Thanks Andrew. Let's be clear though. Those weather changes did not happen in a week, but in a single day. That is not uncommon either. I believe Montana still holds the record for the largest one day temperature swing (+60F to -60F) sometime in the late 1980s or early 1990s.

Wait what? There is supposed to be an engine in these things?

I haven't posted any of these for awhile so just to add to the cognitive dissonance of our weather, I took these pics in my family room last week. No joke.

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Nope. He's not joking.

Most amazing frogs, chameleons, and plant room you'd ever want to see.

Hey Brent, Thanks for the shout and so glad that that old thread helped out. Really glad to have contributed in a small way to your epic build.

Love the side marker lights. I have always wondered why Porsche put that little recess there. Make sense now.

Hope that you get some driving days before hibernation!!

Thank you! I had never heard of that stuff before and boy is it perfect for repairing those bumper tops. Unlikely I'll get any real driving in before spring. Looking at what is left to do and I just don't see it happening but she'll be ready to roll when the snow melts.

Got my Sunset order today so made quick work of screwing the rear license bracket on.

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Hit a small snag on the front. Montana is a front plate state and where I came from wasn't, so I never had a front bracket. Looked at what people want for ratty 914 brackets and they can I found a 924 bracket on evilbay for cheap so took a gamble that the screw holes would line up. Figured worst case would be to have to drill new holes. Well, turns out is is worst case. The holes just barely don't match. I'm too lazy tonight to complete the job but got all the other bits in place.

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The fun surprise was that I had completely forgotten I slipped a guilty pleasure into my order. Whatever could it be?

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Oh.......so.......after lunch then ?

I am going to guess a nice key fob?

Winner!

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bought similar key fob last week!!!

It seems to be standard practice to replace the battery in your resto project before even hitting the road with it. I've had battery envy ever since @raynekat and @914_7T3 replaced theirs and was feeling left out. Today I joined their club. The Optima fit okay but thanks to those guys, I knew I could do better. I'm still a CSOB though so I was just going to suck it up and live with the night terrors that came with knowing my battery wasn't perfect. Then the battery in our snow plow/work truck finally died.

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This battery belongs in a museum or hall of fame of some kind. Look at the date on this sucker!!!

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This battery has lived 18 years and has NOT had a cushy life. Eighteen brutal Montana winters up in the mountains. This isn't some wussy pampered valley truck here. Never garaged, not driven regularly, and tasked with running a power hungry snow plow, yet firing up without fail even in -35F blizzards. It's truly amazing. But alas, it finally gave up so needed to be replaced. My preference would have been to replace with another yellow top deep cycle battery but I have this fresh red top sitting in the Porsche unloved so the red top is now in the Pathfinder and I scurried off to the FLAPS for a replacement.

The FLAPS didn't look so friendly when I saw none of the employees and few customers wearing masks despite Montana cases spiking out of control. Don't be an ass, wear your damn mask! I kept my visit short and won't be returning to that store, but now have this bad boy in the engine bay.

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And here's the biggest reason I like this battery more than the Optima, the original HO campaign battery cover fits! Now I just need to figure out a way to get a replica sticker for that beautiful bastard.

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Way to go....AGM Platinum for the win

And that factory recall battery cover

Lots of great progress this weekend but nothing I'm ready to share. I'll leave this to ponder instead.

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You built a time machine?!?

* best cereal ever

You had Quisp for breakfast on the day the car last ran.

Looking great.. My project has stalled so your way past me now.. Looking great

I wonder how many of you looked at that pic and thought
If you did, you probably weren't a kid in the U.S. in the late 60s to early 70s.

For the rest of you, that box is not as old as you would think. A few years ago, I got into a conversation with my two brothers about Quisp and Quake. My older brother favored Quake and even had the cool miner's helmet with the flashlight in it. My younger brother and I sided with Quisp like the majority of civilized juveniles in the country.

A couple of years later I was visiting my older brother in Texas when he walks into the kitchen and says, "I've got something for you" and plops the box of Quisp onto the table. Turns out it is still made in small batches and sold for ridiculous prices on Amazon. My brother bought a case and sent my younger brother and I home with our own boxes. I ate the cereal and kept the box.

