914 Engine Choices, Will buy 914, if I can build a monster Options

[GreekDriver]

Hello. I'm a BMW fan, sorry guys. But the 914 has to be one of the funnest cars I've ever driven! Other than its transmission feeling like shifting through oatmeal and damn near impossible to get a smoot shift out of... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif) (This is on all 914s I've driven, even one with a rebuilt transmission)

Well, there's a nice 914 for sale, with minimal rust, original motor, great interior and paint, and low miles. It's a 76 2.0l I believe, in Black. A fella in the neighborhood has had it since 1979 and barely driven it. He's not a car guy, he bought it because it looked nice. It drives nicely, but it lacks power, and the brakes don't impress me.

It's going to need an engine and rebuilding the type iv to its horrible stock form would just piss me off. Alot. I've been looking at engine options and I have no clue on what to do. I want lightweight, EXTREMELY high revving, past 10k RPMs, and over 190hp. So the V8s are out of the question. I've thought about a 2.0l Carrea motor, as those should be able to rev like hell when built. But I haven't really seen much info on them anywhere. Another Idea I had was an S14 engine from the E30 M3(1988 BMW M3), but I have no clue what transmission I'd use and how I'd get it to work... My last idea was to build an M10 up. The M10 was THE I-4 out of the BMW 2002s, E21s, and some E30s. It loves boost, the 1.5l block was doing 1500hp for BMW F1 in the 80s. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) I would try to find a way to get it to rev high in N/A form, or boost it. But again, I don't know how I'd get it to work with the 914.

Anyways, just give me some general ideas guys. I'd worry about suspension and brakes later. Oh, and the damn transmission would be going to the yard and I'm going to request to see it crunched, it would make me feel so good.

Thanks! And it's nice to be here! Hopefully I'll get some interesting responses to push me to buy that car.

[lapuwali]

You'll find that no matter what gearbox you use (including the 914 gearbox), it's the linkage that makes all the difference in shifter feel. With a freshly rebuilt and properly adjusted 914 side-shift linkage with something like the Rennshift (see the Vendor's section on this board), you're going to get about best feel possible short of spending megadollars on something like a WEVO 915 setup.

The basic 901 gearbox itself is actually a pretty decent design, and has the big advantage of being very light (about 75lbs). However, they're all old, and rebuilding them properly is quite expensive ($4000). There are a number of alternatives out there (Audi, ZF, 915, 930), but they're all either very experimental or very expensive.

As for the engine, the Subaru flat-four weighs 40lbs less than the stock 914 engine according to a few sources, which makes it considerably lighter than many other engines (the 914 engine is about 275lbs). DOHC, four-valve, and bone-stock turbo 2.5 versions are pushing 300hp. You'll not see 10K rpm with it, but I'm not entirely sure why that would be a requirement.

I've never heard of a "2.0l carrea". Perhaps you mean a Carrera, which covers a lot of ground, but as far as I know never came in 2.0L form (at least not in a street car). The engine out of an '84-'88 911 (the 3.2 Carrera) is most likely the engine you're thinking of, and is a relatively common swap into a 914, along with most of the other air-cooled 911 engines, which range in power from 120hp to over 300hp. They're not especially light engines (early 911 engines being 70-100lbs more than a 914 engine, later ones being heavier still), but they fit the car well and there are lots of parts and knowledge available on fitting them to the 914.

btw, the '76 914 is the heaviest of the series. If you're concerned about light weight, a '70-'72 is a good bit lighter (200-300lbs).