Hey All. Just wondering how fast a gutted 914 (as in pretty much just a steering wheel seats suspension/wheels and motor) will go with a two-litre motor running 36mm Dellortos. -K-

the car was always drag (i.e. HP, not rev) limited, so unless you think you've added a lot of power (unlikely) it will go no faster than it ever did.

if it's lighter, it'll reach its drag-limited top speed sooner, but it won't go faster...

Hey Rich!

I have been 138, down the back side of a long bridge. It was kind of scary at the top of the bridge, on the transition.. talk about the rear end wanting to fly! Whhhhheeeeeeeee!


M

QUOTE (ArtechnikA @ Dec 29 2005, 04:21 PM)

the car was always drag (i.e. HP, not rev) limited, so unless you think you've added a lot of power (unlikely) it will go no faster than it ever did. if it's lighter, it'll reach its drag-limited top speed sooner, but it won't go faster...

But rolling resistance will be lower!

(I know, it's insignificant compared to aero drag, I'm just in a nitpicky mood)

What it would do is go faster uphill.

Isn't 36mm a bit small for a 2.0?

36 Dells supposedly flow what a 40 Weber will.

It will go as fast a the strength of the pucker in your AH will allow.

My pucker won't let me go past 120. My Autocross alignment is a real hand full over 100.

my 1.7L pushed 1980 lb car with cowcatcher air dam and rear spoiler to 105 with Rob Watson in with me for a witness. top off.

my 2.0L with 40 IDF's will spin past 120 if I had the gut to hold it. 1965 lbs original front wrap under valance, slick rear deck and top on windows up.

My car did this once. It went a little higher but it is hard to get the pic at just the right moment. Not bad for a 1.8. I think it would have gone a little higher but I need my engine to last until at least WCC06!

I have heard that over 125ish the rear end starts to float (not the I would ever drive that fast on a public highway), but remember if you do....you are traveling 2X as fast as the other traffic....unless Ron is in first place


What Rich said....

Yup, rear end starts to float at or near 125. Don't ask how I know. It was very scary and a looong time ago.

QUOTE (GWN7 @ Dec 29 2005, 08:12 PM)

I have heard that over 125ish the rear end starts to float (not the I would ever drive that fast on a public highway), but remember if you do....you are traveling 2X as fast as the other traffic....unless Ron is in first place What Rich said....

i have a straigh shot south home from school... open highway...

rear end is scary at speed..... 115 ish... you feel it...


scariest time was doing 80 with a 30-40 mph headwinf....... same effect

About 25 years ago I tried to see how fast a slightly modified 914-6 would go, about a hair under 150 according to the speedo, on a slight up hill grade, I think there was a little more but I ran out of road. The guy in the vw bug I passed is probably still mad at me! At that speed it almost sucked him completely into my lane when I went by him. The track is the only place you should go that Fast!!! That sure was a fun car!
Take Care
Bill

I have hit over 120 at the track but with my 205x50's I don't know what that actually is....

On the Mannheim K-town autobahn, I saw a smidge over 145 MPH in 4th at redline. It wouldn't get there in 5th. Of course, this was a six so

"k-town"? karlsruhe?

k

I tucked my Garmin Street Pilot behind my seat in the 2L vintage race car and at the CA Speedway at 7600 RPM I was doing 135 MPH exactly. That is with a "V" top gear. Felt like I was doing about 200!!!

I've seen a bit over 130 in the road car (Moment of weakness, don't ask. But I bet the clown in the Honda took up bicycling... )

It was still accelerating when I lifted, but Like Aaron said it was a bit of a dance to keep it pointed straight. Got me looking into rear spoilers...

Maybe we should get a tour going out to Bonneville one of these days...

MW- looking at your guages, I would say your speedo reads about 10 mph fast, as 4200 rpms in the stock 5th is 91 mph.

Porscha916-
If your experience happened innthe Santa Cruz mountains, yes I'm still mad.
An experience like this was my first 914 sighting


As for personal experience.
On the track the ducktail spoiler and air dam greatly reduces rear end float at 100+ mph speeds.
drive by at speed

Watch the swirl off the rear spoiler...


KT

Great clip trekkor! I played it three times before I noticed anything but the sound...

