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 few more pics of yesterday's work.

Here's my small patch welded in on the firewall between the seats.


I can't remember who, but someone on the forum posted about using a smashed copper pipe as a backing when welding sheet metal, to act as a heatsink. Works really well when you are struggling with burning through in spots. I had my welder down as low as it can go, but still had some challenges in some corners. I just used a smashed copper elbow. The welds don't stick to the copper at all.


Here's the inner fender patch tacked in place.


And mostly complete - I will have to see where I missed after grinding it out a bit.


Three more "easy" patches, then I need to form up the patch for the inner long - I'm sure that's going to take some time and effort to get the correct shape! Still need to replace the frunk floor from the AC cutout, and then weld in the MadDog inner long stiffeners...So slow sometimes I feel like I'm sliding backwards! Ah, but it keeps me off the streets, right!