Does anyone know if Rod Simpson is still with us?

I do not believe that Rod is around. I have tried to look him up and he is nowhere to be found. He lived and ran his biz from a cool set up behind his house in the West Side. Visited him the first time back in 1979 when he got me fixed up with the 283 conversation I bought from one of the guitar players in Earth Wind and Fire. The car I got from Johnny or Earth of Earth Wind and Fire.
The last time was around 10 years ago and well I cannot find him.

We had many long conversations, Rod had a history with local racing and wrecked one of his cars many years ago and was never 100% after, but was happy to be alive. Nice guy


Bob B

Thank you, Bob.

I would like to have met him - I heard he was a character and had numerous stories about being a beat cop in Pacific Palisades in the 60's.

I just read your inquiry regarding Rod Simpson. Although I don't have any info. regarding him or his life other than (pretty certain) he was the first to swap a Chevy v8 into a 914. I do have a copy of some of his info dating back to 1988. Its probably way out of date technically, but if u r interested i could make a copy & send it to u?

Thanks - perhaps you could post it here.

Rod believed that the soft water hoses should use different sizes as, his thinking was hotter water did not need as big of diameter so one side return was different than the other.
I do not think this could make a difference.

The early thinking on V8 conversations was a very long time ago. I was in my mid 20s and now I am almost 70. Newer better technology has come along on a number of things.

Bob B

While there are many purists that understandably prefer to keep a Porsche powered by a Porsche engine, the history of American "Hot-rodding" as referred to by the American press nearly a century ago was founded to a great degree by young WWII veterans of the "Greatest Generation" who did whatever they could afford to do in order to create and enjoy one of the great automotive traditions that the world enjoys today . . .they swapped flathead Ford V8's into any ol' jalopy they could get on a budget, and swapped Chevrolet V8's - especially the ubiquitous SBC "engine of the century" into everything as they were reliable enough and cheaper to build than some others. They crammed elephantine Mopar Hemi's into Willys coupes and famously crammed American V8's into tiny British sports cars.

Rod Simpson - like Carrol Shelby - may have been considered a "heretic" by those who would deny his "common sense" response to economics of the moment, but perhaps the time has come for his contributions to be elevated to a more appropriate level on the "Shelby-Scale", if you will.

Perhaps such recognition began some time ago (please send links if you find them), but my meager search through the filtered archives of modern media outlets leaves much to be desired . . .even crowd-sourced "archives" appear to make no mention of the man who might be referred to as the "Carrol Shelby" of Porsches.

Perhaps 914World members who have owned and enjoyed Porsche's with oem and non-oem engines can redress this apparent gap in the history of American "Hot-rodding" (which has been officially previously recognized by major Concours and museums worldwide).

I humbly invite -nay implore - you connoisseurs, friends and clients of Mr. Simpson to elucidate the students of automotive and world history by sharing and commenting here - or preferably in a thread dedicated to the Rod Simpson - the "Porsche-V8 Pioneer."



[Full disclosure: I currently own both a very original 914-4 project and a 914-V8 conversion project. While neither is officially a "driver" yet, I can see the V8 torque will make a great street car, although an all aluminum LS engine with a Cayman/Boxster transaxle would be closer in weight to the OEM 4 cylinder and therefore would be preferred. There is no doubt I may also prefer the character, balance and sound of an air-cooled flat 6, yet I would happily drive a 914 with any flat-6 - Porsche, or otherwise.]

I have an RSH (Rod Simpson Hybrids) water pump on my '86 Germn8r Double cab, 350"sbc with a Kennedy adapter plate/ G50 5 speed. His h2o pumps were based on a v8 440" Mopar impeller mated into his own cast aluminum housing. I picked up my order at his WLA house, real humble guy. He wanted to take my 4wd Syncro DoKa (stock) around the block for a test drive so I threw him the keys !

The few people I have talked to who have met Rod said the same thing about him.

Yes, a great guy. Did a feature on his conversions for 911 & Porsche World magazine several years ago. Went out in his personal SBC-powered 914 and have to say I enjoyed the experience and seriously thought about building one. Never did, of course!

I thought his personal car was sold a couple years ago.

^ Love this, and curious to see what this thread might uncover.

Covered American V8 conversions in Excellence way back when, and have always been a big fan of hot-rodding—whether American or German (or anywhere else).

Yes-the original 912-V8, I believe.

Also The 914 V-8 he built for his wife appears to have been sold in 2015 - possibly to Mike Malamut who has a museum in Thousand Oaks California. Oddly it appears to have been relisted by the same 2015 seller (“Wob”) a few years later and bid up to only 16K.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1974-porsche-914-v8/

I feel if one would have an iron block SBC then the high winding Chevrolet Z28 Camaro 302 c.i. DZ block would be ideal-obviously Rod thought so at least in this case.

@mm1 this auction from BAT is great for you to look at the photos and see what you can replicate etc... your car rides / sits just like his wifes. Pretty cool to see how consistent the setup was, but the front radiator on your car is different. Maybe you can learn something here about how it was done at his best.

i had the pleasure of meeting the man in his garage many years ago and have the complete kit to install.

at this point, perhaps my retirement project?

Some more trivia here regarding water pumps and Rod Simpson custom water pump housings @Maltese Falcon:

Recently I have been in the process of updating the cooling system on my Simpson 914-V8 conversion. I believe this may be a very early version (perhaps even one of the prototypes since it was converted from a side shifter to a tail shifter) and so the water pump housing may be very early as well . . .since a (modern) Mopar big block water pump doesn't fit.

While the pump currently in the car is good, I just thought that while I have the entire system apart I should investigate replacing the pump as preventive maintenance.

Frankly that journey was no fun - neither a Tuff-Stuff water pump from Summit, nor Summit's own brand fit. The shafts on both were too long - they struck the custom housing by a significant amount. The only way to make them work would require more machining, pressing and test fitting than I had time for.

Has anyone ever (successfully and easily) installed a current Mopar big block water pump into a Rod Simpson custom water pump housing?

Love that radiator! Fits perfectly. Wonder what the story is on it. Custom made?

Note on Rod's wife's car there's no cutout for the distributor - only a slight dent . . .wonder if that's possible with an HEI distributor?

Click to view attachment

as far as i know, it was custom made for rod's kits, a double pass design. one of these is part of my kit.