I finally got the engine into the stand and fired it up for the first time this morning. So far runs good. Next I'll remove the tins and blower and send them out for powder coating; then the engine is ready to go back in. This has been a long project and will be happy to see the car back on the road. Engine is a 2056 with a Weber 38 DGAS Synchronus Carburetor and a mild cam. Waiting on a triad exhaust.
Click to view attachment Click to view attachmentClick to view attachment

Your car looks awesome! If you don't have wheel caps for your Fuchs, 914rubber has them at a great price and quality.

Are you running that Pinto carb or just using it to start the engine? It's MHO that thing will choke the HP right out of your 2056.

That manifold creates too much tau. Tau is the fuel that drops out of suspension in the air. It sticks to the intake runners and drips into the cylinders. Not very efficient especially when cold.

I would agree if this was a 32/36 progressive (used on some later Pinto Engines). However I have run this 38 DGAS on my LeMons car for the past 5 races and it runs very strong. I do plan to upgrade this car to throttle body fuel injection in a few months but my experience with the 38 DGAS is that it is a great carburetor. I've not experienced the Tau you talk about. The engine on my LeMons car, which is also a 2056 with a cam runs like a striped ass ape with it's ass on fire. I do plan to dyno the car in a few weeks so there will be a base line to draw from. For value and reliability I would recommend this setup. The one thing I would consider changing; is making the runners the same size as the manifold outlets.

You can't compare the performance of the lemons engine with a street engine.. The long runners and center mounted carb will alway suffer on the street more than at WOT on the track. Part throttle performance is where this induction system is least effective.

The biggest key for making this work is getting heat to the intake, that helps keep the fuel from falling from suspension and entering the chamber as droplets... The deficiency isn't so much the carburetor, but more where it is mounted.

As one who's also been involved w/type1 VW for some time, JR "gets" long manifold single carb issues. With injected heat via exhaust, that may be the most efficient (but not powerful) carbureted set-up. Otherwise there's no way around the condensation or "icing" issue for "street" driving.

Having said that, I've seen a few rails with similar set-up, so there must be value in it. I hope that Lotus joe gives a report after a running the engine this way for a few weeks.

I repeat that's a nice looking car (and what about the garage toys? Goodness, some people have all the neat stuff!)

Triad Exhaust arrived today. Love the sound. Turns out it is quieter than the video.

Click to view attachment

seriously dude. who has a forklift?!

The forklift makes easy work of putting the engine in the car. Throw the car on the lift and put the engine on the folks and raise into the car. But the real reason we have a forklift is there is a lot of overhead storage along the perimeter of the shop.