Bringing it back:, Improved Original for 4742910780 Options

[Van B]

Evening 914 World!
I’ve been gathering parts over the past few months and have finally reached critical mass. So, let the project thread begin!
After working on the FI through the winter, I’m satisfied that the engine remains in good health with it’s original 53k miles. However, the rubber and plastic holding everything together is a different story.

Which brings me to the scope and objective of this project. In short, I am looking for what I will call, “Improved Original”. What the phrase means to me is that I want to maintain the character and feel of the original car, but still take advantage of any and all modern improvements that will either, improve reliability, safety, operability, or any combination there of. This will include a suspension and chassis rebuild, power train reseal and refinishing, brake system rebuild, and fuel system overhaul.
When I’m done, I want to have a car that drives like it’s nearly new, but doesn’t look over restored. Because the car is a survivor, I think it’s important to keep the stories and history of the car intact.

Finally, I’d like to post my thanks to the community and vendors that make it possible to enjoy this hobby. Stay tuned!

Van

[Van B]

Day 1: removed the engine (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[StarBear]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif) Anxious to follow your exploits, Van, particularly the original but better improvement choices. These have been tough to make but safety (fuel pump to front, 3rd brake light, 19mm MC) and reliability (warm start solenoid changeout, modern bushings) are always good choices.
Let the fun begin!!

[emerygt350]

Good luck van! Everytime I dig around in mine I say to myself "well, it's lasted 50 years already..." And cross my fingers.

[Van B]

Thanks guys! @StarBear most of those choices have already been made. But I’ll do my best to document the choices on this thread. You might see the first choice I made bolted to the transmission. I went with the firmer 911 mounts and was very pleased.

[StarBear]

Thanks guys! @StarBear most of those choices have already been made. But I’ll do my best to document the choices on this thread. You might see the first choice I made bolted to the transmission. I went with the firmer 911 mounts and was very pleased.

Might be doing trans rebuild this winter. Which mounts did you use? Trans mounts or the engine mounts?

[Van B]

These guys: https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/porsche-en...man-91137504307

[wonkipop]

you and your car will enjoy those bilsteins i see on the table of goodies.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[bbrock]

I will watching this for sure! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif) This is very much the philosophy I've followed on my build which is still a work in progress. Some thoughts from my own journey down this path:

For the most part, I decided to restore the car to like new condition because it was so well engineered to begin with. Suspension and brakes remain stock but I did upgrade to Bilstein shocks and turbo tie rods. The engine (2.0L) was rebuilt to european stock specs so displacement remained stock but compression raised. The exception was an unfortunate decision in the late 1980s when bottom end of the engine was rebuilt to install a carb cam. A mild one, but not a decision I'd make today. As a result, the car is currently carbed but I'll return to that later. Other than the carbs, I don't regret any of this. I've taken several 300+ mile trips this summer and the car as Porsche designed performs and handles fantastic. It is just a wonderfully balanced package and I have not wished for more or less of anything.

Now for the mods. First, my rule on mods is they should be as stealth as possible. Invisible is even better. Visible mods should look as if they came from the factory down to the wiring. Mods also need to be non-destructive so no drilling allowed. I want them to be easily reversible in case someone wants to go purist some day. With that philosophy, here are mods I did or plan to do in order of priority.

Safety First - I wanted to leave no compromise here within reasonable limits. Nothing crazy like adding airbags or anything, but there were a number of mods.

• LED lights. This was LED lights all around. Headlights, of course, but also all indicator, tail, and brake lamps to brighten them.
• Porterfield brake pads. No compromise when it comes to stopping.
• Enhanced visibility. I added a third brake light which is a must have on a car that sits this low, and stealth side markers to compensate for deleting the ugly warts to bring the car to Euro spec. Actually, there was a practical reason for deleting the markers, but that's not important. The lights I chose are ultra low profile LED strips most commonly used on motorcyles. They are so low profile nobody notices they are there until turned on and they do enhance visibility substantially. I violated the non-destructive rule with the side marker delete, but I did make a paper template to allow drilling the holes exactly where they were if some future owner has a wart fetish.

Reliability - Like you, this is important and is an ongoing project. I think there is potential for substantial gains in reliability and longevity by modernizing the ignition and fuel systems on these cars. At the top of my list was ditching the points and condensor. Right now I'm running a Pertronix which is nice, but I have higher goals. Here is where I'm hopefully headed this winter.

• Ditch the carbs and go Megasquirt. I can run this with the carb cam and also add a lot of modern fuel management features like sequential injection, real time barometric correction, closed loop fuel mixture adjustment, etc. I'll run this with the stock intake manifold and air cleaner with electronics hidden away in a stock ECU box.
• Upgrade ignition with full sequential coil on plug spark management. Full sequential is a bit over the top but I like a challenge and there are some gains to be had there for efficiency. It is also helpful for the next reliability upgrade.
• Switch to iridium plugs. I love being able to get 50K-100K out of a set of modern plugs. IMO, the less time spent with my head in the engine bay where swear words are invented, the better.
• Synthetic oil. I've read all the debates about synthetic oil in vintage and/or flat tappet engines. I'm convinced it will improve longevity and there are high zinc synthetic blends out there.

