Let's talk about "being stock" vs "having the car you want" Options

[ScoopLV]

When I was a kid I had a 914. I wanted 5-lug Fuchs, the Porsche rear reflector, the front badge. And quite frankly, if I could have done one of those ridiculous Beach Boys body kits (the kind that makes a 914 look like a Ferrari) I probably would have.

I was on a parts website, buying some side lenses, when I saw a sale on the rear reflector and put one in my cart. Then I took it out of the cart.

Why? I have a basically unmodified teener -- 99% stock. It's almost like I feel I have a responsibility to keep it stock. I'm going to upgrade the fuel lines, and the shift linkage. One's a safety issue and the other is an invisible upgrade. But I'm going to keep all the old parts so that I could "put it back to stock" if I ever wanted.

I never really liked the look of the vinyl sail. I prefer the B column to be the same color as the rest of the body. My car doesn't have sails. Obviously a previous owner agreed with me on that point. But I'm seriously thinking about putting sails back on, because, hey, that's the only thing that isn't stock on the car.

I always liked the look of having a front badge. To me, the car looks nude without a badge on the front. But that would require drilling two holes into a perfectly good hood. Sure, I could fill the holes if I ever wanted. But that's one less hood out there that's never been mucked with.

I don't really know where I'm going with this post, or even if there's a point to it. But I'd like to hear from people about the validity of "turning your car into YOUR car" vs. "there aren't many unmodified cars out there anymore, so keep it stock."

Where do you fall in that spectrum?

[ClayPerrine]

After two separate wrecks, my 914.. the big six, started out with the concept "What could Porsche done with the 914 in 1973 by raiding the parts bin for all the good, go fast parts?" So I started off with a 2.4S MFI motor, a 71 911 transmission for the pull clutch, 911 S front and rear brakes, with a 911 park brake conversion, and 15 by 7 front fuchs, and 15 x8 rears, factory Porsche GT flares, and a 911 style dash.

Well, the real world, and my horsepower obsession interfered. I found the 951 Fuchs on Ebay with all of 12 miles on them and bought them. Then I found 944 turbo calipers for the brakes. So the suspension was already changed. Later I changed to Boxster calipers and a 23mm master cylinder.

I have since changed the 2.4 for a 4.0 monster with a Cayman 6 speed behind it. And I am working on the flat fan/MS3Pro setup for the engine.


On the other hand, the factory six is going exactly the opposite way. I have removed the Rennshifter and put a stock shifter back on it. I have put a stock steering wheel with the correct date code back on it. We have redone the door pads back to stock. I have repaired the carbs and put the stock air cleaner back on. I took the 16x6 Fuchs off and put on the 5 lug Mahle Gas burners. The only thing left is to have the body work done and get it repainted in the original blue (which sucks because we really like the Boxster blue that's on it) and remove the rear trunk gas strut kit and put the torsion bars back on. The only non stock parts on it are the LED lights, and those are reversible, and they make the car much safer on the road.

One is a highly modified monster, and one is a bone stock 914-6. Both are going to be very nice cars when they are completed. The bottom line to all of this is what you do to your 914 depends on what you think should be done. It is your car. If you want to put a Gnome Type N air cooled radial engine in it, then more power to you. And I want to see it when it's done. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)