I forgot all about the box until for some reason yesterday, I was looking at the car and thought to myself, "what this car needs is some period correct cereal." I hope it put some smiles on your old fart faces like it did mine.

WTF is right! I have never heard of that stuff, but then again I was living in Montreal until 1999 eating Coffee Crisp, Cherry Blossom and Aero bars!

Looks like I need to catch up here. I'm still waiting on a windshield. Apparently the distributor deleted my local Speedy Glass's account so he's having trouble placing an order.

I've been working on the engine punch list to get it prepped to run. I sent my valve rockers off to the guy on The Samba who mills them for swivel feet adjusters and mills the blocks to use solid spacers. I don't have them yet because he is waiting on his order of Thorsten Pieper adjusters which have been held up in Frankfurt for nearly a month according to tracking. He sent pics of the progress though.

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I also spent some time fine tuning the CSP linkage for the carbs. I swapped the carbs side to side so the bell cranks attach on the idle stop sides. I also experimented with setting them in a "push" arrangement vs "pull." The geometry is awful in the push arrangement.

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The pull arrangement aligns much nicer and has the bonus that the bell cranks can attach directly to the stop levers which eliminates at couple parts.

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Today I tried to follow Perry Kiel's procedure to fully disable the cold start circuit on the carbs.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGo4VjU2htE


It did not go well. You can read about that here http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?s=&...t&p=2868625

My air horns didn't come with gaskets and I thought they should have some, so I made a set.

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I went ahead and buttoned up the top of the engine while I figure out what to do about that cold start circuit. I think this is shaping up to be a rather smart looking engine if I say so myself.

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Very interesting intake/filter situation. I don’t know if I have ever seen one installed before.

Is that a stock 2 liter filter canister turned longitudinally?

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Still a little mystery. Research tells me it’s a T25 VW Bus air box but the identity of the carb caps eludes me. Those engines did not have dual Webers, so what gives? BTW if you don’t spill the beans, you’re a dick.

I think I like being a dick I'll tell you this, the air box is a stock 914 part

Looks like a 1.8L L-Jet box to me, but I too am baffled by the carb housings that the dick has added.

Oh so close, but not quite... except the dick part. You are spot on there.

I like it.. Looks great

Professor Dick does it again. Well done Brent. The stuff you come up with...well it's pretty darn amazing at times. Baffling at others. HAHAHA
Cool brother.

Let’s face it the 914 Type 4 engine is less than attractive with all its wires and hoses running every which way.
Now this, is some damn nice embellishment!!! She’s purddy

Even though my 2.0 has original d -jet, this has inspired me to make a few changes that are more pleasing to the eye. Perfect timing as I am getting ready to start putting the bits and pieces back on my rebuilt motor.

Carbureted euro 1.8?

Ding ding ding - we have a winner!

Turns out that the euro 1.8 with solex used the same box at the T25 bus so they are pretty easy to source. This little project has been going on for a long time so get ready for a pic tsunami.

As we know, I hate noise and I also hate f'ing K&N filters. I also have an unhealthy fetish for the 914/6 air box. We've already established that the Type 4 is not a beautiful engine, but if you look at it, it's really only a cooling fan and sexy air box away from looking quite nice. Just look at the 4-cam and 904 engines. We can't do much about the suitcase cooling fan but every time I see a pic of a stock six air box, I think hubba hubba, I want that. Oh those sexy curves!

After obsessing over this for far too long, I came up with this wish list of features:
• Quiet induction noise
• Don’t restrict air intake
• Fit under rain tray
• Tool-free filter replacement
• Use stock filter element
• Stock appearance
• Dead sexy

I wasn't sure how to pull it off but decided to start by looking at what Porsche did for the only carbed 914 four banger and hit pay dirt. It took pretty much all of the guesswork over air flow since it was used on 2L buses, I figured the opening must flow plenty of air. It obviously looks stock because it is stock AND it used the same filter element as the 2.0L 914 so no need to try to remember what frickin' filter I put in the custom air box.

