Pre-A Speedster with 1600cc engine

[Pascal Giai]

I met a gentleman at the Concours on the Avenue in Carmel on Tuesday showing a 55 Pre-A Speedster.
His car was freshly restored and it was his first Concours.
This car is one of the Pre-A Speedster fitted with a 1600cc engine.
Engine number P-60186 Very early type 616/1
Could you help me find all the little mistakes on this engine ???
Should the coil be vertical ?
Should the distributor be VE 4 BRS 383 or VJ 4 BR9 ?
Should the dip-stick be short like a VW or long ?
Anything else ?
The factory documentation I have is a little bit confusing, pictures are showing different types of engine...
Thank you !

Pascal Giai

[Vic Skirmants]

My favorite complaint: painted oil inlet fitting on oil filter can. Not to mention incorrect placement of decal on the can. And the painted lid bolt.

[John Clarke]

'Authenticity Corner'
Good eye for detail Vic. Coil OK?
Cheers Jay

[James Davies]

Period photos always help. There some nice ones in Don Zingg's section of the Speedster Typ 540 book on page 106.

I don't know how long Porsche used the 383 distributor on the early 1600s, but they were definitely on the first engines. And the angled coil went with the 383 distributor. Vertical coil was used with the BR9 distributor.

The early 1600 engines did use the fuel pump with the built-in filter on top.

Maybe Don can fill us in on manifolds. Those Knecht mesh filters are the early pre-A ones too, and those are also correct for the earliest 1600 motors.

Agree with Vic that the oil filter canister is a disaster. Bracket and lid should be black.

The generator pulley should be cad plated too.

[Rainer Cooney]

Giving the chassis # of the car would help. Taken from the top : Valve adjustment decal wrong, oil filter top and bracket as stated should be black as should the bolt holding the top down & decal is 90 degrees out, coil is positioned 180 degrees out ( positive should be to the left ), toothed fan belt, yellow plated distributor bracket, 14mm nuts on the 3rd piece. As for the carb pre heat in general Pre A Speedsters didn't have that, even so the black Phillips screws holding it down are wrong.

[Chad Comeau]

My original 1600 Super Pre A Engine still has the 383 Distributor. From my research the 1600 Pre A Speedster Engines should have a vertical distributor. Carb heaters are correct for the 1600 Pre A Speedsters, the 1500 Pre A Speedsters do not have them. Vin# in the picture would also help!

Chad

1600 Pre A Speedster Engine Minus the 383

[Vic Skirmants]

We know you meant vertical coil, not distributor.

[John Hearn]

My personal hate..... toothed fan belt.
KTF
John

[Donald Zingg]

Car in Pascal's photo might be Speedster 81063, and the unrestored car in the second photo is Speedster 81134. The first car was built late October 1955 - - the second car was produced late November 1955.

Cast aluminum intake manifolds are correct for the 1600N engine in 81063. A cost-cutting detail for the then new 616/1 and /2 engines, the cast intake manifold allowed a single cover plate design (over the spark plugs) to fit both the Normal and Super engine.

But an example of how it took time for changes to occur back then the 1600S engine in 81134 has the older steel intake manifolds. Chad, does your engine still have its original intake manifolds? Cast aluminum or steel??
Also, in the second photo that is a 383 distributor. The "modern" low profile distributor cap is a Volkswagen part for the early 1960's notchback pancake engine. The cap just happens to fit the ancient 383 distributor.

This topic begs the nagging question - - -
When, oh when will Stoddard NLA re-issue their Fram lid decal that corresponds with the large Fram decal on the side of the canister? The available "F988" lid decal is perfect for an SC or a 912 engine, but not for OEM Fram filters on pre-A and 356A engines. Think about it - - - the top of the oil filter is one of the first details you see when looking in the engine compartment.

[Mark Cohn]

You guys are amazing! Keep it up!

[James Davies]

Chad, there are factory Werk II photos of the earliest 1600 motors with 383 distributors, fuel pumps with built-in filters, and coils mounted at an angle.

Btw, there was a non-flat top for the 383 distributor. It was used when cars needed FM radio reception. It was part of a kit that reduced noise in the electrical system.