RANT: Electric Conversions, Not what you think...... Options

[KaptKaos]

There's a fellow selling a motor in the classifieds. Here's the link:

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=92077

Seems normal enough. I assume, maybe wrongly, that this person is using the car for an electric conversion.

I have no issue with people converting their cars to electric motors. However, I am wondering if it is reasonable to ask or inform the people that are looking to do this to please try to use '76 cars? This is particularly important in California, as the smog checks in California aren't required on Pre-76 cars.

There are two counter arguments that I can think of and they are:

1) '76 cars are fairly rare, and therefore either more expensive and/or harder to find.
2) The point of an electric conversion is to reduce emissions, so using a car that has higher emissions makes more sense.

I am not sure if this is practical/possible/reasonable/feasible, so I figured that I'd ask.

Am I out of line here?

Please note that I mean no ill will to the seller above.

[flipb]

I question the assumption that 914 EV's are necessarily acquired with the intention of converting.

If the engine in my '74 2.0 crapped out (and there's a possibility it may have), I'd be faced with the following choices:

• Engine rebuild
• Find/buy a replacement TIV
• Find/buy a Porsche 6
• Convert to EV

Sure, there are other options (Suby, SBC, etc.) but the ones above are the ones that I would personally consider.

The upside of EV for me - no engine maintenance, dependability (how often does your TV refuse to start?), cheap to operate, and most important: It would drastically cut both the cost and time of my daily commute. I could drive it daily, take the HOV lane, and get to work in 1/2 the time. I'd certainly put a lot more miles on my 914 if it were running on volts.