Completed my 6 Conversion, Who knew it could go so smoothly! Options

[TH914]

Who knew a 6 conversion could be so easy – at least from the point of view of a customer.

After a lot of lurking and a few posts mostly looking for parts, I wanted tell the story my 6 conversion completed last week. Realizing that good mechanics are worth their weight in gold, I also wanted to whole heartedly recommend Genady Soykher of GT Performance Inc. (www.gtperformanceinc.com) in Edgewood, Maryland to anyone in the Mid-Atlantic looking to have work done on their P-car.

We have a signal orange 1972 914 that was originally purchased by my father-in-law in southern California in 1974. He drove it throughout the 70’s and then parked it at his Palm Springs vacation house until 2000. Needing additional garage space, he made my wife and me an offer we couldn’t refuse: take it or I’m selling it. Naturally was enthusiastically took it.

A long time Porsche fan but still a student, I went about collecting the 911 suspension and brake parts necessary to perform a 5-lug conversion sourcing them mostly from Rich Johnson. After completely overhauling the suspension brakes and adding a nice set of Harvey Weidman finished Fuchs, I had thoughts of doing a 6 conversion but was scared off because of costs and complexity. However, knowing that we’d never sell this car and that a motor upgrade would be inevitable, I nonetheless kept lurking for good deals.

This past fall (5 years later) it was finally time to replace the anemic 1.7 liter engine. I fortuitously, came across a 1974 Porsche 914 track car project being sold by a 914 local enthusiast for a friend, into which approximately $15,000 had been invested toward building a street legal track/DE car. The car had been built by renowned 914 race mechanic Steve Limbert of Air Cooled Racing (http://www.aircooledracing.com/ in Wellsville, PA.). He had completely upgraded the chassis e.g., 911 suspension, brakes, roll cage, Lexan rear window, race seats, etc.

However, taking on a bit more than was feasible for the budget, the previous owner also went about sourcing and installing a 2.4 MFI 911E motor and rebuilt transaxle. However and as is often the case, his money ran out and he never finished the notoriously complicated and expensive motor conversion end of the project.

I was lucky enough to pick up the car for a very favorable price – particularly since the motor was not running. I am now happy to report that my conversion was a complete success. However, I owe the success of the project to Genady Soykher of GT Performance Inc. (and Mike S. of Silver Spring, MD for recommending him).

I dropped off the track project donor car and our orange 914 with Genady in Mid-December and picked up the completed car this past week in time to enjoy the spring weather – 3.5 months. Genady charged me about $4000 for labor on the conversion (excluding random parts and work unrelated to the motor conversion). Best of all, his install is extremely clean and factory looking (I will post pics this weekend after a detail).

Throughout the course of the project, Genady was very responsive answering every call I made. He is also a very amiable guy always having time to chat when I would come by on the occasional Saturday morning to check in on the project. On one occasion, he invited me up to the shop to come see another customer’s 914-6 conversion he had previously completed and on another occasion even bought me lunch. As busy as he was he always seemed to have time to welcome me onto the shop floor and let me have a look around whatever he was currently working on – quite a treat for an office bound Porsche junkie.

As I mentioned, when I initially brought the donor car to Genady, the 911 motor had not run in 2+ years. I was worried that the MFI would need to be replaced by an expensive set of Webers. However, Genady troubleshot the system and eventually got it working perfectly. As far as I can tell he never charged me for that extra service. Moreover, he also graciously provided me with leakdown numbers for my old 1.7 liter motor, answered the questions potential buyers and even shrink wrapped the motor for shipping once it was sold.

After only 3.5 months of being in the shop – the finished product looks as clean as if it rolled out of the factory. Genady’s shop took great pride in building it correctly and cutting no corners while at the same time keeping on budget. What more could a customer ask for.

I would urge everyone on this board in the Mid-Atlantic area to consider using his services.