Creature comforts - There are some things you've just gotta have, but you don't have to be flashy about them. Here are mine:
[list]
[*]Tunes. I've gotta have decent tunes with bluetooth capabilities so I stuffed a modern Blaupunkt in the dash. I tried to install it in a very factory way so it doesn't draw attention to not being factory correct. Having a period correct radio converted to solid state is tempting, but a little too spendy for me, as is the new(ish) Porsche single DIN radio/navigation system. I've also hidden an amplifier in the center console and a subwoofer in the passenger kick space where the foam block goes. Still waiting on 914R to introduce their subwoofer box to complete the mod. Other than the radio itself, there is no visible hint of a non-stock system.
[*]Cup holder. It's a must have. I don't smoke, but I drink so I converted the ashtray into a pop-out cup holder. Total stealth when closed. Last week I was riding with a friend and popped out the cup holder while making a comment that people think Toyota invented the in-dash cup holder but my 50 year old car had one. He looked at me and asked, "is that stock?" That's the level of stealth I was going for so it made me happy.
[*]Charge ports. Let's face it, we need to be able to run and charge stuff these days. I built a little console that fits inside the center console that contains an extra 12v accessory plug, a USB-b plug, and a USB-c plug. I like to open the console and brag that 914s were so far advanced that they had USB outlets decades before USB was invented (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

So that's were I've been and going with this "make it better without changing it" concept. I can't wait to see what you do! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[StarBear]

These guys: https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/porsche-en...man-91137504307

Great! Direct fitment, or mods needed?

[Van B]

These guys: https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/porsche-en...man-91137504307

Great! Direct fitment, or mods needed?

Bolts right up like the original part. But I still used new hardware.

[Van B]

you and your car will enjoy those bilsteins i see on the table of goodies.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

Yeah, that’s good to know. Current suspension was completely gone so, I knew literally anything would be better than what’s on there. But I still looked into what folks here thought about the B6 setup.

[Van B]

@bbrock I’d say your plans are an order of magnitude beyond mine. I’m loving the L-Jetronic now that I’ve got it working so, that’s staying.

I’m going with LEDs too, but that’s not within scope of this round… daytime VFR for now lol…

Audio is also beyond scope for this phase, but it is in my crosscheck. To that end, I’ve been eyeballing these for a while: https://www.retromanufacturing.com/products...4-hermosa-radio
Will solve Bluetooth and charging requirements.

[bbrock]

@bbrock I’d say your plans are an order of magnitude beyond mine. I’m loving the L-Jetronic now that I’ve got it working so, that’s staying.

I would do the same. Truth is that if I didn't have that carb cam in the engine, I probably would be restoring the original D-Jet. I'm kind of glad I did it though because it forced me to take a look at Megasquirt. It will probably cost no more than a thorough refurbish of my D-Jet parts but I'll gain a lot of modernization in the bargain. But that doesn't change that the cam is the only reason I'm going this route.

Audio is also beyond scope for this phase, but it is in my crosscheck. To that end, I’ve been eyeballing these for a while: https://www.retromanufacturing.com/products...4-hermosa-radio
Will solve Bluetooth and charging requirements.

I looked really hard at those too. To be honest, I don't remember why I went a different direction. Must of been missing some feature I thought I must have, but they looked like a good option to me.

[StarBear]

These guys: https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/porsche-en...man-91137504307

Great! Direct fitment, or mods needed?

Bolts right up like the original part. But I still used new hardware.

Got the right PET diagram now. Think I'm going to do this - they're still the originals IIRC. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)

[StarBear]

These guys: https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/porsche-en...man-91137504307

Great! Direct fitment, or mods needed?

Bolts right up like the original part. But I still used new hardware.

Got the right PET diagram now. Think I'm going to do this - they're still the originals IIRC. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)

Van; Rats. Looked under there and the center bolts are upside down (nut on bottom) - must have happened when engine out at 70k miles. So, no way to change out mounts without dropping trans?

[Van B]

These guys: https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/porsche-en...man-91137504307

Great! Direct fitment, or mods needed?

Bolts right up like the original part. But I still used new hardware.

Got the right PET diagram now. Think I'm going to do this - they're still the originals IIRC. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)

Van; Rats. Looked under there and the center bolts are upside down (nut on bottom) - must have happened when engine out at 70k miles. So, no way to change out mounts without dropping trans?

Do one mount at a time with a little support for the transmission if you're uncomfortable.

[StarBear]

These guys: https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/porsche-en...man-91137504307

Great! Direct fitment, or mods needed?

Bolts right up like the original part. But I still used new hardware.

Got the right PET diagram now. Think I'm going to do this - they're still the originals IIRC. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)

Van; Rats. Looked under there and the center bolts (which go through the centers of the mounts?) are upside down (nut on bottom) - must have happened when engine out at 70k miles. So, no way to change out mounts without dropping trans?

Do one mount at a time with a little support for the transmission if you're uncomfortable.

The problem now, with the center bolts upside down (heads at top, nuts on bottom) is that there’s not enough clearance above to remove the bolts and slip the new mounts in. Or am I missing something?

[Van B]

You only need to loosen it enough to slip the mount and long bolt out of the channel on the transmission support bracket. Remove the two bolts/nuts holding the mount to the chassis, loosen the long bolt from the mount to the transmission and take out the whole thing. Then install the same way.

[wonkipop]

These guys: https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/porsche-en...man-91137504307

Great! Direct fitment, or mods needed?

Bolts right up like the original part. But I still used new hardware.

Got the right PET diagram now. Think I'm going to do this - they're still the originals IIRC. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)

Van; Rats. Looked under there and the center bolts are upside down (nut on bottom) - must have happened when engine out at 70k miles. So, no way to change out mounts without dropping trans?

you can do it.
one at a time.

its tricky finding the torque setting for the 12mm bolt through the centre of the mounts.
i have to remember where that is again in the manual or where i found it.

they give the torque settings for the 2 smaller M8 bolts on the rear mount.
and they give you the torque settings for the front engine mounts.
but that one in centre of gearbox mounts is somewhere else and is obscure.
Van B might know since he has just done it.

anyway if the gearbox is coming out for a rebuild do it all then.