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TravisNeff
I post every so often in the what did you do to your 914 today thread. Figured I would start a separate thread and have some accountability to get this done.

My car is a 72 which along the way I have swapped the original 1.7 engine out for a 2.0 with DJET & a side shift gearbox.

The plan is to convert to a 1974 2.7 liter six with webers. Along the way I need to do some rust repair - which will be a helluva lot more challenging than the engine swap.

Here's what I am starting with.
TravisNeff
Out comes the 2.0

TravisNeff
The gearbox was leaking pretty bad, I had messed up installing the drive shaft seal on one side, the box was weeping everywhere else. I ended up pulling the stack so I could replace the gaskets around the intermediate plate. I am getting into territory which I have no business poking around in. Anyways its back together and all cleaned up.
TravisNeff
Here's the engine. It is a 1974 2.7 engine (non S) with Weber carbs from one of our world members. It supposedly had a recent top end rebuild. I used one of those little cameras on a cord so I can peek down the plug holes, it has CIS pistons. I imagine this is all stock except for the carbs.

I have taken apart the carbs and cleaned it all up. I also put in a 123 distributor that I purchased from another world member.

I pulled the chainbox cover and found that this engine has mechanical tensioners. I am going to run it this way, may need to revisit that at a later time.

I bought a converted oil cooler which had a leak at the fitting. I had Patrick MS re-do the fitting with a clean and pressure test. Along with that I had the flywheel balanced and put in a stage 2 clutch package with an aluminum faced pressure plate from Kennedy. I used ARP flywheel bolts and tossed the washer as the instructions stated to do.
TravisNeff
Well onto the not so fun stuff. Rust Repair. Several years ago I bought a mig welder and went crazy welding everything in sight. I welded in an engman inner long kit and got the longs too hot which fuquered up my door gaps. I was able to fix this with some good advice here on the site. Since then I have been leary of welding on the car.

Rear trunk floor is shot. I cut this out and have an RD panel to replace it. I also scored a heat shield from a member here. I tossed my old one years ago when it was rattling around in my swiss style trunk floor.

The rear panel on the car was replaced at some point in it's life and only one trunk support survived. I was able to fab up a couple of supports. I also had to weld in new metal to the rear panel as it was rusting where it met the trunk floor. This was an ugly job, I will edit this post later when I take a pic. Good thing the bumper covers that crap up!
horizontally-opposed
Nice ride.

There is just something VERY cool about the way your car looks, Travis. Just the way it is. I shouldn't like the green wheel centers...but I do, and am trying to think of a color that would look better in there and coming up empty. The gray is killer, too.

What tires are you running? That car is gonna be a lot of fun with a six in...
TravisNeff
Moving onto the engine compartment. The top of my long in the hellhole has some holes and needs to be patched. Battery tray comes out too.

I got a shrinker and stretcher tool from HF, along with a cheap-o bending brake. I was able to make the hellhole patch out of 18g steel.

I cut out the offending metal and a piece of the lower firewall. I had to also cut a 2x8 inch patch on the side wall. When welding in the side wall patch the quarter panel pulled tight getting rid of a weird pucker at the leading edge of the rear quarter panel. Quite a bonus and reminder that I need to slow it down.

For the hell hole patch, i spread the welding out over a few days. No shrinking here and looks pretty good.

TravisNeff
QUOTE(horizontally-opposed @ Jun 4 2018, 11:03 PM) *

Nice ride.

There is just something VERY cool about the way your car looks, Travis. Just the way it is. I shouldn't like the green wheel centers...but I do, and am trying to think of a color that would look better in there and coming up empty. The gray is killer, too.

What tires are you running? That car is gonna be a lot of fun with a six in...


Thanks Pete!

