A 3.6

When I bought my -6, it had 130K miles and as far as I could tell in the documentation and from talking with the PO who had owned the car for the last 33 years, the engine had never been rebuilt. I have taken the car to a couple of local experts for a more thorough analysis than I have the knowledge to perform and came away with a number of pretty expensive items that would need to be addressed: carb rebuilds ($3K +), new heat exchangers, rebuild engine, etc.......and still wind up with a 2.0 gutless wonder (sounds great but no grunt).

So I know my approach might run against the grain with some but since it's my car...
I have started the process of dropping in:
- a rebuilt 2.7S with 9.5:1 forged pistons,
- individual throttle body F.I.,
- distributorless electronic ignition,
- a pair of Ben's 1 5/8" SS HEs,
- a Kennedy Engineering 228mm Stage 1 clutch package,
- a side-shifter trans, and
- Tangerine Racing's complete shift linkage kit with a JWest shifter

I've never taken on a project anywhere close to this magnitude so I'm sure that I will take more time than most to get it all done. I started pulling together the pieces of the project back in August, starting with the engine. Just for my own sake, I'm going to document the steps here because I'm sure that there will be suggestions of how to do things or other items to check that I will not think of and need you guys watching over my shoulder. Unfortunately, there are few teeners around these parts.

My adage just for those wondering, is to do no harm (make no modifications to the car that can't easily be addressed or returned to stock), make it look stock (and/or as period correct as possible), and clean and correct any issues I find as I move along through the project.

Starting with the engine....its a '74 911S that was completely gone through by someone who has done many of these with the correct machining, upgrading to 9.5:1 JE forged pistons and changing the S cams for E cams to make it a better engine for my tastes. I had the builder replace the CIS with ITBs and EFI, managed by a Megasquirt MS3 box with the expansion card. Next, we removed the distributor and replaced the ignition with an EDIS system tied into the trigger wheel and the MS3 ECU for control. He did enough wiring to get it running on his stand but I redid all of the wiring to clean it up and tie it into the factory -6 circuit board, per my adage. I'm going to be using some rainhats to top of the ITBs for now although I may move to a stock air cleaner assembly with a velocity stack on the front. I got a set of Ben's new 1 5/8" SS HE just this last week and have a surprise in the works for the rest of the exhaust.


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Wiring the engine has come in stages as I have tried to compartmentalize it.

First, was the actual wiring of the FI and sensors on the engine. I followed the MS3X diagrams and tied in one of the oil (coolant) temperature sensors along with oil pressure and air intake temp. All of the ECU connections from the engine will be in one harness that terminate into a single connector for easy engine removal in the future.
Click to view attachment throttle position sensor
Click to view attachment intake air temp sensor

I plan on mounting the bulkhead portion in this aluminum housing since it will mount neatly using an existing stock hole on the passenger side of the engine shelf near the right "hell hole". I looked at other housings and couldn't find anything else that mounted as easily or used existing holes....other than just letting a bare connector rattle around unsupported (not doing that).
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This connector will handle everything back to the ECU under the dash.

The next item I started working on was the ignition. I'm using a 6 cyl. EDIS set-up with Clewett wires. I made a bracket for the coil module to mount it in the same location as the distributor. The mount is supported by the engine tin screws and some threaded stand-offs back to the cam cover studs but only for vertical stability as the mount has an "L" shape to it to support the weight of the coil and spread it across the shelf along that side of the engine. It came out pretty well, I think...the mount is nice and solid.


I thought long and hard about mounting the ICM (ignition control module) on the same mounting plate just under the coil pack (like the pic below) but after some research, I decided to move it off the engine altogether for EMI and heat reasons.

I reworked all of the Clewett plug wires to clean them up and adjust the length as well.

Next, I pulled the alternator to inspect it and decided to replace it with a remanufactured original (with the external voltage reg) from a company in California and an engine wiring kit from Perry Kiehl (thanks again for the kit and the advice Perry!!). I waited to terminate the connections for the 14-pin plug to the stock -6 circuit board and the starter and reverse lights until I have the transmission mounted on the engine. I've been researching a lot to find the right terminals, harness materials, connectors, etc. to make all of the harnesses as bullet-proof reliable as possible....I hate chasing wiring/electrical gremlins.

The old alternator looked like the original unit (dirty and tired).

