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Shasta Design
Shasta Design Engineering Company was founded in 1980 by Mr. Duane Spencer to work on turbocharger improvements for Rajay Corporation for light aircraft. That work lead to wind turbines and other devices. Duane earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Northrop University in Inglewood, CA in 1965. He worked in the aerospace industry until 1997 when he retired after almost 27 years with TRW Space and Defense in Redondo Beach, CA.
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Duane decided to enter into vintage sports car racing, so in 1985 he bought and restored a 1961 Porsche S-90 Roadster, and raced it from 1985 to 1989 until it became too valuable to be on the track. In 1990, he purchased a 1967 912 coupe, and and raced it very successfully until 1996. He experienced several piston failures in 1985 in the Roadster with the race pistons available at that time, so he began to investigate other possibilities.
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Since he worked for TRW, and TRW made pistons, Duane started there. He made contact with Clancy Hogan, who knows more about pistons that anybody else in the world! Clancy steered Duane to JE Pistons in Huntington Beach, CA, and the rest is history.
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The first design was for a 86 mm X 11.5 compression ratio race piston, which turned out to be indestructible. Duane then turned his attention to a piston set for the street at 86 mm bore by 9.25 compression ratio. These are forged pistons, which are much stronger and lighter than possible with a cast piston such as the stock Porsche piston. We now make our own cylinders out of a material called DURABAR, which is an extruded cast iron under very high pressure. The extrusion process makes the billet material very dense and stable, so we do not have to worry about boring into an air pocket as you might find in a casting. The cylinders are completely CNC machined and only the final honing is still done by hand.
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Over the years, we have continued to fill in the needs of the four cylinder pushrod customers, and now offer products for the pre-"A", 2 piece case engines with 80 mm bore with 8.50 compression, to our latest "big bore" 90 mm bore by 10.50 compression ratio piston and cylinder sets. The 90 mm pistons bring the displacement to 1880 c.c. or 114.72 cubic inches. It feels like a Carrera 2!
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We also offer SCAT crankshafts and flywheel nuts, aluminum power pulleys in two different sizes, full flow oil filter systems, with or without the pressure relief piston.
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Duane Spencer wrote and published two books on the 356 Porsches, both of which are now out of print. He also wrote a book on the 912 cars, which is still available at $24.95 if purchased from Shasta Design Engineering Company. The author will be happy to sign it. No charge!
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We will continue to provide the finest quality parts for the 356/912 cars, and without compromise. We build engines with the parts we sell, so we know they work as they should.
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