Hmm, I have to say if there is a downside to the mod it is that getting the seat on and off the rails is not fun. At all. I'll try to do it anyway next time I have the car out of the back of the garage.

Haven't made much progress of late. Need to re-do the brakes with new calipers (thanks Eric!) and re-do the carpeting in the front trunk. Then it needs to go back to the painter for a final buffing and detailing. I cannot believe how long it's been off the road, but buying a house and remodeling a kitchen and life has intervened. I am sure nobody can identify!

EDIT: Took the seats out and got some photos of the completed setup. Yes, it only took me fo-eva. Text from another thread on adding Scheel seats:

Many moons ago, someone asked for photos of how my driver's seat was lowered. Getting the last pair of seats out wasn't fun, as I didn't take the time to get the rails aligned as well as they could be, but I took the opportunity to grab some photos of the setup today.

You can see that the cross bar under the front of the seat was cut out and "stepped down" with thicker metal. This was done at Genoa Racing in Novato, CA at the same time that the Engman chassis stiffening kit was added. I lost the ability to change the seat angle (which doesn't bother me, as it's pretty limited in the 914, and not bad as is), but dropped about 0.8 inch. Well worth it, imo...

The up side is there is 24 hrs in a day. More time for everything else but the car... Maybe she'll be ready for the WCR 2011?....

Long time no post. Kitchen remodel, bathroom remodel, job change, arrival of our first child, and the wildest year I've had in general conspired to put the car well down the priority list.

Anyway, got the motor out and had the engine/transmission area professionally steam-cleaned and detailed. After 250,000~ miles (est) and 40 years, I could not believe my eyes: It looks great down there. Everything passes the screwdriver test, and the hacky high-school job I did of cleaning up the original battery tray, repainting the area, and installing an Optima back in 1991 probably helped a lot.

Last night was the first (non-work) car time I've had in probably six months. And boy was it therapeutic. Three guys, one 914, and an empty race shop.

Objectives: Punch holes for NOS 914-6 oil tank and install Rich Johnson engine mount.
Fuel: Arun Thai, the best Thai food in the north bay by miles.
Outcome: Just a great night.
Photos: Below (click on any to make it a bit clearer...)
Update since last time: Engine is done, all suspension rebuilt.

Can't wait to drive this thing again...and can't believe how long this project has stretched out!

pete

Since you've gone this far Id take out the back pad if you haven't already & just check for any damage or thinning due to tin worm that may be lurking.

Pete,
Great to have you back Lookin forward to saying hello at Parade.
Tell us more about your engine & pics. please.
Tom

Engine is not one of the wilder setups. It's a "2.2E" built on an unstressed 911T case with a (nice) used Mahle E pistons and cylinders. It's got a bit more compression (splitting difference between E and S), Solex-grind cams, Weber 40s, Electromotive ignition on the engine (isolated by M-B mounts), headers, and (probably) a 911 sport muffler. May do something different with the muffler, we'll see.

We've been paying with the fan shroud strap and still need to touch the letters on the valve covers to spruce them up.

NOS oil tank was one of three that sat and sat and sat in the warehouse because someone mistakenly scrawled a 901 part number on each of them with a black pen—so Porsche didn't know it had them. Discovered years ago, this one has been waiting to find a home for a while.

Sorry about the phone pics, but that's what the builder, John Holleran, had handy. Then again, "the best camera is the one you've got" definitely applies here...wouldn't have had anything without it!

pete

Hey Tom!

And great to hear from you! Sorry I've been MIA...life's been crazy, but good! Hope the same is true for you.

pete

Ready for Mille?

Pah, I think Melee would be a push.

Parade 2014, however...

pete

Great looking/spec engine combo!

Looks good Pete! Arun Thai on Bel Marin Keys? I was just htere Friday. It was very good.

Click to view attachment


Have a similiar project going right now to join my original owner '71 silver 914 in the background. '73 Bahia Red 2.0 getting a total restoration, hope to have it running by the end of the summer with my son's help (when he's not driving his 993 or Cayman).

Spend most of last weekend getting suspension back in...

Yup. Place has to be the best Thai north of SF. Actually, better than my favorite places in SF, as well. Funny we were so close at the same time. How is your six conversion coming? Hope all is well!