I have matching green positive porsche side strip decals, they will go on one of these days. I have since changed the green center caps out for polished ones. I am running 205x55x16 Bridgestone RE11a. These things have a huge carcass - like a 225. I had to do ugly, UGLY things to the wheel wells to make them fit in the rear.
TravisNeff
With all this welding that I have to do, it is time for some door braces. I used 3/4 black pipe from HD and some right and left thread rod ends & inserts from McMaster. The seat belt bolts were a smidgenfuck too large to fit through the rod ends. I put the bolts in the drill press and used a file to make it the right size. I made the brakets that attach to the longs from some rectangular tubing.

Note to self - I will need to get new seat belt bolts!
TravisNeff
Oh, along the way I cleaned up the engine compartment and under the rear trunk. I also took the plunge and cut holes for the Patrick MS oil tank.
TravisNeff
I have the transmission all bolted up to the engine. I also replaced the alternator with one that had an internal voltage regulator so won't have to use the stock relay board. Perry Kiehl fabricated a conversion wiring harness for me, it is some great craftsmanship. It would be a serious horror show to see what it would look like if I made one laugh.gif

A couple years ago I found a 914-6 engine tin set on ebay for a couple hundred bucks. It was raw steel so I had this powder coated in a matte black.

The side tins will need to go in after the engine is in the car, the polybronze rear bushing shaft sticks out farther than the stock pivot arm - found this out the hard way when taking the 4 cyl out and it hung up there.
TravisNeff
Sometime in the past both jack points were replaced. I think they used some steel plate for this.

Under the long is this little hole, tip of the iceberg..
rick 918-S
Very memorable day! Remember that Prius... Car is looking great! Keep going!

Click to view attachment
Dion
Nice work Travis. I do like the green with the gray. Reminds me of Porsche’s 918 look. Keep it! Looks great.
I’ll be following. Good luck!
mb911
Looks great.. Fun projects.. Ping me if you need any help..
JOEPROPER
I like the green wheels! This looks like the start of an interesting thread so keep us posted as the progress continues.
914dave
Nice work! Should be a nice combo. Well worth the time and effort. Keep it up.
TravisNeff
QUOTE(rick 918-S @ Jun 5 2018, 03:01 AM) *

Very memorable day! Remember that Prius... Car is looking great! Keep going!

Click to view attachment


That was a great event, and a fun road in the park!
TravisNeff
With that last photo of the replaced jack point and that itty bitty hole - I started to poke around.
TravisNeff
The long was stuffed with what looks to be Cotton. Damn rodents! I am not surprised I found a whole bunch of dry dog food stuffed in the heater tubes when I installed the inner long kit a long time ago

The longs are rotting from the inside out.
TravisNeff
And a little view of the jack point repair. They cut through the backer part way up, which is kinda scary. However, they used plate steel for the repair and it was definitely strong.
JRust
Wow travis you are flying man. I've still got your spare sitting in my office at work. LOL! One of these days I'm going to stop tripping over it & put it in a box. That replacement panel looks great man. As does your patch for the hell hole. Keep it up man
Coondog
Wow amazing job !!!
TravisNeff
Been sidetracked for a few days. Battery tray patch in the sidewall. I took the car off the jackstands, I had to do some funky shimming of the jack stands to get the chassis level. Plus I need to figure out a plan to support the car while I start cutting into the longs.
914forme
Long steal tubes welded a front crossmember and tie into the rear suspension outer mount.

Jeff has a great version of this as does Mathew.

I'll be watching

Still trying to decide if I am going Webber / PMO or straight to EFI. Any worry about elevation changes?
TravisNeff
I am hoping that I do not need to build a frame.

I was looking at this thread http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...26585&st=40 where Rick had made wheel stands instead. My rust repairs will be about the same as that thread.

As for being worried about elevation changes with carbs? I am more worried about figuring out how to jet and tune them in the first place! I know that elevation changes can cause some funny running issues, but I don't think that is a deal killer.
bryanc
Nice work Travis!
TravisNeff
Thanks Bryan! Good to see you beerchug.gif

I found my floor has a slope side to side at about 3/8 of an inch. If I use some left over 3/8 bamboo flooring on the drivers side it gets me level side to side.