There are a couple of things that can be done to reduce the rear end lift. Put on a spoiler, but the vintage groups don't like those and they'll stick you with the rest of the old IMSA cars. You can raise the rear of the roof about an inch with some spacer blocks and if you have a plastic rear window, cut several holes in it. Either or both will drastically reduce the vacuum just over the engine cover and that is the same as a spoiler really and the rear is getting sucked up. A final thing we do if I am going to a track with long straights such as Willow Springs or the CA Speedway is to put in a tad more toe in both front and rear (1/16 th inch) vs straight ahead toe so the car feels more stable at speed.

With an AX alignment, at 6800 in 4th the back end of mine was seriously moving around..and lemme tell ya, it didn't get any better when I shifed to 5th. I didn't look at the speedo...it lies anyhow. This was on the PIR track during my first run at DE.....the second lap, IIRC. From then on, I'd run it up to 6500
in 4th & chill.

If the SCCA starts with TT, I'm gonna have to do sumthin' about that.

QUOTE (trekkor @ Dec 30 2005, 08:10 AM)

MW- looking at your guages, I would say your speedo reads about 10 mph fast, as 4200 rpms in the stock 5th is 91 mph.

I would believe that. I have 195/60's on it and the speedo has been known to bounce around a little as well. For what it is worth, it sounded and felt like about 150.

I've done 128 in the 1.7 turbo and it was still pulling but temps were going through the roof. Before this project is over I want it to best my M3 (it does 147 before the governor pulls on the riens). I plan to make some cooling mods and try for a new record. I want the "914 1.7 land speed record" title.

-Ben M.

Many, many years ago on a two lane rural road I saw 115 on the speedo. That was enough. I'll probably never see that again with this car.

I was using 185/70 x 15" tires at the time, so the speedo should have been fairly accurate.

I've buried my 150 MPH speedo one time, and one time only, its pretty scary.
With the flipped "H" gear, top speed (rev limited) is 172@6000 rpms, I have a gear chart somewhere.
I do have a big wing, and a V8

Mark

The ass flying starts in the 110-115 area..

If you don't have a TALL wing, you aren't doing much for asstability. Ducktails aren't really for planting the rear at super-speed, and short wings don't get enough air flow.

ABC 914 is perfect.




M

I hit 150, rear tires started to lose traction, decided that I was not quite ready to die. the car was still pulling hard though! I was coming across the desert between california and vegas, with a passenger and our luggage. hooray for turbo subie power!

In best Crocodile Dundee imitation...

"THIS is a wing mate."

Rhodyguy,
The K-town I was referring to was Kaiserslautern, but I also spent a lot of time travelling back and forth to Karlsruhe as well.

I would like to see some of us get together and build a land speed record 914, try it at the salt flats to settle some of these aerodynamic issues.

trekkor - My speed test was on Long Island NY, I hope none of you lived there and owned bugs!! I did sell the 914-6 to a guy from CA.

I had that car and my v8 over 120 mph on several occasions and I never noticed any rear lift.

Take Care
Bill

QUOTE (porsha916 @ Dec 30 2005, 09:31 PM)

I would like to see some of us get together and build a land speed record 914, try it at the salt flats to settle some of these aerodynamic issues. trekkor - My speed test was on Long Island NY, I hope none of you lived there and owned bugs!! I did sell the 914-6 to a guy from CA. I had that car and my v8 over 120 mph on several occasions and I never noticed any rear lift. Take Care Bill

there is a red 914 with an rx7 motor in it that competes with SCTA landspeed racing.

seen it go at el mirage dry lake....

AA

treks clip is great. Really shows the "spoiling". I would like to see what a wing does...

So I wonder with a 2.7 /6 running a stock speedo and a 901 tranny with the tach at 7k in 5th gear running 205/55/15's.

How fast am I going???

QUOTE (Headrage @ Dec 30 2005, 09:49 PM)

So I wonder with a 2.7 /6 running a stock speedo and a 901 tranny with the tach at 7k in 5th gear running 205/55/15's. How fast am I going???

ZD fifth with 7:31 r/p and 205/55 (25.39" diameter) is 156 mph....

