Performance Pedigree

The reason our name isn't associated with the Type 1 engine is largely due to the fact that late in the 1990s we ventured away from the Type 1 engine to develop more parts components and recipes for the VW Type 4 engine. The Type 1 engine was becoming littered with horrible parts, companies that didn't give a damn about the parts they sold and more fly by night money hogs were cutting prices left and right on parts and even complete engines. We wanted no part of this so we decided to put our efforts into the more undiscovered territory of the Type 4 engine. The Type 4 still had USA made or German made parts of very high quality and the foundation offered a serious advantage to those who wanted to drive their 175HP aircooled VW everyday.

In 2002, fed up after receiving yet another round of crappy parts, I officially left the Type 1 world, pulled down the Type 1 pages from my site and looked to the Type 4 and Porsche 356 engines as a sole development.

In late 2006, only moments after making a negative posting about a component failure on an online forum I received an email from the Vice President of Bug Pack Products, Rick Sadler. Rick wasn't upset with my honest observation, he simply wanted to know what the problem was and how to make it better. WOW! Could this be real??? This wasn't typical behavior! Could someone within the Type 1 mass market actually REALLY care about how to make their product better?? I didn't believe it.

It actually took several months of working with Rick and his team to see that his intent was genuine.

In many conversations with Rick he and I talked about the future of the VW industry and the challenges that today's VW Enthusiast faces and how all the junk parts with little to no quality control were killing the car that we love.

Fast forward a few months and Rick started sending me some parts for observation and testing, this was important to them since they don't build engines and have little contact with the end users of the parts. As we found issues I'd write observations and Rick would check the parts he had on the shelf and report back saying "Yeah, we found 3 more of those"... These things ranged from pushrod tubes with small holes in them to Carburetors with internal circuitry issues or even flywheels missing threads for the pressure plate bolts. Rick and BugPack proved their genuine intent by listening to our observations, and taking action to remedy the issues. Without the abilities of Raby Development and Tuning Labs these items would still be looming, waiting to strike the innocent VW owner using them.

When one reads of the successes of our engine program the VW Type 1 engine isn't the typical venue we are recognized for. A little known fact about my experience is that I have built more Type 1 engines than Type 4 engines! To date we have had more Type 1 engines featured in major publications than Type 4 engines.

The thing that most people dont know is all the while I continued to hand pick a few Type 1 engines that came my way from those who appreciated quality parts and the labor it takes to create a solid Type 1 engine. I didn't advertise these services, but behind the scenes we were getting the job done, satisfying the desires of dozens of Type 1 engine owners and keeping up with the goings on within the Type 1 engine world.

The following is testimonial from Roger Jones, Pilot of the "Peanut Special", a 1500cc, gasoline altered Type 1 engine...

"When a VW or Porsche enthusiast wants a powerful and reliable Type IV based engine naturally Raby's Aircooled Technology is at the top of the list. So where does a Type I guy like me go for more HP and speed. Jake Raby certainly wouldn't be interested...or would he?

We met at a VW show a few years back and I don't think he took me serious until we talked it over later that year by phone. I was really surprised when he agreed to tune our little 1493cc Type I engine before our next East Coast Timing Association Land Speed Race in Maxton, NC. One day of tuning on his dyno produced around 10 extra ponies which upped our HP to around 150. We couldn't wait to get to the track.

In the previous two years we had set 3 records in H/Gas Altered ranging from 121 to 124 mph. After the tune up on steroids we ran over 125, another record and our fastest time yet.

Over the following winter Jake completely reconfigured everything but the pistons and this time gained 7 more HP but more important, upped the peak power by 500 rpm to 7000.

In the spring of 2007 we went back to NC and we not only set a new class record we destroyed the old one by running 132.5 mph and we were only 1 mph off the national record for an all motor 1500cc aircooled VW, how cool is that?

Over the summer of '07 Jake worked his magic again and found 30 more HP and 1000 more rpm. That put us right at 190 HP and he didn't even split the case, unbelievable.

One more trip to Maxton in 2007 and this time the weather threw us an unhittable curveball. Fighting a 10 mph headwind and temps fluctuating from the 50's to the 80's the perfect tune alluded us all weekend but the Peanut Special still managed to run over 130.

We are really excited about 2008. Being this close to a national record makes me smile just thinking about it. With the help of Jake and the guys at RAT that goal will become reality. Not only does RAT build the best Type IV engines on the planet, the fact is his Type I program turns out some of the fastest and most reliable power in the country, I'm proof!

RAT... POWERFUL STUFF, PERIOD!"

Roger Jones, owner "The Peanut Special"

VIEW MORE PICTURES OF THE PEANUT SPECIAL HERE