Tony's Subaru Conversion Thread Options

[Aaron Cox]

dude. taht looks like serious fun.

that torque curve looks fantastic (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/drooley.gif)

[TonyAKAVW]

Here's a thread about the engine I just mentioned.

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread...ht=dyno+results

[lapuwali]

It's possible the stock intake plenum and throttle body are too restrictive for a high power engine. They're made for 160ish HP, not 200+. If you used IDF-style throttle bodies and EFI, you'd see the same gains, but you'd also retain the advantages of EFI. You'd also have to fab up a linkage (unless someone makes one, or you could adapt a VW Weber linkage, and hassle with synchronizing multiple throttles.

Certainly, at some point, the stock intake will become the limiting factor. 200hp from a 2.5 is quite decent, and I'd be pretty happy with that from a street engine. As you say, you're also eventually going to hit the limits of the Thacher Cooling System™. I'd concentrate on removing weight from the car after the 200hp mark was reached.

[scotty914]

nope the stock fi is good to 220 hp with cobb tuning cams and heads. it just cost 2500 for that

[Aaron Cox]

tony, how long till we see turbo(s) installed?


been for a wild ride in a 500hp turbo scooby sandrail..... (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif)
very cool indeed.


i assume your still laying power to the pavement via a 901?
or do you have plans to beef that up too? (lsd etc)

[TonyAKAVW]

Well, for now I just want to get the thing running. That is definitely a big enough task. Turbos are not out of the question, but I probably will keep it naturally aspirated. Now if someday I run into a pile of money I would definitely be willing to put in an STI engine and crank that up to 500 HP.

The 901 will be used as is, or until something breaks. I'm trying to do this project cheaply (I'm a 914 owner of course) so putting in an LSD or high performance axles, or bigger CVs etc., is way over the budget. I'm basically trying to put in the engine and do as little other modifications as possible. I'm sure that after I've got the car running I'll find things I want to improve, but for now theres nothing extravagant in the plans except maybe for the fender flares.

-Tony

[TonyAKAVW]

Here's the new front fender held in place with vice grips. When I got the fender it was essentially a quarter of a 914. It was a real chore to first cut off 90% of the excess metal and then drill out every single spot weld. Bondo helped out a lot by letting me use his brand new plasma cutter. I think that is perhaps one of the coolest tools around. Just the thought of vaporizing steel with electricity!

You can catch a glimpse of the new rear fender section in the front trunk.

[AndyC]

QUOTE (lapuwali @ May 19 2005, 09:56 PM)

QUOTE (Scott Carlberg @ May 19 2005, 01:32 PM) QUOTE (AndyC @ May 19 2005, 12:58 PM) Another scooby doo conversion, I have a friend who works for a company called Prodrive building Subaru WRC rally cars here in the UK so if you need some very expensive performace parts let me know. He is still trying to convince me to scooby mine, his last argument was 500bhp from a £500 engine  :confused: Prodrive, that's cool! (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/smilie_pokal.gif) Same company that ran the Ferrari 550's & now the Aston Martin's in the ALMS/IMSA series. Believe me, the WRC stuff is WAY cooler... Prodrive doesn't just build ANY Soob WRC cars, they build the FACTORY WRC cars, and have won several World Championships. One of their drivers is running second in points right now. If any parts could be obtained from that place, they'd be the best available. I'd love to know the recipes they used to build engines even 5 years ago. 300hp/500ft lbs 2.0 turbos with wide, smooth powerbands, which could easily make 500hp if you removed the required intake restrictor. You'd be able to break 901s at a dizzying pace. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/wacko.gif)

Sorry for the Hijack
I am going for a look around their workshops when they all get back from Cyprus so I will take some recon photos for you all if they let me. As for parts check out their website www.prodrive.com and see if anything tickles your fancy, I am pretty sure he will arrange a discounted rate (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/drooley.gif)

[Hydra]

