My '75 2.0L has a set of them, my wife's '71 1.7L does not. My understanding is that they help to improve engine cooling.

We want to keep the '71 as close to stock as possible, but would like to know if anyone has retro-fitted them to early cars? ... and was it worth the effort? (cooling improvement).

All I can add is that my '73 2.0 had them when I bought it new. I recall being told that Porsche added them to reduce underbody lift on their race cars or something so they added them to the 914.

They added them in 73 MY (73-76 has them), primarily to improve cooling air flow to the mid-mounted engine, particularly on adding the 2.0 to the line-up.

Nothing to do with downforce & racing AFAIK.

They create a pocket of lower pressure under the engine which in turn draws more air through the grill and is very effective at improving the cooling so... 73 and yes... all years would benifit.

When attempting to build my GT clone, it was one of the things I left on my later tub, even thought it wouldn't have been around in 1970:

Geez! Car salesmen!
Pat

Well it is true they will say anything to sell a car. I was 18 and listened to anything too. But I also learned something here and will have to add those little flaps to the underside of my six to improve cooling....plus they look so cool!

Well all-righty then ... I'll be looking for some

Thanks for all the replies

They are also on the Boxster and the Cayman, for the same reason. You might find those ones to see if they fit if OE cant be found.

The OE ones are discontinued and are very hard to find. I have never seen one that wasn't on a car, and even then, they are few and far between.

Seems like someone could start reproducing these (QUALITY over quantity) and there would be a somewhat limited market for them.

Mikey914 - are you listening? Not my cuppa but there seems to be a need.

Mark,
I'll have to say that my 72 has never experienced vapor lock. It has always run as intended. IMO, if you haven't experienced heat related problems on your 71 - leave it alone. The flaps can be easily reproduced, and there may be a market for them. Not certain they are necessary on early 914's.