Anybody in SoCal recognize my car?, Looking for history from the PPO Options

[Mike Bellis]

Anyone know my car? Bought from Irvine. Was a track car from the guy I bought it from (911 Red Carrera owner) He said he would bring it to Coffee and Cars down there. the Previous owner before him did the V8 conversion.
Roll Cage (blue)
930 steel flairs
Hole in hood for gas cap (very well done!)
V8 283 Chevy
regeared 901
930 suspension and brakes
Only known info on the engine is roller rockers and gear drive
944 mirrors
fiberglass bumpers

It had BBS wheels (15x8 silver) and a duck tail fiberglass trunk lid.

I'm looking for and history or information about the car before I tear it apart and re-do it.

Thanks,

Mike

[Mike Bellis]

another pic

[ahdoman]

Why are you tearing it apart? What needs to be "re-done"?

[smontanaro]

That was my initial reaction too...

[Mike Bellis]

Why are you tearing it apart? What needs to be "re-done"?

Rear main seal leaks, paint, engine bay detail, too much bondo.

I'm going to use lead on the fenders. The bondo is starting to lift and there is a dime size part of the front right fender missing (lower edge next to door). Someone used bondo to "fill" the missing piece. The paint is at least 7 shades of white ranging from glossy to flat.

I'm going to rebuild the engine at the same time. To do it right, the whole thing is comming apart. It also looks like the PPO put the front flairs on the rear and the rear on the front. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif) A measurement shows the front of the car is wider than the rear. The Left rear flair is also 1 inch wider than the right rear. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/chair.gif)

Overall this is a fairly rust free car. The black painted engine bay, trunk (front & rear) should be body color. The home sparypaint blue roll cage needs paint too.

The color will change fom uglt white to a VW or Porsche Cream color. In fact the PPO painted too musc blue accents (ugly). It had Blue hubs, blue steering wheel, blue shift knob, blue fire extinguisher, blue pod mounted speedo, blue split loom and to top it off, the roll cage is two different shades of ugly blue... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/WTF.gif)

So I'm looking for any info on the original build to help guide the re-build. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smash.gif)

[Socalandy]

I'm always amazed at how many 914's are in hiding in my area. I go to Cars and Coffee and other events and do alot of driving for both work and in my teener.

Never seen it before and looks nice. I cant see any Bondo (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[computers4kids]

I remember looking at your car on the club site and craigslist...great buy for the money. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) with taking it apart and just going through everything if you plan on keeping it. The 292 is a nice motor for these cars! Hopefully I'll be able to see it in person someday.
Mark

[lily914]

> A measurement shows the front of the car is wider than the rear.

I may be wrong, but I thought the 914 front track WAS wider than the rear track. In fact, I think most cars are like that.

-Steve

[Mike Bellis]

> A measurement shows the front of the car is wider than the rear.

I may be wrong, but I thought the 914 front track WAS wider than the rear track. In fact, I think most cars are like that.

-Steve

I'm measuring from the fender's edge to the outer tip of the flairs. The fronts ane about 4.5-5 inches and the rears are 3-3.5 inches. I just looks off (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

The Bondo is lifting from the welds on all four flairs and where the guy welded over the side marker lights. It can't be seen in pictures, but if you look at the fender... You can see exactly where the welds are... He also removed the Right sail trim (bondo only) and left the Left side trim. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/WTF.gif) The rear panel had the badges removed and bondoed over. The inner wheel lip was poorly finished with bondo. I guess he ran out of sand paper... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)

The guy did do a decent job of tying in the roll cage. The sides are removable. the cage is tied into the rear strut towers right next to the top shock retaining bolt/bushing. The longs are reinforced at the hoop locations. the rear shock towers tie to the rear tranny mount in a X pattern and a horizontal ties the rear towers together. The trailing arm pivot points are tied to the lower firewall with reinforcement plates. The front hoop has a horizontal under the dash tying in the right and left sides. This was all followed by a "stiffening kit"(longs, wheel wells, trailing arms and some other areas). The wierd part is the cage stops at the dash. No tie in to the front hood area. I'm planning on tying this in during the rebuild. The Targa top still fits in the trunk...

What he did do really well is the hole in the front hood for the gas cap. the hole has a 1 inch wide chamfer lowered into the hood slightly with a hemed edge. The under hood bracing was carefully trimed and the metal reworked. It looks like it could have come from the factory this way. A very very skilled metal worker did this hood. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sawzall-smiley.gif)

The price was right! Unfortunately the guy I bought it from had been out of work for 9 months and had medical bills to pay. He did say he was not ready to give up the 911 yet. He needed to sell and I jumped on it. I bought it on ebay. No other bidders. I just added up the cost of some of the parts... 930 front brakes about $2500 complete, 930 rear brakes about the same, Renegade exhaust about $900, Renegade Kit about $2000 complete, Steel flaired rocker panels, re-geared 901 $2400 from Renegade and more... All the parts added up to way over the asking price. The STEEL 930 flairs sold me. You just don't see anyone using them on a 914. I don't really like the look of normal 914 squarish flairs. BTW it came with an extra 901 side shifter tranny.

I built one of these before and know what it costs fo make it mine. This is quite a short cut. Now I just have to tear it all down and clean it up. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif)

I'm suprized so far nobody is very familliar with this one. The flairs make it an odd ball.

[TravisNeff]

The V8 conversion was done by Steve Malmz, the car already had the cage and flares.

[Mike Bellis]

The V8 conversion was done by Steve Malmz, the car already had the cage and flares.

Just emailed Steve at his web site. I hope he can shed more light on the subject.

Thanks,

Mike

[Mike Bellis]

Well, here's what found out...

Steve Malm (Malmz) found it sitting in a yard "rotting" away. It was an old club racer. He bought it and converted it to a V8 using Renegade, Kenedy and Rod Simpson parts. The motor was bought used in LA, no real specs known other than gear drive and roller rockers. Hood was bought from a third party and not part of the original build. Roll cage, flairs and 930 suspension were on the car brfore Steve bought it. Steve sold it about 5 years ago.

He sold it to a guy in Kentucky that worked for Ford Motor Company. Possibly put the re-geared 901 in the car. No other Info known about this owner.

The guy I bought it from just drove it and changed the oil. He used it as a track car and occasional curiser.

So the real mystery is who originally built it? I suspect it was built in the LA area.