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914World.com _ 914World Garage _ red dawg racing

Posted by: brewster Oct 12 2005, 02:10 PM

Has anyone done business with red dawg racing. I'm interested in one of their body kits and anything you might have to say.
BruceHinds@earthlink.net

Posted by: Mueller Oct 12 2005, 02:18 PM

are they still in business?

Posted by: Rand Oct 12 2005, 02:20 PM

I dunno, but their web site is still up...
http://www.reddawgracing.com

Posted by: Carlitos Way Oct 12 2005, 02:39 PM

They still regularly sell their "V8 sub-chassis" for 914's on ebay. I spoke with them last month. The guy is a real talker. Don't know about their quality. I couldnt' find much about them here.

Posted by: aircooledboy Oct 12 2005, 02:59 PM

Go to Renegade's site, see the "Wall of Shame". Should tell you all you need to know.

Posted by: 736conver Oct 12 2005, 03:06 PM

Dont know about there body kits. But back when I was thinking about doing a V8 conversion I had talked to them. Some good ideas and some scary ones. They used to take a 911 steel trailing arm and meld it with a 914 trailing arm to do the 5 lug conversion with big brakes. Not something I would want to ride on.

Posted by: SirAndy Oct 12 2005, 08:48 PM

QUOTE (aircooledboy @ Oct 12 2005, 01:59 PM)
Go to Renegade's site, see the "Wall of Shame". Should tell you all you need to know.

QUOTE
They used to take a 911 steel trailing arm and meld it with a 914 trailing arm to do the 5 lug conversion with big brakes.

this is some *very* scary stuff !!!!

http://www.renegadehybrids.com/WallofShame/Yellow_914.html

user posted image

Posted by: nebreitling Oct 12 2005, 08:53 PM

HOLY CRAP! that is SCAAARY!

Posted by: Mr.C Oct 12 2005, 10:46 PM

For some reason angle iron just doesn't look right on a car.

Posted by: Andyrew Oct 12 2005, 10:54 PM

I got some angle iron holding my radiator....

Ya, seen those pics before.. Lost all respect for that company...

Posted by: dmenche914 Oct 13 2005, 12:12 AM

They screwed up a friends V8 project. He had to and have the welds redone, but then found some of the metal tubing they used on the subframe for the car was electrical conduit! (thin wall!!!) The frame was not square either, really poor quality. They did not have the tools needed nor the abiltiy to do the job. They gave my friend the run around,

He had lots of problems with them, bad workmanship, bad materials, delays, parts off his car gone missing, etc...He lost a lot of money with them. Horrible experience. Everything had to be redone.

Stay away from them, even if they offer to do the work for free.

Posted by: Mr.C Oct 13 2005, 06:25 AM

QUOTE (Andyrew @ Oct 12 2005, 08:54 PM)
I got some angle iron holding my radiator....

Ya, seen those pics before.. Lost all respect for that company...

Ok let me re-word that.....angle iron in this instance as a supporting suspension piece doesn't look right.

Posted by: Rider914 Oct 13 2005, 09:23 PM

The body kit is an draws crowds - good or bad I don't know. . . It depends on what floats your boat?? I like it for a modified car.

Attached image(s)

Posted by: Rider914 Oct 13 2005, 09:24 PM

The 911 trailing arm can be done better -

Attached image(s)

Posted by: SirAndy Oct 13 2005, 09:32 PM

QUOTE (Rider914 @ Oct 13 2005, 08:24 PM)
The 911 trailing arm can be done better

but WHY ????

Andy

Posted by: Rider914 Oct 13 2005, 09:45 PM

QUOTE (SirAndy @ Oct 13 2005, 07:32 PM)

QUOTE (Rider914 @ Oct 13 2005, 08:24 PM)
The 911 trailing arm can be done better

but WHY ????

Andy

Beats me??

I want to do some kind of comparison. . . anyone got a v8 914 near me?

Posted by: Rider914 Oct 13 2005, 09:53 PM

Andy, If you are ever in Floriduh stop by. I will let you take it for a spin.

Posted by: Crazyhippy Oct 15 2005, 01:39 PM

QUOTE (SirAndy @ Oct 12 2005, 06:48 PM)
this is some *very* scary stuff !!!!

http://www.renegadehybrids.com/WallofShame/Yellow_914.html

user posted image

You like my pics

The scary part is this car had no miles on it, and the welds were already developing cracks

The body kits look nice, but their finishing work leaves a bit to be desired. I've had my hands on at least 3 of them. On every one, at the base of the windshield, the fenders have no support. It flexes really easily, and i dont know if it wil end up as a bigger problem or not in the future.

They also have a thing for making convertables out of 914's... to the targa bar, and away we go then weld some pins on the now removable targa bar so it doesn't slide off when it's put back on (no method of holding it down other than gravity)
Note the seam at the base of the targa bar
user posted image

Another angle

In conclusion, Good looking body kit, questionable quality, less than desireable concept of safe, or acceptable.

