Ladies and Gents,

Incredibly, I've only just discovered this excellent forum. "Incredibly", because I've been active on the Web for many years and actually joined the "V8 club" circa 1987. But my location, work and other interests took me away from Porschevs for many years until just recently...

Although I currently live in London, I grew up in Southern California and (naturally) lusted after various cars throughout my teenage years--and even before then, apparently! The article below (next post) was something I cut out and saved from Hot Rod magazine when I was about 10 years old. I don't know why it caught my attention, and I quickly moved on to various Mopars and then a serious fantasy relationship with the '67 Ford Mustang coupe, which almost became a reality--until I got a ride in one! In any case, when I eventually bought my first car (as opposed to hand-me-downs) it was a '73 914 1.7, which I purchased with the V8 conversion already in mind. "Couldn't afford a Pantera" was my rationale...

As I recall, it took me a few years during college to earn the money required for the conversion and get it running; it helped that I worked the counter in a speed shop one summer and bought a ton of engine parts using my employee discount. I purchased the conversion parts, new and used, from various sources--including the infamous Pomona Swap Meet... I ended up going with a new KEP adapter plate/clutch, what I think is a Rod Simpson water pump, and basically designed and made everything else myself. (It would have been a LOT easier if the Internet had been around then!)

Since then, the car went through the wars...I put more than 50,000mi on it, especially when I moved to San Francisco in the early '90s and drove back and forth to LA many times a year (Highways 25, 198 and 33 were always traffic and CHP-free). The front hood latch failed on the freeway one day and I discovered that my instinct to look out the driver's window was foiled by my Simpson racing harness... (Didn't hit anything, but the windshield and hood were trashed and the hood hinges sliced through the cowl like a hot knife through butter.) The gen-u-ine Earl Scheib paint job lavished upon the car by its previous owner slowly began to reveal the car's original lime green color, and the vinyl began to free itself from the sail panels, etc... Along the way I rebuilt the heads twice, changed carburetors from Holley to Edelbrock and from one intake manifold to another, played with various ways of quieting the exhaust (ended up with Thorley 'Vette headers mated to quad Supertrapps, a cross-over pipe--and still a lot of noise!) and also upgraded the suspension, brakes and wheels.

But in 1995 I decided I wanted something that didn't require my always carrying a full set of tools in the trunk and purchased a 928S4 to drive to work, and then moved to Europe the next year, leaving my slightly tired 918 to sit forlornly on the side of my parents' house in Southern California. Since then I've essentially transferred all of my gear-head enthusiasm to something more suited to the narrow roads and tiny garages we have here in Europe: Honda VFR motorcycles (see my Web site URL below). However, I have been seriously considering returning to California, and that has led me to think again about rescuing the Porschev. It hasn't been started in quite a while, I know it has at least one flat tire, and ISTR something about an oil leak before I put it away all those years ago... Should be fun!







Ciao,

John
London, UK
www.vsource.org

Welcome to the "club" John! Lots of conversion folks on this BB...I mean forum that can assist (if required) with any questions you might have to save your 914 and get her back on the road!

I had a flash back when the author of the article said "Yeah, I can dig the fact that this thing hauls......"

Far-out man!

Hey John,

Welcome to the club and great story!

cheers,

Jeroen

Welcome to the club.

I have that same 914/302 article. I've been holding on to it since I bought the mag off the rack. You're the first person I know that also has it also.

Paul

Cool stuff!!

Welcome!

welcome......


neat article...scary...bias ply tires

Welcome John! I remember the Pomona swap meets and Renegade, Simpson, Moonshadow, and of course Jaidecar.
The internet has really helped people doing conversions.

You will like the weather in Cali and some microbrews make something close to the english beers...well maybe not. I have alot of old magazine articles on the V8 Porsche but I haven't seen this one.
Felix

Welcome! It'll be interesting to hear more about some of your driving experiences during the 50,000 miles in your 914 V8. Please share!

Thanks, Wayne (type47fan)

Welcome!

I remember that article well. I must have worn out the pages. I can attest that it makes for a fun ride!

Welcome and Good luck with your revival.

