New (to me) 914-6 track car - Pictures now attached! Options

[RickJK]

Hello everyone!! I just bought an old 914 track car that hasn't been run for about 10 years. It was supposedly running properly when it was shut down, but a lot of work needs to be done before anyone tries to fire it up. I hope that the folks here will be able to help me through some of the many questions that will come up, but I just wanted to say Hi for now and warn everyone in advance that a ton of newbie questions are sure to be coming in the near future.

The car is kind of an old IMSA style race car with a 2.8 carbed engine and a 901 transaxle. I always liked the roadster style racing 914s so when I saw one available locally I just went for it. Its mostly tube frame, with the squared off looking Imsa style front bumper, a Ginther windscreen, and fiberglass body panels that I don't know the source of. That may be the feature of a future question here, but I still might find something on them in the mountain of paperwork that came with the car.

I previously owned a 74 914-2 purchased new that my brother in law still owns, but I got tired of waiting for him to decide to sell it back to me. Obviously, this car is something quite different anyway. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wavey.gif)

[McMark]

Well, as a 'newbie' you get hit with these two first:

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/welcome.png)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/thisthreadisworthlesswithoutpics.gif)

But seriously, I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of your new car. You might even get some history on the car from some of the members here. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[davep]

Yes, some photos would help identify it. What is the VIN, that may help also. Any logbooks?

[RickJK]

I will get some photos up later this weekend for sure, I believe the actual race history is pretty limited. The car was originally built by a gentleman in the Carolinas by the name of Stoner, and he only kept it a short while before selling it to a Chicago area cosmetics heiress who decided she wanted to race to get some giggles. She ran the car for a short time, but then was offered a job in Paris France running a large cosmetics company's black products division, so she put the car in storage where it has been for at least the last ten years.

Thanks for the welcome, and again, I will get some pics up later this weekend.

[john rogers]

I would recommend trying to find who took care of it when it was raced by the last owner. They would have the info on what is has and what was done to it. If the car did in fact sit for that long then it will need quite a bit of attention before it touches a race track. Things such as brake pads, fluid, possible brake lines, fuel line and tank flush, carb rebuild new oil/filter and tranny fluid. I would suggest an auto-x or two where the car can be exercised easily to see what else it will need. I would expect it to smoke some but I'd bet that if the engine was well build then it will settle down quickly.
As was mentioned, see if you can find any log books or other paperwork which might be of enormous value.

[RickJK]

There are only two independent shops in the area I know of and neither of them seems to have worked on the car, although one of them is aware of the car. It is possible that the Chicago based second owner never had any substantial work done in our area. I believe she only raced the car for a short time before she moved out of the country. I heard that her brother is still active in the PCA in Chicago, so I may try to contact him. The original owner was in the Carolinas, and I talked to the shops who built the frame and the engine, and as the car was completed in 1992, they don't really remember much about the car other than yes they probably did do the work on it. I do know that the people who did the frame and roll cage are primarily Nascar builders and actually run a school to teach apprentices how to build Nascar cages and frames now. The welds are all really well done and the tubes and frame are nicely laid out.

The engine is a 2.8 Litre engine with twin plug heads running a 10.8 CR. The case was set up with inserts and dilivar studs. It was align bored, and the heads were ported and flowed. It has a crankfire ignition, 40mm webers, and 38mm ID Headers. The cam was welded and ground to RSR specs. The common wisdom from the shops I have talked to is that if the engine was running properly when shut down, as I was told it was, that the engine should be good to go after the expected rebuild items are completed, so they agree with John there. I have my fingers crossed!! Supposed dyno figures are 275HP and 225 Ft/Lbs of torque.

The trans is a 901 (914?) side shifter with a 904 main shaft. I haven't yet found any gearing charts or specs.

The front spring rates are listed as 400lbs and the rear springs as 250lbs. The shocks are adjustable Konis. I will have to see how that works out - and if the shocks have to be rebuilt due to age. The coil over springs are a fairly standard dia and length, so changing spring ratios to suit my driving style should be fairly easy and relatively affordable.

