914R build thread revisited, Latest transformation has commenced Options

[siverson]

Just getting caught up on this... That looks awesome!

The car is home!!!

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[campbellcj]

Finally! After months of frustration I finally have my hands on the 92mm (2.8) P&C's to put my engine back together. Apparently Mahle only makes the less common stuff in batches every once in a while and once they're gone you are SOL until they decide to make more. They weren't planning to make any more 92mm stuff until this summer at the soonest.





I probably will not use these pistons as they're "only" 10.5:1 C/R and I want to go up to 12.5:1 or so ideally; getting pistons should not be a problem as it's the barrels that are made of unobtainium. I will probably save these pistons in case someday I want to put the car back to a more streetable configuration.

I also have one of these on the way. It's not an absolute necessity but is cool, and my current "S" red shroud is a bit damaged.



There are still some kinks with the bodywork to figure-out as well. The rear flares are too small to fit the optimal tires and the fronts have some strange geometry/clearance problem I don't fully understand yet (going to see in person this week). The solution to that may be going back down to 15" wheels/tires which would require re-modifying or changing the struts.

[hwgunner]

I loved the way this car looked with the narrow body and the raw hoods.

But now??? I am not afraid to say it..... OMG!!!!!

[J P Stein]

Been down the weird front geometry/clearance road. Your front fenders now give you enough room to screw you into the ground....the quickest way to get there is by using spacers. Just because some tire wheel combo will fit doesn't mean it should be there. Case in point....see pic. Ayup, got em in there and made sure they cleared at full compression, lock, & droop. Made for a lost season of steering effort like a dump
truck and understeer.

[campbellcj]

Been down the weird front geometry/clearance road. Your front fenders now give you enough room to screw you into the ground....the quickest way to get there is by using spacers. Just because some tire wheel combo will fit doesn't mean it should be there. Case in point....see pic. Ayup, got em in there and made sure they cleared at full compression, lock, & droop. Made for a lost season of steering effort like a dump
truck and understeer.

Agreed JP. There are two main issues: (1) the 16" tires I have on there now are too tall and other options are very limited and (2) my strut spindles were raised so minimum 16" wheels are needed. We're kicking-around going down to 15's and using spacers to get the track and clearance right. I hope to finally have a solid game plan this week but am not super enthused about possibly not being able to use the effing spendy Weidman RSR Fuchs I bought...

[stuttgart46]

Car looks incredible. Is it still streetable?

[J P Stein]

The sad fact is that we must base our decisions on available tire sizes.
Width vs diameter of the available rubber is pretty well set across the range regardless of manufacture.

So, one needs to set up a car for tires.....not an ideal situation but everyone is in the same boat. Since you are now gonna have an excess of HP ( aren't light cars grand)
you need big sticky buns out back. Hoosier makes a 275 X 35 X 15 fits that bill nicely with a 23 inch diameter. But, whata' you gonna do up front? One would think a square set-up would be the cat's ass and this is where the weirdness sets in.
The proper wheel width for the above tire is 10 inches. Do that and scrub radius will have your ass (BTDT).......not enough backspace and no way to get the wheels inboard far enough. This may not be too bad on the track (other than heavy steering) but it's a killer for the tight corners in AX. An 8 inch wide wheel (a one inch improvement is scrub) cured that for me (with canti slicks) and someone is telling me that a 9 incher works for him with the 275s......this may even be true. At any rate, the 914 font end has it's limitations and this can be an expensive problem to work out.

[stuttgart46]

I've run the square set up and loved it. My opinion would be to try and mount the tires and see how it looks. We've done that in the past and it worked out. You'll know real quick if it doesn't fit.
Can you go to 16's?

[campbellcj]

Yup, I've been running 16's in the skinny sizes -- the problem ensued when I obtained enough power to overwhelm the rears (205's) and now the wider Hoosiers are way too tall, over 25" whereas the 205's are 23"-ish.

There are some 16" Hoosier and possibly Goodyear slicks that could work if I can fit the width but that's looking doubtful so 15's are probably the answer.

[campbellcj]

Car looks incredible. Is it still streetable?

Thanks! It is street registered and still has horns and lights but is far from being pleasant or usable in actual street driving, even with a muffler installed. Very stiff and very loud...full rollcage...no side windows...

[Aaron Cox]

Looks amazing Chris!!

Those rear fenders are the jam!!!!

[J P Stein]

The slicks in my pics.(ah, poetry) are 10 X 22.5 X 16. Your rear flares *look* wide enough. The fronts area little deceptive on my car as the opening was raised 3/4 inch but as I said, just cause they fit don't mean they work.

[brant]

I think I would also take into consideration the play grounds...

Chris you can probably run this car as an IMSA spec car in some of the vintage clubs.

but you may be limited to a 15inch wheel for that...
I know the HMSA club would want you to use a 15inch wheel

its another slippery slope isn't it...
you can keep the car metal and sorta production ish...

or you can cut all of that new paint job off and jump into the tube world of fiberglass flares and PCA club racing

brant

[effutuo101]

very nice! I love the color

[campbellcj]

Well, more bad news I'm afraid. Based on the other sketchy stuff and damage found in the top end and induction, I decided to have the shop split the case and inspect the bottom-end. The oil pump housing is cracked so I'll need a new pump. Also there is a chance the case needs some machine work but that is still TBD; and new bearings and studs make sense since it's all apart now.

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On the bright side the super-trick custom Mahle pistons should be here pretty soon and the top end parts and machine work will be squared-away at that point. As far as we know the rods are OK but after all this I will not be too surprised if problems surface there too.

Just FWIW this engine was built by a reputable shop that I know some other guys here have used. All indications are that it was built with some questionable used parts and "creative" machine work. Not exactly Motor Sheister awful but I am appalled to hear this stuff with regard to this shop and how much money went into this engine originally. I am looking at probably 50% of that cost again to fix and upgrade it the way I want. I bought it "as-is" from their customer who fell onto hard times, fresh in the crate, so I have no recourse with the shop unfortunately.

Additionally there are still unresolved clearance issues with the flares and at least the fronts will need to be redone or modified somehow. The rears are smaller than I wanted but should be livable and they look great so I am very reluctant to go there again.

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[campbellcj]

Well my g'damn car is still not home yet but there is forward motion. We ended up getting around the front clearance issues by going back to 15" wheels and the resulting shorter tires. (This will save a little weight too.)

Accordingly I just picked up 2 pairs of NOS 15x8's and 1 pair of 15x9's. I can also run the 16x9's I already have on the rear.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/farm9.staticflickr.com-21-1353193390.1.jpg)
15x8" Porsche Fuchs wheels by cjcam, on Flickr

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/farm9.staticflickr.com-21-1353193390.2.jpg)
15x9" Porsche Fuchs wheels by cjcam, on Flickr

I will most likely send them to Weidman for the RSR 'frosted' finish.

[sixnotfour]

Nice 9's did you buy em from Brooke ?

[campbellcj]

Nice 9's did you buy em from Brooke ?

Yup do they look familiar? Ultimately I may want to find another pair but I have to sell other wheels first to reinflate my wallet.

[campbellcj]

Well, after a sustained nightmare of flaky people, parts frustrations, and "stuff happens" delays, the car is finally home again! There is of course much more I want to do on the car but there is now a great foundation for 914R version 4.0

Many pics and details will follow. In the meantime I hope you all have a fabulous Christmas and New Years!

[JmuRiz]

Glad it's back, looking forward to pics and updates