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"While I was in there", I sourced the correct air guide (that was in much better condition) for the back of the alternator and installed a new braided ground strap per a Porsche service bulletin of the day (you can just see the new copper strap).

dont forget the extra oil cooler have fun

I can't believe I missed this thread. This car looks exactly like the 914 that gave me the desire 30+ years ago. When you say near San Francisco, did it happen to come from Daly City? If so, it might be one in the same.

John,

Could be. The gentleman I bought it from lives in Woodland Hills. I believe he had owned it since '83, IIRC.

Wow, that looks great!!! Thanks for all of the pics, keep 'em coming!! Maybe you don't know it, but you are inspiring me by moving forward so swiftly.

Nice work! Pretty car. Can I make one small request? With all the mechanical work you're going through, can we get those fog lights replaced with the correct ones along with the grills?

Working on the harness for the EDIS and trying to figure out how best to tie it in for the long haul was fun and yet challenging. I drove over to my nearest Pick-a-Part on two different Saturdays to get sections of wiring harness and then stripped the old tape wrap and cleaned everything. I was able to find a source for the factory ICM 12-pin connector so that I could create my own harnesses to the coil pack, the crank sensor, and to the ECU, that way I got good connections with no splices. I also incorporated the factory radio suppression cap at the coil pack and a grounding diode in the ground path.

Started with this:

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and got to this:

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and finally to this:

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Just have to cut to length and terminate with everything mounted in the car.

I started work on this a few months ago and its amazing how much time it takes to figure stuff out, find the right parts, get the right items in hand, and then put them together....all in the course of a regular life as well.

Actually, that was one of the considerations for choosing the engine I did. I didn't want to have to cut the front trunk for a cooler or other areas for oil lines so I tried to pick an engine that would make it more fun to drive w/o adding an aux. cooler.

The other reason I had for going with the 2.7S is because for me, it seemed a better fit for the kind of experience I am looking for.

When I got the engine (which had just been rebuilt), there was a tremendous amount of crud in between the fins of the cooler which I'm sure would have affected cooling. So since I needed to modify the 911 oil cooler to work in the 914, I cleaned it really well by plugging the inlet and outlet and soaking it in carb cleaner as the first step. Once it was really clean, I sent it out to Rich Johnson to have him do the -6 oil cooler mod and then pressure test it. Now its like new.

Thanks for the compliment but I kinda like the square fog lights in the bumper. They're different and fit with the "squareness" of the bumper. I'm looking for some square LED foglights to match the rest of the exterior lights that have all been converted to LED. I'm going to pay close attention when mounting them to make sure their centered and the modify the grills to fit.

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But don't worry, I have a set of NOS grills and a set of 914Rubber's latest for when my son converts it all back to stock when I'm long gone!

For the trans, I decided to pull the stock tailshifter trans and store it off to the side with the engine. I had spent some time shortly after I got the car replacing all of the bushings and wear items in the shift linkage (rebuilt the shifter itself, replaced the firewall bushing, and the bushings at the back) and then adjusting the shifting until there just wasn't a way to make it better. I still had to shift it very slowly between 1st and 2nd....nearly got rear-ended a time or two when I would take off with some hotrod close behind me and then have to shift to 2nd!!

I had decided to reach out to someone here in Altanta for some help in rebuilding a sideshifter but since I have no experience with it (pulled it from a parts car I bought), he recommended that I put it in the car and drive it to understand what it needs. So, I guess I'll be pulling it later and rebuilding it then.

In the meantime, I cleaned up the sideshifter really well and then used some Gibbs to protect the magnesium from oxidation. I looked at a number of different options from some toxic near-military grade stuff to spray-on waxy compounds that sound like cosmoline. I have a nice billet intermediate plate that I'm going to install during the rebuild which will help with the strength of the trans under the added load and provide a proper mount for the bellcrank shaft for the throttle but until then, I've made up a bolt-on bracket for the bellcrank.

For the clutch/flywheel package, I called up Kennedy Engineering and asked for a recommendation. The engine builder estimated the HP output of the engine at around 210-220 based on his past builds so I went with a Stage 1 228mm package that's supposed to hold 250+ HP (IIRC) but still have a smooth, light feel....we'll see. Over the Christmas break, I tried bolting the flywheel on the engine to verify clearances so I could order the new starter. When I got the flywheel snugged down a little, the engine wouldn't turn over any longer with a wrench. Hmmmm...something's not right. I backed off the flywheel bolts and voila, the engine could then turned over again but then I heard something dragging. So I spun the engine over a time or two more and then pulled it off, applied some tape to mark the areas of concern, snapped a few pics of the back of the engine and gave Kennedy a call.

