Building a 914 for vintage racing, Building a 914 for vintage racing Options

[Brisco914prc]

A friend and I are building a 914 for vintage racing. This is our second 914: a few months ago I wrecked the first one on turn 3 at Willow Springs (California) racing with VARA. Either the rear end lost traction because I was going to fast for cold tires, or the left halfshaft broke causing a loss of control. The body was too badly damaged to be worth fixing, so we found a replacement chassis, stripped the old chassis, and are now putting together another car.

The replacement '72 chassis I found was in amazingly good shape. It was sold new in Fresno, CA, and the combination of the dry Central Valley climate and being stored mostly indoors meant very little rust. When we bought it, it had the original black paint which really wasn't too bad but my racing partner is a fanatic (owner of a pristine '70 911E and a gorgeous '68 912) so we repainted the car: black of course. Photos below show the car before re-painting.

(IMG:http://totheweb.com/porsche/914_502/2009May/IMG_0016.jpg)

(IMG:http://totheweb.com/porsche/914_502/2009May/IMG_0017.jpg)

Below are photos showing the car after painting, and progress installing the front suspension. The front fender well photos show the original paint after cleaning with Marine Clean: it looks almost new. Some surface rust on the pans (and a few tiny holes in the passenger side pan below the seat), but after cleaning and wire brushing and 2 coats of POR15 the front trunk pan looks great. Will do the floor pans next.

(IMG:http://totheweb.com/porsche/914_502/2009Jun/fender_well_front_left.jpg)

(IMG:http://totheweb.com/porsche/914_502/2009Jun/fender_well_and_brake.jpg)

(IMG:http://totheweb.com/porsche/914_502/2009Jun/fender_well_and_brake_2.jpg)

(IMG:http://totheweb.com/porsche/914_502/2009Jun/front_pan_greyPOR15.jpg)

(IMG:http://totheweb.com/porsche/914_502/2009Jun/front_pan_greyPOR15_2.jpg)

Old pedal cluster removed and our previous cluster installed. There was a rodent nest in the tunnel forward of the gearshift.
(IMG:http://totheweb.com/porsche/914_502/2009Jun/pedal_cluster.jpg)

In new paint with the roll bar installed. Wheels are our street wheels, not the race wheels.
(IMG:http://totheweb.com/porsche/914_502/2009Jun/driver_side.jpg)

Original side mirror is in pretty good condition.
(IMG:http://totheweb.com/porsche/914_502/2009Jun/driver_side_with_mirror.jpg)

The old dash top had a lot of the usual cracks, we won't be using it, plan to leave the dash bare. Need something to go behind the instruments though: any suggestions?
(IMG:http://totheweb.com/porsche/914_502/2009Jun/dash_no_instruments.jpg)

(IMG:http://totheweb.com/porsche/914_502/2009Jun/driver_side_rear.jpg)

Rear end looks great. That's a fiberglass bumper of course.
(IMG:http://totheweb.com/porsche/914_502/2009Jun/rear_from_left.jpg)

(IMG:http://totheweb.com/porsche/914_502/2009Jun/rear_914_script.jpg)

(IMG:http://totheweb.com/porsche/914_502/2009Jun/rear_trunk_lid.jpg)

Will be installing our fuel cell soon, support bars and straps are in place.
(IMG:http://totheweb.com/porsche/914_502/2009Jun/front_trunk_no_tank.jpg)

Empty space where the old gas tank was: it reeked of decades old gas that smelled like turpentine. We will be replacing the plastic fuel lines in the tunnel with steel lines.
(IMG:http://totheweb.com/porsche/914_502/2009Jun/front_old_gas_tank_space.jpg)

Engine and trans are out of the car, and the rear suspension needs to be redone. I'll post more photos as the work progresses. Here are photos of the previous car after the crash. The body damage was greater than these photos show.

(IMG:http://totheweb.com/porsche/914_501/post_crash/left_rear.jpg)

(IMG:http://totheweb.com/porsche/914_501/post_crash/rear.jpg)

(IMG:http://totheweb.com/porsche/914_501/post_crash/left_rear_wheel.jpg)

(IMG:http://totheweb.com/porsche/914_501/post_crash/broken_axle1.jpg)

(IMG:http://totheweb.com/porsche/914_501/post_crash/broken_axle2.jpg)


And here are the cars my racing partner owns: '68 912 and '70 911E, both are very very fine.

(IMG:http://totheweb.com/porsche/mikes_cars/IMG_0042.jpg)

(IMG:http://totheweb.com/porsche/mikes_cars/IMG_0043.jpg)