Stiffening kit/rollcage or both? Options

[oldsoldier]

Just bought a 1973 914 with plans of autox / roadcourse PDX only. I've just had the engine (1.7 carbed) rebuilt as well as the complete brake system done. I bought a used 914 rollcage (4 point bolt in) and plan on installing it next month. Should I also install the stiffening kit as well or will the cage supply enough added support? Thanks in advance....Jack

[oldsoldier]

Thanks for the replys guys. I'm sort of caught between and rock and a hard place as the NV SCCA rules require that a rollcage must be bolted in place not welded.

[jhadler]

Thanks for the replys guys. I'm sort of caught between and rock and a hard place as the NV SCCA rules require that a rollcage must be bolted in place not welded.

So you're planning on running this as a Stock class car in SCCA autox then? That's the only category I can recall that doesn't allow welded-in cages. I think you'll discover that it won't serve either you, or the car, very well to run in a stock category.

There's a whole ton of things that are very much not legal in Stock that are wide open in Street Prepared. And a lot of them are things we take for granted as simple reliability upgrades to the 914. Even something as simple as replacing the ignition points with something more modern and reliable is disallowed in stock category.

And if you're going to take the car to the track, I would strongly recommend at the very least installing a tuna-can sump extension for the oil pick-up. Something that is totally okay in SP, and not okay in Stock.

I could on about the laundry list of things that we commonly do to a 914 to make it more track/autox worthy that isn't legal to in the "new-replaces-old" world of SCCA stock category autox.

This, of course, is predicated on the concept that you want your car to be legal to the rules.... :-)

-Josh2