Hey tony,
good to see you started working on your conversion.
As for the tranny setup, why don't you use a subaru 5 sp. manual tranny?
pros:
-it's a lot cheaper than a 901 (around 150$ for one in good condition
-it will allow you to have the engine placed about 5 inches more to the back, giving you more space for your radiator setup.
-and most importantly, you won't need the kennedy adapter kit (much less $$$)
cons:
-you will need to fabricate your own mounts for it.
-adapt a cable gear shift linkage
-adapt axles (but that is easy if you consider doing frankenaxle out of the subaru axles on the tranny end, and the 914 axles on the wheel hub end) (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/welder.gif)
my 0.02$
Best of luck

btw: i'm working on my eg33 conversion right now, and trying to figure out a way to mount the radiator in the optimal position for cooling, and it is such a major PITA.

oh and scott, i could really need those scoop pics... (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/wink.gif)

[d914]

other issue would be you would need to find an older fwd tranny.all the newer ones are set up for awd......working on that solution right now..

[TonyAKAVW]

Spent a few hours today cleaning out the unnecessary metal from the engine bay. The mtal I took out is the metal that surrounds the type 4 engine tin. Its unnecessary for a water cooled engine, so to make more space in the engine bay I got rid of it. I may also remove the stock engine mounts but for now I see no good reason to remove them other than aesthetics.

I have a bit of welding to do on the hell hole side of the car, but its not going to be too bad.

[TonyAKAVW]

ll

[TonyAKAVW]

Some of the metal coming out from the firewall is still there. It comes out about an inch or less along most of the firewall. Getting rid of it alltogether is a bad idea, because the two halves of the fireawll joing together. If I need to remove more later I'll do so, but I suspect I'll be fine.

[TonyAKAVW]

Next step is to paint over the bare metal with POR-15. I gave it a good treatment with a phosphoric acid rust converter, washed it off and dried it.

[9144guy]

is't that the engine off of ebay? i watched this motor looked cool, was the wiring harness extra? , i wonder how fast the car will fly, isnt it a turbo?

[redshift]

Dood, your metal cleanup work is beautiful, way clean.

nice!


M

[TonyAKAVW]

QUOTE

Dood, your metal cleanup work is beautiful, way clean.

Thanks!

I used a combination of cutoff wheels, grinding wheels, and a wire brush wheel.

QUOTE

is't that the engine off of ebay? i watched this motor looked cool, was the wiring harness extra? , i wonder how fast the car will fly, isnt it a turbo?

Nope, this engine was advertised on Craigslist in San Francisco and The Samba as well. $900 for the engine, harness, ECU, bunch of other crap. Not a bad deal. Its a naturally aspirated engine. I decided against the turbos due to their torque curves and complexities.

-Tony

[scotty914]

9144guy, i will tell ya the suby 2.5 moves out quite well.

at the wcc tony was talking with me about going turbo, it would be faster but the cooling might not work with the radiator in the engine bay. after tony got a ride in my car he decided that thou the turbo would be nice the car is plenty fast enough with out it.

tony as for the engine bay clean up what you did is perfect, the engine will fit very well. before you go any further i would recommend getting the wiring harness, fuel, and brake lines secured or set up to be. the reason i say this is the next thing you will have to work on after por 15 will be motor mounts and radiator frame. as a matter of fact you might want to start on the mount now so when you por the engine bay you can por the new mwtal as well.

edit: tony you could remove the stock motor mounts but they are really really well attached line 50 spot welds per mount

one thing i can say is i am jealous of tony, he does not need to guess as much as i did (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/headbang.gif)

[9144guy]

kick a$$

[9144guy]

i wanted to turbo my 1.8 liter. we had a 930 slant nose(steel) that came into the shop with twin turbo garretts/w built in wasegates and water cooled intercoolers, my boss bought it, and went back with stock parts,turbo, and a intercooler,also had halltec injection box,,i have acess to the parts but, i decided to go with stock inj. so my wife could have fun with it instead of me wondering when it could pop. maybe some day with another engine