914/6 Engine Tin, all my expensive stuff is disappearing Options

[3liter914-6]

Well, yet another item to add to the list of parts that have disappeared themselves since I took the car apart 4 years ago. The first casualty was my set of freshly rebuild 914-6 calipers, I've learned to deal with it, and it's not as big a deal as I was going to do the 911 e-brake conversion anyway, but I'd rather have the $1800 in my pocket than jack squat.

Fan shroud also disappeared, although I think that was stolen by a guy doing some paintwork and $50 got me a nice green one (although I'd have preferred black or red).

Now, I've got the engine back together ready to stick it in and, OOPS, $500 worth of original engine sheet metal nowhere to be found.

So now I've got some options, none of them particularly cheap, and none very promising for getting me to Hershey without some $$$ overnight shipping. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif)

I did some searching and found 1 post relating to sheet metal where Bradholio said it's not a huge deal to run without it. In the VW world, running without the tin is a big no-no. I'm prepared to accept that no sheetmetal will work ok on a -6, but how much leeway is there? My engine probably runs a little hotter than stock (10.3:1, 3.3L short stroke) and all I've got to run are heat exchangers (unless they've disappeared in the last 10 mins). Granted I've got a big oil cooler, and the HE's aren't going to be hooked up so should stay pretty cool, but I'm a little wary of running tinless without a little more specific BTDT experience.

Anyone have some thoughts, should I go for it and hope my tin shows up someday, or just bite the bullet and get PP to FedEx me something?

Thanks,

Adam

[TimT]

I run my car (914 w/3.2) without the tin, havent had any issues..btw the car is a track only car