My conversion took approximately 5 months of work to get the engine in and get the car on the road. Another 18 months for further work and improvements. Thanks very much to the 914 Club Forum and those who posted their conversion information and to those who responded to my questions, and special thanks to the club members who attended the V8 conversion meeting in Pleasanton in September 05 and shared their valuable knowledge with me.


If anyone is interested in seeing the car, I live in the Richmond District of San Francisco.

Project Specs:
1975 1.8L 914
Renegade conversion kit
Chevy 283
Vortec heads
Compcam 260H
New cam bearings
0.060 cylinder overbore
New rods and pistons (9.5:1 compression ratio)
New main and rod bearings
Replaced all gaskets and freeze plugs
New high volume oil pump
MSD Billet HEI distributor
Holley 4 barrel carburetor
Treated miscl rust with OSPHO and Por 15 paint
Herculiner truck bed liner in front and engine compartments
911 19mm master brake cylinder upgrade
BMW 320i front caliper upgrade to start with,
M-caliper upgrade using hubs by Mueller
Stainless steel flex brake hose upgrade
Replaced rear brake proportioning valve with TEE.
Rebuilt rear brake calipers
Pedal cluster bushings upgrade to brass (from existing plastic)
Replaced transmission shifter bushings
Replaced transmission seals
Weltmeister short-shifter
WEVO transmission mounts
9” Kevlar clutch
New Bilstein rear shocks and bellows/boots.
Electric fuel pump – Carter CRT-P4070 5 psi, 72 gph
New / custom throttle cable
HP mini-starter
2-gauge wire to starter
Ron Davis Radiator with two 13”diameter SPAL fans (Renegade set-up)
Renegade bypass thermostat system
VDO Water temperature gauge
VDO Oil pressure gauge
VDO Oil temperature gauge (original)
Tachometer upgrade by bigmarkdesign
Oil Cooler
Center console
Rear trunk strut conversion kit – Camp 914
Magnaflow dual-in dual-out muffler
Body work and re-paint
Power mirrors from Honda del Sol
Rear wing from Toyota MR-2
Interior seat and backpad kits by Autos International
Carpets by Morph
Towbar for flat towing with integral wiring harness
16" 4-lug Superlight wheels from Pack Racing Products
BF Goodrich G-Force Sport 205/55/16.

The dyno tests were done this 8/24/2008 at the Thunderhill dyno. At max rpm of about 6,250 the dynamometer showed a speed of 153 mph. On the track we got it up to about 125 mph. However, it threw a water pump belt a couple of times. I think that there is too much flex in the Renegade water pump mount, so I need to reinforce it.

At rear wheels: 263 ft-lb torque, 241 hp.
Engine: Assuming a 15% loss through the transmission, the engine would have about: 302 ft-lb torque, 277 hp.
Maybe more if the test was done on a motor dyno stand without water pump, alternator, and muffler.

Without air filter:
Click to view attachment

With and without air filter:
Click to view attachment

I bought the car in June 05, ordered and collected enough parts to start, and removed the engine at the end of August.

Started on the radiator first:

Cut the front and isntalled the radiator and shroud:

Nick,

Great job, another Bay Area conversion!

FYI, We have another "member" who bought Renegades flagship "Peal". A conversion meet this summer will be huge!

Another view of the radiator:

Cut the bumper:

Finished front:

Removed gas tank and cleaned up the rust within the compartment:

Cleaned out and painted the gas tank:

Cleaned out rust from front compartment, painted with POR15, primered, and final-coated with Heruliner truck bed liner:

At this time, I have not committed to cutting the vents in the wheel wells. I am going to experiment with various hood ventings - perforated plates, louvers etc. I have three hoods to work with. If none of that works properly, I will then cut the vents in the wheel wells:

Engine compartment was also cleaned out of rust, painted with POR 15 paint, primered, and final-coated with Herculiner truck bed liner. This is the compartment after engine removal and initial placement of the coolant components:

Primer over POR 15 paint - ready for Heculiner:

Trunk was de-rusted and treated with POR 15 paint. You can see the Herculiner in the engine compartment, the distributor cutout, the relocated battery, and the strut-type trunk lid springs:

Engine rebuild:

Engine rebuild:

Mostly compete engine:

Transaxle was thoroughly cleaned. All of it was as black as the inside of the bell housing in this picture. All seals were replaced:

Engine amd transaxle are mated and ready to be installed:

Going in:

Going in...
I actually did the install by myself - since I could not find anyone to help at the moment I decided to do it.

