So in between other little projects it was tank cleaning 101…….I made block off plates for the fuel fill and the Subaru fuel pump openings, then filled with 7 gals of vinegar and sealed it up. Rotated the tank for a couple days to get good coverage, then drained vinegar and filled with water/baking soda mix. Rotated a couple more days, then drained the mixture and put 1-1/2 gals of wd40 to treat the fresh metal.

Hopefully tank will go in soon after a couple coats of paint.

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Beautiful back pad!

Is this an original in nice shape or something reupholstered?

Really nice build!

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Beautiful back pad!

Is this an original in nice shape or something reupholstered?

Really nice build!
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It’s actually original. The bottom is a little rough but better than most I’ve seen and is still solid. The seats and door panels are in similar shape, so I didn’t have to deal with upholstery other than whatever I come up with for a center console.

So it was a milestone day for my project. After countless hours paring down the Subaru harness to fit the 914, modifying the gauge cluster and its wiring, extending the engine to ECU harness, and generally adapting the Suby harness to work with 914 lights, wipers, fan……….I connected the battery for the first time and no smoke or flames came out!

Along with no smoke or flames, everything works (all lighting, cold air blower via Suby controls, wipers, flashers, turn signals, brake lights, gauges, radiator fans, and even cranked over when I hit the start button…..yay!

I have to say I feel a great level of relief that it all works and nothing sizzled. That said, I still have to wire the fuel pump once the tank is in, so there’s still an opportunity to screw it up

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So……we just enjoyed a 30 hr power outage due to the kick ass storm that hit us. That delayed a little of my progress but picked it back up now that we have power back.

I have a Weltmeister sway bar that I bought for the project but it came with no bushings. I couldn’t seem to find any so I made some. I turned down some delrin to make the bushings where the bar passes through the mounting brackets. I got the bushings done about an hour before we lost power. Today we got power and internet back and I was able to get the sway bar installed. I used the 914 Limited sway bar install plates and they make the job easy (my car came without sway bars/mounts).

Here’s a couple pics of bushing making 101….

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I find myself smiling after every installment. Lights look like they belong there.

So, it’s like -125 out or something and I needed something to work on in the heated part of my shop. All I could think of was modifying the BMW mirror to fit the 914. I had one of these in my last 914 and really liked it. I didn’t add the visor pins yet as I’m not sure I’m going to install visors. If I do, I’ll add the pins when I install the visors.

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Got a couple things checked off the list today. I put the tank in place, plumbed fuel lines, and added a block off and a drain valve to the outlets on the bottom of the tank (since the Subaru pump feeds from the top). Also finished the wiring for the fuel pump and connected it up……..it’s ready for some fuel and an initial startup.

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All of that looks so good.

what model BMW is the mirror from? I recently cracked my windhsield installing a mirror with the adhesive pad. Car look fantastic!

This one is from an early 3 series, but a 2002 works the same.

Today was the day to see if it made noise. It fired right up and idled down nicely. It’s a happy day in project land!

It’s alive!!!……..in my best Dr Frankenstein voice

I have a video but can’t seem to get it to upload……I’ll keep trying

As a fellow Suby conversion addict, all I can say is congrats! The first start is always the greatest feeling ever. I've been driving my turbo Suby-powered 914 since about 2012, and I have successfully campaigned it at PCA and Vapor Trail Vettes autocrosses for several years now.

I recently bought out an estate here on the CA Central Coast back in September that included a sorta running/driving EG33 swapped 914 and a mostly complete parts car, five T4 engines, six transaxles and two pallets of 914, 912 and 911 parts that I've been slowly selling to fund my next project. I've been toying with the idea of building the parts car into a Safari 914 to cruise the gravel mountain roads around here. After reading through your build, I don't think there any question... now I just gotta find a running manual-equipped Suby parts car.

Enjoy driving it!

Geoff

Here’s a pic of the ball valve I added to the stock fuel port. I figured it’s a lot better than siphoning the tank if I ever need to pull the tank and it happens to be full (which is very likely due to Murphy’s law). I was able to get fittings that convert the stock tank Port threads to AN threads. One port is capped and one has the drain valve. I’ll be safety wiring the ball valve lever to ensure it never drains accidentally.



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Nice having a lathe isn’t it?
Are you above stock ride height?

It’s awesome to have a lathe and mill. You can pretty much make anything. My lathe is over 100 years old and I can only imagine all the things it’s made over time.

I raised the suspension 2” with lowered spindles in the front and modified mount points in the rear.

Just some random pics of wrapping up the wiring harness (now that I know everything works), and playing with trying to get my carpet uncurled from packing. I also installed and final adjusted the shifter and cables.

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Managed to get the hood on by myself today. I used some blankets to protect the cowl and went for it. Looks much better with a hood

Also fitted up the roof rack for some final work on the latches at the rear.



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I love this build! Cant wait to see it finished!

Something to think about: How about coating the roof rack and brush bar a dark brown to match the backpad - gives the car a nice two tone contrast to the black targa top, bumper tops and flares? Little bit of a nuanced difference to the obvious "blackened" approach....

- Tony

PS. Still loving this build BTW. Nice job on the engine firing up!!

Worked on the final fitment of the roof rack today. It was pretty much finished a while ago except for a means of latching it down. I decided on a simple approach using some rubber rack straps.

