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> Richard's progress thread
Richard Casto
post Oct 31 2007, 09:13 PM
Post #1


Blue Sky Motorsports, LLC
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Group: Members
Posts: 1,465
Joined: 2-August 05
From: Durham, NC
Member No.: 4,523
Region Association: South East States



A little history first...

This is my third 914 and it will be a keeper. First two are from my college days in the late 1980's but both of those are gone (1st was totalled in a crash, the second had terminal rust and eventually became a parts car) Fast forward roughly 20 years. Got married, had two kids and I decided I could not continue to put off building my dream car. While I had always wanted an original 914/6, I also wanted a general purpose fun car (Street, Autocross and Track) that would have had more power and safety features than a stock 914/6. I can't afford to have multiple 914s (a stock 914/4, a 914/4 with a modern Type IV, a stock 914/6, a 914/6 GT Clone, a track only 914, etc.), so rather than molest a "real" 914/6 to build my dream "six", I decided to start with a regular 914/4 and do a six swap.

This car was purchased in 8/2005. Over the past two years I have disassembled the entire car and am now at the point of doing repair and refurbishment. Which is why I picked now as the time to do the progress thread (who wants to read about the dis-assembly of a car!)

Goals for the car...
  • While I appreciate 914/6 GTs, I have no desire to spend the time and money to make this a "GT Clone".
  • While I appreciate 914s that have SBC or Subaru engine swaps or even big modern Type IV engines, I wanted to keep the spirit of the 914/6 which means a Porsche flat six. I am looking for "safe" power and torque. So this excludes building up a wild 2.x engine. So I either going to do a 3.0 or 3.2 (90% sure it will be a 3.2).
  • Again, with the spirit of building something like a 914/6, I will be doing a five lug conversion. I already have a complete front end including 3.5" struts.
  • I will be using a 901 transmission in the near term and when I can afford it, I will be moving up to a 915 transmission.
  • I don't think the wide body look works for every car and I tend to like the narrow body style better, but I am a big fan of plenty of rubber on a car. So I am doing steel flairs.
  • I am not a huge fan of the 916 front and rear bumpers, so I am keeping the stock style front and rear bumpers.
  • This will be used at track events, so I want a full cage. But at the same time I want to be able to put the top on the car. This is going to be a challenge as I am also 6'5". So getting me into a seat, with helmet on that fits under the top of the cage and with the top fitting is going to be a challenge.
  • I really want to minimize how much I modify the body itself. I wanted mods to be "bolt on" vs. cut and weld. This is currently stopping me from doing a "GT Style" front oil cooler. I most likely will put a cooler in the rear with ducts and thermostat controlled fan. I know that in a way this is more complicated than the front cooler, but it is what I want. The only exceptions to this rule so far is the flairs and the installation of the cage. The flairs I think are in the spirit of the car as they are the steel repro of the factory flairs and the cage is a safety item. I haven't decided about things like cutting an access hole for the engine (set timing, etc.), mods to the floorboard to get the seat to fit as well as "stiffening" or "reinforcement" kits. I want this car to be SCCA SM2 legal for autocross. But I may just say "screw it" and do some of these factory stiffening kits even if it puts me into XP class.
  • I want to keep the "bling" factor down on the car. So the interior and exterior will have a very "stock" look (no rear wings, etc.) I am also going to go with the factory color of "Irish Green" as you don't seem to see many in that color.
  • Ideally I would like to refurbish or replace as much as I can as I reassemble the car, but due to funds, some stuff may be put back that I will replace at a later date. The dash cover is a simple example of this. Mine is cracked, but I may not be able to get it recovered until later.
  • Do as much of the work myself as I can. For me the trip there is just as important as the destination. I want to know this car inside and out when I am done.
  • I want to do any rust repair "the right way". What I mean by this is that I will only be in doing surgery on this car once. So if I see rust, I am going to fix it once and fix it right. And the resulting repair will hopefully look as close to factory original as I can make it.
  • I would like to be done by the end of 2008. As with anything, time and money have a big impact on this.

I have my own website that contains a higher level of detail on specific sections of the car as well as a more detailed general Blog. I currently host this at home and sometimes the server is down, but it is up most of the time. You can find that here...

