Royale air cooled FSV question

[belair]

I recently passed my 83' Reynard CFC to new hands, and now have a 75' Royale RP18/19 SV to restore for next season. Would any of you have suspension set up info for this car, or possibly some old specs for cam timing, lift duration, valve lash settings.....ect. for the type 4 vw engine in race trim?

Thank you!

Belair

[Rick Kirchner]

Last time I checked, there are only a half-dozen or so RP9, 14, and 18's still in existance. Mine's on the shelf with a broken tub. Charlie Schmidt out in Lincoln Nebraska still runs his once in a while. The Royale registry is maintained by the Vintage Garage:

http://www.vintagegarage.com/rregs.html

The Shoptalk forums can also be helpful, along with Pelican Parts:

http://shoptalkforums.com/

Start with typical club ford alignment and pay attention to bump steer because the top arms are waaaay short. My car (a -14) was positively evil on american racer tires using the 6" rims all around. If it has armstrong shocks you can bet they're junk. The car is lighter in the back than a FF but the type 4's torque will squat it harder.

Unless you have the dry-sumped Solex 40P-11 carbs, run Weber 40 IDFs. A catalog from CB performance and FAT will have most of the motor stuff you need. If you do have dry sumped carbs, pay particular attention to the care of the return pumps, because if they fail you are on the way to a nice little fire.

Make sure your engine has the little sheet metal pieces between and under the cylinders, otherwise all the cooling air goes strait down and #3 will fry.

Jim Justice at Quicksilver told me he had a lot of engine info. If you have wings, you can run a 2L, otherwise, it's a 1.7. the original high-compression 1.6 type 4 pistons and cylinders are extremely rare. Stock rods are very fragile on the big end. the 1.8 heads have the big valves and are legal. The cams were free, so anything you find out there will be specific to a particular grind.

Per SCCA rules, you had to use a stock 1700 piston, and to get compression you have to flycut the daylights out of the head, which makes it hard to get the heat out and the spark plug hole cracks. For vintage, have a piston company copy the 1600 SV piston in the appropriate diameter, forget the flycutting, and your motor and wallet will thank you for many seasons.

Oh - and the valve seats have a nasty habit of dropping out if you overheat the head.

Send me your E-mail and I'll send you my collection of Supervee related bookmarks.

[DanW]

Jim Griffin in South San Francisco has an RP-14 for sale along with 30 years of brit car parts. He may have some setup data available.

His email is jagtrmg (at) sbcglobal.net

Ad for Royale:

http://www.craigslist.org/pen/car/107674709.html

[belair]

Thank you for the help!

[speednot]

I just bought a Royal RP19 this spring. It came with a load of documentation and a neat note book someone kept on the car during its run in the Gold Cup Series. The replies you have received are correct so no need in me restating them. There are good sources and vendors that can provide you with whatever you want. My personal experience with this car is less than spectacular but I am gaining on it. I am looking forward to next year as I hope the reliability factor will be present which it wasn't this year, but thats my fault. The car itself is fun to drive. Good luck with your car and let me know if I can supply any lip service.

[Steve Demeter]

I rsan Air cooled's for well let's juyst say a long time.

My first car was a Royale RP-18A.

Rear Camber straight up.
Front about 1.5 deg neg

Had Armstrong single adjustables and I just kept setting them harder til the wheel patter over the bumps got too bad.

As far as cam timing, etc.

I had Claude's Buggies aka CB Performance master the last grind that Bertil had. They ought to have it still under my name (Steve Demeter). They made billet (not regrinds) for me at a really low cost.

One thing to be careful of is to make sure that the pushrods are the correct length. You want the rocker perpindicular to the valve stem at about half open, to minimize side thrust on the valves and wear the guides out in a hurry with the sort of wild cams that you have to run. Just get a bunch of pushrods and you can shorten them simply by cutting through the aluminium tube the amount you have to shorten it by below the insert seat and then just tap the insert farther into the tube.

Also be careful of exhaust valve clearance. 0.030" is the minimum you want to try to get away with. Check it with soft solder in the plug hole, turn the engine over by hand, making sure that the solder is between the exhaust valve and the piston, take it out and measure the thickness it gets squeezed down to and you have your valve clearance.

Also, nobody ran head gaskets.
Just lap the cylinders into the heads lightly, torque the head bolts to 30 ft lbs.
Steve

[belair]

Thank you for the help!

On the exhaust valve .030" clearance, if I understand you....with the exhaust valve on the seat, and the piston at TDC there should be no less than .030" clearance. So the Exhaust valve is the first object in the way as the rod stretches out at high RPM...say 7.000 ?

Thank you again,

Belair / Cliff Von Hoene

[Steve Demeter]

Cliff,
The minimum clearance will occur before the valve closes, exactly where depends on the cam profile. But the reason is is critical more so on the exhaust is that the piston is chasing the valve as the spring is closing it. The intake is closing as the piston starts up on the compression stroke and never comes near as close as the exhaust does.

Steve

[Purple Frog]

Ah yes, up on that shelf, under the 35 years of dust. That used VW exhaust valve with the cutter welded to it. Memories.

[Steve Demeter]

Cutting some piston reliefs are you Froggie??

[belair]

Steve, thank you.....as the mist clears and a little knowledge becomes a dangerous thing once again! BTW I did contact CB Perf...and after quite a bit of looking they found your cam profile...and I will have one very soon. The price was quite reasonable. Thank you again.

Belair / Cliff

[James Hakewill]

For old-stuff Royale questions, you can also try Alan Cornock in the UK -- he used to run Royale in the glory days. Now he has a business dealing in race cars amongst other things -- with a little gentle encouragement he can be quite helpful!

www.racingcarsforsale.co.uk

Cheers,
James

[belair]

Thank you for the contact.

Belair / Cliff

[TeamFRD]

I'm confused. The picture I have of an RP19, Ron Mallard's, is much different from my 74 RP18. Front suspension and rear side scoops... What do you have?
How much is the cam?

vwww.agsvrc.com Link for Andy Greene and Royale Americas - bought out inventory (I'm told)

The FSV Forum has a UK student wanting to restore/build a bare RP14 chassis. (Rick K)

[Rick Kirchner]

I recall that Mike Kaske's RP-19 had a sports car nose.

I wrote the guy in England. He has the chassis that Cornock tried to sell me as a replacement for my bent tub - I should have done it.....

[belair]

The cam was $99.95, with break in lube, a cam gear and proper button head fasteners.

Shipped in @ 4 days!

[Formcar40]

I am restoring a Royale with a bertils and need a diagram of the plumbing of the dry sump system.

Don

[RussMcB]

I am restoring a Royale with a bertils and need a diagram of the plumbing of the dry sump system.

Don

I'm afraid I do not have his contact info, but Marc Stern could probably help you. He's based near Savannah, GA and restores race cars. He's very familiar with Royale race cars. If you can't find him via Google, maybe someone in the Bucaneer Region SCCA can get his contact info for you. http://www.buccaneerregion.org/contacts.html

[Steve Demeter]

Does it have a bertils pump and the BSP fitting on a plate that bolts onto IIRC the top RH area of the front of the case.

It has been a couple of years, if you send me some pics of the assembled engine with the pump installed, I probably can tell you what lines go where.

Steve

[TeamFRD]

Of course it depends on the pump.
www.agsvrc.com (don't know them)
If you are near Jacksonville, look me up. I have an RP18.
Where did you get yours? What year/model? Was this one Andrew Lude's?

[speednot]

I have a Royale 19 that I have been trying to make a race car. The engine was at one time a Heidigger (sp) but I don't belive much of it was left by the time I got it. I can provide the plumbing for it if you are interested? By the way it is the car I bought from Ron Mallard four years ago. Fred