Installed. Right side before exhaust installation. Note the black cable/tube that loops right in front of the CV joint - that is a new throttle cable made longer than the original to attach to the carburetor from the rear:

Installed. Left side after exhaut installation. Note the rubber bellows at the shifter linkage cover - that is a perfect-fit bellows I picked up at Home Depot for a flexible sink drain:

Rear view:

Coolant accessories:

Carter electric fuel pump (noisy). The heater tubes are capped with 2" ABS pipe caps - perfect fit:

Rebuilt pedal cluster:

Custom throttle cable. I drilled and tapped the ball joint and installed 2 set screws. The cable is 1/16". (I tried a 3/32", but it had a little trouble in the motorcycle cable tube that I used in the engine compartment to replace the existing cable tube. I replaced the plastic tube in the tunnel with a new nylon tube - aircraft quality cable guide.

Throttle cable setup at the carburetor:

Nice!!! So the radiator air exit is thru the hood? Did you do that to keep the metal solid in the wheel wells for strength, or other reason? i wonder about the common method of cutting the wheel well, if it hurts stiffness much or not.


PS 'Got a photo of the muffler(s) to post?

Muffler - sure is loud without one:

Magnaflow #12468

I like that muffler, i have a flowmaster mounted something like that on my Buick V6 914. It however exits out the rear of the muffler (rather than the side like yours) and has four pipes out the rear. It is loud. (i think I need ear plugs sometimes in it!)

Very nicely done. My only concerns are:

1: The cuts made for the radiator have 90* corners. Keep an eye on them, as the metal will usually begin to tear one direction or the other from there. A smooth corner (holesaw) would have eliminated this concern.

2: Venting through the hood... I have yet to see it work well enough for me to try it, and the car looks stock externally (sleeper!!!) other than that.

Once again, very well done!!

BJH

Awesome job, really nice work.

Did you modify the tranny....removal of first gear...

What are your 0-60 times??? any idea?

Rich

you can reduce the sound made by the fuel pump by isolating it with a rubber mount instead of solid mounted to the body.

i have mine "hung" by the thickest zip ties i could find and mine is absolutely quiet. looks kinda' strange but i had to please myself.

great job and yours went faster than mine. even better

As I mentioned, I have three hoods that I will be testing for venting options. if none of them work out, I will then vent through the wheel wells. I prefer to avoid cutting the wheel wells for structural integrity reduction concerns. I have some equipment available to test air flows for each configuration - under static conditions. I will am not able to test under dynamic (car moving) conditions. Once I get results, I will post them.

I don't know the performance of the car at this time. I have at least 500 miles of break-in ahead of me. Also, I just experienced an ignition system problem, which I have not yet had time to solve, so the car is not running today.

The transmission is stock and is in good shape. (I think that the car had only 60,000 original miles on it). Later this year I plan modify the transmission to taller gears.

Thanks for the info on hanging the fuel pump. Mine is already on rubber mounts, but obviously it needs better isolation. You can't really hear it as you drive, but it is annoying if you need to simply turn the ingnition to the run position. I am thinking of changing the basic fuel pump single relay to a double-interlock relay so that it engages only after the ignition switch has been in the start position.

fuel pump: it looks like the pump to bracket is isolated with rubber washers. you could also use the same type of washers to isolate the braket to body mount.

you have ignition problem? do you have constant 12v to the hei?[with ingintion turned to on]
if yes then it might be the module uder the cap below the rotor. its a good idea to have a spare to carry in the car. these can be intermitant good-bad.

Hood venting will work fine only if you put a little air block/ lip at the front. Bout 1/2 to 1in tall. It lifts the air over the hole and actually creates a suction from the radiator.

Rest of the car is looking good.

Andrew

Might be worth a try taping some ribbons on the hood near vent, and see how much they move under your static test, then take it for a drive and see what they do, if they stay the same direction when you speed up, then you'r probably still flowing the right way. Frankly with your inner ducting, i don't see why the hood exhaust method wont work .

