Adapting Motor & Trans to 914 Options

[turbo2liter]

I've recently aquired a '71 914 from a tenant that owed me rent money. I personally own a trailered 1991 Talon AWD drag car, so I'm no noob to mechanics. I have been researching the endless possiblities of engine combinations in these cars, and have several good ideas. I figured, what better place to critique them than here?

I've read that the 914 transmission is limited to 300/300, and the stock axles to around 250/250 with easy driving. The Porsche trans solutions are unbelievable in price for what I've worked with. My built auto trans for my drag car costed me $3600 including a billet converter! I'm not prepared to spend $5000 on just a transmission/transaxle setup, especially for just a fun project car!

Has anyone ever considered instead of adapting an engine to the stock-style transmission, why not have custom axles made to fit whatever motor/trans combo you went with, and the hubs? Just frankenstien the axles togather (with a little finesse, of course). My thoughts on the motor/trans would be something from a transversely mounted car, possibly a 3S engine, or 4g63 (since I'm already familar with them). The 3s engine and trans are from a mid-engine car. Obviously, custom engine, trans mounts would need to be fabbed. Cooling, fuel, exhaust, and what not are not the issue, as I've seen several radiator setups in these cars that would be easy to fabricate.

My main question is, is this feasible? It seems with the tons of experience and brains I'm reading over this board, surely someone has thought of this before, and not done it for whatever reason. I would love to put a larger displacement engine in it, but I don't know if I can find a transversely setup transmission to adapt to one. Thoughts?