Eric's Six Conversion, chassis work has finally commenced. Options

[Detroit]

Greetings all...

As the title suggests, I'm undertaking a six cylinder heart transplant on my four cylinder '74 914. I've always wanted to build a hot rod of some sort, and a 3.X 914 seems a pretty solid choice. I just hope the patient and donor organ both survive the surgery...

The motor is a 3.0L out of an '82 SC. It needs rebuilding. I'm going to start a separate thread for that over on the Pelican forum in the engine rebuilding section, because I'm going to need lot's of advice. I realize that there are plenty of peops here who've built sixes, but as that forum is dedicated purely to the task it makes sense to me to start the thread there. I'll paste a link for anyone interested once I've got it started. It's not going to be some crazy race motor. I just want a good reliable street engine. I'm not a hundred percent sure what I'm going to do with the chassis at this point, but I have plenty of time to think about it. I work slow.

The overall plan is to rebuild the motor, and then get it running on a start cart, which I've already started to cobble up. At that point I'll pull the four cylinder, do any chassis mods, and stick in the new engine. It all sounds so simple when I type it... Stupid brain.

I've already torn the engine down to the long block, but have paused to get a few things around the garage cleared up. There will be additional pauses along the way. I've got a zillion things to do around here... I'm pretty determined to get this done though, so hopefully said pauses will be brief.

I will do my best to keep everyone updated along the way. And of course supply plenty of pictures. Here's a few to start.

EDIT - Here's a link to the engine build thread:
https://forums.pelicanparts.com/911-engine-...3-0l-build.html

The car.


The six.


The start cart (and mock up engine and trans).

[Detroit]

Thanks for all the input.

I'm not at all worried about the heat exchanger fitment. I did get the one side on the 3.0L on the engine stand. Once the (very small amount of) flash is cleaned up. I've no doubt they'll slide on easily enough.

The fuel system at this point is a question mark. I'm not going to use the CIS. I might have if the motor didn't need rebuilding, but if I'm going this far, I'm going to change the cams. And honestly, the CIS just doesn't look the part. EFI would be brilliant, but this is not a cost-no-object build. That leaves carbs. I have two sets of Zeniths that came with the original -6 engine currently in the start cart. They are my least expensive option by a long shot. That said, I know little about them at this point, and I don't intend to ruin this build by a poor choice in fuel delivery.

[Mark Henry]

Thanks for all the input.

I'm not at all worried about the heat exchanger fitment. I did get the one side on the 3.0L on the engine stand. Once the (very small amount of) flash is cleaned up. I've no doubt they'll slide on easily enough.

The fuel system at this point is a question mark. I'm not going to use the CIS. I might have if the motor didn't need rebuilding, but if I'm going this far, I'm going to change the cams. And honestly, the CIS just doesn't look the part. EFI would be brilliant, but this is not a cost-no-object build. That leaves carbs. I have two sets of Zeniths that came with the original -6 engine currently in the start cart. They are my least expensive option by a long shot. That said, I know little about them at this point, and I don't intend to ruin this build by a poor choice in fuel delivery.

Zeniths are okay, they just they have little if any aftermarket support. Most stick to stock, stock modified, Webers, PMO's, and then aftermarket EFI and ITB's.