I am getting my frist 914,my dad had one when I was a little kid and on want my own, and want a crazy engine in it... Some guy around my area had somekind of chevy engine in his and wanted to know all about this if any one has heard of this or done it, seems like something that has been done alot from the little word I've heard

How deep are your pockets and how much mechanical ability do you have? Lots of those conversions on this board they'll chime in quickly! Oh and welcome to the asylum

Hello and welcome

Nope, no one has ever put anything but a Porsche engine in a 914 (Egads, the thought !!!!!!)

Check out Renegade Hybrids, Desert Hybrids and Kennedy Eng. on the web. or read a bunch of the V8, scooby, ect, transplant threads on here.

QUOTE (kidosteele @ Jun 10 2005, 05:37 PM)

I am getting my frist 914,my dad had one when I was a little kid and on want my own, and want a crazy engine in it... Some guy around my area had somekind of chevy engine in his and wanted to know all about this if any one has heard of this or done it, seems like something that has been done alot from the little word I've heard

kid 'o steel, are you invincible? Welcome to your nightmare. If you aren't crazy yet, stick around

Check my link to conversions below and you will find almost every engine has been or is being attempted to be stuffed into the 914.

There are only three full time kit manufacturers (I don't count the dawgs) and an adapter/clutch manufacturer that most of them use. Bring lots of money and motivation and then more money...when all is said and done only you will know if it was worth it.

I dont know why you all say bring lots of money, I could do a V8 conversion for a lot less than a P6 any day. I would be you could do one for less than about 4k.

How much do you have into your car?

For a first time builder my advise is that it's going to cost more than you planned. The best thing this board can to for a common conversion is identify the costly pitfalls.

"Lot's" is relative, my sister just paid $1500 to have her minivan's exhaust manifold fixed and my step son paid that much for a used car. Maybe kidosteele has deep pockets or a trust fund.

If I was to build a street car, I would definately go with a V-8.

A 3.6 Porsche motor would set you back $5-7K not including all the conversion parts, right?

You can get a 300HP 350 with a six month warranty for $750 in Rancho Cordova at "All GM Recyling"

Got a '84 Corvette motor for my boat there.

Bill's gonna have some fun with his J-LO.

KT

Where'd ya go Kid?

Welcome Click on the Alien Progress link at the bottom of this post.

You could alway's have a Porsche V8....

There are several finished, or at least drivable V8 cars for sale right now in the classifieds all for around 10K.
After years of thinking about building one I finally decided I was ahead of the game to buy someone elses running project.
Sure I laid down some big coin up front, but I know I would have spent way more building the same car myself.

To address the original question...
It is a fairly well documented conversion. That being said there are 100's of ways to skin a cat.
A Chevy 350 crate motor is a great way to go since you get a brand new engine with about the best parts availability out there.
Don't forget that once you work out installing the engine, and plumbing a cooling system (that actually keeps the enging cool),
you'll quickly find other systems are lacking.

The one you'll read about again and again is the transaxle. The long and short of it...
The stock (901) transaxle will work, it can even survive for long periods and provide a good solution, IF you are easy on it.
For a much larger investment you can have more reliability by going with one of the beefier units such as the 915, 930, G50, ZF, or other exotic piece of unobtainium.

Now that you've dumped 300+ horspower into a 30-something year old car, how do you intend to stop it?
Upgraded brakes will become another addition to the parts list, as will beefier suspension and wheels.

...See how that money thing happens?...


If you do decide to build your own conversion then do your self a huge favor and shop for a clean 914 as a donor car. Not having to think about replacing the interior, replacing huge rusted chunks of the car, or repairing banged up body work will be worth it.


Welcome to the club and good luck!

We have 4 V8 Conversions at CAMP 914 at the present time. $8500 to $13000. If you want a V8 914 first drive one. I have had grown men get out of a test drive in a 400+ HP V8 914 and tell me it is to much car for me. I guess I should have removed a couple of plug wires
It is the best bang for the buck when it comes to a faster 914. But don't forget, you also need to be able to stop as well as go. So think about serious brakes for a V8 914.
They are lots of fun ad boyt the sound cool and look cool when you see those dual exhaust out the back.
CCLINCRATEME

QUOTE (kidosteele @ Jun 10 2005, 06:37 PM)

I am getting my frist 914,my dad had one when I was a little kid and on want my own, and want a crazy engine in it... Some guy around my area had somekind of chevy engine in his and wanted to know all about this if any one has heard of this or done it, seems like something that has been done alot from the little word I've heard

welcome,

1st V8 914 I test drove had a junk yard 2 barrel carb'd motor from a station wagon...it was a blast to drive, even with only about 190hp or even less......

2nd test drive the guy had a ZZ4 crate motor, even more fun.......

a bone stock motor will be fun to start with and be the most cost effective....luckly with the chevy motor, extracting more horsepower is easy and cheap to a point......1st learn how to handle a mild motor, a person can easily get killed driving something with too much hp if they don't know how to handle it....a fellow 914 owner is currently building a 410 cubic inch aluminum small block that will be twin turbo'd, estimated HP is 1100......deep pockets help

Just to put out a few numbers for you, a stock 2 barrel carbed 350 from a station wagon only puts out about 145 to 175 HP. The 4 barrel carbed cars will go from 190 to around 300 in stock form depending on the cam installed by the factory. They say the best engines to bolt in would be your short stroke motors. That being a 283, 302, 327. I have personally built both a 283 and a 327. The 327 on the dyno that I built put out 360 HP running a 650 carb. That same engine with a 750 carb pushed the dyno to 388 HP. That engine was not in a 914. It was in a 65 Impala SS. To say that car got right along would be an understatement. But being in a full size car should tell you that in a 914, it would really scare the hell out of you. Rod Simpson claims with his cam and engine built to his specs will put out around 330 HP and get 30 MPG. I will let you know if I get the same results as I followed his specs to the letter. As for what I have in to my conversion? The Chalon kit was about 2800 bucks and the car was a grand. All together I would guess I have about $7500 into it at this point. It does add up but then if you include the time I have put into it,brake upgrades, suspension upgrades and so on, it is still a lot of fun to work on and the feeling of accomplishment is great.

save yourself a wheelbarrow of $100 bills and buy one that's completed, sorted out, and own a car you don't have to wait 2 years to drive. take off 4 plug wires for the first 200 miles.

k