Whats one more v8 build, finally documenting what I have done... Options

[chads74]

So I have been hanging out here on the site for a short period of time and have learned tons,but figured it was time I posted what I have done to my car since Feb is the anniversary of buying my current car two years ago.

A little history, I obtained my first 914 when I was 14 and me and my Dad started to rebuild it VERY slowly. I was driving around my home town of Denton Tx and recognized the front of a 914 sticking out from behind a shed, knocked on the old guys door and got a second 914. Which was in much better shape and only needed the engine and tranny rebuilt.

At the time neither my Dad or I had any clue what we were doing so he sent both out to Ca to be rebuilt. Once we finally got them back in the car and I started driving, my 914 addiction was set in stone.

Then 15 years later, out of the blue I told my wife I would love to get another. Her condition was I had to sell my crappy f150 to pay for the car. SO the search began, and I found my "new to me" car in Phoenix and since I happen to know someone who wanted said crappy truck and it was gone in a week and had my new car/toy/project. Since I was currently living in Tucson I had to find a buddy willing to let me use their truck and a trailer, and then made the short drive and picked up the car.

Here are a few pics of my first couple cars and then my current car. I'll be back to update more with more pics cause I know we all like them lots more then reading a bunch of boring words.

[chads74]

This is the car i found hiding behind the shed.

[chads74]

Guess I can't find the pic of my current car so I am going to have to organize my pics better. Will post more later, its getting late here on the east coast.

[chads74]

Ok finally found the other pics from when I brought my car home. Of course the kids wanted the first ride.

[chads74]

[chads74]

[JRust]

Need engine bay pics

[chads74]

[chads74]

Not sure what the deal is with the engine tins being powder coated purple. Guess they were have a sale on purple when they guy took it down to be coated.

[chads74]

A different shot of the engine, I think this pic is when I was mid engine drop. But the only pic I could find that had a better view of the engine.

[chads74]

Quick side note... After just posting a few pics in a row I have a lot more respect for those who have put together a build thread! It takes a lot of time behind the computer.

[JRust]

Oh dang I thought you bought a v8. What motor do you plan to do? More details on your plans bud! Hard to describe the feeling of driving a v8 powered 914. It's krazy kool bro (IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif)

[chads74]

I ended up getting a killer deal from a kid in texas, wrecked his and took the renegade kit. So I rented a little kia, drove out to texas and picked it up for cheaper then I could find shipping. Kid had a 283 out of a 67 Nova that I talked him into throwing in with the kit.

[3d914]

Congrats, and welcome (back) to the madness!

[chads74]

I have a few minutes before I have to get ready to go out to dinner so I thought I'd add a few more pics.

The couple pics I have of the car when I got it you can see the paint is pretty bad, so the first thing I wanted to do was get a somewhat better paint job. But because being on the bottom of the totem pole in the Air Force doesn't pay a lot I had to come up with a way to make it look a bit better for not a lot of cash. I came across some of the color match spray paint at my FLAPS and bought a couple different colors I thought I would like. After picking a color the fun began, and unfortunately I didn't take any pics of the paint progress. But to say the least I have no paint experience and didn't use the trusty internet until I was already done.

The finished product looks pretty good on the right angle and from 20+ feet. The color is a GM Bahama Blue, which was used back in the late 60's from what I was told. I was happy with the color but was hoping for something slightly darker.

Just looked at the pic before I uploaded it. This is from after I had already done the conversion, but you can at least see the color. One of the best pics I think, and doesn't look too shabby for old rattle can job.

[chads74]

If you have good eyes you can see some places where my lack of knowledge in bodywork/paint shows.

[chads74]

I finished the paint in March 2012, and was enjoying driving the hell out of the car! I had plans to do a v8 swap but knew it would have to wait as the funds for parts was hard to get out of the wife.

Then as I mentioned before I found Renegade kit on craigslist. Which I just happened to stumble across. I was currently stationed at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson Az and I am originally from Denton Tx. So now and then I would look on Dallas craigslist just to see, and figured if I found some thing I had to have I could have my Dad hold it for me until I was able to get out and pick it up. This was the case with the Renegade kit. Kid had wrecked his car and pulled the kit and motor out, which was a front end collision, so he went ahead and bought the new radiator so the kit was complete. He was asking $2k for it but I called and talked to him a couple times I got him to drop his price to $1500 and to throw in his motor(which was in pieces so he could move it around easier) and had. I was happy with the deal, I got everything in the Renegade basic kit, plus the radiator, wire harness, high torque starter, and exhaust. I had everything I needed to put the car together except for little things here and there.

Now I just had to get to Tx to pick it up. Shipping was way too much so I rented a little kia that got great gas mileage and drove the 14 hours to get all the pieces.

Got everything home and decided to put all new stuff on the motor so I knew it would be good to go. Now this was my thought process even though I had NEVER rebuilt any motor besides an Lycoming IO 140 if I remember right. Anyway started getting this ordered slowly, then out of nowhere I got short notice orders to deploy. Sucked, but I told my wife, look on the bright side, now I can order more parts for my car. She still didn't like it. So 8 months later I get home to a great wife and a mountain of parts ready to be assembled.

[chads74]

I guess when I got home by body didn't like the change and had my appendix out about a month after I got home, two weeks later I got clearance from the dr to do what every I want. So figured I hadn't ridden my dirt bike for almost a year... Bad idea! Broke my foot after about 30 seconds on the bike. Serious, I made it about 1/4 mile from the truck.

[chads74]

Fractured my 2nd, 3rd, and displaced the 4th, 5th metatarsal.

[chads74]

But I got pretty good about moving around the car on crutches.