Hi,

My name is Randall, 37 years old and I live in The Netherlands

I wanted to build a classic but not deal with the classic troubles....
My search found me a Porsche 914 built in 1974 and imported from California to The Netherlands in 1999. The car drove for only 1 year and then was sent to the painter, there it stayed for 10 years until it was bought by Europe's largest 914 parts suplier here in The Netherlands and then it was bought by me.
They are notorious for the rust on the right rear and my car was in a very good shape compared to most of them. Mine had repairs done before, but not to my standards.

So the logical step was just to do it again, only better....

I'm going to completely gut out everything inside and build it up as a tubeframe 914. Powerplant is going to be a Subaru 4cil boxer and the transmission for building/setup purposes is going to be the stock 5-speed converted to 2wd. However the roadgoing transmission will be either an Elite sequential 6-speed or a mendeola seq 5-speed....haven't made up my mind just yet.

Pics from the first week when I got it:

The next step was to make it easier to work on, so I constructed a so-called rotisserie

H



After this I could safely start to remove the rusty bottom plates

Great job ! This tub seems to be in a very good shape ! ...

I wil replace the original 4 cilinder porsche (VW) boxer with a Subaru boxer and a subaru transmission. These are pics of my fitting engine and transmission. These are from a WRX













The 4wd transmission will be converted to 2wd for mid-engine use by removing the center diff and locking two independent rotating shafts together so that all the power is transferred to the old front wheels which are now the rear wheels,



Decided to make the endplate myself

Bought an engine for fitting purposes













Cleaned the heads





















Then had it all coated, just because it looks good

Then I installed braces in the doors to prevent the car from bending when the complete floorpan is removed.
Then I safely removed the rest of the floorpan and after that it was time to start building the Jig for this baby.
I want to build it into a semi tubeframe porsche with a subaru boxer and a sequential transmission. I will cut out the entire inside except for the front inner fenders and create a new inside, with carbon floor and carbon fenders and doors.
It will be the GT wider version.

Pics of the Jig construction

Finished the OEM transmission mount jig, it's the one in the rear center.
Left side frame rail also finished and started today with the jig that will hold the rear outer body shell during cutting and removing the inside of this car.
It needs to be solid since it will be the only thing preventing the body from bending at the doorsills when empty ( the doorbraces I want to remove during building of the tube frame)

Pics show it half way finished now;

Wow! Brilliant!

SWEEEEEEEEEEET

Hontec.

Beautiful workmanship & engineering. Keep the thread coming.

Tom

Very nice work, where did you pick-up such skills if you don't me asking?

There appear to be some excellent engineering and welding skills going into this project. Keep the pics coming, we all appreciate seeing a project like this. Oh, yes...

Wow, you sure have great skills. This car is going to be fantastic!
Tom

thats downright increadable work. look forward to seeing this one's progress

This should be awesome to watch.

-Britain

Kick ass! Can't wait to follow your progress!

UNBELIEVABLE WORK! CLASSIC THREAD NOMINATION1

You should be in the antique restoration business.

Umm.. you win.

This wouldn't be the first time you have done something like this, would it? Why don't you give us a little bio so we can fully appreciate your work. I think we are going to be following your project eagerly. Al.

Um hella of a first post.

Nice lawnmower.

Wild - the tooling looks like stuff I see in aerospace factories!

Cool project, I will definitely stay tuned to this one.

....damn......pretty much speachless !!!!!!!!!

Thank you all for the kind words and positive inputs! Very much appreciated!

As far as my constructional skills go; I started working in my uncle's garage in the holidays when I was around 10 years old. From there on things got out of hand and I started building cars ( mainly Honda's) putting engines in no-one had ever concieved possible. That got noticed and gave me a lot of work, which eventually ended up in me starting a business in building race/rally cars.
Built everything, from circuit to rally and even Dakar cars... 3 years ago I got sick of not having the time anymore to be able do do my own car, so I left the company and got back to the old days....hobbying again.....( I had the company next to my regular job)

So that's where I basically have the skills from......when i found the 914, I was in love immediately. I wanted to do something different, but do it right. I know I could have put her on jackstands and start cutting, but that simply is not the way I do things......

Maybe it's overkill, but eventually this is the hobby......

Thanks

Randall

And you own 2 lawnmower.

Lol..!! true

Finished the rear body shell brace today. next week I'll start on the front ones and after that the jigs to give me shock mounting point positions.

Is this car going to be Anklebiter's more conservative European cousin?

WOW!

It may very well be, however, unless I come up with a good soft or hardtop, the weather here is not very favourable to an open car....

Nice setup. Why don't you tell everyone about some of the other cool projects. Like the mid engine Civic project and others. Sounds like it will be a very nice project.

Very nice work on the fixtures.

I'd love to see pictures of some of your other projects.

This pictures looks like something you would see in an old factory photo.



-Britain

Hi Randall,

I'm in California with a California car that I'm rebuilding with more rust than yours! So I hope you appreciate that you have a good car for your project.
Having the paint and body already done is a great way to start and the color is great!

Thanks for all the great photos, your work is absolutely superior and sets a standard for all us to try to attain.

Thanks also for your rotissorie for the car gave me an idea on how I can build one for my project!

I would love to see more photos as you build your tube frame and install the Subie engine.

Best of luck,
Terry

Terry

Thank you, The car had been in a paintshop for 10 years before I bought it. The papers that come with the car say it's black........The paintjob however isn't that good, when I started removing the tar on the bottom, beneath it, it was covered in rust, and when i removed some sealant in the back, there was rust underneath.
All of this tells me the paintjob wasn't done thoroughly. I however do appreciate the chassis is in a pretty good condition compared to many others I have seen.
Nevertheless it will be paintstripped completely again......

My hat's off to you, excellant job. Wish I had a tenth of your skills. Look forward to more picts, would also like to see previous projects.

Dave

This is going to be so fun to watch!

Jim

Randall, top quality work and skills ! I know of 2 other tube frame 914s here in the states, but your "Show and tell" pics are fascinating at the least. Good things coming from Den Haag
Marty

Thanks guys, your inputs are appreciated!

@ Marty; you know Den Haag?

Have some AST airjacks left over from a previous project, Looks like fun to incorporate these into the 914 tube frame.





Picture of how it was installed in a previous project. Mid engined Honda Integra with an NSX V6 and inverted porsche G50 transmission.





For those that asked for it; pic of the Integra setup:









Project was sort of a bet with a friend that It wouldn't fit, when I proved it did, I lost interest and scrapped it







Have some other goodies left over: BTCC centerlock wheels, I have 8






And the huge-ass brakes that fit them;








Not sure yet about the wheels and brakes, They will be centerlocks, but not sure if I will use the OZ. They are light thouhg for 19"

Thats a lot of work to prove a point...but very nice indeed.

-Britain

Absolutely true, kind of drastic, but I already had 5 or so cars and another carcass out back was sort of too much......

The ultimate 914 option.......built-in jackstands!!

Incredible thread, incredible workmanship.