Just curious, any guesses as to the 0-60 of a VS 1915 as is

from Kirk with dual 40s? I'm struggling with if I order that motor will it be peppy enough. My parent live in Reno and that would be a popular drive. Will it pull over 80 (6,000ft) and maintain freeway speed without overheating? I don't want the fastest car in town, and would love to not get speeding tickets, but I want to smile as I hit a steep mountain road.

It might be wise to see if Kirk can Ask Pat Downs to design and build your engine with a call to Pat. and then a call from you.. to nail it down.

If anyone can,, Pat can. It would get most of the guess work out of your way. Don't forget to tel him your transmission ratio's you will need that to help him pic a good crank stroke and cam

Don't be surprized if he talks lower compression and mild turbocharging. to help improve power and mileage.. and durability.

No it's not cheap. But the smart thing to do.

Ummmmm. I don't think Kirk and Pat have a great working relationship.

Steve: alternate builder choice would be Roland Rascon in Huntington Beach. Go to "Shops" tab above right; he's listed there. Others will chime in...wait a bit

I hear awesome things about CB and Chico but don't want a 3 month build or more than one throat to choke if there are complications.

Steve your 0-60 in a staple VS 1915 might be 9 to 10 seconds(my estimate) that engine puts out about 85hp to the crank and 52-55hp to the wheels. Not huge performance but that engine is probably one of the most reliable as VS makes a ton of them, and they are low maintenance engines. I drove mine everywhere and Jack Crosby did too. Roland built my 2275cc and the performance difference is staggering. But the down side was carbs that had to be adjusted more often and poor gas milage with a small tank. Send me a pm for more info.

Just to be clear, not all engines of any given size are created equal. My CB 1915 is quick and reasonably economical (28MPG returning from Carlisle), but the Webers require occasional attention. Vintage uses a 1915 in a lower state of tune, but that should be relatively maintenance free. You can get pretty much anything you want, depending on your wallet.

Steve--i second what Marty said. His car had the same 1915 that my VS had. Unlike Marty though my Kadron carbs were flawless and never needed adjustment in the 12,000 miles I put on it.
I got up to 29.5 MPG when Idrove it sanely, which wasn't often.

You won't regret going for the 1915 plus the bigger you make a Type I
engine the less reliability you will have generally speaking.

Roland's service and quality is second to none. Have you spoken with him?

Steve, that commute to Reno is a tough one, depending on which pass you take
If you're going via Hwy 50, it's a bit easier on the engine. The speeds are lower so your car will stay a bit cooler. I80, on the other hand, is a tough ride over the summit and the road is always chewed up from the big rigs. It's a ball-buster for your engine, especially in the middle of summer. The oil temps can easily reach 240. I always take the back route- Hwy 49 to 20 and then up historic 40. Beautiful drive and worth the extra hour or so.
If you're a cruising kinda guy (no lifestyle pun intended) you'll be happy with the 1915. But you'll still have some moments on your trips to Reno. I have a 2110 and I'm very happy with the power and performance, but there's a lot of tweaking involved. It's fun if you know how or you have a buddy who can do it for you.
I'm surprised Jack didn't mention a type IV. That would be the best engine for the Reno trips.

Terry--Steve sorta sounded like it was pretty much decided that he was going Type I.

Of course the type IV is a brute and scoots up mountains like they weren't there. On our 2,600 mile trip to Carlisle and back home to Hot Springs through D.C, Richmond and Charlotte, we went over the Smokies outside Asheville effortlessly.

I swapped my 1915 for a 2,143cc Raby Tyope IV and went from a top speed of 95+/- to 142 (on a dyno) with torque of 132 from 3,100 RPMs all the way to 7,000. We averaged 25 MPG for the whole trip with best MPG of 27.6 near Christiansburg, VA in the mountains.

The Type IV isn't for everyone but it works well for me.

Russ's 911 (250 hp) couldn't catch Cory in his Type IV powered Hoopty going up I 81 on the way to Carlisle. No doubt Hoopty's light weight of 1,200 # helped some too.

I'm not really set on anything yet. Can you get all new type IV parts for a build-up, and it is in the same ballpark price-wise. Sorry, I have to run so I'll search again later.

Steve---damned right you can get Type IV parts and they will be mostly real German ones too--not the Chinese stuff.

Do some research---Google Porsche type IV engines or just Type IV engines. Check out www.aircooled technology for info, parts and engine kits.

Also check out www.tunacan.net/t4/ for some good Type IV info.

I know that Type IV isn't the only game in town but it filled the bill perfectly for me and my driving style.

To answer your question about cost--the price of admission is usually higher unless you build an engine kit which is an economical way to go. I believe Howard's 911 six cylinder was a lot of $$ but I could have had a Suby engine for what I chose.