To all you 914 Turbo naysayers and asshats!! I just wanted to share an email from the buyer of my Turbo'd 914:

"Rob Talich's vision for this engine is now a reality! The engine runs great in this 914. It needed to be tuned - no easy feat (especially at cold start), but now it's complete! I had a Porsche tuner friend that completed the exercise and he worked directly with SDS to complete the tuning for this engine configuration (see Rob's initial posts on engine details.)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pnD8HgznicQ

Leak down on engine ranged from 2-5% across cylinders. Raby and Original Customs delivered Rob a great engine.

Everyone kept telling Rob that the engine needs an intercooler due to high temperatures. We ran the engine on the road for extended periods of time (>30min), and cylinder head temp did not exceed 300 degrees. So (like Rob), I did not put one in. If it were to become a concern, then adding one would be the solution. Note that in 1976, Porsche did not put an intercooler on the 930 air cooled Turbo - just a data point.

My goal was to complete the work started by Rob. That is done. I never intended to keep the engine. I have now parked the car, and working on another project (77 911s). I will pick up the 914 project when I secure a 2.0 motor (maybe a 2056 build from Original Customs.)

The 2.6 turbo is TOO MUCH engine for me and this car. The car is in amazing shape, and I would like to return it to stock.

If you are interested in the engine, I am interested in selling just the engine, EFI, and oil cooling. I believe Rob invested over 15k in parts, and I added 3k in tuning and re-wiring. I would like 9k for the engine package."


Soooo.... you CAN turbo a 914 if you know what you are doing OR involve the right people.

The '76 911 was the first year for Porsche production turbo. We have 3 in the shop now and just rebuilt one of the engines. On later years, Porsche added an intercooler for more power and to cool the air into the intake. Turbo's run hot and the early engines especially need frequent rebuilds. 35k miles is not uncommon.

I glad to hear you had success with your car.

We are also refreshing a turbo engine for sale in case someone wants a turbo 914-6

Even though the path here wasn't smooth, there's some satisfaction in that engine reaching it's potential. And $9k for that setup is absolutely phenomenal. Anyone who's considering a big engine should be seriously considering this setup.

The new owner's experiences are no surprise to me.

Rob, you could not turbo a 914.
The new owner cannot keep it turbo.

Thus you still cannot turbo a 914

Evil Ed did it in 2002 with CIS non intercooled I been driving the car since buying it from Ed in 2004 and is still running stong!! so he proved them all wrong back then

You beat me to it John!

I think turbo's and 914's work well together

I know I like mine a lot

Glad the new owner got it up and running again to his liking.

Would love to see some dyno numbers or some more acceleration videos!

hmmm, if i could hide $50 a month from the wife I could afford that motor in 15 years!

Hope it goes to a good home, would be great if someone local so I could beg for a ride in it.

Beats me why more dont do it. i love mine.

intercooler

Is this a 3.0 turbo? Prob out of my price range, but an early 930 engine would be sweet in the 914 package... how much?

$25K ish

How much for the whole car? haha

You forgot the first part of the quote:

"Everybody knows you can't turbo a 914!"

Because that is something that is so self-evidently true, that the magazine in question completely ignored several specific examples of turbo'ed 914 and rationalized that they "don't count"...

--DD