 for a little extra HP and to save my original engine from me.. I put the engine in at Dons and a few weeks later brought it in for an exhaust leak. I asked him if I could bring the car inside and he asked what was wrong with it. I said Exhaust leak and he asked to hear it. as he walked away a minute later, he said Head Gasket. Hmm.. I said no, exhaust leak. he laughed and said OK.
Later that day, he showed me a zerox of an article in some magazine. He handed it to me and told me to read it. It was a "How to" build a 2.5 liter from a 2 liter case and 2.7 pistons. He said he wanted to build one of those to see how it went. I said yeah, sounds interesting.
A while later, he asked me to go pick up lunch nearby and told me to take his car.
When I got back, he already had the engine out of my car and was taking it apart.
Guess we were building a 2.5.. again, he laughed when I asked what was up..
I think I may have contributed a minimal amount of money.. but he built that engine because he wanted to see what it would be like..
2 liter crank, cut the case and heads and use the original Solex cams with 2.7 mechanical injection pistons and cylinders. That thing loved to rev...

Man, what a perfect learning center, if we were all so blessed. That sounds like the right place at the right time to gain the best kind of hands on training. I was fortunate to have a Dad that worked on VW's and Corvairs that I could spend my teen years as the gofor assistant. I never will forget the time dad came home and found I had dropped the engine out of my 67'S to do a clutch job. He asked if I needed help. I beamed from ear to ear and said I think I can handle it. He just gave me his quirky grin and went on inside the house. I could tell he was pleased I had leaned well.

So what was in the box between the two distributors?

wow that's cool,I was hanging around some good old hot rod dudes in L.A. Back around 1972.they really help in putting the love for cars in me.
After high school I even work for one of the guys in E.L.A muffler shop.
I got a 1947 chop top pick up from them
Yeah good old days.

Gears. I doubt if a belt with pulleys would fit.

The distributors were joined by a cogged belt and pulleys.

I had put that thing away years ago.. Imagine my surprise when I saw the twin distributors on a 3.6

You sound like a man I would like to sit and have coffee with.
I know few of the 80's guys around here and grew up with a similar shop nearby...

Rich

If my dad had been a farmer I would still have the 38 and 39 and 46 chev's I started with. I do have the bug I started with. Farmers can park everything they quit using and save it. I made my first dual point distributor with two coils in 62 for my 270 chev 6.