They wound up having me ship the flywheel back for some additional machining. After a week, the received it, machined it and sent it on its way back to me only to realize the next day that they had left the ring gear off. They contacted UPS and had them turn it around. After 2 weeks, I get a notice that the flywheel got lost and Kennedy is going to have to machine a new one....then another week of shipping back to me. Today, one month later almost to the day, I finally get it back. I'm going to try bolting it on again tomorrow to see if it fits properly now. Crossing my fingers!

A couple of weeks ago while my son was home from college, he and I pulled the stock 2.0 -6 and tailshifter trans. Once I got the disconnected everything from the top, we moved underneath and pulled the shifter linkage, oil lines, and stock heat exchangers. I thought they were in pretty good shape until we got them off and I found out that the metal tab near the #1 exhaust port had torn a hole in the top of the HE about the size of a quarter.
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With a pallet placed on top of a furniture dolly, we positioned it under the engine/trans and used an assortment of wood and 1.5" styrofoam blocks to support both equally well. I then lowered the car the last 1" until it touched down, pulled the three bolts, and lifted the car off the engine with the Atlas 6000 lift. Wow, worked like a charm!

Here's a pic of the engine as it came out:

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You can tell it's tired, huh?

Love the car, hate the fog lights.

It's your car.

Did I say I love what you're doing, love the car?

Love this car, would like to follow in your steps

Didn't I just send you a replacement for those worn out heat exchangers?

Hi Ben,
Yes you did and they are beautiful. I have an Innovate Motorsports LC-2 WB O2 sensor I'm going to be plugging into one of the bungs and feeding the MS3X.

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The rest of the exhaust is going to be surprise!!

Once I got the engine out, I started working in the engine compartment to clean everything up and look for any issues that I need to address. I've found a few on the original engine when I pulled it our as well.

For one, there was a separate, heavy duty ground cable from one of the starter mounting bolts all the way back to the negative battery terminal in addition to the stock ground strap on the back of the trans up to the stud on the underside of the trunk floor. Another "interesting" issue I found on the original 2.0 once I had it out and was checking it over was this splice in the alternator output lead back to the starter.

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When I was looking over the wiring harness through the engine compartment back to the light in the trunk and the tail lights, I found an area on the PVC sleeve covering that was a bit "crunchy". I continued on up towards the trunk light and found more of the same.

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So I went back to a spare wiring harness I have and cut out the wiring for the rear trunk light, cleaned it up, and spliced it back into the harness and then wrapped the harness again.

good deal and yes all that grim really afects cooling.. look into the bruce anderson cooling fins mod and how to cut them for better affect good luck nice hot rod

MikeC

I'm definitely installing a front cooler in my 2.7 conversion. You may need one in the future.

I am running a 2.7S engine in my 6 right now it is from a '76 911S. Drove it to Okteenerfest from Chicago 11hrs each way with no engine temp problems and stock 6 cooler. Having my original matching engine rebuilt right now and will go back in the car.

Dee guess you are not interested in a stock steering wheel anymore? I think the stock fog lights with the yellow lenses would look killer on your car!

Hi Mike,
I'm still trying to find the right wheel for my car. I have an early leather one from a -4 that I can start with but its from a '72. The car will likely never be 100% stock again but I was trying to find one to put aside for the future. I like the Momo wheel I have on it now.

I've got a pair of NOS clear and yellow lenses....you may be right there. Whenever I get to that point.

Kinda twins (a bit) mines a mongrel but similar to a point.
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Plan on pulling rear body for 16 x 8's as I don't really fancy a flared car,wow you have done some nice stuff with your car ,nice keep up the good work.

Porschetub, nice car....looks great. Did you import it yourself?

I asked the PO how they were done as he didn't have any record with pics from the day but he said that there was some metal added and then the inside of the fenders reworked (as well as the outside obviously) to finish out the job. It does seem as if they did a nice job on them. I'm running 951 8x16 Fuchs now with some thin spacers and 225/50 tires with room left. I have a set of 930 9x16s and with the right tire, those would fit as well. Find the wheel then fit the flare if you're doing it.

