My V8 Inspiration (long story), It all started in 1976... Options

[JZH]

Ladies and Gents,

Incredibly, I've only just discovered this excellent forum. "Incredibly", because I've been active on the Web for many years and actually joined the "V8 club" circa 1987. But my location, work and other interests took me away from Porschevs for many years until just recently...

Although I currently live in London, I grew up in Southern California and (naturally) lusted after various cars throughout my teenage years--and even before then, apparently! The article below (next post) was something I cut out and saved from Hot Rod magazine when I was about 10 years old. I don't know why it caught my attention, and I quickly moved on to various Mopars and then a serious fantasy relationship with the '67 Ford Mustang coupe, which almost became a reality--until I got a ride in one! In any case, when I eventually bought my first car (as opposed to hand-me-downs) it was a '73 914 1.7, which I purchased with the V8 conversion already in mind. "Couldn't afford a Pantera" was my rationale...

As I recall, it took me a few years during college to earn the money required for the conversion and get it running; it helped that I worked the counter in a speed shop one summer and bought a ton of engine parts using my employee discount. I purchased the conversion parts, new and used, from various sources--including the infamous Pomona Swap Meet... I ended up going with a new KEP adapter plate/clutch, what I think is a Rod Simpson water pump, and basically designed and made everything else myself. (It would have been a LOT easier if the Internet had been around then!)

Since then, the car went through the wars...I put more than 50,000mi on it, especially when I moved to San Francisco in the early '90s and drove back and forth to LA many times a year (Highways 25, 198 and 33 were always traffic and CHP-free). The front hood latch failed on the freeway one day and I discovered that my instinct to look out the driver's window was foiled by my Simpson racing harness... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) (Didn't hit anything, but the windshield and hood were trashed and the hood hinges sliced through the cowl like a hot knife through butter.) The gen-u-ine Earl Scheib paint job lavished upon the car by its previous owner slowly began to reveal the car's original lime green color, and the vinyl began to free itself from the sail panels, etc... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon8.gif) Along the way I rebuilt the heads twice, changed carburetors from Holley to Edelbrock and from one intake manifold to another, played with various ways of quieting the exhaust (ended up with Thorley 'Vette headers mated to quad Supertrapps, a cross-over pipe--and still a lot of noise!) and also upgraded the suspension, brakes and wheels.

But in 1995 I decided I wanted something that didn't require my always carrying a full set of tools in the trunk and purchased a 928S4 to drive to work, and then moved to Europe the next year, leaving my slightly tired 918 to sit forlornly on the side of my parents' house in Southern California. Since then I've essentially transferred all of my gear-head enthusiasm to something more suited to the narrow roads and tiny garages we have here in Europe: Honda VFR motorcycles (see my Web site URL below). However, I have been seriously considering returning to California, and that has led me to think again about rescuing the Porschev. It hasn't been started in quite a while, I know it has at least one flat tire, and ISTR something about an oil leak before I put it away all those years ago... Should be fun!

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Ciao,

John
London, UK
www.vsource.org