Hey!

How difficult is it to convert a 914 from Left Hand Drive over to right hand drive??

How would you go about it?

Thanks,

Fiid.

oh no...are you thinking of staying there???


how goes it in the land of Kiwi ???

miss us??? hahahahaha

oh yea...any idea how far you are from Heathcote Valley Christchurch????

that is where Link is located...

When I dismantled the 72 it didn't look that hard. Unbolt the stearing collum, drill tap & weld in new brackets for it.

The hard part would be rebuilding the gague pod and fabing a new dash.

I've seen one.


M

QUOTE (GWN7 @ Jun 6 2005, 12:37 PM)

When I dismantled the 72 it didn't look that hard. Unbolt the stearing collum, drill tap & weld in new brackets for it. The hard part would be rebuilding the gague pod and fabing a new dash.

And a new pedal box in the front bulkhead, and move the accelerator and clutch cable tubes to the other side of the shift linkage, or make extensions so the pedals still operate cables on the left side. Or go to a completely different pedal setup. This would be the hardest part of the swap, besides making a dash. You'd need to flop the e-brake cables and move the lever, and probably weld in new e-brake cable tubes.

Unless the NZ type approval rules won't allow LHD, I'd not bother. Driving an LHD car in an RHD country, or the reverse, isn't all that huge a deal. Tollbooths and drive-up windows are the only real hassle. I drove two RHD Minis in the US for years. You get used to it.

... and eat at Checkers alot..


M

It gets interesting when you are trying to pass a truck on a narrow 2 lane road......

We've been considering moving down here for a really long time. I think it's sort of enevitable in the long run. I have no idea when we are going to do it though - might not be until retirement age

The lifestyle down here is awesome, and you can get a nicer house etc for reasonable money. There is also healthcare and a higher quality and more accessible education system down here, plus a lot of family support (having a kid changes some of these equations). There are other reasons too, but the board isn't the right place for that kind of debate.

NZ also has miles and miles of twisty ass-roads.

Christchurch is in the south island - so it's a ways away from here (top of the north island).

Isn't Howard R's car RHD?

QUOTE (lapuwali @ Jun 6 2005, 01:58 PM)

And a new pedal box in the front bulkhead, and move the accelerator and clutch cable tubes to the other side of the shift linkage, or make extensions so the pedals still operate cables on the left side.  Or go to a completely different pedal setup.  This would be the hardest part of the swap, besides making a dash.  You'd need to flop the e-brake cables and move the lever, and probably weld in new e-brake cable tubes.

Couldn't you use a pedal cluster/linkage from an early RHD 911? Got to be a few of them rusting away down under. E-brake would be a problem.

It would still be a lot of work though. I agree with lapuwali, it's likely more trouble than it's worth, unless you are forced to do it.

Another look at the NZ import rules and I think the 914 is exempt from needing to be RHD.

I forgot about the handbrake

It would probably be easiest to just leave it how it is and mount a small camera in the right wing for overtaking.

QUOTE (Headrage @ Jun 6 2005, 01:09 PM)

It gets interesting when you are trying to pass a truck on a narrow 2 lane road......

Only if your car is very slow relative to what you're passing, or you're trying to pass only on left-hand turns (in NZ, would be right hand turns with RHD in the US). If you drop back a bit from the truck, and/or wait for a good view across a turn, passing really isn't a problem. I have lots of practice at this, and in cars that weren't particularly fast (34hp in one, 40hp in the other, both around 1300lbs), on very hilly very twisty roads. You do have to be reasonably patient, but IMHO, that's a virtue to cultivate any time you're driving.

The Mini is narrow enough that the early cars with sliding side windows allow you to open the other window by just reaching across, so tollbooths become doable. In a 914, you'd either need to fit an electric passenger window, or only attempt a tollbooth with a passenger.