I'ma guessing there will be no sliding across the hood or hopping through the window to get in now?

Off the rotisserie and on the ground with its "big boy wheels" for the first time ever.

Being able to see it like this after all these months, I'm reminded how small these cars are. It helps to see it in a more assembled state to get a better feel for how it's going to look.
Ride height aside, I'm happy with how it's turning out.

Bravo, that's gotta be a nice feeling.

That is looking mighty fine. I love those wheels, awesome with the flares.
They remind me of 917 style rims. Way to go Chris.

pmsent

WAHOOO!!!!

Big step there! Congrats!

: Awesome! It is a car again, not just a bunch of metal! It looks really good!

How did I miss that? Chris that is a huge milestone when you can see it back on the ground. Have you decided if that is the hood venting you are going with?

Alright!

I like those sketches on the targa bar.

I dubbed today "Repurposed Friday".
With the car off the rotisserie, I can now get at the front panel to cut it for the radiator inlet.
But since I plan to keep the hood latch, I want to retain a section of the panel from below the latch, connected to the lower area. And I wanted to reinforce that area before cutting the openings.
A bent channel section of sheet metal would be best but that area has a lovely slight curve and making the needed piece would be fiddly.
What to do?

I've noticed that there are a lot if similarly curved pieces on these cars. I wonder if I can repurpose a part from somewhere else.

I had a trashed engine lid and noticed this wonderful, curved sheet metal channel!
Would it? Could it?

Slice, slice, shape, shape.

Yep, that'll do it. Still a bit of final shaping but yet another interesting "looky there" moment.

So if anyone asks: Yes, you can use a trashed engine lid to make a hood latch support for your water-cooled conversion! And it's all Porsche metal so you gotta love that.

I need to order longer arms for my spot welder in order to reach in far enough so it'll be a few days before this get's welded in.

I tacked on yesterday's support brace, doodled out a shape that I thought made sense and cut the main radiator openings.
Sharp eyes may have noticed I had drawn a couple other hole locations on the angled areas just outside where the main openings are.
To @Rand 's point, it's another unneeded mod but I always wanted to do it so...
Here's the before and after drilling the pilot holes.

Then I use a knock-out punch to cut the appropriate hole needed for the dimple die. I use a Harbor Freight hydraulic pump set up. It works wonderfully. The knock-out punch set as well as the dimple dies are from SWAG Off Road in Oregon. Great stuff!

With the holes punched, the same press is used to stamp the dimple.
Here you can see the amount of metal that gets moved to make the dimple.

Done and done. Stamping all four took maybe 20 minutes.
No, you'll never see these. Yes, I'll know they're there.

My take on a water-cooled front opening.

Maybe I'll work up a frame and add some grill work...

You have all the coolest toys.

Very clean!! I love it.

Thanks for all the nice words, guys.

And back to today's work: I should have waited until I was "done", before posting pics.
I drew up and cut a quick set of covers for the BUB mount holes as they would otherwise bleed off some air that should flow to the radiator.

If anyone wants a set of these covers, PM me. Yours for the cost of shipping from 94952. Well, OK. And you can buy me a coffee, should we ever meet!

Love the cut-out for the radiator and the extra dimple-die cutouts for additional airflow. What kind of screen or mesh covering are you going to use to protect the radiator? As low as our cars are everything on the road gets thrown at them.

The build is ruined! You used two different types of hardware to mount the block off plates?!

@Cairo94507 Michael - I have some light-ish expanded material that I think will work for the screen. More a question of if I mount it on the nose panel, where it'd be essentially hidden, or in the bumper cutout, where I could make it more of a feature. I'll play around with it and make that call when the time comes.

Hold on now, @tazz9924 ! I should actually get credit. The large bolt uses the factory threaded insert. I "added lightness" by using that smaller sized fastener!

Yesterday was all about the front. Today, the back. The drive train is back in and should stay in until this thing sees the road! It's been months since I saw this view.

On the down side:
Ugh...now to see what I can do to tidy up the wiring...
The fun part is that the Holley ECU comes with a wiring harness that expects the engine to be in the front of the car so almost all the connection points are "backwards". Hence the extra lengths everywhere, except where things are way too short and I have to use extensions...

I am not well practiced with wiring but I suspect I'm about to learn all about it.

Make your own mesh out of aluminum by programming your cutter to cut hundreds of little 914 and Porsche emblems.

And for anyone running/considering running the Boxster S 6-speed, here's the axle angle you get when you move the drive train forward 1.5 inches, like I did. I'm still running the Renegade 1/2" spacers between the output flanges and the inner CV.

In all, I think I reduced the axle angle by about 1/2 of what it would otherwise have been.

Is the angle due to the LS and adapter or the transmission or both?

Wow! That is a great shot with the engine and headers. I can't wait to see and hear that engine running.

