Welcome to the slippery slope..., Porsche 6-cylinder conversion Options

[Optimusglen]

15 months ago I bought a crusty old 1971 914-4 that had been sitting in a garage for 20 years getting peed and chewed on by all sorts of creatures.

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I started the project with a plan of it being driveable at the 1 year mark. Since then I've done an engine build, carb rebuild, brake rebuild with 5-lug swap, fuel system rebuild, interior rebuild, suspension rebuild, and some general freshening up. Oh, I forgot to mention that my wife and I had a baby too, safe to say it's been a pretty busy 15 months.

Here's the build thread if anyone's interested.
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...=277349&hl=

Anyway, the result is good. It's running and driving, the 1911 is strong and runs well. Handles great considering there are no sway bars. Tail shifter is as vague as you imagine though, and the engine is still sub 100hp so it's not incredibly fast.

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It's first real public appearance was at the June C&C that I attended with a good friend in his 911.

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Exiting a cloverleaf he pulled away like I was standing still. To add insult to injury a minivan pulled away too. This lit a little spark, I wanted more power. I started crunching numbers for building the type 4, goal is around 150hp. Can you get 150hp in a type 4 that's home built? Sure, lots of people have done it. But there's an even better, more expensive and headache inducing option...

A friend of mine owns Flat Six in Minneapolis, MN. About 40 minutes from me. Sent him a message inquiring about core 6 cylinders and ended up coming home with this.

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It's a 2.2 from a 911T, the 125hp version. On top are a pair of Zenith carbs that will work fine for my purposes after a complete rebuild. It turns over smoothly and you can feel when it comes up on compression. Good signs for an otherwise unknown engine. If you had followed along in my build thread you'll know that I got some amazing deals, both for parts and for the car itself. The 6 does not disappoint in that regard, but I wont be sharing the details here.

Perhaps the best part of the deal is that he said if I get into it and find that anything is FUBAR, I can get a no-charge replacement from him since he has Parted several 2.2's. Again, this is a friend, I don't expect him to do this for anyone.

With his help we laid out a build plan. Going to get the T cams reground to the E profiles paired with higher compression pistons. Cylinders are iron so I can bore those. Goal is around 150ish hp. It'll be a "budget" build in the sense that I'm not going for huge power and will be doing the assembly/cleaning myself. I won't be cutting corners with machine work and inspection though.

I will be mating it with a side-shift trans using the early 911 flywheel. flywheel and bulkhead weld-in mount already on order. It's not likely that I'll be doing a conventional 914-6 oil tank, it just seems like so much money for what you get. We will see though, as time progresses I may change my mind.

This will be a driver, not trying to make it a show queen or original to a real 914-6. I want to keep the utility of both trunks but I want the mechanicals to be functionally excellent.

Time frame is significantly longer than the original build. Planning at least a year or two considering the work and money involved. I'll update this thread moving forward and not my original build thread, kind of a new chapter if you will.

Fortunately the 914 is perfectly driveable while I collect and rebuild. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

So here's to the next chapeter, however expensive and time consuming it may be.
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[Mark Henry]

BTW and just an FYI Ben would have given you a better deal on the tank than the ebay guy.

[Optimusglen]

BTW and just an FYI Ben would have given you a better deal on the tank than the ebay guy.

Ben and I had talked, he wanted more than that and I'd still need to supply my own fittings. He did have another option with fittings included but it was even more. In the end I'm more comfortable machining than bending sheetmetal so I went this route. We have been talking though.

Glen I currently have one of the vellios tanks that I bought in halves.. It is not as simple as just mill,drill and weld.. The screen, plumbing has to be done or you destroy an engine in short order.

I understand the design of the tank, with the screens and oil pipes inside, I'm a mechanical designer by trade so I'm not going to booger weld it together and call it a day.

I know you are selling the Vellios tank you built up while designing your tank, but that tank is completed, and well over double what I will have into this, and it would take all of the fun out of building my own.

For the tensioners, yes I had already planned a rebuild to go with the collars. I may be cheap, but I'm not going to half-ass this engine build.

I'm also getting the parts properly inspected, the case halves line bored, proper case savers installed (I will probably do this myself) the cylinder base decks machined, etc etc etc. I'm not a hillbilly in my backyard and I know when it's time to bring in a professional.

[Mark Henry]

... proper case savers installed (I will probably do this myself) the cylinder base decks machined, etc etc etc. I'm not a hillbilly in my backyard and I know when it's time to bring in a professional.

Case savers have to be done on a mill, I've seen a fair share of "porcupine cases" where the casesavers have been done by hand or on a drill press and not a single stud is square.

[Optimusglen]

Case savers have to be done on a mill, I've seen a fair share of "porcupine cases" where the casesavers have been done by hand or on a drill press and not a single stud is square.

Haha, from earlier in the thread:

I have access to an end mill, lathe, and pretty much entire machine shop (CNC is off limits).

I should add that I've been trained on these as well, I'm not just jimmying my way into the shop after hours.