I actually will have to replace the fuel tank liner, foam, and fuel filter and then flush out the lines for the fuel system to be Ok to go. Then as John mentioned, the carbs will have to be rebuilt.

The front brake calipers will probably have to be replaced as they are by JFZ, which are obsolete, possibly a knockoff of a wilwood caliper, and it is doubtful if there are rebuild parts readily available. I think they have a 3.5" spread mount and can be replaced with either AP or Wilwood calipers without too much difficulty. I should also probably replace the braided lines to the front and rear brakes. The rear Calipers are 911-S calipers and should be able to be rebuilt. It has 12" ventilated rotors on floating hats, and they should probably be able to be just re-surfaced to be useful. I probably will try to find some EBC pads as I like their feel.

I will actually be using the car initially at least only for time trials, hill climbs, track days, and autocrosses, so I will definitely start out with autocrosses, although I think I will have to find a pretty smooth autocross with those front spring rates. At some point I may run the car in some historic events, but thats probably about it as far as wheel to wheel is concerned.

One thing I would ask anyone who would like to add their $.02 worth right at the beginning here relates to the roll cage. The car has a full nascar type interior cage, but they ran a straight tube between the two sides of the main roll hoop in front of the firewall below what would be shoulder height on me, and it keeps the seat at least 5 - 6" away from the firewall - too tight for even my stubby legs to fit properly. I was thinking that we could cut out that bar and bend a tube to fit up and back to the space just below the rear window which would be able to be much tighter to the firewall, and allow the seat to within probably 2.5" of the firewall. We could add a smaller, perhaps 1" dia tube harness mount bar lower down and contoured to fit the curves of the mid firewall area for the harness straps and down and cross brace the two tubes to each other. Another cross bar could be added much closer to floor level where it would not be likely to interfere with the seat placement if needed for chassis rigidity. Also they will have to add a diagonal cross brace to support the top of the main roll hoop kind of like a petty bar as the main hoop is currently not braced fore and aft anywhere above the tubes that go back to the rear frame area. I want to avoid running tubes back from high on the main hoop back to the rear frame as required? currently by the SCCA if at all possible. I will not be running SCCA wheel to wheel events, so I don't think this will be a problem. Again, I will post some pics tomorrow for sure, but if anyone has pictures of their roll cage in this area I would be most appreciative of any help/suggestions here.

Thanks for your responses and comments so far!!

Rick (IMG:style_emoticons/default/thumb3d.gif)

[RickJK]

OK - As I understand that pictures might add to this thread - here are some pictures of the car in general as I got it -

#1

[RickJK]

#2


#3


#4


#5


#6

[RickJK]

And, here are some pictures showing the Rollbar / cage as it is currently existing in space:

#RB1


#RB2


#RB3


#RB4


So, what do you all think??? Any thoughts or suggestions on the roll cage - or should I start a new thread on that issue??

Thanks in advance, Rick

[machina]

that looks like one hell of a car. GT1?? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/drooley.gif)

somebody put alot of time and $$$ into that rig

bet its a handful, be careful.

[RickJK]

Remember that the classifications on its side are at least 10 years old, and may signify that there just wasn't a fair place to put the car. ASR would have it running against can-am cars I believe, and it's unlikely that it would be competitive there.
I do think that the original owned spent a pile of money putting the car together judging by the reciepts I have.
I ised to do track events in a couple of vipers before I got my Elise (which will be going up for sale) so I think I will be ok with the handling characteristics of this car. I tend to be pretty careful anyway, I think I have only had three wheels off on a racetrack once in my life, and that was at an old scca event where they put cones on the course to slow you down, the attempted avoidance of which being what put me off course.

[GaroldShaffer]

First (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welcome.png) I was watching that car on ebay. Glad it staying in the area.

Call Brad Mayeur at 309-694-1797. He is in Peoria IL. Been working on 914's since the 70's. He might know this car or be able to help you with who may have worked on it. He is a great guy and a ton of 914 knowledge.