http://motorsport.zyyz.com/project_914.htm
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Posts in this topic
Richard Casto   Richard's progress thread   Oct 31 2007, 09:13 PM
Richard Casto   In 2005 when I decided to get back on the horse, a...   Oct 31 2007, 09:18 PM
Richard Casto   Fast forward to June of this year. Over the sprin...   Oct 31 2007, 09:26 PM
Richard Casto   Sometime earlier I had realized that in addition t...   Oct 31 2007, 09:32 PM
Richard Casto   This past week, I decided to dive in and really st...   Oct 31 2007, 09:47 PM
Richard Casto   In the hell hole area, as mentioned earlier I have...   Oct 31 2007, 09:57 PM
Richard Casto   More cutting. I probably am going to be cutting a...   Oct 31 2007, 10:01 PM
TeenerTim   You REALLY need to tack in some bracing with the c...   Nov 1 2007, 08:01 AM
rick 918-S   Good start. we'll be watching :popcorn:   Oct 31 2007, 10:36 PM
iamchappy   What an ambitious start, I wish you the courage to...   Nov 1 2007, 08:08 AM
URY914   Great job so far. But yes add some door opening br...   Nov 1 2007, 08:24 AM
jdogg   Richard- Great progress!!! With the p...   Nov 1 2007, 09:50 AM
Richard Casto   Richard- Great progress!!! With the ...   Nov 1 2007, 10:30 AM
roadster fan   Richard, Awesome pics of your progress, keep em c...   Nov 1 2007, 12:32 PM
Richard Casto   Richard, Awesome pics of your progress, keep em ...   Nov 1 2007, 12:47 PM
Richard Casto   [quote name='roadster fan' post='962704' date='No...   Nov 6 2007, 04:17 PM
tdgray   Great Start :beer2: :Qarl: Keep it up... belie...   Nov 1 2007, 04:04 PM
dfwteenerpr   This is fascinating to see. I have a 74 and a 76 ...   Nov 1 2007, 09:16 PM
jaminM3   Nice!! I am starting a very similar proje...   Nov 1 2007, 09:21 PM
Rand   Way to go Richard! I love the way you're t...   Nov 1 2007, 09:41 PM
BIGKAT_83   Great write up on the rotisserie build.....It sure...   Nov 6 2007, 05:31 PM
Eric_Ciampa   just a thought... you might want to include some p...   Nov 6 2007, 09:18 PM
roadster fan   Richard, Thanks for doing the write up on the rot...   Nov 9 2007, 01:56 AM
Richard Casto   Richard, Thanks for doing the write up on the ro...   Nov 9 2007, 10:09 AM
roadster fan   Richard, That is exactly the info I needed. I wi...   Nov 10 2007, 03:35 AM
Richard Casto   Sorry for the lack of an update. Between various ...   Dec 30 2007, 10:58 PM
Richard Casto   I am still working on the passenger side longitudi...   Dec 30 2007, 11:10 PM
Richard Casto   I drilled out the spot welds on the bottom. The...   Dec 30 2007, 11:26 PM
Richard Casto   Thats pretty much it for tonight. Over the next f...   Dec 30 2007, 11:30 PM
michelko   Hi Richard, nice project. i love that kind of stuf...   Dec 31 2007, 03:11 AM
Richard Casto   Hi Richard, nice project. i love that kind of stu...   Jan 2 2008, 09:48 AM
John   It looks like you are making good progress with yo...   Jan 2 2008, 12:34 PM
Richard Casto   It looks like you are making good progress with y...   Jan 2 2008, 02:10 PM
Richard Casto   Time for an update As always my site has more in ...   Feb 26 2008, 10:58 PM
Richard Casto   Last month I had been working on cleaning up stuff...   Feb 26 2008, 11:01 PM
Richard Casto   Earlier this month I started to fabricate replacem...   Feb 26 2008, 11:09 PM
Richard Casto   Here is the actual part I plan to put on the car...   Feb 26 2008, 11:12 PM
Richard Casto   Here I have marked up the lower section of the bu...   Feb 26 2008, 11:16 PM
Lou W   Richard, this is amazing, you're doing a great...   Feb 26 2008, 11:16 PM
Richard Casto   By using a combination of the metal brake and ham...   Feb 26 2008, 11:22 PM
Richard Casto   Thats it for now. Any comments or questions are w...   Feb 26 2008, 11:24 PM
michelko   Hi richard, your metal working skills are amazing ...   Feb 27 2008, 03:02 AM
jeeperjohn56   Hey Richard, Your doing a great job of metal work,...   Feb 27 2008, 09:47 AM
Richard Casto   Hey Richard, Your doing a great job of metal work...   Feb 27 2008, 11:02 AM
BenNC   Richard, it looks like your having too much fun wi...   Feb 27 2008, 11:53 AM
Richard Casto   Richard, it looks like your having too much fun w...   Feb 27 2008, 01:02 PM
Richard Casto   I reached a cool milestone this weekend. I actual...   Mar 10 2008, 07:50 PM
Richard Casto   First I needed to mostly finish up the replacement...   Mar 10 2008, 07:52 PM
Richard Casto   Now for the fun stuff!! I don't want ...   Mar 10 2008, 07:57 PM
