74 Roller rebuild and Subaru conversion, 1974 rebuild and Subaru conversion project Options

[mgarrison]

Hello,

I new around here, but have been lurking for a bit trying to soak up all the 914 knowledge and information I could! I was looking into building a Factory Five 818 kit with the Subaru flat-4, but the cost of entry was a bit too high, and the time & space needed to build a car from scratch seemed overwhelming. But it got me thinking; that's basically a tube-framed 914 with an odd body. I wonder if anyone has put a Subaru flat-4 in a 914? A few Google searches later I learned that a lot of people had, and parts were out there to spend my money on!

Long story short, I found two rollers with no engines or transmissions in Tucson, AZ a couple of hours South of me. Soon I rented a car hauler for a couple of days and my "Craft Project" (my wife's label) was begun.

The rollers were a green 1971, and a red 1974. I wanted to restore the 71 because it just seemed to have more character. The 74 had been partially stripped for an electric conversion project, and seemed less "car like". Sadly, the 71 needed a bit more work than I was setup to handle. So, it had to be the 74 who I have simply labeled as "Red".

I will try to track my build process here as best I can. I tend to get working on things and forget to document things, but will try to keep track.

Here's Red when we got her home on the trailer and tucked away in the back yard for the moment.

Mike

[mgarrison]

A couple more pics of suspension/brake stuff. I didn't want to spend the money to have them blasted and powder coated, so I just used a wire brush in a cordless drill, and my time. Looks ok for now. Not sure how well they will hold up, but not much moisture, rain, etc. in Phoenix, AZ area.


I did purchase a new toy to make our lives a bit easier working on the cars. The Miata was a real challenge to get a jack under; you had to drive up onto 2x4s for the jack to fit. Now it takes a quarter the time it used to!


It's rated for 7,000 pounds, so I can use it for the Wife's Jeep and my truck as well, but I did have to buy the SUV kit for it to lift the truck high enough to get the rear wheels off the ground! That 14" of travel makes some simple maintenance rather challenging...