So I may have messed up my order of operations here but my car is in paint and I am looking to figure out what chasis reinforcement would make sense for my car. The car is a metal flaired 1970 914-4. The motor is a 2056, the car will mostly be used for spirited driving on the street with 8” wide rears maybe an occasional autox. I have heard some stiffening just adds weight or is not necessary for a mild engine conversion like the 2056. I don’t want to waste money and add extra weight if not necessary.
Currently I am looking at the inner long kit from Maddox and Tangerine Heim rods from the firewall to rear suspension pickup.
I look forward to hearing suggestions from those with experience.
The mods you suggest are the right ones for your application. Tons of posts about going slow when welding in the chassis stiffeners.
And as long as you're going to place an order with Tangerine, treat yourself to a set of Chris' door bar braces to use when installing those stiffeners.
Oh, and let me be the first:
I will be running a steel flared, aggressive street 914 with probably 8" rears, similar to what you are running with a 2056.
I am keeping the car light and using stock sway bars. If the chassis kits were thinner gauge, I would consider installing them but for now I simply repaired all sheet metal back to original design ...
I do like the rear suspension console reinforcements to firewall/outer chassis though
For a full race car ...YES
For a street car (occasional autox/DE) with a sound body conditon...NO
Most people who install the inner long kit seem happy with the results.
I'm probably going to do tangerine racing's suspension console reinforcement because I have it, looks cool to me and couldn't hurt. The outer suspension consoles are a weak point on our cars.
I have the inner long kit. It is noticeably stiffer, especially when you drive at an angle into a driveway.
The factory stiffening can be useful for cars which see a lot of track and autocross with race rubber and possibly DOT R tires. I have seen instances of the body ripping or cracking above the rear suspension mounts. This would be double thick with that kit.
What your describing is not a whole long way from stock.
Oh, BTW, isn’t that 2056 a great motor?
I would say that in reality for a street car the Maddog inners are not even needed.
Tangerine's rear console re-enforcements would be my first and only thing.
I have a heavily modified 914 chassis in my EG build, Maddog inner, 914 LTD outers, Tangerine racing everything else, including the rear suspension 2" raise. Super stiff chassis. I can jack it up and lift three wheels with just 1/8" of deflection across the chassis. the 914 style roof should help get that last bit out of the equation. I ran DOT-R on this car. was planning on going to slicks for the next level.
For my fathers 914-6 I have the Maddog unit if I need it. But am thinking I will only install Chris's rear suspension stuff. Though I doubt it will be needed, then I have done my fair share of replacing rear inner suspension consoles.
Its all relative to where your car has been before rust wise. For a 2056, you're not going to split the chassis going around corners, unless again, the car's in used up shape to begin with...
Thanks for all the input. Overall the car is pretty solid. I will have a little pan work to do soon but not near as bad as most driver cars I see out there. I think I may still do the mad dog inners just to get the car a little tighter feel and additional piece of mind. I haven’t gotten to dive the car with the 2056 in it yet but I am sure it will put a smile on my face. I have only driven a 1.7 914 and I didn’t want to go too crazy on this car just looking for a unique driver.
So you say it’s “in paint”. Does that mean you’ll be adding these afterwards? NO, you dont need any of that with a solid car. If you want to stiffen for spirited driving or autocross, consider a bolt in gt style hoop (rear hoop and diagonal bars to longs) like Shea’s or the one mcmark was making. Minimal paint damage that’s covered by carpet.
Though it does change the look of the outer long, the stiffener kit that Brad Mayeur at 914Ltd. put together does a great job of strengthening the area. It fits all the way from the rear suspension pickup points to the front of the long and I can really feel the difference between my conversion car (with his kit) and my stock 914-6. For a track car, a cage is best, but inappropriate for a street car.
1970 914, with added stress = inner ear reinforcement #1
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