Just arrived in the garage: 1971 914-4 1.7 Options

[raynekat]

Stopped by the shop today to get a couple of pics for the insurance company. Excuse the pseudo crap pics from my cell phone (thought all modern cell phones took pretty nice pics....mine not so much? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)) Think my insurance company (Safeco) uses Haggerty for these special interest cars.

Here's a couple of exterior pics.
The car just came off the alignment rack so the rocker panels are not back on yet. These had to be removed to access the rear toe control arm set from Patrick Motorsports.

I'm happy with the ride height. Definitely "Euro" or performance height.

[jmz]

Cute little car Doug! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[raynekat]

Assorted other pics....engine bay, interior, trunks.

2.7MFI and it's accessories all fit nice and tidy in the engine compartment.
Wasn't sure how much of the amber fan shroud would be visible, but it shows pretty nicely down in there.





Amber backs of the sport seats ties in well with the engine shroud and undersides of the lids.
Think I'll be losing the "Porsche" mats and going with the same Coco mats I have in the rear trunk.





Here's the Coco mat I have for the rear trunk. It's heavy but nice and fits the mood of the car.

[raynekat]

Talking about heavy Coco mats (like in my trunk)....we've got the weight of the car.

With 10 gals of fuel, the car came in at 2176 lbs.
I think considering I have that "heavy" trunk Coco mat (ha), the rear chassis reinforcing kit, the interior Englemann kit and the six cylinder engine....that the weight of the car is pretty good.

Tried to look up factory weights of 914-6's and I got a range of 2072-2194 lbs.
I'll have to ask around to all those building recent six's....what do they weigh?

So with 230hp, my power to weight ratio is about 9.46 lbs/hp.
Think that sounds good.
All I know is that stock 73 touring Carrera RS's weighed more than this car, so their power to ratio isn't as good. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

With the close ratio gearbox, this car should really move out under acceleration.

Still waiting for the oil cooler install, then we'll do some road testing.

[Cairo94507]

Your car looks terrific. I like to Coco mats too and will hopefully end up with a set of the green ones for my car. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[raynekat]

Your car looks terrific. I like to Coco mats too and will hopefully end up with a set of the green ones for my car. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

I didn't see the "standard" Coco mats in green.

They do have "checkered" if you are that brave! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif)

[raynekat]

Well, I got the call today to come to the shop to drive the call and let them know what I thought....as in does it need anything else.

Beautiful fall weather today in the Portland area, so who could say no to that?



The car sounds incredible through Ben's stainless steel heat exchangers and a single outlet Dansk sport muffler.
It's been awhile something like 30+ years since I've been in a 914. My very 1st Porsche when I was about 30 yrs old was an orange 74 2.0.
I had obviously forgotten much about the 914 driving experience.
Right off the bat, the 901 gearbox/shift pattern was driving me crazy.
Took off in reverse at one of the stop signs...luckily no-one behind me. Ha

Initial impressions are that there is a lot of power with 230hp sitting inches behind your head, it's pretty dang loud (in a good way), the gears really are close ratio and low, and I had forgotten about the awesome handling of these cars.
My other P car is a 73 RSR hotrod with a 3.6 Vram, steam roller wheels and tires, and something I've been driving for almost 30 years.
This was the car I purchased and modified over the years since selling the orange 914 a long time ago.
I'm very comfortable in that car.
In this new 914-6 hotrod....not as comfortable yet.

So it really rides likely too stiff for what I will use it for most.
If this was a dedicated auto-x/track car.....perfect.
For the street, the 21mm torsion bars and 150lb springs are too much for the low weight (2176lbs) of this car.
I'm already considering getting a set of 19mm t-bars and 110 or 125lb springs for the rear.
If I can get them quickly enough, I'll get Rothsport (Carl) to get them installed next week.
Otherwise, that will be a project that can wait until next Spring.

The handling is really quite different from the 911.
The steering is so light with the modest width tires (195/55x15) I have on the car.
The Toyo R compound tires are very grippy.
Quite the slot car.
Can't wait until next Spring when auto-x season starts up...this will be one fun car.

So I've got to work on my 901 shifting a bit.
If you try to guide it too much from 1st to 2nd, it's quite balky.
But if you just nudge if from 1st into the neutral slot, let it find it's bearing for a fraction of a second, then proceed North again with the gear lever, it's very smooth sailing.
Will just take me a bit of practice.

