My 72 914 Corvair Conversion Rust(me)oration- Work begins on page 4, Pulled drivetrain today. Tranny swap coming soon Options

[JRust]

Okay so here is my teaser! I've always wanted a 914-6. I finally took the plunge & bought one. Most of you are probably thinking it is a v6 or some crazy thing (IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif) . You've got a week to just sit there & wonder

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/thisthreadisworthlesswithoutpics.gif) .Yeah I know (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

[r3dplanet]

I've got this exact motor sitting in my garage now. I've always wanted to do this conversion with the VW Type-1 94mm P&C conversion to make a 3.2 liter engine. Fabulous engine. No valve adjustments. Lots and lots of power. Lots of choices for fuel and exhaust options.

If you have one port on each intake, and the motor was made from 1965-1967, then you have the 110hp engine. That's widely considered to be the best motor. If you have two ports on each intake, then it's likely to be the 140hp motor. The only difference between the two was the intake configuration of the heads. The 140 actually didn't produce more speed or acceleration until it revved pretty high. But the 110 is quicker off the line. So that extra 30hp didn't present itself until you got up there a ways.

I have the tables for engine codes, so if you supply the last two letters of the engine serial number I can tell you what you have.

Another little bit of trivia is that the Corvair engine was originally designed to run what we now call reverse rotation. But GM reversed the rotation of the motor to use a stock GM transmission. When you change it back to the correct rotation, the engine actually runs better with a bit more power.

Originally I thought about rebuilding my Corvair motor as a turbo, but I got to thinking that a five-speed gearbox was never an option for the motor. Given that the Corvair was the first American production car with a turbo, it wasn't terribly fancy. It was reliable but with no waste gate or liquid cooling it was quite primitive. The turbo lag on these motors is really significant and so my thought was that this lag would never keep up with the quicker ratios of the 901 gearbox. Maybe in 4th gear and passing, but that's probably all. I don't think the turbo is worth the trouble. But an air-cooled turbo is impressive.

Also keep in mind that these HP ratings were old style, with an almost bare motor mounted on a stand, measured at the flywheel. So when we use terms like 110 and 140, those are really better used as designations. Real HP would probably be something like 90-110 at the wheel.

In my opinion, and tongue-waggling desire, even a 140 motor doesn't make much more power than a good hopped up Type 4. But you get a silent valve train (hydraulics rule!) and a sweet sounding motor. This isn't unlike the Porsche 2.7 six, which was only slightly faster than the 2.0.

If you have your druthers, you should do the VW P&C conversion, skip the turbo, and rock it. Hopefully your motor is already reverse rotation - as opposed to a flipped ring gear in the transmission. The motor will be good for 250k-300k miles with little to do but changing the oil. Also, you now have a 200hp motor. Even with the head work and the custom machining for the P&Cs (Starr Cooke on Ebay sells them ready to go), you'll be bucks ahead. You probably already have a fuel system, so you've already saved a bunch of money. You can do a 4-into-1 carb, four carb setup (factory), triple Webers, dual Webers, etc.

Of all the 914 engine conversions I think the Corvair is the best way to go. All in all you're looking at $4-$5K for all new parts on the engine rebuild, which is just leaps and bounds ahead of any VW Type-4 for dollars spent on power, reliability, and longevity. And it's only a fraction of what a Porsche six would cost to rebuild. Plus, it's air cooled, bolt-in, and entirely reversible without cutting one little bit of the body. No reason to tear up the car like a Subaru conversion.

My $.02 cents. I'll live vicariously through your project! Congratulations!

-marcus