Subaru Conversion, Helpful Hints Options

[Porscharu914]

Recently I was gifted a '71 914. This car was given to me by a member at the country club I work at. In 1983 he took the car to a shop in Nebraska where he paid a guy 4k to do a FULL restoration to the motor and body. ($4000.00 went slightly farther than it would today) The guy was supposed to work on the car on the weekends and they planned the project to take 18-24 months. After the motor/trans were pulled and the body work had been done the shop closed down and the car had to go....NOW. The guy I got the car from picked it up from the shop and stored it, mid restoration, in a garage thinking someday he'd get to it. The car hadn't been touched from then until last 2 Sundays ago and I'm now the proud owner of a primed, motorless, transmissionless, brakeless, and interiorless 914. With all the resources and personal abilities I have I should be able to flip the car in about 2 years....hopefully sooner.

Since the motor and transmission were pulled and mysteriously went 80% of the way missing I've decided to do the somewhat frowned upon Subaru swap. Yesterday I picked up the FWD transmission, yes FWD, out of a 92 Legacy. I'll be going back for an EJ22 (non turbo) on Monday. I'm not worried about mounting the motor/trans or getting CVs that will fit. I'm most concerned about doing an ALL AROUND hub conversion for the sake of saving some $$$ on brakes and the versatility of a wider wheel selection.

So with the novel out of the way here are a few of my questions:

What hubs will be the best bet for all 4 corners? (consistent bolt pattern is a must)

Is plumbing in a front mounted radiator the most effective water cooling solution?

Do I need to upgrade the fuel pump? If so, to how many lph?

Is there an easy solution to making the Subie conversion work with my guage cluster? (tach, speedo.....etc)

Are there any non-mechanical issues I'm up against for bolting everything together?

Also I would very much appreciate any added advice or tips to make this a smooth conversion.

Cheers

[Porscharu914]

Wow! Thanks for the warm welcome into the Porsche 914 world. I'm excited to be a part of this community.

Thanks for all of your input and help on some of the things I was curious about.

For the drive line end of things I have absolutely NO original 914 tranny to start with. This is why I went with the Subaru tranny. It's FWD so I don't have to worry about the headache of the AWD trannies. There's a great shop near me that builds very solid custom CVs and are reasonably priced so going from the Subaru tranny to Porsche hubs won't be a problem. However if anyone knows a good place to get adapters to make the bolt pattern 4x100 I'd appreciate the lead. I'll be fabricating a push/pull cable system for the shifter which will eliminate shift linkage.

On the cooling side of the project I've seen builds with lines plumbed into and through the interior, and lines that were run under the chassis of the car. I'm planning on plumbing through the interior as I see it to be more beneficial. Does anyone have any reason(s) I should plumb underneath the car instead. (outside of putting holes in the firewalls) It's funny that the Miata radiator was brought up because my buddy is thinking about donating his Miata radiator to the project. He also suggested 2 12" fans. Hmmmmm....I think I'll do that.

Thanks again for the warm welcome and help.

Total project cost so far (car included): $140

This was as soon as we got it on the trailer after sitting for nearly 30 years

This is the 5 speed FWD Subaru transmission all cleaned up ($140)