Ben's 914 TURBO Official World Premier, 'cuz it didn't blowd up. Options

[airsix]

Ok, so it isn't as cool as Chapman's 914-6 Turbo 3.0, but it's a turbo 914 all the same. Ladys and Gentlemen, at about 10:00 PST I got boost and there was much rejoicing. I took the car out, filled it with premium, tuned it with the laptop a little to make sure it got plenty of fuel under boost, and the mission was a sucess. Boost starts to come on at ~2,700rpm and is going full-steam by 3,500rpm.

I stand (ok, sit) here before you my brothers to declare that yes indeed, you can turbo a 914. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/clap56.gif)

Details:

Engine: '73 1.7, stock internals
EFI ECU: Perfect Power MIC3 (Cost ~$500 to get on the car and running 3 years ago)
Misc EFI stuff: Subaru 1.8T injectors, Holly throttle body off a 3.0 Chrysler, BMW 5xx fuel pump, foam motorcycle aircleaner (temporary)
Turbo: IHI off 1.8L Subaru (including wastegate)
Misc Turbo stuff: Bosch blow-off valve (for a Saab I think). Cheap. Plastic. Works great.
Total cost to add turbo: $175 (EFI was already on the car. Use Megasquirt+turbo and you can do this for <$400 easy)

I tried to modify my fuel pressure regulator with a boost-reference port like the in the dune-buggy.com article but I broke off a wire guage drill bit about 1.5" deep into the bolt. Dang. Only had about a quarter-inch to go too. So I just bolted it back on the car and set the fuel pressure at the 30psi I have the ECU turned for. I tried to crank up the injector pulse width under boost to compensate, but they hit 100% duty cycle at 5,000rpm because at that point they only have 20psi effective pressure (because there's 10lb of boost by that point). So I'm keeping it under 5k rpm until I get a rising-rate pressure regulator. The wideband O2 says mixtures are just fine below that point. I estimate I'm getting 110hp (That's not a WAG. I really did the math) which doesn't sound like much but is sure better than the 80hp I had before. I would still like to add an intercooler which could put it in the neighborhood of 130hp without getting too boost-happy. Even as it is now I would say it's 100% more fun to drive. I'm really happy about it. I'll get the pressure regulator issue squared away so I can run it up to 6k and I think it'll keep me happy for quite a while.

Rick said "This thread is worthless without pictures" so here's the best I could do. If you missed the earlier thread I'll throw in one of the earlier pics too. I tried to make a video but all you hear is wind noice and the blow-off valve between shifts.

[red914]

Ben, that thing looks awesome! any chance of coaxing you over to this side of the mountains so we can all ogle it close up sometime? we'd probably buy you a beer...