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Posted by: Arnage Aug 12 2017, 08:32 AM

Hello. I am new to this group. I am looking for the original wheel and tire specs for factory 1970-72 914-6 GT's.

Posted by: BENBRO02 Aug 12 2017, 10:36 AM

According to "A Restorer's Guide to Authenticity" a 914/6 M471 package had 15"x6" Fuchs with spacers.

Posted by: Arnage Aug 12 2017, 10:42 AM

Thanks. That sounds more like the wheel size for a standard 914/6. I thought they were more like 7's and 8's or 8's and 9's; thus, the need for the flares.

Posted by: Kansas 914 Aug 12 2017, 11:46 AM

I always thought the reason you would often see Mini-Lites on the rear was that there were no Fuchs wide enough at the time?

I am pretty sure M471's were 7's up front and 8's in back.

Posted by: mepstein Aug 12 2017, 12:40 PM

From what I understand, Fuchs were 8" and they used 9" minilites. But Porsche always had prototype and race parts for their race cars so race to race could be something else. And I think it was 6" on some of the rally cars.

M471 cars are also known as GT cars.

Posted by: burton73 Aug 12 2017, 12:47 PM

In pictures of the Daytona winning 914-6 the wheels do not look very wide.

Most people now put 7” up front and 8s in rear with factory flares. I have 8” and 9” 16 on my car now but have bought a set of 7” and 8” 15 to give what I think is a more correct look. But the correct 1970, 71 or so look of the wheels look whinny to me.

Bob B

Posted by: jmz Aug 12 2017, 12:58 PM

Pretty sure SVRA wants 15x8 as max and you can do that on all 4.

They look pretty good with 15x8&9 ...sometimes minlites on the rears.

Posted by: Kansas 914 Aug 12 2017, 01:05 PM

I was just reading a quote from Steve Gaglione the owner of the Stenger GT and he wrote:

"My plan is to bring the "Strenger GT" back to its original form excluding a few very cool things that Erich Strenger did to the car. Like the 911S brakes and the 7 and 8 by 15 inch fuchs."

Perhaps there were variants and came with different wheels? Factory GT - M471 - M491

This is a great thread with Steve and Gustl adding info: http://www.914world.com/bbs2/lofiversion/index.php?t90377.html

Posted by: sixnotfour Aug 12 2017, 01:17 PM

The reason for mini lights, is there was no Fuch 9s until the 911 RSR ,,,72 date code and hard to get

Posted by: Kansas 914 Aug 12 2017, 01:36 PM

Got it - thanks Jeff!

Posted by: 914Sixer Aug 13 2017, 09:31 AM

According to the GT Parts booklet the available wheels were 6 or 7 inch as needed. There is a list of available spacers too.


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Posted by: McMark Aug 13 2017, 09:38 AM

A well lit cell phone pic (from a modern smart phone) has sufficient resolution.

Posted by: 914Sixer Aug 13 2017, 10:13 AM

Page info added.

Posted by: Dave_Darling Aug 13 2017, 11:15 AM

Which 914-6 GT cars are you talking about as your examples? There were only a couple of dozen made by the factory, the rest were done afterward by various shops, using some or all of the specific parts, often with the shop's own ideas thrown in.

Wheel sizes could vary from year to year for the same car--or even from race to race, depending on what wheels were available, what tires were available, possibly upon sponsor contracts, and more.

Your best bet is to either pick one car at one point in time and use it as your example, or just pick something that looks and feels right to you.

--DD

Posted by: horizontally-opposed Aug 13 2017, 11:58 AM

^ Dave is spot on.

"Correct" when it comes to 914-6 GT is a tricky subject. The factory cars ran rallies on 15x5.5 steel wheels and 15x5x5 Mahle alloys. They were also equipped with 15x6-inch Fuchs (and 15x7 Fuchs and maybe 15x8 Fuchs). But others built up 914-6 GTs from the kits offered by Porsche, sometimes using parts Porsche supplied—or some of those parts—and sometimes not. Those cars are considered real GTs, also—and may have run wider Fuchs and/or Minilites. 15x7, 15x8, and 15x9 wheels were all used in period.

