A lot of what I'm finding on the market is after market VW stuff, but mostly for sandrails and such, not sure it's the ride I'm looking for.

http://www.coolrydescustoms.com/store/c2/M...SUSPENSION.html

...

I think before I chop in a pricey complete front setup I'll try to shorten the strut and lower the strut tower, if that doesn't work I'll go in the Mendeola direction.

Ok, so we finally got out from the pile of cars and parts we buried ourselves in since the summer. Next time when someone asks if I want to do a 50 car Porsche deal, I won't be as enthusiastic!
Back to the grind on the 904 project, literally, grinding and cutting the skin off the test bed car, the doomed 914 center seater. Well, as excited as I was to get back into the project, it was a classic case of two steps forward, one step back. I worked on the chassis most of Thursday and had planned to go into the shop on Friday and have a whole day of Porsche bliss. Since it was a holiday my phone would not be ringing so I could just fire up the pellet stove, turn on some music and get to work. Except, while grinding on Thursday a little piece of metal got past my safety glasses so by the evening my eye was swelling pretty good and by bedtime it felt like pins were in my eye when I tried to close it. Ever try to sleep without closing one eye?
So Friday morning I went to a Doc-In-The-Box and after looking at my eye they sent me to the ER, so the day I was supposed to be in Porsche Project Heaven I was actually in ER Hell. Luckily the 3rd DR to try was able to get the chunk of Porsche out of my eyeball and it quickly starting feeling better. I still have to see a 4th DR on Monday to deal with the rust ring the metal made in my eye. Yes, in case you were wondering, Porsche rust never sleeps, even in your eyeball!
So Saturday the kids had art camp so I went to the shop and got slicing and dicing, the 914 now looks more like a Kubelwagon than a 914. Now that winter has officially hit NY, look for more updates in the coming weeks.
Oh, and don't grind in just safety glasses, I ignored my own advice and the ER visit was the result, wear a full face shield.
Happy New Year-
Adam

I hate to say this at this point of the project, but that chassis looks like a perfect candidate for a Kübelwagen or Schwimmwagen!


PS: Also, i second the safety glass recommendation. Been there, done that, don't want to do it again. I now always use those that are like goggles and go all around the sides.

A mid-engine Kubel would be very very cool.

can you post a picture of how they did the steering column move & pedal cluster? NOT that I want to build a center seat 914, just wondering how they did it.

I will be back at the shop on Monday and can take some pics. For the column the guy built some crude brackets. The pedals he put on either side of the center tunnel, the shifter he left in the middle, so had someone raced the car they would have hard in between their legs the whole race, that would have been funny to watch!

Knew you would run into that one, but you were already well into the project.
I had a RSK kit car here, the owner wanted to use a 914 chassis as well, a quick look told me front struts would be an issue.

I would go about it by abandoning the 914 struts and building a custom A-arm assembly along the lines of what the VW guys do.
In fact, IIRC you can buy the A-arm assembly already built over on thesamba.
At least I know you can buy it for a sand buggy, I know I did see someone do it for a lowered street bug just like below.





The RSK?
One off I think someone in Ontario, Canada made the body.
It made the rounds of all the local shops around here, no one gave him the right price. I already knew one shop made the mistake of wasting a couple weeks preparing a proper quote and then he bailed.
One look, chassis junk and real rough FG work, I told him my quote would be north of $50k. It's was gone from my shop within 2 days.
Last I saw it was up For Sale on Kijiji.

Mark-
I have a couple of ideas to try with the existing struts before I put in a Dual A-Arm system.

One of our sometime members, Britain Smith, made a rocker-arm suspension for his 914 autoXer. Or used-to-be-a-914-but-is-now-mostly-tubes-and-fiberglass autoXer.

--DD

Dave-
I think he used Lotus stuff, right?

I've had the same thoughts over the years, using the teener chassis for a 550 project . . .

It's been a long time since I've given this much thought, but as I recall the strut holds the gas shock in the tube with a big nut that screws inside the top of the stut tube. What if you used a shorter shock and just shorten the strut tube to the appropriate length.

Shortening the towers to the right height could be welded in place using the old towers as a jig . . .

Big talk for a dreamer huh . . .

I'm using part of a 914 for my 550 project. I'm going to use the motor and rear end, but graft it into a 356 chassis. I have a solid C chassis that was a rollover, so perfect for this. Just waiting on the body to get finished.

Sorry brainfart....the kit car I was talking about was a RSK, no where near as pretty as this one, but this is it.

If anyone wants one of these I have a guy who wants to practically give one away. I found it in middle FL.
I wanted the stablemate.

The stablemate.

What chassis under the 962 body ?

Cigar boxes me thinks.

After looking at the last pic, I was thinking wouldn't it be cool to extend the rear out like a truckbed. Not going to do it but it would be fun, a Kubel-truck.

Isn't that kind of how the VW bus was born?

