Peter recently contacted me and was interested in meeting other 914 owners down under...He has a very cool RHD 914

"Subj: RE: 914
Date: 1/24/2003 6:02:05 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: "Grave, Peter J"
To: "'BOWLSBY@aol.com'"
Sent from the Internet (Details)


hey Jeff,

yes, if you can put me i touch wth any other owners, and or service people in australia, very appreciative, in victoria.

cheers mate


Peter Grave
Consumer Products Division
Kimberly Clark Australia
Phone: 03 6331 9064
Fax: 03 6331 2197
Mobile: 0407 265 207"

Here is his email:

Peter.J.Grave@kcc.com

Crazy. I would have to change the shift linkage to work opposite (side to side).

We sell heat exchangers to shops in the land down under. Somebody has to be working on them.

Tell him to visit the BBS.

B

Hi Jeff. I think there might have been a problem with that picture so I fixed it for you. The other way hurt my head to look at it.

Jon

John boy....now the flipped one looks odd....Look at the position of the loud pedal and defrost lever....

Brad, the shifter does not change at all, you just have to reverse image the shift pattern in your mind. As I understand it, the dash and subdash and pedal cluster linkages was modified, but everything else just bolted on over to the other side. The shift linkage does not change, nor do the exchangers, bolt on a right side mirror, swap the pedal cluster/MC and relearn the shift pattern.

The passenger got the deep door pocket.

It would be a good question for a 914 tech quiz. "What's wrong with this picture?"

Correct about the shifter. I was trying to say... I could reverse the side to side motion so 1st was down and towards the driver instead of down and away from the drive like it would be in his car. The pattern in the tranny would never change, just the way the shifter moves to get the gears. The early 1.7 tail shifters did this at the firewall. They changed the motion side to side.

B

Oh, yeah--and that worked famously well.


You know, if I had to change over to RHD and shifting with my left hand, I'm not sure if I would prefer the shift pattern to be mirror-imaged or not... Hmm, something to think on!

--DD

Driving a RHD car is a pain. I had to learn to shift with my left (not that hard) but crossing traffic and merging is a bitch!!! Also, you have to look the other way to turn, so it can be quite confusing. I had a few close calls but no accidents (unlike my girlfriend). I hated driving in rush hour as it was just too much going on. In Suriname the traffic signs are 20 years old, if there were any, so you had to know that this one is a stop or one way. Geez
Geoff

I had a blast while in Ireland driving on the wrong side...the only time I got screwed up was when people parked in both directions...sorta freaks you out for a bit.....

Shifting was not as bad as I would have thought.....

of course the Guiness on tap was the best part of the trip
(bar was down stairs....and the company covered it all )

Yep we are RHD in the UK, however my 914 is a Californian import so LHD. My everyday car is RHD, so when I jump in the 914 is still seems a bit strange and I must admit after 6 years of owning it I still laugh when a new passenger always tries to get in the drivers side. . Having said that it kind of feels right using the dog leg box with the other hand.

I just got back from 3 weeks in New Zealand and Australia, and everytime I started driving I just kept saying to myself 'Keep Left, Keep Left' . More than anything it was the small things like, The slow lane is the left lane on the highway not the right. It was definitely strange for the first few days.

yeah, just like california!

sorry guys, couldn't resist, i'm german, you know ...
autobahn rules!

Andy

Justin,

Your avatar is hilarious. I actually laughed for the first time today when I saw it.


B

Thanks B. That's off an emergency escape route poster from a hotel room in New Zealand. I walked into the room and just started laughing. My wife thought I was nuts.

Justin