Hmm. Ya goes away to Italy for the weekend and look at all the activity on the forum! I'll tell you guys right now I appreciate the warm welcome, but I'm not going to be able to keep up!

Felix, when I worked at the speed shop (Service Center in Torrance), the manager was a guy called Wade Kawasaki. Although I never saw his 914, he had just built what must have been a Jaidecar 915 transaxle--or maybe it was done by Vellios?--can't remember now. In any case, it had the broached Jaidecar-type input shaft adapter, Chevy clutch & pressure plate and a separate bellhousing he had professionally welded to the trimmed 915/916 sideshifter case. He offered to sell the transaxle to me, so I get the impression he had lost interest in the V8-914 project, but I'm sure somebody ended up with it... (I'm not a Brit, btw.)

Wayne, I did mention carrying a full set of tools at all times, didn't I? It was my only means of transport from about 1987 until 1990, when I bought my first VFR750, and was still my daily driver until early 1995. So, 50k in eight years isn't a huge amount in a big state like California. My main gripes were the barely-adequate cooling system, followed by the too-weak clutch. Oh, and the exhaust system that I could never really quiet down (the "internal combustion orchestra", I used to call it!)

The cooling system was one of those things I kinda did myself after looking at other 918s at Pomona, etc. I had a laid-down Chevy radiator in the front trunk with two cooling fans drawing the air through the rad and out the bottom. (My car originally had A/C, so the bottom hole was already there.) I had a plywood platform cover and a 911 collapsable spare up front, leaving my rear trunk free--to carry all of my tools, as it happens! The radiator design worked in most situations, but stop & go traffic was not much fun. I'm still not really sure what the problem was.

IMHO, the KEP clutch and pressure plate combination was never adequate for the V8's torque. Can't remember the spec, but 2,800lbs sounds about right. I just learned to drive the car without really stomping on the pedal...

Rick, owing to my subsequent experience with an S4, I always thought it would be great to use 928 power in my "next" 918 project car. But I didn't know that I'd have to make the serious chassis mods you did in order to make it work! But, now that I know it can be done...

Ciao,

JZH
London, UK
www.vsource.org

Welcome John!

I have the original magazine with the article in my closet. I also have a nice 930 4 speed in my workshop that I pulled from my '87 930 during a 5 speed conversion. It just sits waiting for the day when I do a V8 conversion!

You gotta love it!

Bill P.

If you click the Jaidecar link in my signature, you will see some details on their intermediate shaft and 915 machining. The owner never got to investigate the 930 and so believes his 25 year old idea is still the best.


I had that camaro cooling configuration too but it never kept my car cool. It was nice to have half a trunk though. I eventually went to the Simpson impeller water pump (from a big block water pump mounted remotely), another Jaide design. All this was trashed when a Renegade radiator was installed. Has since had few cooling issues. I lived in Pasadena in the early 80's.

My reference to the beer is because my first real taste for it was in England.
Felix

Had to bump this, cool article.

Minor, 14-year later update...

A friend reminded me about this car, so I went looking for this thread. Unfortunately, the car is long gone--a couple of years after I started this thread my parents sold it to someone locally for about $1,000. I do sometimes wonder what happened to it; I don't know who bought it. Life goes on!

Ciao,

JZH
London, UK
www.vsource.org

Wade? I believe he worked at a VW speed shop in Hermosa beach circa '82? He had a black 914 with a modified badge that said: "914 3.0" or similar to that.....very cool car - first modified 914 I had ever seen.

Wow, I wrote this post 15 years ago.
I've actually recently been looking for this article and here it's been all this time.
It was my inspiration for the last 43 years.

I finally get to go out work on my own, PorChev. Yeah, now's a good time. It's getting closer...

Welcome John. There is room here for all 914 lovers for sure. This is the best car forum I have ever been a part of. Cheers

This does seem like a great forum, and thanks for the welcome. If I'm ever tempted by car modification again (I have around 10 motorbikes in various stages of fettling--we have smaller garages here!) I know exactly where to come for help and inspiration.

Has anyone ever done a full-on, tube-framed, 'glass-bodied, street-legal V8 914...?

Ciao,

JZH
London, UK
www.vsource.org