The factory 380mm steering wheel that I love so much may be too big.
I'm about 6'2" and my legs nearly are up in the steering wheel.
Carl the mechanic (about the same size as me) noticed the same.
So I'm sizing up a Momo 350mm heritage Prototypo that has distressed leather.
It's very similar to the Magnus Walker steering wheel....just without all the Magnus Walker do-dads on it.

Nimrod me, mounted the rear view mirror too high on the windshield, so it's next to useless currently.
I'll fix that with some guitar string and shave it off the windshield and re-mount lower.
The sport seats from GTS Classics (Watkins Glen model) are just about perfect.
As are the retrofitted retractible seat belts I insisted for this car.

As for driving impressions of the 230 hp 2.7 MFI engine.
Well let's just say it's got plenty of go power....especially once you pass 4500rpm.
After that, it's just about like launching off the deck of an aircraft carrier I'd say.



Ride height looks good I think....not too low.
Plenty of room in the rear for bigger wheels and tires if I'd like to try a set of 15x7 Fuchs with some 205, 215 or possibly 225 tires.

Not much left to do at this point.
The car runs so cool....barely getting it up to 85-90C, that Carl thought let's just run it for awhile without adding the auxiliary cooler and see how it goes.
I'm in total agreement.
The on board engine oil cooler is a "high efficiency" unit that Stoddard sells, plus the 2.7RS engine is actually quite unstressed at only 8.5:1 compression ratio.
Most of the longhood 911's and even the 73 RS all came with the trombone loop in the front fender well that really didn't do all that much in the way of cooling.
They mostly relied on the on board engine oil cooler
I'll keep you posted on how this all works out.
If needed, we can slip a Fluidyne aux oil cooler with fan underneath the rear trunk to help out with the cooling duties.

So Carl needs to still install the heater control boxes that come off the heat exchangers, do a double check on everything, and that will be a wrap. Unless we get the softer t-bars and springs in next week in time.

Once home, I'll take a bunch of better pics and get it all posted.
And drive, drive, drive while the fall weather permits.

[Coondog]

Wow, what a incredible build. Congrats and enjoy your car. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

[IronHillRestorations]

Awesomeness!!

[914forme]

wonderful build

[Cairo94507]

Congratulations on your maiden trip. Great observations; I am sure you will get accustomed to the 914 again. Enjoy as you dial in the finer details. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[bbrock]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/w00t.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/monkeydance.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/monkeydance.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/monkeydance.gif)
This is awesome! Thanks for posting the detailed first impressions. I had to chuckle about getting used to the 901 shift pattern again. It's been more than 30 years since I drove a 914 too and have wondered how rusty I'll be. I still find myself trying to shift my other cars in the 901 pattern though so I'm hopeful it is still in muscle memory.

[mepstein]

Doug - Congrats on the drive. I would drive it 200-300 miles before you make any decisions on the shocks and springs. If everything is new, it can take a little while to settle in and loosen up. Same with the trans. They often smooth up after a couple hundred shifts. You might also want to check tire pressure. I bet your 914 car is quite a bit lighter than your 911 and the narrow tires have less give than the steamrollers.
On the other hand, a 21mm torsion bar is way stiffer than a 19mm. More than just the 2mm would suggest. I think closer to 20% and again, your car is probably lighter than a stock 914-6.

When my six conversion grows up, I hope it is half as cool as your car. I love all the details!

[raynekat]

Doug - Congrats on the drive. I would drive it 200-300 miles before you make any decisions on the shocks and springs. If everything is new, it can take a little while to settle in and loosen up. Same with the trans. They often smooth up after a couple hundred shifts. You might also want to check tire pressure. I bet your 914 car is quite a bit lighter than your 911 and the narrow tires have less give than the steamrollers.
On the other hand, a 21mm torsion bar is way stiffer than a 19mm. More than just the 2mm would suggest. I think closer to 20% and again, your car is probably lighter than a stock 914-6.

When my six conversion grows up, I hope it is half as cool as your car. I love all the details!

Mark....it's likely a good call to wait a bit before softening up the suspension. I think I just overshot the mark somewhat when I was designing the ride quality vs performance capabilities for this car. If my car was more "GT", I think this stiffer spring setup would be ideal. Time will tell.

