Tracking the 914 - Need some street love too..., Turning this into a regular thing... Options

[infraredcalvin]

1st track day in the bag with the new 914, no decent pics yet (there was a photog in attendants, but haven’t seen his pics yet). Car rand great and although running with much newer machinery she was holding her own once her driver brushed off the cobwebs... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

Since this was essentially her first shakedown I found a number of little things I need to address, one in particular I’m questioning:

After a few laps I noticed - mainly on a flat sweeper turn, when entering hard on brakes and trailing off while turning in I’d get a soft groan from my outside wheel (drivers in this case). I’m thinking wheel bearing? I’ve never had one go bad on the front spindle before, so I’ve never heard or felt the slight vibration before. Never really occurred on any other turns.... thoughts?

[GregAmy]

What are we looking at? What went kablooey?

The Type 4 oil pickup system is poor, and really sucks (actually, fails to suck) once you start putting some hard g-loading on it. Dry sump is really the way to go, and it's not very expensive or difficult.

If money is no object, go /6, you can build a monster engine with tons of power*. But if you have budget constraints then you can still make as good or more power from a /4 for the same amount of money.

GA


*But be careful: more power = more speed = I need bigger brakes = I need better suspension = I need more tires = I need more wheels = I need more fenders = I need more safety = I need big rollcage = I need less weight = I need to cut away panels = I need to fab more cage = divorce = how in the hell did I get here...?

[infraredcalvin]

*But be careful: more power = more speed = I need bigger brakes = I need better suspension = I need more tires = I need more wheels = I need more fenders = I need more safety = I need big rollcage = I need less weight = I need to cut away panels = I need to fab more cage = divorce = how in the hell did I get here...?

I know, I’m going through that now. When I got the rear end repaired I had the bodyshop do some work on the hack job baseball bat rear flares. He did such a nice job I don’t want to go down the gt flare route with this car. I did make sure we could fit a 225 with a 3/4 in spacer though...

The pic is of all the oil coming from the top of the passenger side heads. The more I think about it, it could have been a high oil pressure issue. I had just made a mental note that the pressures seemed high just over 70psi about 30 seconds before the “pop”.

I need to drop the engine since the Fat shroud is covering everything topside. Speaking of Fat, I dropped by their shop to discuss a rebuild - yes I know their history, but I’m looking for a shop to assess the parts I have, if they’re any good anymore, most came from Fat or Scat...

[GregAmy]

He did such a nice job I don’t want to go down the gt flare route with this car. I did make sure we could fit a 225 with a 3/4 in spacer though...

I prefer the narrow body too. Can't use as much tire, but therefore can't spend as much money, either.

Speaking of Fat, I dropped by their shop to discuss a rebuild - yes I know their history, but I’m looking for a shop to assess the parts I have, if they’re any good anymore, most came from Fat or Scat...

I just sent FAT a short block last week (arrived Friday) for a build for my street car. Asking for a basic short block build with cam so we'll see how well it goes...buy some P&C and I've already got the heads.

So what's "the history"? I heard from reliabile soruces they are solid.

Last night I was thumbing through my October 1991 issue of "European Car" ("formerly VW&Porsche") - the 914 issue - and I spotted an ad from fat: "Dial 914. Cat FAT Performance. We're always ready to talk Type-IV...Send $5 today for our parts catalog. It's chock full of stuff too numerous to mention in this dinky ad.")