Sort of...they had a VW bug truck for the factory floor, one dealer named Ben Pon saw it and thought it would be cool. He made a quick drawing of his bus idea, but it was a year or more before the project resurfaced. The VW pan was too weak so the prototype was a one off coach build, with a VW engine, trans and T81 Kubelwagen reduction boxes. The rest is similar to the bug but heavier front end and brakes. One interesting fact is it has the same wheelbase as a VW bug.
That's the quick version, but it's fitting because the time between starting the prototype and production was something ridiculous like only a few months.

The hippy's in the bus crowd credit Ben Pon as the creator of the bus.

That RSK kit is like the one making the rounds up here, but it has a way better gelcoat.
I don't think anyone realizes how small these things are till you see one in person. I was parked beside a spyder kit car at a local show here, they are only half as tall as a 914.

Just like the 904, they are tiny in real life. I'm glad I'm not a big guy, it took some real twisting to get in and out of 0014, and I'm only 5'9".

Yes. Uprights at the very least; I think he cut the wrecked car down to make a front subframe? There is a build thread around here somewhere.

--DD

Before I do anything drastic I'm going to try to lower the towers. I can't hurt the test car, so I might as well try it.

He's another A-arm, expensive, but if you are a super pro fab guy and know how to jig you could DIY.
I can see it uses standard aircooled VW late bug spindles (pretty sure lowered) and ball joints.

http://www.red9design.co.uk/wishbones.htm

I was making really good progress today until I had to go and see the eye DR to do the final scrapping of rust out of my eye. But the rear end is really starting to look like it belongs. More updates tomorrow, it's in the single digits outside so lots of time to work in the warm shop, winter is here!

Got it within about 1.5 inches of where I want the rear end today. Tomorrow I will play with lowering the rear shock towers, that should buy me the space I need for a perfect fit. The headaches are getting bigger, but so if the fun!
Starting to look like a car.

Today was eventful, got the rear end where I wanted it. Getting it there wasn't easy, we had to drill out all the spot welds on the rear shock towers. When we build the real chassis we will lower the shock towers. In fact, I will probably re-use the ones I pulled off the test car because the race cars ones have been modified for the roll cage. But the rear end is now in the right range of where it needs to be, a good dry fit.
Then we moved onto the main body and our heads really started to hurt. Lots of measuring and staring, and drawing, and re-measuring, but we will do the main body cut tomorrow, right behind the floor center cross member.
Lots of dramatic moves on the body, and cutting is always fun, but we are now getting into the more serious cuts and lots of math.
Stay tuned!

Here's how I attach my rear lid to open like a 904.

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SVO, thanks for the pics!

Today was both dramatic and eventful. After what seemed like a million cuts we got the car into two pieces, and then made it back into one, losing 5 inches in the process. From there we were able to get the main part of the body in place, so you can start to see the 904 emerging. It's getting fun!

Yea, I know that car too. Takes your breath away in person....sigh.....

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Wow, you must have seen it when it was at Dave's, I love stopping off to see him, a real character. And the ambiance of hearing the cars at Summit Point while standing in his yard is priceless.

Today was all Hollywood, meaning it was all about the nose job. We ran out of day but got to a good stopping point.

Love this build.

Making better progress than I originally thought

Part 1 of this build is now complete. The body has been dry-fitted to a 914 chassis. From here we have to figure out suspension, front and rear. But it has been proved, you can modify a 914 to accept a 904 body.

Looking very cool. I've also had the eye Dr. drill my eye with that dremel looking tool to harvest rust from my eye. Be sure to do all of your antibiotic eye drops.


Brett

Want.

Man, I've been using the eye drops around the clock, I don't want to see any more eye Dr's anytime soon.

Hey everyone, I don't need the motor I pulled out of the donor car. So it's FREE, pickup only at my shop in Ravena, NY.
Happy new Year-
Adam

Adam I am 20 minutes away. I'll take it.

Brett

Brett, it's yours, I already answered your PM.

Brett said he is going to bring me chili, now that's worth it's weight in gold!

The chili is good. A friend's recipe that is not like your typical chili. You will love it.

Brett

Well, looks like a no-go on the off the shelf Dual A-arm setups. The Mendeola guys didn't respond when I asked if it would work for my project but the guy from EyeBall Engineering, who sells a similar setup was nice enough to get back with a very refreshing and honest answer.
"hi
in a word no,but anything is possible with enough money
the old saying goes speed costs money,how fast do you want to go?
thanks bruce"

I can only assume the answer would have been the same from Mendeola, which is why they didn't bother to respond.
Either way neither system will work as far as I know, so I'm back to my own engineering. I had already planned to lower the shock towers in the rear but I guess I'm going to try for the shorter shock in the front. I'm confident I can make it work.

Get your engineering hat on I've been doing a bunch of renditions in my CAD program using modified corvette C4 control arms and modified 911 struts. More than one way to skin a cat

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Look into 944 front spindles, uses same rotors and [mostly] same hubs as 911, and run separate coilovers. You could likely adapt the 944 lower arms (and balljoints) easily also.