My .02
BJH (Hippy96B@hotmail.com if someone disagrees)

Posted by: jd74914 Oct 15 2005, 01:44 PM

that car kinda rides high off the gound

it does look like a rather nice body kit (better than the chalons IMHO)

Posted by: Crazyhippy Oct 15 2005, 04:23 PM

That's where the cars owner wanted it... i guess the roads in his area are a bit on the rough side (or he plans on running paris-dakar )

I agree it looks better than the chalon kits, but i really dispise the acordian thing that the chalons put on the edge of the bumper

Posted by: Rider914 Oct 15 2005, 08:44 PM

"They also have a thing for making convertables out of 914's... to the targa bar, and away we go then weld some pins on the now removable targa bar so it doesn't slide off when it's put back on (no method of holding it down other than gravity)
Note the seam at the base of the targa bar"

Everyone needs to take a ride in one of these kits when in convertible mode once. I am amazed at the lack of wind buffeting - I don't know why this car works so well but it is better than any production car I have been in. This is the way I drive it 99% of the time, I only put the targa bar on if it may rain and I have no other driving options.
One day I will own a bone stock teener - and I will smile at it's original design. . .

Posted by: Crazyhippy Oct 15 2005, 08:52 PM

have any pics of the targa "mounting" system?

You're car is nice, how much of it has been re-done since it left red-dawg?

And you are right about the buffeting, i was pleasantly surprised.

Posted by: Rider914 Oct 15 2005, 09:14 PM

QUOTE (Crazyhippy @ Oct 15 2005, 06:52 PM)
have any pics of the targa "mounting" system?

You're car is nice, how much of it has been re-done since it left red-dawg?

And you are right about the buffeting, i was pleasantly surprised.

I will post some pics of the Targa mounting "system" when I put it back on - I will also ask for better ideas for securing. I agree that it isn't the "safest" way to tie it down, but I do have a roll bar, it doesn't spend much time with the targa on and after all it is a thin doored '72 and I don't expect much more than a motorcycle for crash protection. But a rear window upside the head isn't what I would want.

I don't know the history of the car before the 5 - 6 years I owned it.

It has less buffeting in convertible mode than with the top off and the rear window piece on.

How many kits do you think are out there?

Posted by: Crazyhippy Oct 15 2005, 10:52 PM

out there, or actually on the road?

I know of 3 plus yours, and 2 of the 3 are on the road now (plus yours again).

The 3rd is the yellow car that the suspension pics came from. It would have cost more to get the car fixed to a safe level than the owner had budgeted.
It would need:
Complete 911 front suspension and brakes (a-arms, struts/spindles, sway bar, hubs, rotors, calipers, brake lines, etc)
complete 914 rear suspension (trailing arms, shocks, springs, etc)
911 rear rotors and calipers (and lines)
2 of the wheels had MAJOR curb rash, and a 3rd was visibly bent when spun by hand
, so add them as well
4 tires, the ones on it still had nubs, but were so weather checked they leaked down roughly 1psi/night
That gets it back to a roller...
then theres a tranny re-build (i no longer trust ANYTHING to have been done reasonably well on this car )
Motor freshening (same reasons as above, if it's not done know, it will be needed in the near future, do it while it's out)
The fuel line was replaced by braided stainless line (hose clamped to hardlines on both ends ) run up the center tunnel (until it wouldn't fit through the factory holes, so it came up through the rear access panel, and through the firewall )Need to replace that too
The wiring in the motor compartment was cut off and then hardwired to the motor so you either have to replace the wiring harness, or spend some serious time backwards engineering the wireing
Who knows about the back of the guages
The shifter setup in the car was 100% backwards (915 trans, 1st was all the way right and up, reverse was right and down, 2nd was centered and down, etc )plan on doing a cable setup
Then you get to the regular conversion stuff...
Radiator, clutch pieces, halfshafts.

Poor car, it was nice and rust free, and someone killed it

Sorry for the rant, this is a bit of a hot subject for me though. I love the idea of a well done v8 car, (rider914 understands why). Cars like this are unfortunatly what alot of people assume all v-8 cars end up like, and that makes me sick

Oh yeah
BJH

Posted by: Rider914 Oct 15 2005, 11:02 PM

Kinda makes mine "special". . .

I make no boasts about it. It is what it is. I like it.

Thanks for the info on the ones you have seen (crazyH) - if you ever want to take mine for a spin let me know. One way or another it will scare the S%^t out of you.

Posted by: Crazyhippy Oct 15 2005, 11:18 PM

You'd be suprised... i've driven a v8 teen or 20 in my time

The scariest ones aren't the High HP, high dollar cars (they're a rush ), they're the ones that were thrown together still on stock, non vented brakes... the 3rd or 4th time you get on the brakes, they fade really bad, and you're scared to death until the damn thing actually stops.

Course right now i'm driving a stock 1.7L car... a Honda CRX is impressive acceleration wise right now

BJH

Posted by: Andyrew Oct 16 2005, 12:32 AM

v8's with stock brakes and suspension are scary...

Simular to muscle cars..... lol

One purpose, straight line, You wana turn? your screwed, you wana brake? your even more screwed....