15 months ago I bought a crusty old 1971 914-4 that had been sitting in a garage for 20 years getting peed and chewed on by all sorts of creatures.



I started the project with a plan of it being driveable at the 1 year mark. Since then I've done an engine build, carb rebuild, brake rebuild with 5-lug swap, fuel system rebuild, interior rebuild, suspension rebuild, and some general freshening up. Oh, I forgot to mention that my wife and I had a baby too, safe to say it's been a pretty busy 15 months.

Here's the build thread if anyone's interested.
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...=277349&hl=

Anyway, the result is good. It's running and driving, the 1911 is strong and runs well. Handles great considering there are no sway bars. Tail shifter is as vague as you imagine though, and the engine is still sub 100hp so it's not incredibly fast.



It's first real public appearance was at the June C&C that I attended with a good friend in his 911.



Exiting a cloverleaf he pulled away like I was standing still. To add insult to injury a minivan pulled away too. This lit a little spark, I wanted more power. I started crunching numbers for building the type 4, goal is around 150hp. Can you get 150hp in a type 4 that's home built? Sure, lots of people have done it. But there's an even better, more expensive and headache inducing option...

A friend of mine owns Flat Six in Minneapolis, MN. About 40 minutes from me. Sent him a message inquiring about core 6 cylinders and ended up coming home with this.



It's a 2.2 from a 911T, the 125hp version. On top are a pair of Zenith carbs that will work fine for my purposes after a complete rebuild. It turns over smoothly and you can feel when it comes up on compression. Good signs for an otherwise unknown engine. If you had followed along in my build thread you'll know that I got some amazing deals, both for parts and for the car itself. The 6 does not disappoint in that regard, but I wont be sharing the details here.

Perhaps the best part of the deal is that he said if I get into it and find that anything is FUBAR, I can get a no-charge replacement from him since he has Parted several 2.2's. Again, this is a friend, I don't expect him to do this for anyone.

With his help we laid out a build plan. Going to get the T cams reground to the E profiles paired with higher compression pistons. Cylinders are iron so I can bore those. Goal is around 150ish hp. It'll be a "budget" build in the sense that I'm not going for huge power and will be doing the assembly/cleaning myself. I won't be cutting corners with machine work and inspection though.

I will be mating it with a side-shift trans using the early 911 flywheel. flywheel and bulkhead weld-in mount already on order. It's not likely that I'll be doing a conventional 914-6 oil tank, it just seems like so much money for what you get. We will see though, as time progresses I may change my mind.

This will be a driver, not trying to make it a show queen or original to a real 914-6. I want to keep the utility of both trunks but I want the mechanicals to be functionally excellent.

Time frame is significantly longer than the original build. Planning at least a year or two considering the work and money involved. I'll update this thread moving forward and not my original build thread, kind of a new chapter if you will.

Fortunately the 914 is perfectly driveable while I collect and rebuild.

So here's to the next chapeter, however expensive and time consuming it may be.

Quite a change!

Enjoy!


Tom
///////

It's only money and time and lots of it, but worth it.

I can provide you a 6 tank kit for $350 if you want to weld it up?

Your plan is solid /drive while collecting parts is the way I did it.

Then sell the 4 to a deserving fella for his upgrade or starter mill / then prepare for the scenery out of the side windows to blurrrrrrrr as the crescendo of music. This, created by air down 6 throats, fan whirring its' siren song, chains and sprockets doing their coordinated dance moves in the middle of the repeated symphony thru the gears, and best of all, your hair (if you have any left after the conversion process) being pulled back in a negative G-force action akin to the action that made John Glen go bald prematurely ....

Great looking car, doing a "stockish" Type IV rebuild myself and it does add up quickly!

I see no /6 in my future so I'll have to live vicariously thru people like you

I suppose i should add that i always have second oil tanks etc. I even jave a vellous tank I can make you a deal on.

My fun car fund is pretty depleted from buying the engine, flywheel, bulkhead mount, and carb kits. I'm not in a position to spend hundreds of dollars on a tank right now. If it's ridiculously cheap I would be open to it though, if that's the case shoot me a PM.

Well done you will enjoy it,I find myself just starting mine to listen to the engine its that good...corny eh.
Feel free to email or PM me as I have the same engine in my conversion, happy to help in anyway.
Will be following this one for sure, .

