Second 914-4 after 40 years..., Question on tire/wheel sizes Options

[chmillman]

Hi all,

So I have acquired the second 914-4 2.0 in my life. The last one was more than 40 years ago back in the late 70’s in California… This one is in really nice shape, body excellent, Saturn Yellow paint new, the motor only has 6000K miles (9000 km) on it after a rebuild (still has the D-Jetronic). NO rust anywhere. It’s pretty much original, with the exception of a conversion to 5-lug/5-spoke 914-6 wheels and brakes.

There isn’t much I want to do to it with the exception of replacing the original Frankfurt stereo radio with a new DAB+/Bluetooth unit and the original speakers with some new, better ones using 914 Rubber’s pods. However I do have a few questions, as my knowledge of the car is now 40 years old…

First, to those 5-spoke wheels. They are new real Fuchs 7 x 15 matte black and look great on the car. The tires are currently Pirelli P6000 195/65’s and they stick like glue in the corners. At 25” OD, they are only about 1/2" smaller in diameter then the original 165 SR 15’s (25.4”). But of course way wider and lower profile. Therein lies the rub – well actually they don’t, the rear fender lip has been rolled slightly and they do not contact even on hard cornering.
However…

195 is the minimum limit for tire width on a 7” rim. The sidewalls are pretty taut and don’t bulge much at all. The issue is that the ride is harsher than I seem to recall with my original 914 from the ‘70’s, - that one had the 4-lug 5 1/2 J Mahle cast wheels with 185/70’s mounted – that was pretty much the thing back in the day. As tire flex does make up a significant part of the overall springiness of the suspension and these have very little… The other side effect of the wide, flat tires is that turning the steering wheel at low parking speeds is very hard. Hmmm.

So, the two thousand dollar question is - I am wondering if going back to 6 x 15 rims with 185/70’s would be a worthwhile improvement? Sacrifice some cornering adhesion for a somewhat smoother ride and easier low-speed turning. I’m sure there will be thousands of opinions on this but well, bring it on...

The other semi-related thing is that this car doesn’t have a front anti-roll (stabilizer) bar. My car in CA back in the 70’s did, because I remember replacing the bushings at one point. Were these optional? The body doesn’t even have the holes for the mounting plates in the wheel wells, however the A-arms do have the u-brackets where the bar would be attached. The car has Bilsteins all around and already doesn’t roll much, so I’m wondering if finding the parts and putting one on would make a real difference.

I will have lots of other questions later, will start new topics for those as they arise. Thanks for any input!

--ch

[chmillman]

Hi all,

Thanks for all the replies! Here's what I know:

This is an EU car, it was originally delivered in France, and imported into Switzerland sometime in 2013. According to the body number - 4449600, if I figured out how to correctly interpret the numbers, it was the 100th car manufactured on the first of November, 1973 - but I assume it was sold as a 1974 - the first registration is dated January 1974, although that could be a fictitious date. There were no "bumperettes" or side blinker lights on European models (thank goodness). There is also no P O R S C H E lettering on the engine lid like the US models had, and the tail badge is 914-VW-Porsche 2.0 (US models only said "914 2.0" IIRC).

I don't have any records of what was done in France, it was there that the body was restored and repainted and they did a very good job. I do have records of what was done in Switzerland subsequently. The 5-lug conversion was done in 2014. There is no mention of changing the A-arms, just the hubs, brake calipers etc. Also at that time it got the Bilsteins and the 15 x 7 wheels. No mention of any front torsion bar or rear spring replacement, but something like that could possibly have been done in France before the car got to Switzerland - no idea really.

While the car was on the lift last week for something else, I did take a picture of the front suspension setup:



Unfortunately I did not take any pictures of the rear suspension at the time. I will do some more picture documentation soon.

Edit:
Here is an image of the rear suspension.



Below is a higher resolution image of the car (same used for the avatar), taken at the top of a small mountain pass on the on the trip back home from the guy I bought it from.