Richard Casto   All welded up. What has worked best for me is s...   Mar 10 2008, 08:03 PM
Richard Casto   Thats it for now. I am pretty excited to be weldi...   Mar 10 2008, 08:05 PM
Rand   That's choice Richard! And I wasn't ev...   Mar 10 2008, 08:10 PM
roadster fan   Hey Richard, It's been awhile since I checked...   Mar 10 2008, 11:44 PM
jdogg   Holy shit, Richard!!! Great stuff...   Mar 11 2008, 12:31 PM
Richard Casto   Its been awhile since I have posted an update. As...   Jul 7 2008, 12:13 PM
Richard Casto   For the new skin, I want to replicate the indent...   Jul 7 2008, 12:14 PM
Richard Casto   Back of skin with tack welds 99% Finished pro...   Jul 7 2008, 12:35 PM
Richard Casto   On the left is part of the double wall that will...   Jul 7 2008, 12:40 PM
Richard Casto   Here I am starting a test to see what is the best ...   Jul 7 2008, 12:48 PM
Richard Casto   Ok, back to the passenger longitudinal. I had sta...   Jul 7 2008, 12:57 PM
Richard Casto   Thats it for today. I am taking off next week and...   Jul 7 2008, 01:02 PM
Cupomeat   This is great stuff, thanks! It gives me insp...   Jul 8 2008, 10:41 AM
Richard Casto   Made some progress last week. I had taken the wee...   Jul 22 2008, 09:45 PM
Richard Casto   Close up of the rosette "spot welds" n...   Jul 22 2008, 09:50 PM
SGB   "thass purty"   Jul 22 2008, 09:56 PM
Richard Casto   Next I fabricated this piece. As you can see it...   Jul 22 2008, 09:58 PM
3d914   Richard, THis is awesome stuff. I have taken on a...   Jul 23 2008, 08:40 PM
Richard Casto   Richard, THis is awesome stuff. I have taken on ...   Jul 24 2008, 08:54 AM
Richard Casto   It has been quite awhile since I have updated this...   Nov 11 2008, 03:01 PM
Richard Casto   Now we move onto the inner passenger suspension co...   Nov 11 2008, 03:11 PM
Richard Casto   I generally do the welding stuff on the weekends w...   Nov 11 2008, 03:18 PM
Travis Neff   Great attention to detail!   Nov 11 2008, 03:20 PM
Richard Casto   Great attention to detail! Thanks! I t...   Nov 11 2008, 03:22 PM
Richard Casto   Now comes the fun that I have been looking forward...   Nov 11 2008, 03:34 PM
Richard Casto   Ok, that is it for now. I hope to work on powder ...   Nov 11 2008, 03:37 PM
r_towle   this is awesome and I love the work...great detail...   Nov 11 2008, 03:39 PM
Richard Casto   this is awesome and I love the work...great detai...   Nov 11 2008, 03:45 PM
charliew   I wonder if in a emergency and you don't have ...   Jan 5 2009, 09:34 PM
Richard Casto   I wonder if in a emergency and you don't have...   Jan 6 2009, 07:42 AM
Gint   Very nice work. How's that diff cover comin...   Jan 17 2009, 09:13 AM
Richard Casto   Very nice work. How's that diff cover comi...   Jan 17 2009, 07:48 PM
Gint   That's what I was curious about. I bought som...   Jan 17 2009, 09:41 PM
Richard Casto   Here are the photos of the diff cover. It sat in ...   Jan 21 2009, 09:51 AM
Richard Casto   It may be hard to see the corrosion from the last ...   Jan 21 2009, 09:55 AM
Richard Casto   Ok, back to fabrication and welding!! Now...   Jan 21 2009, 10:46 AM
Richard Casto   Brackets and the metal heater tubes all welded int...   Jan 21 2009, 10:49 AM
Richard Casto   It's hard to believe that it's been nearly...   Jan 21 2009, 10:57 AM
FourBlades   Its looking good man! :Qarl: Did you say t...   Jan 21 2009, 11:21 AM
Richard Casto   Its looking good man! :Qarl: Did you say ...   Jan 21 2009, 11:30 AM
Richard Casto   Ok, it's been months since I have updated this...   Mar 31 2009, 07:14 PM
Richard Casto   Car is upside down so this is driver side... PO...   Mar 31 2009, 07:19 PM
Richard Casto   Media blasted and treated with Metal Ready. I h...   Mar 31 2009, 07:24 PM
Richard Casto   All welded on. Fabrication takes a lot of...   Mar 31 2009, 07:29 PM
Richard Casto   Just need to grind down the welds and add in the...   Mar 31 2009, 07:35 PM
Richard Casto   About 1/2 done with my welding. While the c...   Mar 31 2009, 07:41 PM
Richard Casto   Mostly welded and about 90% ground down. Just m...   Mar 31 2009, 07:46 PM
Richard Casto   Well that is it for now. I am going to continue t...   Mar 31 2009, 07:50 PM
veltror   Excellent work, it really is encouraging to see th...   Apr 1 2009, 05:34 PM
FourBlades   Really nice quality work Richard! :Qarl: :t...   Apr 1 2009, 07:19 PM
dlo914   Nice welds! :) ...what are you using? I'm ...   Apr 1 2009, 09:38 PM
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