The stock 914-6 tank is a really nice way to handle the oil system. Fill, filter and hose connections all in one. Plus it sits in a place that doesn't take up any room in the car - if a little awkward to install.
Don't forget to budget for oil lines, oil console, engine tin, engine wire harness, engine cooler, throttle linkage, headers, exhaust hanger, exhaust, gauges, shift linkage, rain hats, starter (maybe) and all the extras that crop up along the way. Good luck and have fun.

My kits could be had for that much if you don't want it bent and a few other little things but you would have to weld it.

Your sick, very sick! Good luck with the build!

Good luck with the build! I'll be following your progress.

BTW - Nice artwork!

Doug H.

Don't be put off by the Zenith carbs ,a careful rebuild bearing in mind the throttle shafts aren't worn (also Weber issue) you will be happy with them,wives tale they don't work, mine run nice,with a venturie upgrade and jetting changes you can make a little more power,as you are going to upgrade cams you will see further benefits in power.
They aren't a performance carb and were choked back for emissions, they where a modernized carb to reach that point before FI became standard fare even on the 2.4 T US models ,in Europe they retained them for longer.
Good luck

Many of us are doing /6 conversions right now. We are all here to help. Get the best parts you can afford, and have patience.

Do take up Ben's offer on the external oil tank, you won't regret it.

Started the teardown and did some much needed garage cleaning.

At least your car is 1 piece. My engine is still apart waiting on crank amd rods.. And my car is waiting on a floor pan and various other patch areas..

Have you thought about just doing a tidy up,replace chain case gaskets,check chains and ramps,check rocker shafts for placement,reseal the trio of leaks on the top of the engine,resurface and reseal rocker covers after valve reset relace RMS and front seal etc etc.
I really don't know if you have a core motor or a previous good runner but I bought mine with little history did the above and have a wee jem,the above also is a good indicator of general condition ,anyway you head which ever way suits

You will not regret this conversion... However a nice oil tank would be great, and an oil cooler up front for those hot summer days
You will never regret spending this money, and your resale will be greater...if that ever happens...and it does... a well planned six will always hold its value
But I understand the money thing too
That car looks great!!!

I was going to do that same thing on mine but found a stray chunk of bearing. Turns out my crank had to be reground .. Be careful if its a core it should all come apart to be sure..

So your friends with Chris, His 911 looks so good since he painted it.

Most engines are removed from the car for a reason. 50% of the "good running engines" we buy have major issues.

Started a little bit of the tear down. Head studs are all solid, doesn't seem like any have pulled but I'll know for sure once a new tool comes in and I can proceed further.

Chains and tensioners look ok-ish, of course they'll get replaced but I'm thinking there wasn't any catastrophic damage.

All matching spark plugs, good sign. Gasket sealant on the chain covers, someone has been in here before. Port matched heads to intake gaskets and presumably the carbs.

Lots of gunk and build up in the cylinder cooling vanes. Overall it's just very dirty. My cup-o-tea.

Been bagging and marking all of the fasteners, should make reassembly a breeze.



So far so good.

I have opted for mechanical tensioners on my build as there is no issues with them possibly failing. You run them a bit loose as the engine grows when it gets hot..

Kris and I go way back, early 2000's we were running around in MK4 VW GTi's, then we each had Mk1 GTi's. The 911 definitely looks great in the original Albert Blue.

After talking with someone who's been building these engines for years, and a close friend who built one recently, they both lean toward non-oil fed tensioners, but with the safety collar. I know everyone has their own reasons, but Aaron is one of the best in the business and really, I mean really knows his stuff.

Waiting to connect with a friend that has the correct 46mm crows foot and cam holding tool so I can move forward with the tear down. In the meantime I got a nice little box from 914rubber yesterday.



That's seals for both trunks including bulkead, and all of the door/window seals. Love it.

Yup I am actually using mechanical adjusters and running a tad loose as the engine grows as it heats up thus the chains will get tighter.

You are nuts! LOL

You had this car on the road driving for what, a month and now you want more power? You definitely have a sickness...

I think you should just find a roller somewhere and start a GT tribute build

(by the way, I'm quite jealous!)

There is a way to make the Carrera tensioners no fail called the Jerry Woods mod.
Just an FYI, it's what I did.

I'd seriously take Ben up on his offer, the proper tank is a way better solution on a /6 conversion.

