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

[strawman]

I finally got around to finishing the rear trunk replacement, including cleaning up the welds, ospho-ing the bare metal, and epoxy primering those prepped areas. While I had the spray gun out, I also epoxy primered the GT chassis kit, the passenger side suspension console, the Tangerine Racing suspension ear reinforcements and the engine mounts. Finally, I sandblasted the front 911 A-arms and epoxy primered 'em. I will take pics and post them this weekend.

I also finished up the raised spindles on the Bilstein struts that I showed in post #84 above. Below is a pic of the lower arm I fabricated and welded on. I made the concave cuts by simply using a 2" hole saw in the middle of a 2-foot piece of 2"x0.1875" flat bar stock; with a little massaging with a rat-tail file, the lower arms fit just about perfectly on the OD of the Bilstein strut housing at the correct angle. I cut a piece of 3/4" black gas pipe on the lathe to ensure it was cut square (2.5" long), and used that as a spacer while I welded the lower arm on each strut housing. I then drilled out the 14mm hole in the lower arm. It fits perfectly and square at the correct angle. I tapered the lower arms toward the rod end so it looks all purty.



Getting the parts was a PITA, as I had to source stuff from both sides of the pond. I got the 110mm long M14 grade 12.9 Allen bolts from Grainger, as well as the 14mm drill bit. The 14mm female couplers (that mate the male rod end with the turbo tie rods setup) and some M14 castle nuts were sourced from specialty bolt supplier in SoCal. The rod ends, high-angle rod end spacers and jam nuts came from McGill Motorsports in England. I also sourced some cool rubber boots (not shown) that keep grime out of the rod ends from McGill.

I still need to drill cotter pin holes in the bottom of the Allen bolts, chuck up some round stock to make the final spacers (after I mock up the front end and see where vertically the rod end should sit to avoid bump-steer), and then the hardware side of things should be wrapped up for steering setup.