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)

[914Sixer]

Best of luck and sharing the memory.

[BillJ]

Here is the car as i re-discovered it in 2020:

[mepstein]

It’s always special to get back a family car. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[BillJ]

More from seeing the car 12 years.

[Cairo94507]

Great story and I am so glad you got that very special car back in your garage. I know your dad is smiling as he looks down to see you enjoying his car. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[76-914]

Great story and nice looking car. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[BillJ]

Once i purchased the car the first order of business was to go through all the critical systems and to address general condition of the car. There was a lot of cleaning to do throughout and as each area was cleaned the plan was to paint and update whatever was needed.

I started with the brakes. At Summit Point PCA race they were overheating so wanted to do a full analysis of needs there.


This is what they looked like in the front:



I decided that all 4 calipers should go to PMB for full restoration and i ordered new soft and hard lines at each corner. Also, the cool brake ducting was in terrible shape and certainly not helping the cooling (and maybe i should brake less too).

Restored and installed:

Also notice the stainless steel line - that is another story i will cover later.

I also replaced the brake fluid reservoir, lines, and master cylinder.

[mate914]

Keep up the good fight. Car looks great!

Matt (IMG:style_emoticons/default/flag.gif)

[rgolia]

Excellent Bill .........love the story

[Root_Werks]

Very cool story and history.

[brant]

great backstory... very nice.

[euro911]

Awesome (IMG:style_emoticons/default/aktion035.gif)

Sorry the hear about your dad's passing.

[BillJ]

Next i addressed the interior. The seats were very out of date having been in there since 2003! The belts were out of date as well so those needed updating. Once the seats went in the mouting in existing brackets worked well on the width but they did sit higher in regards to the shoulder belts. This meant an almost 45 degree angle upward to reach the openings from the wirewall mounts. This absolutely had to change so i had a new bar made up and a friend of mine installed behind the seats at the correct angle. Safety first!

Here is the bar with seat and harness installed. You can see the old mounting points in gold still in place as well.



And the harness and seat setup.

[troth]

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.

Great story... PLEASE share some more pics and details of this engine if you're able. I hope it is still with the car. From the other pics you posted looks like the MFI was replaced with carbs.

[BillJ]

Next was installation of fire suppresion. The car had a single hand held extinguisher in between the seats. Meets race rules but not really adequate for a serious fire of any sort. Chose aqueous foam as it is proven and doesnt cut off my oxygen like a gas solution. There are two nozzles pointed at the carbs in the engine bay, two nozzles pointed at the floor/occupants in the cabin, one where the original gas tank was that now houses battery and fuel pump, and one in front section of front trunk that addresses the fuel cell. I also have a hand held Element extinguisher for minor issues that wont leave a huge mess like the foam will.

[BillJ]

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.

Great story... PLEASE share some more pics and details of this engine if you're able. I hope it is still with the car. From the other pics you posted looks like the MFI was replaced with carbs.

That motor threw a rod at Watkins Glen in the early 90s. The super sweet mechanical injection i believe went to Jim Newton and my father switched to a less aggressive (and expensive) 2.7RS engine built by Chris Musante.

Shame it still isnt with the car. That injection setup alone would be at least $25k today if you can even find it.

Edit- will look for pics but not sure i have any. Chris musante sold off any salvageable parts a long time ago.

[BillJ]

Next item to change was out of necesity. On the way back from the pro shop a wire ended up contacting something bad under the dash and i had a ton of smoke in the cabin. Pulled over and grabbed the extinguisher thinking the worst. I hit the kill switch and no active fire started thank goodness. Of course i had high confidence in my suppression tools but glad i didnt need to use them!

So the decision for what to do for the electical system? Choice A was to patch the melty wires and keep rolling. Choice B was to install brand new -6 harness. Choice C was to install aftermarket harness kit. Choice D was to go with an AIM PDM, dash, and smartycam setup.

Choice A was pretty hack and i really didnt want to have things done part way. B was very attractive but at a price point of $3600 gave me some pause. Option C i actually acted on and purchased a harness by Bare Bonz from JEGS. However I ended up going with solution D as, for around the price of just the original style harness, i could get a full plug and play setup for the track that was custom built for my needs. I need only a small fraction of wires and kept headlights, wipers, brake lights.

Major components are the Power Distribution module that serves as fuse block and central brain of the system, the Dash which is really configurable, and the smartycam which autorecords when you go faster than 25mph.

[BillJ]

In concert with the electrical system i wanted to address the dash.

The PO built a nice dash but it was rather heavy and not really in keeping with my vision so worked with an awesome friend of mine who took a stock dash and rebuilt the front out of aluminum for a clean look that will allow installation of accessories. I am really excited about it but still need to figure out a nice enclosure for the back of the gauge pod. The hoop and upper secrion of dash are stock so will try to mirror as close to original look as possible. Function trumps that though. Will be installing electrical kill switch in next couple days. Has the AIM keypad, fire extinguisher pull, and data upllink installed.

[BillJ]

The cage had a bar under the dash that was meant to keep integrity in case of side impact. However for me the bar landed about an inch away from my knee in my preferred seating arrangement. If i had any impact to the front i would likely impact my kneecaps in the steel and probably be permanently injured. Not so cool!

So had a bar made to fit higher up under the dash that provides the same protection without the same clear risk. My buddy Ryan again to the rescue!