Thinking of a V8?, Things you should think of before... Options

[aufaber]

I have gotten a few e-mails about this, so I figured I'd just post something up here so I can just point people to it. I'm sure others will chime in with more info.

Things you should think of before you do a V8 conversion:

It isn't cheap, if you try to do it cheap you will end up with a car you don't want to drive.

Budget 8-10 grand minimum if you ware going to do the conversion on an original car. You can put a V8 in a 914 for less than 3k, but you will have a car you don't want to drive.

Buy the Renegade radiator setup for a thousand dollars, don't waste your time and money trying to use a camaro radiator. It costs a lot, but that is because it is very high quality and it works. If your car over heats if you get stuck in traffic or at a light you will not want to drive it.

I used Renegade Hybrids' kit for the conversion, everything bolted together with the included hardware. You can try and piece together a home brew kit using a Kennedy adapter and home made brackets, but you will probably end up with a car you don't want to drive.

Also the car will need bigger brakes, beefed up front and rear suspension, more rubber on the ground, bushings and all the things a 30 year old car needs replaced if you want a car you will want to drive.

Even with all of that you will probably still break your 914 transmission, so you will need to decide if you want to use disposable 914 trannies or budget another 3-10K to convert the car over to a 915 or 930 trans.

Buy someone else's finished sorted project, it's cheaper and you can start driving right away.