@djway - the Renegade kit assumes a stock chassis and in order to fit the LS with the Boxster 6-speed, the axle output shafts end up where they end up. Tony @Cracker suggested addressing the high-ish axle angle, if possible to help reduce CV stress. I figured I'd just move the lower firewall a bit and scoot everything as far forward as I could.
Those aluminum blocks between the black components of the trans mount are the distance things went to the front.

OK @tazz9924 , mismatched fasteners bug me, too! I'm OK with the different sizes, as mentioned. But I'll sleep better tonight!

Work today was making the bulkhead-to-fuel rail lines and assembling other tunnel items.
Talk about non 914 stuff... Here's the Numeric shifter and my fancy shifter cables firewall pass through set up, compete with split grommets and cover plate.

As I'm putting things together, I realize I could never feel good about selling this car unless I created a shop manual!

Chris: One correction, sir. I actually use the larger 997 front calipers on the front of my car and Boxster S Front calipers on my rears. Not quite the same but close enough...

Tony

Ok build is saved, you had me worried there

Master craftsman level work and build.

@Cairo94507 Michael - I really appreciate that. You are too kind. I have loads more to learn and my skills continue to improve. But I will say, I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out.

With the drive train in, I had to put it on the ground again and mess with the ride height.
I suspect I'm WAAAAY oversprung on the rear so I've posted a thread asking what torsion bars and rear spring rates other V8 folks are running. I'd like to see the rear about an inch lower.

But it's looking loads better than it did with no drive train in it!

I figured I'd also use this "on the ground" opportunity to do a home alignment, just to be sure everything is in range and there are no surprises, what with the work I did installing the Tangerine rear suspension pick up kit.

( @tygaboy ) Chris - Are you shooting for about 1/2" higher in the rear than the front? Also....what is that under the cover with the Fuchs?

Chris - feel free to completely ignore this; this is your build and this just some food for thought, as I know you like to mull over multiple options on features. Also, I know how annoying it can get sometimes when people tell you how things "should be designed" on something that you've designed and crafted for yourself!

So that said, was thinking about your hood venting. How about considering an alternate route? Weld back the center panel that I know you kept; Then: move the vents to the sides of the hood, following the headlamp line up and back (to just before the fuel tank bulkhead). This follows and extends the natural line of the hood/headlight inset, and parallels the hood edge. Louvers set at an angle give a hint of Urquattro (fine European design), as well as directing the hot trunk air to follow the angled airflow around the base of the windshield.

When the lights are popped, the chaotic airflow around their rear sides may even help cooling..! Up close, the viewer gets a "peekaboo" effect on the fender inners with that gorgeous double curved, near spherical area beneath.

Am assuming the entire trunk will act as a plenum, unless you get into some wacky ducting. Anyway, just a thought, dodgy sketch follows which hopefully helps:

Click to view attachment

- Tony

@Retroracer - Tony - I REALLY like that design! It appeals to the "mine's different" vibe I hope to create with my build.

Now, I'm no aerodynamic engineer but I wonder if there's enough "alignment" between the radiator and those vents to end up with sufficient airflow. Plus, I think much of the rear of those is past the fuel tank bulkhead.

Mostly, it'd require I rebuild the hood's support structure to pull that off.

I'll take a look at those details tomorrow. But again:

I think that's the most cohesive looking hood vent set up I've seen! Thanks for putting in the effort to draw up the design and suggest it! I owe you one...

@Retroracer Tony - ooooh! It just struck me: What if I made the vents part of the chassis and they stayed in place while the hood was narrowed so it opened without them?

I mean, if you're going to go for it, go ALL the way for it!

I dig that sketch there Tony.

Those vents look very appealing. Maybe with the radiator tilting at an acute angle relative to the hood would help and maybe a small splitter to help direct the air towards vents

Tony - you need to be selling that artwork!

That would be seeeeeexy! Just do it!

Tony that’s pretty bad-ass. Do it Chris! I’m liking the “part of the chassis” idea.

Retro -I don't know if you are an ID guy, but I am, and was thinking along the same lines. For example this car is well integrated as a whole thought and includes similar vents to those that you propose:

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=333845

I like that! deep, deep louvers....

- Tony

I recall seeing that car before; similar concept on the vents but not really following the shut line of the lights - which as @tygaboy points out, will necessitate rethinking the underlying support framing.

Also that has a rather aggressive Gurney strip on the front edge, and with the net positive pressure in the frunk (with air being rammed in through the rad at speed) I'm not sure you'd need it?

- Tony

PS. Not an ID guy; my training and career has been around electronics. I do have delusions of creativity occasionally.

Poor Chris! This time we're revising his work!

What rear springs rate are you running? I had to have a couple more grooves cut in my Konis to get my rear end down. My rear springs are 200#