Sorry for the long gap.....got pretty busy working on the car and didn't stop to update the thread.

Back to the engine…..

So I completed the wiring for the engine sensors, the EDIS, and the injectors. MS3x can handle sequential injection management but for now, I’m going to go with batch fueling for each bank. I can always come back and modify it later if it seems I need to.

Click to view attachment Here's the air temp sensor on the bottom plate of the rain hat,

Click to view attachment The throttle position sensor,

Click to view attachment The fuel injectors at the base of the 40mm throttle bodies,

Click to view attachment The roughed in wiring, and

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Click to view attachment The final wiring.

Click to view attachment The FI engine connector and the manifold vacuum line.

After getting the engine to this point, I re-evaluated the connector for the engine electronics and decided that I could go with a smaller connector. This is for the engine to ECU harness and again, not wanting to cut/drill any holes, this was a good decision. The braided harness coming off the engine between the 1st and 2nd pugs in the pic above goes to a 16-pin connector so that when I need to drop the engine, I'll only have 3 connectors, the battery cable, and a fuel line to disconnect, keeping it pretty simple and straightforward.

Very nicely done.

The next issue was to add the new clutch, pressure plate, starter, and a side-shifter trans in place of the stock tail-shifter as another step to make the car a little more fun to drive.

I reached out to Kennedy Engineering and got one of their 228mm Stage 1 bus kits (flywheel, disc, pressure plate) and a new throw-out bearing and transmission input shaft seal while I was in there. This package is supposed to be able to handle up to 300HP with a pedal pressure similar to that of the stock. When I first bolted up the flywheel, I noticed that I couldn't turn the engine over with a wrench so I then backed off the torque on the bolts to hand tight, and I could turn the engine again but heard something dragging....
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Just so you know, there is a spacer that goes in between the flywheel and crankshaft (if you look at the manual, you'll see it there but I didn't want to cause questions/concerns here by not showing it).
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So I called Kennedy and shipped it back out for "a little bit more machining". While it was out, I got a second set of factory -6 engine sheet metal powder coated. I have the gun and oven to do smaller pieces but the longest piece across the front of the engine is too long to fit in my shop oven so I found someone locally. It looked nice pulling it all together for the first time.

When I got it back, it went on without a hitch so I was then able to bolt up the side-shifter trans that I had cleaned up some and the new starter so that I could finish the engine wiring harness.
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It took me a long time to get all of this pulled together, having never done this before. I learned A LOT reading through the threads here and that really helped, along with bolstering my confidence just enough to try this. As with documenting any project like this in hind-sight, there is a lot I'm skipping over....too many little details to bore you with.
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If you look just behind the rain hat on the left, you'll see the 45degree elbow for the fuel line. The fuel circulates from the tank, through the fuel rail on the #1 bank from the rear (see 90 degree elbow behind the rain hat on the right in the pic), across the top of the fan housing to the driver's side bank, past those injections, through the elbow you see on the left in the pic, and then into the PMO regulator mounted at the back of the engine compartment above the engine/trans mating surface, and finally to the return line to the tank. The regulator is set at 43-44 PSI.

Once I had the stock engine out, there were a number of "while I'm in there" things to take care of. I had been making a list since I got the car.

As I continued chasing the crunchy wires in the engine compartment to the light, I decided to continue working on back through the harness in the trunk to check that wiring. I pulled it loose and find some issues here and there so I got some of the fabric harness tape from 914Rubber and dug in. I pulled it all loose and examined the wires and decided to make some repairs using part of another trunk wiring harness I had from a parts car. I carefully cleaned the wires and then carefully started to wrap it back up. When I finished, I was pretty happy with the results but then looking at the trunk, I really couldn't see putting the fresh harness back into that trunk.

Here's some of what I saw from the PO:
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At some point, the PO decided to spray part of the engine compartment with black spray paint.....oh yea, and the 2" washer and bolt in the firewall, there were four of them, hardware-store grade, mounted in the firewall for a 5 pt. harness system. And the bolt holes weren't even in a straight line horizontally across the firewall.

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He had also added some Crane High Energy/Mallory ignition system and had wires and components mounted on both sides of the fan on the firewall...

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Over on the battery side, the stock ground stud had been wrung off and so another 3/8" hole had been drilled so that the ground cable could be bolted to the firewall.

