Eric Dysart's V8 re-conversion, Conversion release 3.0 Options

[ewdysar]

So my car is finally going back under the knife.

A little history: I bought the 1975 2.0 in 1988 as my daily driver. Drove it like I stole it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif) for a few years until I could hear the rods starting to loosen up. Started pricing stock rebuilds and was trying to figure out how to make that work on my late 20's single guy budget. I read an article about Renegade in VW/Porsche and realized that I drove within a mile of their Santa Fe Springs shop every day on my commute. I stopped in and went for a ride in their 500hp shop car. I got back in my car and floored it on the way up the freeway on ramp. Right then, my car's fate was sealed. I scraped together the cash for their basic conversion kit with cooling (nothing like the product that they sell now). Three years went by and I was able to make the car barely operational, but my fabrication skills weren't up to snuff and I started spending my time screwing around with electric car conversions (including a 914 conversion).

Fast forward to 2004. I'm now married and have a better job. The wife suggests that I need to "make it go or make it gone." It makes sense. I send the car to Renegade's new shop in Las Vegas (new owners too). The old cooling system has rotted away in the mean time and the new system is much more effective. I go with their new cooling system, their trans, new adapter and clutch package, build a new 327 with aluminum heads, a 911 front end, convert to 5 lug rears, get a set of 6x15 fuchs, etc. etc. The car comes back in a month and costs a small fortune. The car drives great, but I immediately start thinking about what's next.

The gearing is great, but as a 4 speed, it always feels like it needs one more gear for freeway cruising. I eventually find a 915 gearbox with 3:10 R&P. I had it flipped with new gears, reinforcements and LSD. The new box has the same gearing in the first 4 gears as the Renegade box with an extra overdrive that drop the 70mph rpm to about 2100. I keep an eye out for other deals and find a set of steel flares (probably from the original group buy), a set of 7" and 9" Fuchs 16's, MAF fuel injection for the V8 and a bunch of other small parts. The pile of "upgrades" slowly grows over the years.

Fast forward to 2011. At some point, I need to empty the 16' box trailer in the driveway to move my 1916 Model T. I haul out an amazing hoard of 914 goodies. Why is all this stuff in a trailer and not in the 914? I need to get off my butt again...

Last week I delivered the car to Sean at SD Autosports in San Diego. There's been a few leaks in the last couple of years and I infested rust into a relatively rust free car (IMG:style_emoticons/default/slap.gif) .

The pics are: under the driver's seat, under the passenger seat, and the same area before removing the tar. I thought that the passenger side looked OK, but it appears much worse once the tar was removed. It's actually not as bad as it looks, wirebrushing, rust treatment and new paint and that area will be good to go. The driver's side might need some new metal...