About 15 years ago on the way to Phoenix from LA I hit 130+. Don’t remember what size tires I had on so the accuracy of the speedometer could have been in question. I don’t recall the rear ‘floating’ but I do remember the front sticking (for lack of a better word) to the road and how scared I was (didn’t keep the speed up long).

I wish I could say it was one of my dumber moments in my youth, but it wasn’t…

Back when I had my "beast" the 2.7 twin plug car, I got a citation from the CHP heading from I5 to the Az border outside Needles...he said he was doing 125+ and I was pulling away before he hit the lights...I wasn't looking but I was not noticing much "looseness"....car was setup for high speed not AX but I don't know the exact settings. It was cool until the lights came on....probably not real smart however....best left to the track I think....

ive tapped around 118 before with the 1.7.

Not doing that again, not until a couple components are swapped... Simply knowing that it was pushing it is enough.

It didnt seem to handle any different above 100 though, and wasnt to loud

God I love this car...

My 75 2 liter hit around the 115 mark across i-90 and into the lid (tunnel) It sounded so cool that the guy that was riding with me begged me to sell it to him!
Ah youth
and that one was yellow so you JUST KNOW it had at least another 50 mph in her!!

i saw 140 indicated with 185/70-15 XWX's the year PCA ran the CanAm configuration at Riverside with th l-o-n-g backstraight all the way from Turn 8 (almost a mile). didn't notice any looseness, and we were running the rear antiroll bar too... did have the snowplow front air dam that should have kept air out from under the car...

gotta think there are some aero subtleties over 120+

if i was hitting 140, the LeMans cars with at least another 40 HP must have been doing better down Mulsanne, and they ran with *no* rear aero aids. IIRC they did real well in that race too :-)

I have been over 105 (over 120 on speedo) coming home from MWC 2005

love my car

I looked up the land speed records for the classes a 914-6 or 914-4 would compete in and the records are 152 and 157. They were set in 1987. Who wants to set a land speed record???? And who wants to help?????

The final drive in the subie tranny and the upgraded gears will allow a top speed of 205. But I know that aerodynamics will hinder that.

Ive gone REAL quick on a short stretch of road.

Thats all im gona say...

I have never gone above 105. But, my wife was clocked 23.3 second mile, then she averaged 28.7 second miles for about 3 hours.

QUOTE (porsha916 @ Dec 31 2005, 10:45 AM)

I looked up the land speed records for the classes a 914-6 or 914-4 would compete in and the records are 152 and 157. They were set in 1987. Who wants to set a land speed record???? And who wants to help?????  :sawzall:  :welder:  :type:  :shocked:  :flag1:  :driving:  :screwy:  :huh:  :wacko:  :clap:

Sign me up, I'm in. Whatever... I've been thinking about this for a while 'cause it looks like fun.

What classes were you looking at? there are several that a 914 could fit in, depending on the mods.

I've been to 125 then the "HP Limiter" (my engine) reached top power output, 5200 RPMs and it just couldnt scoot no' mo'.

I've had the rear tires break loose @ 160ish

Car is much more solid at those speeds w/ the top on

Just touch 140 on the front straight @ LVMS... then there's the damned 2nd gear turn 1

BJH

QUOTE (Mugs914 @ Jan 1 2006, 01:19 AM)

QUOTE (porsha916 @ Dec 31 2005, 10:45 AM) I looked up the land speed records for the classes a 914-6 or 914-4 would compete in and the records are 152 and 157. They were set in 1987. Who wants to set a land speed record???? And who wants to help?????  :sawzall:  :welder:  :type:  :shocked:  :flag1:  :driving:  :screwy:  :huh:  :wacko:  :clap: Sign me up, I'm in. Whatever... I've been thinking about this for a while 'cause it looks like fun. What classes were you looking at? there are several that a 914 could fit in, depending on the mods.

I hope someone follows up on this. I've been thinking about it for years.
-Ben M.

Last year at CA Speedway during "lunch laps" I was trying to follow Mr. Mckenna in his black Carrera GT and hit 135mph going into the banked front straight turn. No duck or wing...definitely needed a wing. Car was lite and loose(and top was off.) Have added a 6" duck made for me by Roger Sheridan and it helps a little. Need a wing but don't want to lok like a " rice rocket."