Feedback on Martin's 916 gearbox conversion kit Options

[mharmon]

Just wanted to post some feedback on the 916 gearbox conversion kit that I bought from Martin Bott (bugat5speed) for anyone who is thinking of purchasing the kit. The kit is posted for sale in the Member Vendor section of this site. Please keep in mind that I have no affiliation with Martin other than the fact that I bought his kit from him at the full price that he has listed.

First off I would say that Martin is very responsive and eay to deal with. Despite the fact that I'm in Los Angeles and he is in Germany he quickly answered all of my questions and shipped out the kit very quickly.

When I received the kit, it was exactly how he described it in his post and the quality of the parts and welds was very very good. I'll be putting them in my 915 in the coming weeks and can certianly post pics as the project progresses.

It's my understanding that a couple vendors here in the States are selling the kits for Martin, Auto Atlanta being one, but I'm not positive.

I can say that dealing with Martin was as it should be, and I would not hesitate to buy from him again in the future.

Happy to answer any questions if anyone has them.

Have a good one.

Mike

[Steve]

I am also curious which one shifts better, but the 916 kit that he sells would allow a stock muffler, back up light switch and has a mechanical speedometer option, but I would prefer the electronic speedometer option. It's also a duplicate of the original 916 with improvements. With the Wevo there is no backup light switch, you would have to jury rig an exhaust system (extend your heat exchangers for M&K muffler or use special exhaust) and use an electronic speedometer. If you do the math there about the same cost. With WEVO you would need the kit $2k plus special shift linkage $620 plus header extenders $? plus M&K muffler $700 to look stock. If your building a new car, you would have to purchase the headers and muffler anyway, but for me I already have 914-6 heat exchangers and a bursch muffler. For Wevo I would have to extend the headers and replace the muffler with an M&K.

[pcar916]

I am also curious which one shifts better, but the 916 kit that he sells would allow a stock muffler, back up light switch and has a mechanical speedometer option, but I would prefer the electronic speedometer option. It's also a duplicate of the original 916 with improvements. With the Wevo there is no backup light switch, you would have to jury rig an exhaust system (extend your heat exchangers for M&K muffler or use special exhaust) and use an electronic speedometer. If you do the math there about the same cost. With WEVO you would need the kit $2k plus special shift linkage $620 plus header extenders $? plus M&K muffler $700 to look stock. If your building a new car, you would have to purchase the headers and muffler anyway, but for me I already have 914-6 heat exchangers and a bursch muffler. For Wevo I would have to extend the headers and replace the muffler with an M&K.

The electronic speedometer is a function of the reluctor in later 915's differential spacer stack, so the choice of a later aluminum 915 to get will give you that... or use a GPS unit for your speedo and odometer.

If you're shootin' for the 7:31 R&P like the early mag-case 915's it would still work in a later case, but use the coarse-splined 108mm or 100mm output flanges. Or you can order the LSD/TBD diff with fine-splines instead if 108mm 930 flanges are not a consideration.

This is a good looking conversion and I like it better in several ways (all of which you mentioned) than the Wevo. I want more user input!