'73 Resto & Suby 6 Conversion, or a primer on "How to convert your 914 to a Subaru 3.0" Options

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What's it been? A year since I got Blackie running. I finally get it tuned to a daily driver status and should have been happy as a Lark then but what do I do? I sold the engine (w/90 hour's on the Hobbs) on the last Dawn Patrol GMR run. So I pulled the engine and began preparing Blackie for her transformation.


Before I go any further check out my Jack Stands. Min height 19.5", 12 ton and should hold up to a 6.7 quake or direct nuclear attack.


And out she comes.




One thing you have to love about these cars is that you can remove an interior in 15 minutes. 30 min's if you have a console. This was one shot before the interior is gutted.

and an hour later I'm scraping tar floorboards.

[76-914]

Well, with the rust repair (I think) behind me it's time to move on to the new water cooling system. I've ordered twin fan set up from EBay (thx for the tip BigKat) that I will use to begin some initial mock ups. For $45 incl shpg I can't go too wrong. If the size works I'll order a radiator to match. After a lot of reading I've decided to go the rubber hose route. Originally I believed that I wanted to run copper behind the valance thru the gussets but I thought I should avoid the plating process (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif) . While waiting for something to cool or dry I gave this a try with pleasing results. I know where I'm running my hoses now. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif)






I also will be ducting thru the wheels but noticed a dent/crease on the R side. I know that area will be hacked but I needed to know if this was under stress before I began removing any material. The floor pan beneath the spare is beat to shit from bottoming out but I wasn't sure if it was a result of impact so hence my concern for the dent. It's hard to see in these pic's but the area is outlined in blue tape.







And here is my body tool. A 12lb sledge hammer with a piece of foam insulation duct taped on the end to soften the blow.



And just then my neighbor who has a dentless repair business walked in and said "What are you doing?" I said, "waiting for you". He told me that I probably would have stretched it and ended up with a bow going the other way. Talk about falling in a bucket of (IMG:style_emoticons/default/stromberg.gif) and coming out smelling like a rose. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/bootyshake.gif) Took him all of 2 min's. This is Jeremy (IMG:style_emoticons/default/pray.gif)



I asked Blackie if she was happy with her makeover. I think she approves. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)