For the back I used a couple 4x4 screwed together and then screwed the ramp stands to it in the back. I dont have any more ramp stands for the front, so I used jack stands at the forward lift points and then a single jack stand at the front trunk floor.

Its mostly level, I need to drop the drivers side rear coilover a 1/4 of an inch or so. I will do that tomorrow.

What do you all think?
porschetub
QUOTE(Travis Neff @ Jun 5 2018, 05:32 PM) *

I post every so often in the what did you do to your 914 today thread. Figured I would start a separate thread and have some accountability to get this done.

My car is a 72 which along the way I have swapped the original 1.7 engine out for a 2.0 with DJET & a side shift gearbox.

The plan is to convert to a 1974 2.7 liter six with webers. Along the way I need to do some rust repair - which will be a helluva lot more challenging than the engine swap.

Here's what I am starting with.


Nice car ,that paint drooley.gif drooley.gif ,welcome to the madness of a six conversion,looks like you are well on the way with some great parts already.
Try to look into replacing the solid chain tentioners they are for cam setup or race engines that get freshened often,they place unwanted load on the chains and intermediate shaft and bearings.
Buy some good used mechanical ones and rebuild them,pretty sure the rebuild kits are still for sale,fit chain saver collars and you will be golden.
What plans have you for an engine mount,oil tank and shifter rod?.
Keep up the good work ,I personally enjoy six conversions ,the finished job is the best part when folks find out after a first test drive how well they go beerchug.gif .
TravisNeff
I will change out the mechanical tensioners, but I want to get the conversion done and make sure it runs first.

I am doing a patrick motorsports Tank, Engine mount & front cooler. I have not tackled the shift rod yet. The Tangerine racing one looks good to me. I might try building my own from my spare tail shift linkage and side shift linkage.
rick 918-S
QUOTE(Travis Neff @ Jun 13 2018, 12:45 AM) *

Thanks Bryan! Good to see you beerchug.gif

I found my floor has a slope side to side at about 3/8 of an inch. If I use some left over 3/8 bamboo flooring on the drivers side it gets me level side to side.

For the back I used a couple 4x4 screwed together and then screwed the ramp stands to it in the back. I dont have any more ramp stands for the front, so I used jack stands at the forward lift points and then a single jack stand at the front trunk floor.

Its mostly level, I need to drop the drivers side rear coilover a 1/4 of an inch or so. I will do that tomorrow.

What do you all think?


agree.gif that should work welder.gif sawzall-smiley.gif smash.gif welder.gif
daytona
Nice looking car and all the work looks good. But those jack stands.... that looks dangerous to me. I would like to see something more secure or at least some redundant support if you are going to be getting under that thing. There are some horror stories about failed jack stands.
Go forward but be safe.
mb911
What are you using for exhaust?
mepstein
I’m a chicken shit. I would never work under a car set up like that. Be careful about putting torque on a fastener.
914forme
Travis I would screw a bunch of 2z4s in a stack to do it, then shim the bottoms with metal plate.

Click to view attachment

Easy and sturdy

Click to view attachment

This seemed to work also, but not sure I would trust my rotor to hold the car up blink.gif

Click to view attachment

Just wondering on the carbs, as I tend to over think this stuff, and figure somebody would know who might deal with elevation changes more than I do. Just don't want to setup the car drive to Georgia for Okteenerfest and hate the drive due to miss behaving carbs.

Also I can say Tangerine Racings shift rod is a thing of beauty, yes it can be made, sometimes I prefer to support the vendors that support the community. That is why I would got your mount from Rich, Maddog, or headbang.gif Forgot his name headbang.gif and the oil tank from Ben. Spread the love to the guys trying to make my life easier. And yes I have purchased items from PMS also, so I get it. High quality pretty easy to deal with. completely get that idea.
TravisNeff
I'll take a look at adding a 4x4 as a 2nd i-beam. Again they each rear is now one piece as the wood is screwed together and the ramp is screwed to the wood.