I made some pins for the operating end of the straps and welded them to the support brackets. Then I welded mount points on the rack for the fixed end of the straps.

I’m calling it done (other than finishing and painting)!


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That would look good. I’m going to stay with black for touch up reasons though. I have a feeling there will be spots to touch up on the regular and there’s nothing like the ease of flat black spray cans.

Like this build. Lots of detail. You will really enjoy the result.

i am curious about where you sourced the flare material and how you came up with that design/shape? I like it especially your unique safari build.

Phil
ps awesome work btw, enjoying your unique approach with this yet using a lot of stock stuff like heater box for heat and so on, i am interested to see if that will provide enough air flow across the core to give you enough hot air for the cabin.

Phil

PSS - and i love the rack, i would like you to make me one when you are finishe with this build !!!

Phil, The flares are just universal flares I picked up off eBay. I figured if I didn’t like them I could always GT flair it, but so far I think they’re right for the safari look.

I have let the car warm up and I seem to be getting good heat flow to the defrosters and floor vents. I put a new blower in the fresh air box and it really moves air. I’ll find out for sure when I start driving it in the cold.

How much do you think this weighs? And have you driven it yet?

No idea on the weight. I was pretty conscious of weight as I progressed though. All the roof rack and supporting parts are aluminum and really pretty light. The front “stinger” bar is also all aluminum and weights less than the stock bumper tits. It’s not ready to drive yet, but hopefully soon. The only major thing left is to make my driveshafts.

Made an air deflector for the Safari rack. Here’s fitting it up prior to final trimming/shaping/painting…..

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I also finished and painted the trunk hinge supports/rook rack mounts and got them installed. Getting them through the grills and O-rings was a challenge but it came out clean looking.

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Nice. Very tidy. To me, it's those little details that make all the difference.

Finished painting and installling the roof rack, looks so much better painted.

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@East coaster, I love your build. So many well-executed parts of the project. I can’t help wanting to copy a lot of it. Would you be willing to share the following? Sorry if I might have missed any of this in your postings.

Source/model for 3rd brake light
Model/year of Honda for clutch master cylinder
Source/model for radiator
Where is heater core from?
Source/model of fuel pump/ sending unit

Answers above^^^

Got the trunk rack painted and mounted it up. This, combined with the roof rack supports, is how my trunk hinges. Trunk is supported by dual gas struts.

It’s so nice to start getting these panels on the car and out of my way in the shop. How I haven’t damaged a panel constantly working around them I’m not sure.

All that’s left is to mount the doors and the car will look complete and I’ll have all my shop real estate back. Unfortunately, I’m not going to mount the doors until all my interior work is done.

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Werre was it sourced?

Found it on eBay

Just an unbelievable build - and Skills.

Ok, so I need a center console to conceal my shifter and the wiring harness and ECU. I hate working with wood, but it seemed the best medium for what I’m trying to do, maybe I’ll make another in fiberglass or carbon some day.

I also wanted to put my head unit in the console. This means the console has to flare out at the top to provide enough width for the unit. I’m using birch ply and I scored the backside (3 scores, 1/2” apart) where the it goes up to the dash to allow some flex to get the wedge shape I need. It’s coming along ok and will be ready for upholstery in another day. The rear height is just right for an armrest lined up with shifter, and it provides some good storage. The ECU is under the storage bin/armrest. The lid tilts from left to right and is padded with 1” high density foam (leftover from one of my jetski projects).

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That console looks good.

Really enjoying watching your build - awesome work

So after way too much time on my console, it’s finally done. I think one of the cool things about projects like this the varied tasks required to complete it. This one took woodworking, sewing, upholstery, and a little metal fab.

Getting everything to fit into the console and still be able to install/remove it was like working a Rubik’s cube. The console houses a subwoofer, head unit, cup holders, and conceals my shifter, ECU, and wire harness. It also provides some decent storage space.

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Here’s the Pioneer subwoofer installed. Added cup holders and did the inlay with black hydro turf (jetski padding).

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Also made a phone mount out of my ashtray…..

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wow looking great, love the console!!

where did you source the cup holder from?

- oh and wondering what are you planning for seats? stock or something race/rally inspired?

Phil

Cup holder is a marine piece. It’s stainless and worked for my setup. I didn’t have room to recess dual cup holders and I really wanted 2 (one for me and one for the Mrs). Seats will be stock. The interior was in nice shape when I bought the car so I’ll be using the stockers.

Got the seats in today, it’s starting to look like a car again

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beautiful!! stock brown seats look awesome, i figured since you had a stock back pad in the car that you might be keeping the stock seats, those look like new.
GTS classics has seats that fit into the back pad as well, if you wnated something with more lateral support, which you might need if you start doing some fun off road stuff with this car.

I had GTS seats in my last 914 and they were great.

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beautiful!! stock brown seats look awesome, i figured since you had a stock back pad in the car that you might be keeping the stock seats, those look like new.
GTS classics has seats that fit into the back pad as well, if you wnated something with more lateral support, which you might need if you start doing some fun off road stuff with this car.
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I had GTS seats in my last 914 and they were great.

Nice!

Fitted up the rockers today. They’re an aluminum set I got through someone here in the World. I had to remove 3/4” from each end and reform the lips to account for the larger wheel openings. Just need to get them painted now and they can go on for real.

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