I sourced this little beauty on ebay for a few bucks and was off to the races. That pic only tells half the story because the stench of cat piss that wafted out of the box when I opened it was priceless.

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More luck. The unit clips right on to the stock 2L air cleaner bracket without modification.

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Now what to mount that on? I dug through my spare parts and pulled out an old air cleaner bracket for a 1.7L.

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I modified to accept the 2L bracket and cut and bent the front upright to a 90 degree angle. I also cut it down so it sits as low to the CSP linkage pivot as possible. It is so close I had to notch the sides for clearance for the bell joints.

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The complete box mounted to the new bracket.
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Time to start fabricating.

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Let's mock up some intakes. Tip: If you use the foam that can be used for fiberglass molds, you could skip the metal fabrication and go fiberglass or carbon fiber instead.

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Notice the car is still on the rotisserie here. Told you I've been at this for awhile.

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This would have been easy enough to make, but looks more VW than Porsche to me. It just lacks those sexy curves.

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Back to the drawing board.

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New version on left, old on the right.

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That's looking better.

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It was a big PITA to get that style line in the top and after it was done, I didn't like it so hammered it out.

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Next up is building the snorkel and at some point I need to replate the wire bail latches on the intakes.

Nice work, wannabe six box
Carbon fiber using the lost foam method would also be a great look.

* not to take anything away from your design. This is an awesome look, but I'm also a six airbox fan.

Those intakes should have their own part numbers!

early.911..minus a hole,,

Never ceases to amaze. Great work there Brent. It certainly does look Porsche factory!
Way to go.

That is just amazing work. That makes such a difference on the whole look of the engine as a huge improvement. That is an award winner for sure.

Wow next level metal work. Awesome job.

Holy jebus... How in the world did you do that without a plasma table?

Seriously, I know how much effort this sort of fab takes. You achieved a REALLY, REALLY great result!

Be proud, be very proud.

Whoever said a Type IV—or airboxes in general—aren't sexy? Wow, does this look great. And I suspect it will sound great, too.

If I had a carbureted 914-4, or one with EFI, this would be a must-have. I've grown to love the factory air box for the six...

Fantastic! That must have taken 2 - 3 hours at least!

Wow. Take another $5 outta petty cash.....

The fact that you were able to perform this challenge with basic tools is amazing!!! Great work!

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Yep. Did some snorkeling Montana style this weekend. One potentially neat thing about this bus air box is that they originally came with an electrically heated bi-metal choke assembly on the inlet. It wasn't included with the one I bought but might be something to add if I decide I need some help with cold starting. That left me to fabricate my own snorkel. The easy way would have been a short, straight pipe into the inlet, but that's not how I roll. I thought I'd try a 914 style cold air intake. I figure the coldest air in the engine bay would be where the cooling fan is sucking in fresh air so I fabricated a 90 degree duct to attach the snorkel. Some pics:

You can see the buck for the other half in the upper right.

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Almost there.

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Both halves of the snorkel. After bending the flanges on the brake, the tube got rolled pretty much by hand using the elbow bucks and a 2" diameter disk as forms. The inlet diameter matches the stock 2.0L air cleaner opening.

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I had the most beautiful welds on this but decided the angle was a little off so I cut the plug welds out and repositioned. I think it ended up pretty much in the same spot but with ugly welds to clean up.

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Snorkeling in Montana must lead to some major shrinkage!

Love the hammer form work to make what you need. Virtually a lost art form. Pretty sure you already have a plan, but, be sure to support that snorkel. It will shake itself to death without a support since it's cantilevered like that.

Always amazed by the creativity and the make it with what I have attitude.

Thanks everyone for the kind words and encouragement. I'm no Ron Covell - just a dipshit trying to figure things out. It doesn't take much up close inspection to see that these things are hand made but I'm happy with the result.

@Superhawk996 Yes, a support is coming. I just didn't quite get that far yesterday. I have a part arriving today that will go into the support. I'm shocked at how rigid this is unsupported though. Much more solid than I expected. I actually think it might get by without a support but better safe than sorry.

Mad skills!

Creativity at its best! Way to go Brent.