On the engine case I'm also in the camp of a full teardown, you wouldn't build a new house on an old crumbing foundation.
At minimum I'd get the case case savered, not timeserts, proper casesavers.

Haha, no time for a second 914. This one is great because I can drive it and have fun while I prepare the second engine.

Yes. I had planned a full teardown before I even purchased the engine. On the 4 cyl I only brought it down to the shortblock because, well, it's a 4. A 1.7 4 at that.

On the tank front there's also some news. Not sure if I mentioned it but I have access to an end mill, lathe, and pretty much entire machine shop (CNC is off limits). I made an offer on one of those Vellios "kits" on eBay, unfinished 2 halves of a tank. Need final machining and welding. Both areas I'm capable in. So I jumped on it, hard to go wrong for about $150. I will drill and tap for AN fittings. From my research the main complaints on the Vellios tanks are weight, poor welds, poor machining, and porous metal. I can knock all of those out but one and a few extra pounds are fine by me for a sub-$200 tank.

I doubt if I will do Carrera tensioners.

Slippery slope........

I'd at least recommend using some tensioner collars (guards) if not going with the pressure fed tensioners. It is easy to be tempted by the 'while I'm in there' disease to continue with modifications.

yes, as I stated that is what I am planning.

Just be aware that the collars can also fail. I'd recommend rebuilding the mechanical tensioners, you can get the kits for this.
Once done you have to bleed them to fill with them with oil.

If they are rattling don't depend on the collars, they're only a temporary safety device, service right away.

BTW and just an FYI Ben would have given you a better deal on the tank than the ebay guy.

And was willing to barter. Oh well.

Glen I currently have one of the vellios tanks that I bought in halves.. It is not as simple as just mill,drill and weld.. The screen, plumbing has to be done or you destroy an engine in short order.

I look forward to seeing the conversion progressing.

And at 800 for a kit crazy money.

Ben and I had talked, he wanted more than that and I'd still need to supply my own fittings. He did have another option with fittings included but it was even more. In the end I'm more comfortable machining than bending sheetmetal so I went this route. We have been talking though.



I understand the design of the tank, with the screens and oil pipes inside, I'm a mechanical designer by trade so I'm not going to booger weld it together and call it a day.

I know you are selling the Vellios tank you built up while designing your tank, but that tank is completed, and well over double what I will have into this, and it would take all of the fun out of building my own.

For the tensioners, yes I had already planned a rebuild to go with the collars. I may be cheap, but I'm not going to half-ass this engine build.

I'm also getting the parts properly inspected, the case halves line bored, proper case savers installed (I will probably do this myself) the cylinder base decks machined, etc etc etc. I'm not a hillbilly in my backyard and I know when it's time to bring in a professional.

So one option for tensioners when talking extensively with Henry at supertec was to drill into the bottom of the chain cases and put a removable plug in there so mechanical adjusters could be adjusted in the car and then plugged .. Might be an option.

Case savers have to be done on a mill, I've seen a fair share of "porcupine cases" where the casesavers have been done by hand or on a drill press and not a single stud is square.

Haha, from earlier in the thread:



I should add that I've been trained on these as well, I'm not just jimmying my way into the shop after hours.

That's great...but I bet you still go over budget.

In other news, water is wet and boobs are good. More at eleven.

LOl, do builds ever go under budget? none of mine have.

Depends on if you are asking...or my wife is.

Thats for sure.. Lol

I have a 70's 911T in my 914. If you need parts for the zeniths let me know. I acquired a few of them.

Yesterday I made the drive to a friends to pick up the specialty tools for removing the cam gears, got a little box of goodies from his engine build as well, case sealer etc.

So, now I was able to dig into the motor more (technically, I could have without the tools, but potato tomato) Started with the cyl 1-2-3 bank. pulled the rockers, cam, cam housing, heads, and cylinders.

cam is 901.105.133.0R which is the stock cam for this engine (1971 911T). I'll be measuring them up to see if they've been ground at all.

cam - #3 cyl end


cam - middle


cam - #1 cyl end


#1 head


#2 head


#3 head


all of the cylinders looked like this


everything is generally caked in either carbon deposits or oil/grime, but is in generally good shape.


So, everything looks pretty good. And by pretty good I mean nothing terribly terribly borked. i.e. no valve/piston contact or broken rings. The whole thing came apart pretty easily, no complaints.

Of course I've been bagging and tagging all the hardware, bigger items go into my build cabinet