[machina]

Remember that the classifications on its side are at least 10 years old, and may signify that there just wasn't a fair place to put the car. ASR would have it running against can-am cars I believe, and it's unlikely that it would be competitive there.
I do think that the original owned spent a pile of money putting the car together judging by the reciepts I have.
I ised to do track events in a couple of vipers before I got my Elise (which will be going up for sale) so I think I will be ok with the handling characteristics of this car. I tend to be pretty careful anyway, I think I have only had three wheels off on a racetrack once in my life, and that was at an old scca event where they put cones on the course to slow you down, the attempted avoidance of which being what put me off course.

your right, it would probably be a GT2 based on motor size and tube frame.

[SirAndy]

here's what we did for my cage ...







(IMG:style_emoticons/default/bye1.gif) Andy

[john rogers]

Very nice looking car. I would think that the roll bar/cage would not be legal for today's NASA/PCA/SCCA racing but if you race it in vintage events such as HSR, etc then you would not have to do any changes. That is one of the weird things about vintage racing as they want the car to be the "way it was" so no matter how unusual somethings appear they are accepted. That is why I mentioned trying to find some docs, log book, picts, etc to prove it was made a long time ago.

[URY914]

I have pictures of that car that I took over 12 years ago at a Road Atlanta DE. Everything is the same. If I remember right the owner was from Ga. or SC.
I am pretty sure he was the original owner. He talked like he just finished it.

[RickJK]

Thanks for the responses guys!

Garold - I will give Brad a call and see what he might be able to suggest - I have talked with Fischer in Barrington and Midwest Eurosport in Bensenville, and neither of them worked on the car and they are the only two local shops I know about.

Andy - Thanks for the pics of your car - I think something like that would work for me. What kind of seat are you using? I was thinking of trying to use a Recaro SPC XL, although I know a lot of people are using the Kirkey seats.

John - I think that with the addition of a Petty bar going from the roll hoop between the mouse ears diagonally forward to the right lower front of the cage I might be ok with pretty much anything I would be planning on doing. SCCA would probably require bars going back to the rear frame from near the top of the hoop for actual wheel to wheel racing, but I think I might be able to get by with the petty bar for solo events, from what I understand.

Ury - The original owners last name was Stoner, and he was in the Tobacco Road PCA in the Carolinas. I believe the car was completed in 1994.
Do you remember if the car looked like it was a good runner back then?

If anyone else has roll cage pics to share I would certainly appreciate it, although Andy's solution would seem to be a pretty straightforward fit to the current cage in my car.

Also, anyone have any ideas about who might have supplied the fenders? I haven't seen anything from current suppliers I know of, that look like these parts. I did notice a couple of cars in the Race 914 pictures that looked somewhat similar - check out car #628 in post #9

Thanks again, Rick

[J P Stein]

Several outfits sell these fenders that , if not identical, are very similar to yours.
I got mine (rears only) from High Performance House in CA. He also stocks fronts.

[URY914]

Rick,

It was diffently '91 or 92 that I saw that car at Road Atlanta. Those are the only years I went to RA DE's. The car hasn't been changed at all since I saw it. I'll dig out my pictures tonight.

I do remember one thing the driver did that I thought was sorta funny. On the dash board he had a list typed up that told what each flag means. Like this...

Green=start
Yellow=slow-don't pass
Black=come into pits
Red=Stop
Blue/Yellow=passing
White=last lap
Checker=race over

Several of the others drivers found it funny that he had to write this all out.

[RickJK]

JP - Thanks for the info on the fenders!! I will get in touch with High Performance House for info on the fronts as they are a little rough right now and it would probably be cheaper to replace them that try to repair them. The rears on mine are ok. Nice looking car by the way - I am a big fan of yellow and orange cars. If you have any pics that show your rollcage better I would love to see them.


URY - It might be that he sold it in 94, so that would make sense that he completed it a few years earlier. I had assumed that the flag info was put there by the last owner who was female - I guess I'n not as bias free as I thought. It's actually on an embossed plaque now, not even just a typed list. I likened it to guys who own boats with a chart of which side to pass and the port / starboard info on their dash. LOL Thanks again!!