Bringing it back:, Improved Original for 4742910780 Options

[Van B]

Evening 914 World!
I’ve been gathering parts over the past few months and have finally reached critical mass. So, let the project thread begin!
After working on the FI through the winter, I’m satisfied that the engine remains in good health with it’s original 53k miles. However, the rubber and plastic holding everything together is a different story.

Which brings me to the scope and objective of this project. In short, I am looking for what I will call, “Improved Original”. What the phrase means to me is that I want to maintain the character and feel of the original car, but still take advantage of any and all modern improvements that will either, improve reliability, safety, operability, or any combination there of. This will include a suspension and chassis rebuild, power train reseal and refinishing, brake system rebuild, and fuel system overhaul.
When I’m done, I want to have a car that drives like it’s nearly new, but doesn’t look over restored. Because the car is a survivor, I think it’s important to keep the stories and history of the car intact.

Finally, I’d like to post my thanks to the community and vendors that make it possible to enjoy this hobby. Stay tuned!

Van

[bbrock]

I will watching this for sure! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif) This is very much the philosophy I've followed on my build which is still a work in progress. Some thoughts from my own journey down this path:

For the most part, I decided to restore the car to like new condition because it was so well engineered to begin with. Suspension and brakes remain stock but I did upgrade to Bilstein shocks and turbo tie rods. The engine (2.0L) was rebuilt to european stock specs so displacement remained stock but compression raised. The exception was an unfortunate decision in the late 1980s when bottom end of the engine was rebuilt to install a carb cam. A mild one, but not a decision I'd make today. As a result, the car is currently carbed but I'll return to that later. Other than the carbs, I don't regret any of this. I've taken several 300+ mile trips this summer and the car as Porsche designed performs and handles fantastic. It is just a wonderfully balanced package and I have not wished for more or less of anything.

Now for the mods. First, my rule on mods is they should be as stealth as possible. Invisible is even better. Visible mods should look as if they came from the factory down to the wiring. Mods also need to be non-destructive so no drilling allowed. I want them to be easily reversible in case someone wants to go purist some day. With that philosophy, here are mods I did or plan to do in order of priority.

Safety First - I wanted to leave no compromise here within reasonable limits. Nothing crazy like adding airbags or anything, but there were a number of mods.

• LED lights. This was LED lights all around. Headlights, of course, but also all indicator, tail, and brake lamps to brighten them.
• Porterfield brake pads. No compromise when it comes to stopping.
• Enhanced visibility. I added a third brake light which is a must have on a car that sits this low, and stealth side markers to compensate for deleting the ugly warts to bring the car to Euro spec. Actually, there was a practical reason for deleting the markers, but that's not important. The lights I chose are ultra low profile LED strips most commonly used on motorcyles. They are so low profile nobody notices they are there until turned on and they do enhance visibility substantially. I violated the non-destructive rule with the side marker delete, but I did make a paper template to allow drilling the holes exactly where they were if some future owner has a wart fetish.

Reliability - Like you, this is important and is an ongoing project. I think there is potential for substantial gains in reliability and longevity by modernizing the ignition and fuel systems on these cars. At the top of my list was ditching the points and condensor. Right now I'm running a Pertronix which is nice, but I have higher goals. Here is where I'm hopefully headed this winter.

• Ditch the carbs and go Megasquirt. I can run this with the carb cam and also add a lot of modern fuel management features like sequential injection, real time barometric correction, closed loop fuel mixture adjustment, etc. I'll run this with the stock intake manifold and air cleaner with electronics hidden away in a stock ECU box.
• Upgrade ignition with full sequential coil on plug spark management. Full sequential is a bit over the top but I like a challenge and there are some gains to be had there for efficiency. It is also helpful for the next reliability upgrade.
• Switch to iridium plugs. I love being able to get 50K-100K out of a set of modern plugs. IMO, the less time spent with my head in the engine bay where swear words are invented, the better.
• Synthetic oil. I've read all the debates about synthetic oil in vintage and/or flat tappet engines. I'm convinced it will improve longevity and there are high zinc synthetic blends out there.

Creature comforts - There are some things you've just gotta have, but you don't have to be flashy about them. Here are mine:
[list]
[*]Tunes. I've gotta have decent tunes with bluetooth capabilities so I stuffed a modern Blaupunkt in the dash. I tried to install it in a very factory way so it doesn't draw attention to not being factory correct. Having a period correct radio converted to solid state is tempting, but a little too spendy for me, as is the new(ish) Porsche single DIN radio/navigation system. I've also hidden an amplifier in the center console and a subwoofer in the passenger kick space where the foam block goes. Still waiting on 914R to introduce their subwoofer box to complete the mod. Other than the radio itself, there is no visible hint of a non-stock system.
[*]Cup holder. It's a must have. I don't smoke, but I drink so I converted the ashtray into a pop-out cup holder. Total stealth when closed. Last week I was riding with a friend and popped out the cup holder while making a comment that people think Toyota invented the in-dash cup holder but my 50 year old car had one. He looked at me and asked, "is that stock?" That's the level of stealth I was going for so it made me happy.
[*]Charge ports. Let's face it, we need to be able to run and charge stuff these days. I built a little console that fits inside the center console that contains an extra 12v accessory plug, a USB-b plug, and a USB-c plug. I like to open the console and brag that 914s were so far advanced that they had USB outlets decades before USB was invented (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

So that's were I've been and going with this "make it better without changing it" concept. I can't wait to see what you do! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)