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And then there's the trunk....lots of holes from various mounting of a rear sway bar and the holes in the rear panel for the "Porsche" reflector.

So I did what any 914 owner would do, tore into it further!

With the engine out and all of the wiring pulled from the engine compartment and trunk, I just blasted everything....and I mean everything. The tail light housings came out, the rear bumper and valance came off, the trunk lid and hinges, and the torsion rods for the engine lid and deck lid. Then I took the car over to a friend's shop to weld up some of the holes. All said and done, I think he welded up 26.

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If you look on the left, you can see that I had already drilled out the broken ground stud, tapped some fresh threads, and installed a new ground stud.
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Then I bought a cheap soda blaster from Harbor Freight and got to work.
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I was smiling in this pic but I'll tell you, I had spent a few gut-wrenching half-hours over the previous few weeks trying to decide that I really did want to "jump into the deep end of the pooling" doing all of this for the first time, in my driveway, over a couple of days, having never done this before and only having the guy at the paint shop to talk with about this. Luckily, it came out very good.

When I got done with the blasting (and I went through a lot of soda), I washed it all down good and then prepped the metal. Understand that I didn't blast all the way down to metal all over, I just blasted through the last repaint. If you look closely above, you'll see that the trunk was a little different color, more champagne in tint. Only where my friend had welded the holes was there any bare metal and after blasting and rinsing, it didn't take long for a little rust to appear. I knew that was likely so I used a little metal prep to neutralize the rust and then after wiping it all down with solvent and prep, I sprayed the engine compartment, trunk, and rear panel with some etching primer, sanded a little, building primer, then more sanding.

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After finishing the prep, I sprayed the engine compartment and trunk with a single stage enamel. At some point, I'll paint the entire car but for this effort, it was just to get the areas cleaned up so I could install the new engine. I also resprayed the black on either side of the engine grill and the engine lid/grill as well.

Here's the fabric tape I got from 914Rubber.
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And went from this:
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to this after a lot of work and the new paint.....
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In preparation for installing the engine, I then started working on the fuel system and the chassis wiring.

For the fuel system, I purchased new stainless steel supply and return lines from Tangerine Racing and had then add the right flared ends on the lines for the high pressure connectors for the FI which will run at about 44PSI. I then started under the tank and added a small filter before the Walbro pump and then another 10 micron filter under the engine shelf.
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For the ECU wiring (the ECU is mounted under the dash), there is the harness itself and a vacuum line for reading manifold pressure. I routed the harness and vacuum line down the center console and brought it out where the snorkel exits the firewall and routed them up through a factory opening in the engine shelf under the battery tray.
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Since I couldn't route the ECU harness and vacuum line through the snorkel and I didn't want to damage the stock snorkel, I took a piece of 1 1/2 PVC, cut about a 1/2 long piece (just enough length to let the ECU wiring harness out from under the snorkel", and then cut a small section of the PVC to create a "C" shape. I slipped it over the harness and behind the snorkel to space it out from the firewall, and sealed it all with clear silicone. So its now watertight but also easily reverse-able.
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Okay, well I was supposed to be going through my emails after a nice Amelia Island weekend, trying to be responsible. Yet I see this thread and read it completely, marveling at the work and details.

Though I'm now 20 minutes older, I am a little bit more educated and a lot more impressed. Excellent work and you CANNOT bore us 'with tiny details', though I realize its also work to take pics and do the wonderful write-ups.

No matter, whatever steps you're posting are great to see, not just for your progress but for those of who are curious or in the same situation. (<-me). It also adds to future searchers and lost souls trying to navigate a similar path. (<me)

Thanks for all. I'm not too far from you and would love to get my own -6 to the point of high fivving you in person with the cars. Keep up the great work.

Very beautiful car. Your efforts show. Keep up the great work.

Here are a couple of shots of the trunk and rear after the blasting and paint.

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After I got the engine compartment and trunk painted, I worked to finish up all of the other items that I needed to do before the engine went back in. I ordered new stainless steel fuel lines from Tangerine Racing and installed those including the lines up through the side engine shelf with new grommets. I also replaced the rubber fuel lines with new FI rated ethanol-compatible line and FI clamps. I was also careful to support the lines with line clamps and a standoff to support the lines above the engine shelf in the engine compartment.

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Wow, this is really nice workmanship! Enjoying the progress.

Jeff B