Labor of Love: A Build Thread, Or: honoring my fathers 914-6 Options

[BillJ]

Hi everyone. I have been posting here and there about my recent re-discovery and acquisition of a car that I have known since I was 15 years old. In 1987 my father bought his fourth Porsche. A 914-6 born in 1970. It was a bone stock car in white over black that had been driven a little under 100k miles. It was well taken care of and had no rust. After driving his yellow 73 2.0 on the track and in PCA racing he wanted to retire that largely stock car to the street and get a dedicated racer.

The 6 was immediately sent to a body shop to get a chasis stiffening and flare treatment. An IMSA airdam was installed along with a rear spoiler. He took the BBS 7s and 8s off his 944 Turbo and shod them with cantilever slicks from hoosier. He then found a 2.8 RSR Bosch mechanical FI high butterlfly stack monster engine from PAR porsche in NY to motivate the car. Redline was set somewhere north of 9k rpm. Here is a pic of the original build:



He drove the car in many events for around 20 years. During that time i bought his old yellow car and i turned that into a race car as well. We even drove together (in different groups when i had the yellow car) at some events. We would also share the racing duties with the 6. In 2008 he sold the car and moved on to other cars but this one has always held a special place for me.

Two years ago I ended up meeting up with John who had bought the car from my dad. He was great and generously asked if i would like to join him racing for the year as co-driver. I jumped at the chance and we got (and get) along really well. At the end of the season he offered the car to me and, after selling the silver 75, was able to make the plunge.

The emotional bond and connection to my dad who passed in 2018 that this object evokes is strong and in some ways unexpected.

With this thread i hope to honor that tie to my dad by sharing maintenance, improvements, and continued racing with this special (to me) car. And I hope my dad can see it all. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[BillJ]

A lesson learned.

In february i went to Roebling Road to race with VDCA. Just prior to first practice we noticed some fuel leaking from the engine bay. Turns out a hose had failed and we quickly sourced a new one and replaced the entire hose that was faulty. However, this gobbled up the time that was to install the pedal board and integrated pedal stop. The car previously had a bolt installed below the pedal to serve as a stop as it had no board. I re-used that hole to run the brake pressure sensor for the AIM PDM. Thus no stop for the throttle anymore.

Lap 2 of practice coming onto the front straight the pedal moved further than it should and bent the throttle control arm and locked the throttle open. I moved off track to the right but shifted. Engine saw 9022 rpm before i shut it down. Result we would find was some bent valves only. Not terrible but certainly ended the weekend.

Lesson learned? Always always always check your equipment and never go out without knowing you are 100% prepped. Not realizing i had inadvertently removed a safeguard and then not installing the replacement when it is right there is not acceptable.