I searched here, google, wiki. I see no mention of a 4 speed transmission except for the 4 speed sportmatic in the 914-6. Can someone educate me? Did the 914-4 ever have a 4 speed. I have this guy claiming he converted his to a 5 speed. Does he have some previous franken-4?

I have seen or heard of a 4 speed 914. He probably converted from tail shift to side shift.

Many people don't realize there is a dog leg first gear. I know a couple of knowledgeable 914 guys who always started in 2nd until they learned that their car had a first gear.

I told him I have never heard of it and he claims the early ones did. It is a 70.

Nope. You are right.

Some 912 had 4 speed 901 trans....so maybe someone converted the gear sets....
914-4/6 were delivered with 5 speed 901's

The seller is dead wrong - there never was a 4 speed 914 - ever!

As for a supposedly "knowledgeable 914er" thinking it was a 4 because of the dogleg 1st, then they're not knowledgeable, & pretty lame driver too - since ALL of the 5-speed 911, 912 & 914cars 5-speed used the same "901" transmission, just flipped one way or the other!

Just direct your person to read the info section on here, Jeff Bowlsby's site's ads & tech documents sections, p914.com ... or hey - how about just reading his dang owners manual in the glove box!

If he still wants to "insist" - then I say walk away, cuz who knows what other "stories" he's telling about that 914!?

PS - FYI, 2 pix of 2 1970 ads from Jeff's website stating 5-speed & nothing else:

Click to view attachment Click to view attachment


GLWTB!
Tom
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I have read about several cars on this forum where the owner/builder modified the transaxle to lock out first gear because the engine had too much torque. Maybe the seller had one of these "locked out" transaxles and unlocked it. That isn't really a case of converting a 4-spd to a 5-spd (more like repairing it), but could possibly be presented/interpreted that way.

Also, early 912s came standard with a 4-spd 901, with an option for a 5-spd. Maybe the guy got one of those transaxles and converted it to use in the 914 and "added" the extra gear while he was at it. Easiest way to tell if this is the case is to get the numbers off the trans case and compare to known 912 and 914 numbers.

Sportomatic is 4 speed.... 3+1

If you drop by Octeenerfest, you can tell Bob Seville yout thoughts about his Porsche knowledge.

https://naroescapemotorsports.com/naroescap...torsports-cars/

Along the way, we were really surprised that this car was only a 4 speed and didn’t pull from a start all that great. For about a month after we got home, it was a 4 speed…until one day while sitting at a light Bob was messing around moving the stick back and forth and hit upon this hidden gear that was somewhere under his leg! What the heck is that? He cautiously took off from the light and HOLY COW…torque and power!! (OK, not a ton, but much more than starting in 2nd for months!) He raced home and told Nadine, who then said “oh yeah, I remember that now…yeah, 1st is down under your leg, just like 4th is in the glove box and 5th is under the passenger’s seat. Ooops…forgot!” Well, this opened up a whole new world with this car!

Yep, when I first got my 914 I wondered why it was such a dog in first...and why I couldn't find 5th, which must have been a real hell of a tall gear for a street car.

DoH!

Also when I first installed my Rennshifter no way could I find 1st, adjustment fixed it. So if the shifter/linkage was out maybe he just couldn't find 1st and assumed it was a 4 speed.

Mark, you too are a lame driver.

Ok, I spoke again with the guy. Apparently the previous owner had switched the transmission over to a "late" model side shifter. The PO before him also had a 4 speed shift knob and a speedometer for a 4 speed in it Anyway the current owner put a 5 speed knob on the shifter and he said the guy gave him some trans gear for this late transmission that apparently is not needed as this is already of 5 speed. Wait it was never needed as they are all 5 speed. Not sure what speedo is in there, but he says he has a late model to go with the car.

Tell me about it

Total case of "RTFM dumb ass".