Posted by: racerbvd Aug 14 2017, 10:46 AM

I have a 71 date coded 9x15, maybr a pair, in my Fuchs stash. Peter Gregg ran 10x15 minorities as the widest fuchs were 9x15.
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Posted by: Perry Kiehl Aug 14 2017, 12:32 PM

For a period correct look, I'd opt for 7&8 x 15"s. If you haven't put the flairs on yet, and have bank I'd go with 7 & 9 x 16"s but that's probably at least another $1500 over what you'd pay for the 15's

Posted by: sixnotfour Aug 14 2017, 03:01 PM

Oops I forgot the 911 ST

Posted by: SirAndy Aug 14 2017, 03:46 PM

There is no one specific combination, they came with several options.

Basically, anything from 7"/8" to 9"/11" was possible.





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Posted by: Arnage Aug 14 2017, 03:59 PM

Thanks for all the feedback. I was looking for factory GT specs which, from what I have read, appear to be 7 and 8x15's. Subject car already has steel GT flares, so those are the wheel sizes I will use if I go forward with the project. I used to race an IMSA style 914-6 GT in vintage so I am aware there were many wheel variants over time. That car had 11" rear flares with 10x15 BBS rear wheels. Thanks again for all the thoughts and information.


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Posted by: johnhora Aug 14 2017, 04:11 PM

So what size tires are you guys using for your 7 & 8 x 15 Fuchs for a street application to look period correct?

Posted by: horizontally-opposed Aug 14 2017, 05:00 PM

^ Cool car!



Michelin TBs hard to beat if gummy tires are desirable. Steering is beautiful, ride easily good enough for the street. Jeff Zwart runs these on his car, on 7s & 9s. For a pure street tire, Pirelli P6000 N-spec in 195/65R15 and 215/60R15 on Eric Shea's car look great. He can probably speak to handling. Now there are two more options: Avon CR6ZZ in 185/70 and 215/60 and Pirelli CN36 in the same sizes.

Of the above, the CN36 is the only one that's truly period correct. The P6000 is the only one that can be criticized for looking a bit out of period, but it still looks good.

Posted by: larryM Aug 20 2017, 09:55 PM

everything above is about right - it depended almost entirely on what racing/rallye venue's rules were to be followed - and in what year

The Info for Sports Purposes document 4890.20-200-03-72 (see page 33-35) shows the 914/6 (on all 4, not staggered) 6"x15 for rallye, with tires spec 185/70-15; and 7"x15 wheels for racing with racing tires spec 4.75/10.00-15 (same as on 917 www.flickr.com/photos/wbaiv/6252749070) - the 914/6 was spec'd for 21mm spacers with the 6's, and 27/35mm for the 7's (also spec'd long studs & steel lugnuts for racing)

as a general rule - 7x15's were the FIA homologation spec as seen in the "factory docs";

fwiw - even tho we love 'em for a 914-6 - the 8x15 Fuchs did not show up until the 1984 Carrera as an option (7x15 frt, 8x15 rear) according to a July 1985 Panorama story - page 45

let's also remember that the "porsche spec performance tire" of 1970 was a 185/70xVR15 for both the 911 & 914/6

my TUV K'brief shows my car was fitted & approved for 4 "7x15 alu" wheels for German road use - (i.e. Fuchs) - sometime later my car was fitted in Germany with 4 custom lite-weight 7.5" steelies which can be seen in my old photos on Pbase - they only weighed about the same as alloys - unfortunately i was unaware of their rarity & let 'em "get lost" long ago

SCCA GCR up to 1972 generally allowed 1" wider than FIA spec; in the 1972 GCR they went up to 1.5" wider, but limited overall track width in both cases - so that's why most serious vintage groups & PCA allow 8x15's - but no x16's

for the street - 15's are hard to fit with good all-around-use tires - so i run 4-7x16 Fuchs with AS3's so that i can freely rotate them to get better wear/life and use year-'round

if you plan to race it - read the rulebook for that venue - or be prepared to own several sets of wheels & tires (i have 3 different sets-of-4 for my GT plus a pair of 8x16, and 3 sets for my MGB)

for scca & vara i ran 7&8x16 BBS; for HMSA & PCA i could only run x15 Fuchs - we are talking directional tires here - usually DOT-legal racing tires,

.... HMSA would allow pure slicks (see Jon Wactor 9140430375 and Eddie Arrowsmith running goodyear cantilevers) because the 4.75/10's were allowed per factory spec - the story is that Arrowsmith successfully petitioned HMSA for that

- IIRC the Sunoco GT used non-Fuchs (minilite?) rear wheels 'cuz ther was no 8" Fuchs then (or maybe it was the French car Ranson Webster now owns & races 9140430457 - or both)

- pay-to-play

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