As far as the shifting goes...I think it's mostly pilot error at this point. My 901 skills are simply not as good as my 915 skills at the current time it appears. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

Not sure if mine is lighter than a stock 914-6 as I've got all that chassis stiffening metal added along with the interior Engelmann sheet metal as well. I think it's an OK tradeoff....a little added weight vs superior overall rigidity to counteract the inherent flexibility/twisting these 914 chassis's tend to exhibit.
Final weight with 1/2 tank of fuel was 2176 lbs so I'm happy with that.
It's still a relatively lightweight car when compared to modern cars.
Couple that with the power this engine makes and the combination definitely gets your attention.

[raynekat]

These are the smaller replacement steering wheels I'm considering.
The stock wheel at 380mm is cramping my leg room.

The 1st wheel is the Momo Prototipo "Heritage" edition. It's 350mm overall diameter.
This is essentially the same wheel as the infamous Magnus Walker wheel without all the Magnus Walker doo-dads.
It has distressed leather which looks cool and gives it instant patina.



The next wheel is a 350mm Nardi leather.
The nice things about these wheels is they have the scallops on the backside that are great for your fingers to slot into. The Momo is completely smooth on the backside.



Last wheel is again a 350mm Nardi but this one is wood.
Normally I wouldn't consider a wood wheel but it might look nice in my interior and play off the custom gear shift knob I had built.





Any thoughts on any of these?
I'm leaning towards the Momo at this time.
I already have the correct Momo adapter in hand as well which is nice.
The Nardi will require either re-drilling the adapter as the bolt circles between Momo and Nardi are slightly different.
Or buying a Momo to Nardi adapter piece.

[Coondog]

I use this with my Momo wheel. Every little bit counts.

[mepstein]

I've never been a fan of wood rim wheels in a 914. I don't get the "hot rod" vibe from them. I like the Nardi since it looks a lot like a 911R wheel - my favorite. It's funny, The 380 wheels fit me fine.

The stiff chassis might be sending more of the road through the wheel than a stock car. It just proves that there is no one setup that is best.

[RickS]

This thread has been a fantastic read from start to finish. It’s always interesting how the finished product varies from the original vision, whether by chance or purpose. Really enjoyed your writing and pictures. It is magazine worthy. Not to get too bromancy but then there are your mad metal skills (as well as the Super) which make reading really enjoyable. Very well done.

I went down a similar path with my ‘71 1.7, but fortunately the only metal work was flaring the rear fenders a bit for the 7s and some minor repair around the jackpoints. Went with the Rennshift + Jwest + tailshift which makes a nice “gated” shift. Did the reinforcement thing and 5 lug conversion with a complete elephant polybronze setup. Like you even converted the passenger seat to slide fore/aft. Then completed it with a carbed rebuilt 3.0 with a 914-6 oiler. Had as sport muffler but got tired of it making my ears ring, so went with a stock Danske with the 6 HEs. Like yours, wanted it looking pretty stock on the outside, but relatively radical for the drivetrain and suspension. I too felt like the suspension was way too firm but got used to it and in the corners it is just unreal. It turned out to be a great ride which I enjoy much more for short haul than my hot rodrodded 911. Very similar paths indeed and very well done, from your neighbor to the north.

Enjoy your beauty!

[raynekat]

This thread has been a fantastic read from start to finish. It’s always interesting how the finished product varies from the original vision, whether by chance or purpose. Really enjoyed your writing and pictures. It is magazine worthy. Not to get too bromancy but then there are your mad metal skills (as well as the Super) which make reading really enjoyable. Very well done.

Thanks for the compliments.
It was Cary and Super-in-Law that did all the metalwork....not I.
Many, many people contributed to the completion of this car.
I was just the dreamer, general contractor, assembler and accountant/payer. Ha

[raynekat]

I've never been a fan of wood rim wheels in a 914. I don't get the "hot rod" vibe from them. I like the Nardi since it looks a lot like a 911R wheel - my favorite. It's funny, The 380 wheels fit me fine.

The stiff chassis might be sending more of the road through the wheel than a stock car. It just proves that there is no one setup that is best.

Guess I have most of my height in my lower body....meaning long legs.
I can live with the 380mm for cruising.
But for auto-crossing, I'll need the 350mm for rapid action when blasting through the slalom pylons.
So it looks like I'll be going with the Momo distressed wheel.
Should be a good one for the car.
Now if can just find the "right" horn button.