What do you have as the cover (screen?) on the outlet, can't tell form the computer. Like to see a closer up photo of how you did the hood outlet if you have one

On my car the wheel wells are cut, Last poster comment on square holes is right, rounded corners will really reduce the possibility of fatigue cracking. A square hole on the British Comet (first passenger jet, beat Boeing and the 707 into service) The squared off window on the fuselauge caused a crack too start there do to fatigue from the compression / decompression cycles. That killed a bunch of folks in several crashes until the Coments were grounded. By the time they figured it out, and rounded the windows, Boeing had taken lead with the 707, and the Comet dispite redesign, never regained the lead and sales were almost nill. A crack from a square window stopped British passenger jets form beating Boeing. Notice how all the windows on jets are rounded these days, no sharp corners.

you could round yours with a fat rattail (round) file in each corner, a 1/4 radius or so radius will help prevent cracking, it doesn't take much. and rounding is better than a sharp corner. larger radiuses are best, but would reuire the air intake hole to be made a bit wider and taller to add. (or leave size and have bulbus corners, nothing wrong with that.) I had to cut the corners round on my car, prior owner had made some square, and a crack about an inch long had started. Them again i think there is less stress int eh area you cut, the front panel is likely under a lot less stress than the wheel well section is.

Anyway neat to see someone experimenting with the hood. The cut outs in the wheel wells look like they would weaken the car. Mine are a bit big. Maybe a better idea for air exit than a big hole in the well is to drill lots of say 1/2 inch holes,a nd make a perferated panel? To late on my car, but something you could give a go if you decide to . Anyone done that?

Who did your exhaust pipes from the headers back? you or a local shop? (i got to get a quieter muffler!)


Anyway real nice conversion.

Nick, I'd leave the fuel pump alone...
You want to be able to know if the fuel pump is running....

I will be doing both as far as the hood thing goes.

I'll cut the wheel well, and rivit it back in durring the summer months, and durring the rainy season I'll open the wheel wells, and put a closed hood on.

Thats MY current plan.

btw, i bet your exhast isnt that quiet one single magnaflow? ha!

bet it sounds pretty darn good though...

Nice looking conversion. Looks really clean

I got the car running. Turns out that it was not an electrical problem. There was no fuel delivery. Tracked it down to a pinched fuel line under the fuel tank. I went to the gas station the other day to fill it up for the first time and the weight of the fuel in the first-time full tank dropped the tank and it pinched the fuel line. Freed it and now the fuel is flowing and the car runs great.

The hood vent screen that I am presently using consists of a perforated metal panel with 1/8" holes on 3/16" staggered centers with about 50% free area. It does not seem to restrict flow very much, but I have not yet tested it. Right now it is simply screwed on to the top of the hood. If I decide to use this approach, I will either drill the pattern in the hood I plan to use or have a friend of mine use his automated plasma cutter make the holes (if we can make it do that).

I agree, that there should be a small lip at the front to help creat a low pressure region over the hood. If I end up with louvers, they will protrude about a 1/2' to get that effect.

If I end up cutting the wheel wells, I will probably do it with multiple 1-1/2" holes (or similar) drilled with a hole saw in a staggered pattern. In any case, the compartment is well waterproofed with the POR 15 paint and Herculiner truck bed liner.

The single muffler is actually fairly quiet. You can easily talk in the car. (You can hear the he fuel pump over the engine sound). It seems to have the most resonance at idle. It is very quiet under constant speed and has a nice sound under acceleration. Overall it is very nice sound. The exhaust work was done by Tom at the Exaust Outlet in Daly City. I need to take it back to him - he placed the left exhaust pipe too close to the shifter rod and it interferes with third gear. He said that it is an easy tweak for him to correct this condition.

I don't think that cracking at the air inlet corners is going to be a potential problem, since there is no load in that area. However, taking the time to round the corners would be an easy precaution.

Funny.. Mines livable and solid under idle. semi loud at cruze and if a cop hears me under full throttle... im toast. wakes up anyone near by...

I'll be designing louvers over the next couple months.. I'll post them when I get the design done... I know what I want... just cant see it.. lol

louvers? like these?

QUOTE (jd74914 @ Jan 16 2006, 10:48 AM)

louvers? like these?

jd74914,

Not to hijack, but who makes that spoiler that's on the blue car??

Andys

Andy, I have no idea, the car isn't mine, but heres some more pictures. I know that its a bumper and spoiler molded into each other.

And the bonding,
kinda looks like this spoiler, molded into a bumper http://www.automotion.com/productpage.aspx...ormance+Spoiler

sorry, hyjack over.

Upgraded the BMW 320i brakes to M-Calipers using Muller's hubs and 911 ventilated rotors: