Merry Christmas!

Yes, we finally got some snow on Christmas eve. 12 inches from 3 pm to 8 pm at the height of the shopping rush. I was out in it and able to get around just fine. V2 handles very will but you must remember I am the "Proud Popa" so my visions and impressions are tending to be on the positive side. Handling is much lighter than my 1800 by a broad margin. Compared to an original 544/444 I would say it is very close. My original Virgil had a 1800ES front end and I didn't move the motor mounts. So the engine was 2 inches forward and I think this made it a little "heavy" for steering. For the 140 front end I am now using, I moved the mounts to the rear and used the rear original transmission mount (and holes) to orient where the motor mounts belonged. So I think I have the weight properly located front to rear. It steers very "light" just like I remember the 544 in original dress. So I'm real happy with the "feel" of the car. My engine is powerful. I built it up last year for the 1800ES and went .030, balanced, ported, hardened crank, Headers, SU HS6, Compression ratio raised to 9.8, Hardened valve seats, new everything else (rod bearings, crank bearings, oil pump) lightened flywheel. So, compared to that same engine in a 1800ES...WOW. 500-600 pounds lighter car is quite a savings and improved power to weight ratio. I now see why all those racers spend so much time and money drilling holes and using carbon fiber whereever they can. I haven't dyno'd this setup but probably will next summer and if I were to guess I would say I probably have 140 horses or more at the flywheel.
Now put snow and ice under the wheels and you get a little "Spin". Not too much but you need to know this when you stomp it and even when you are just driving along. My rear axle is 3.91 and with this I am a little more stable than if the 4.56 were back there ..so I just use one gear higher than in summer and am more gentle on the throttle. At highway speeds that axle ratio combines with the m41 overdrive to give a final drive of right around a 3.12 so the more powerful engine never breathes hard on the highway and I have gone over 90 mph without any issues other than wind resistance. That's a fight I'll never win.
Summary.... I love the way the 140 adds braking power and newer components to my daily driver and I am surprised how light it feels and....it is just as I remember the original 544 handled with kingpins. As for stopping, there's no comparison to drums. I stop real well every time...even from 90 mph. As for recommending this conversion to any other person? Nope. I did it so I could have a "dream car" from my own dreams. I will use this car everyday in New York State ...winter and summer... highway and back roads. I will take it on long drives whenever I want and will want to be able to do these trips 10 years from now (hopefully). I'll be in traffic with cars that will stop faster than I can and that's with the 4 wheel discs. They have ABS and a bunch of other "better" things on their cars. To do what I did in as short a time as I did ... you need to be crazy. I was obsessed and I needed to finish before the snow came and I could not stop the snow to move the deadline. Now that I'm done I am very pleased and if needed ...I would do it again if it was a driver. If another 544/444 followed me home and I wanted to fix it up, I would probably go stock as a looker or show car.... I have my V2. The internet makes it so easy to restore and find parts for these cars it would be the only option. If you have a "friendly" machine shop who builds tube frame race cars and races vintage import cars (Mini Cooper)and doesn't charge when you do the work even when it's on his machines....and will stay open until you are done..even until 11:00pm ...Saturdays and Sundays. And will let you come in on a Tuesday at noon because it's getting cold and winter approaches... If you have one of these machine shops...GO FOR IT.
Wipers and heater. Wipers are ok in light snow and rain... even heavy rain. I took out the vacuum original and replaced with some from a 1957 from Sweden ( My car is more a 1956 but was registered a 1957). I used Virgil's motor (12V) and they work fine with new arms and blades. Defroster will be something I think I will accept as not being too good. As I said in prior posts, the heater flows into a single opening in the dash (not like the 544) and the top of the dash is a plenum with small holes under the glass and little deflectors to direct the warm air to the glass. I have an aftermarket heater under the glove box and closed off all the openings except the one to the defroster and turn it on full and I can keep the glass free of moisture after I have "wiped" it with a cloth to get the heavy water off. It will not melt the outside ice and in slow traffic the snow will build up on the blades...stays on the blades. The flat windshield collects ice and snow where a curved windshield blades follow the contour and will "flex' off some of the buildup. 444 owners....our cars look better with the split windshields (my opinion) but the functionality is not as good. The 544 was an improvement in design.
Picture below was taken today December 26, 2004