Yes the front is pretty far up there. I think I will take off the front wheels and stack them under the front for insurance. The 2x4 route looks good but I can't get the car much higher than it is. I would need to go up another 8 inches or a foot

PMS is 15 minutes away from me and they have done some work on another car for me in the past, so I try to keep that relationship alive where it makes sense. I bought a lot of these parts before Ben started making them.

For exhaust I have a used set of rusty looking 1 5/8 headers that I got off of another forum member. I have a used dansk 2 in 2 out sport muffler
mepstein
Bob Saville , naro Motorsports for the engine mount.
TravisNeff
I was going to buy from Bob as his looks like they are stronger than the PMS. But at that time he was out of stock
TravisNeff
Thanks for all the input so far, I appreciate the feedback. I added a 2nd 4x4 to the I-beam and went a little screw crazy on the new and existing wood. It's not going anywhere.

Still thinking about what to do for extra support/insurance for the front. I have the jack stands oriented 90 degrees from one another so it does not rock on the same plane.
sixnotfour
good work welder.gif
mepstein
I throw extra wheels with tires under the car. I also have an old safe that I roll under sometimes. I’ll keep the jack under the car in addition to the stands. Like I said - I’m a chicken.
TravisNeff
I added a 4th jack stand underneath the tunnel about 1/2 way back for the time being. I will stack the tires under the front as well.

I just ordered these jack stands. Pin lock and screw adjustment. Everyone needs at least 5 sets of jack stands laugh.gif https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0085IJNN...=UTF8&psc=1

Now to try to get the drivers side 4 cyl mount out.
mb911
I need to post the picture of my no fail jack stands. They work for leveling.. I actually thought about making them and selling them but that could be a major liability.
Mueller
QUOTE(Travis Neff @ Jun 13 2018, 12:31 PM) *

Thanks for all the input so far, I appreciate the feedback. I added a 2nd 4x4 to the I-beam and went a little screw crazy on the new and existing wood. It's not going anywhere.

Still thinking about what to do for extra support/insurance for the front. I have the jack stands oriented 90 degrees from one another so it does not rock on the same plane.

I'd either screw those stands to the wood below or strap them down.
TravisNeff
The ramp stand is already screwed down to the wood, its all one piece.
TravisNeff
QUOTE(mb911 @ Jun 13 2018, 02:55 PM) *

I need to post the picture of my no fail jack stands. They work for leveling.. I actually thought about making them and selling them but that could be a major liability.


Please do!
mepstein
QUOTE(mb911 @ Jun 13 2018, 05:55 PM) *

I need to post the picture of my no fail jack stands. They work for leveling.. I actually thought about making them and selling them but that could be a major liability.

Patent them and sell the patent to one of the big manufacturers
djb
Really great thread!

Consider using a water level to make sure your chassis is perfectly level before you start cutting things. Super easy to do and you will be guaranteed dead nuts on.

https://www.wikihow.com/Use-a-Water-Level

David
TravisNeff
QUOTE(djb @ Jun 13 2018, 09:10 PM) *

Really great thread!

Consider using a water level to make sure your chassis is perfectly level before you start cutting things. Super easy to do and you will be guaranteed dead nuts on.

https://www.wikihow.com/Use-a-Water-Level

David



Oooh! I will give that a shot, thank you!
Larmo63
Your project looks well on it's way to success!

I used a lot of Patrick Motorsports' products in my conversion, and I'm glad I did. I took a ribbing from some fellow 914 "friends" (who will remain anonymous, and who have nothing but trouble with their cars) for being a spendthrift and a "retail buyer" for using costly PMS stuff.

It's quality stuff. I'd recommend the PMS rear shift linkage bar, mine has worked out very well.

I loved the wheels when I saw the car in Arizona, keep up the great work. smilie_pokal.gif
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