Suby-engined rustoration, 22-Jun-2025 update: even more racing-related carnage! Options

[strawman]

Hi All --

This is my second post, but I've been lurking on this fine website for a while now. I've wanted a 914 since I was in high school, but always seemed to stumble upon other projects... until recently.

My neighbor gave me this 1973 Porsche 914 about a month ago. He told me he blew a head gasket and parked it in his parents' driveway in 1992. When his parents finally told him to move it or they were calling a local junkyard, he offered it to me since he knows I'm a gearhead. In for a penny, in for a pound...

I hauled it home, knowing that it has some rust issues in the battery area and rear trunk. But it appears to have never been in a wreck and it is complete. It turns out that an exhaust stud pulled, so he coulda fixed it for a couple hundred and probably kept another 914 from languishing but I guess all things happen for a reason (namely, so I would undertake this project!).

I sold the engine to a local Craigslister for use in his Meyers Manx dune buggy, and bought a wrecked but running 1993 Subaru Legacy turbo wagon. This is the closed-deck 2.2 liter engine, and 250 hp is easy with boost control and an open exhaust. I've already done a Subaru into a VW Vanagon and my daily driver is a 1992 Suby Legacy, so this won't be too much of a stretch for me. I plan to use the Suby 5-speed transmission (out of a 1998 Suby Forester) with the Aussie-sourced RWD elimination coupler and custom-mated 914/Suby axles.

I've got a suburban home with a crowded two-car garage (my 125 shifter kart and my daughter's FJA kart will likely get lonely!), a MIG welder, and a wide assortment of air/power/hand tools -- so the adventure begins! This project will likely take a year to finish, so please be patient.

I've attached some pics of the car as found in the driveway, some rust areas and the rear trunk repairs I've started. I'll chronicle the build as I go, so feel free to chime in!

Geoff

[charliew]

You can put your hand on my sons sti after driving it and just get out and open the hood and touch the intake with the spacers.
I have some 2.5 na coolant crossovers and the wrx and sti is wider that is what I was going by. I'm pretty sure the 22t only made 160hp.

Well, I sorta have a motor, I have a 02 wrx motor and tranny with 5k on it that I have had a year or so. I went to kansas and bought the most of a front clip out of a wrx that a older man had bought in 02 but passed away before he could use it. It was on nasioc classifieds. I originally got it to put in a dunebuggy. I decided the buggy would be hard to do a radiator and still look nice. while I was getting the motor ready I built a large 8qt short oil pan and a modified ss header that is shorter and bought the outfront alt bracket and belt. I also have a 96 2.0 tt motor and tranny and all the tt stuff that came with it. I also have a 2.5 sti shortblock and a 2.0 closed deck shortblock And many sets of heads that I have found over the past few years. My son hotrods a sti and I have fabbed him a bigger oilpan and some other stuff for his car. A true cold air intake and a enclosed shroud for his front ic, I have also redone his ss ic piping to have fewer sharp turns.

We took the original motor out of his sti at 40k and put in a built motor with a lot of stuff, bigger cams a bigger turbo, ported heads, bigger oilpump, a external oil bypass to adjust oil pressure and modified tumble generator valves on the intake. He is a me and likes to study this stuff and I like to fab hotrod stuff.

I've got all of his old parts that are left over from his upgrades. He will be the one programming the wrx ecu for me in the 914 with open source romraider. I will probably start with the wrx motor but soon will be making a 2.5 with wrx heads and sti cams with a sti turbo. If he goes to a 35r from the 30r turbo I guess I might try that. The 30r makes a reliable 26lbs of boost on his 2.5. We haven't dynoed his car but the hp is around 400-425 awdhp by his 1/4 mile speed and times but he is really tuning it conservitively on 93 pump gas. He is really not a dragracer.

I have put a bremar conversion on the 96 legacy tranny and have bought two obx lsd's to put in both trannys. The 96 is a 4:44 I think and the wrx tranny is a 3:90. Really the 3:90 is probably the best in the 914. I also have two sets of porscharu's flanges for the trannys. I found some new 17 inch boxter wheels and tires from a porsche dealer in Balitmore for 825 shipped, the tires are 25 inches tall. The tires are 8 in the front and 10 in the rear. I will make a cable shifter but I really want to build a sequential shifter. Suby drivers are notorious for getting in the wrong gear on down shifts and breaking ring lands on the pistons and causing other things like spun rod bearings. I will probably use a air to water ic as I think in the 914 that will be the most efficient. I've gotten the 911 front and rear stuff including the emerg. brake stuff and also the aluminum brembos from the alfa romeo milano to use front and rear. I've got the wrx rad. but also found a new custom 1 inch tube two row alum. rad really cheap on ebay. It was for a v8 ford in a toyota truck but it's the perfect size for the 914, 35.00. It also has 1.250 inlet and outlets.

My only problem is the damn house projects that keep piling up. But also the other toys in the shop. I have also been helping my oldest son restore his 72 super beetle I took away from him in 86.