That looks positively beautiful. The next time my car comes apart, it will be for that kind of job...but I'll have to save my pennies and wear it out again first.

pete

Thanks!!

I may have seen you or somebody impersonating you this last Friday about 6:15 when I was going for Thai. Later model 911 turning from Digital to Westbound Bel Marin. I am so flipping close on my car....I was supposed to get the alignment two weeks ago but....Santa Rosa AX this Saturday. Congrats on. The little Stout.

The glacial progress of my 914 "paint job > freshening > cosmetic restoration > brake upgrade > chassis rebuild > six conversion" continues, with the latest update being the car went onto the dyno at RPM Engines and surprised me.

With some tuning—mainly timing related—it made 169 hp at the rear wheels with 147 lb-ft of torque at the rear wheels. Applying a 15% powertrain loss factor, which always gives me the hives, that's 199 hp and 173 lb-ft at the flywheel. The torque comes on strong nice and low and then stays fairly consistent from there on up, from 3000~ rpm up to and through 6000 rpm. Not shabby for a small-bore 2.2, and very driveable. I'm told there's a little more power to be had with a different exhaust setup with the collectors moved further forward, and we lost more than we should have when the factory 914-6 air box went back on, so I need to figure out my final exhaust and intake setup before we do final tuning.

For the time being, however, I am one happy camper.

Sweet. There is nothing like a short stroke 911 engine in a light car.

Now you can drive it down to the West Coast Ramble!

Great to see it's coming along Pete.

This thing you speak of...does it require the ability to take something called vacation?










Thanks, Mike!!

Next step is finalizing the wheel/tire package, then sending the car back into paint to have the sides redone. Test fit of 215/60R15 rears below, just to see if they would even physically fit in the wells. They will, though it is tight on both sides with the LR. It's a bit better on the RR, but I suspect I am going to have to play with the fenders just a bit.

PHAT !!

PHAT !!

Good job. Looked back over the engine pictures. What is this thing? It is obviously
not your engine
Click to view attachment

Great results, I'm tempted to scrap my distributor when I warm up my 2.7 for my project.

Can't believe it's been two years since I updated this thread. I have a lot of updating to do, but I'll skip forward to the last week or so because the car ran like a champ in its first trip to SoCal in 20 years...

If you are doing one of these projects, it can be daunting/annoying/draining/etc. Just know...it's WORTH IT!

Now, on to some pics from the run to Luftgekühlt, with the 914 packed up for a 1,000-mile journey and the GT4 kicked to the curb. What was I thinking?

Didn't take many pics on the way down 101 to LA, but DID take a lot of notes.

The 2.2 is torquey around town, sings up to redline, and—with a factory airbox that is robbing 20 hp on the dyno—quiet enough on long drives. Unfortunately, the wind noise was awful—and a stark contrast to the quiet freeway cruiser this car was when I got it. More work is needed to quiet the noise at the A-pillars and windshield. The list of other things to sort is long, but most are minor annoyances. Some bigger ones, like heat and handling. It really was neat to go down the road in this car....need to take it on more trips.

When it got down to LA, it got checked into the Malibu Car Wash, where a 914 looks a little funny next to some of the other iron (and carbon fiber) that is usually being cleaned, but the crew there did a GREAT job, and for a lot less than the detailers I use up in Northern California.

Luftgekühlt was a LOT of fun, and I was blown away by many of the cars there—and some very nice 914s also. There are so many pics online and on social feeds that I won't weigh this thread down with that stuff, so I'll just skip to three from the ride home. One from Point Magu, and then a stop in Santa Barbara where the car lived for a single semester (only felt right to play "One Headlight" by the Wallflowers on the way out of town*), and then a shot to try and capture that feeling when an old car gets you home through the night. Besides the wind noise, high-speed cruising is effortless, and it did better on fuel economy than I thought (though still not so great compared to a -4). The biggest thing, however, was the experience—I never forget the drives I take in this car.

*Particularly because, for the first time in 28 years, my headlights are acting funny, with the driver's side headlight taking its own sweet time to lower itself after turning off the lights. Sometimes 2-20 minutes after the right one goes down.

And, after a quick wash, it was back on the road to R Gruppe's 2017 Treffen in Napa—where there were several cool 914s. The 914 and GT4 got a little love, being placed up front in a row of hot-rod 911s parked next to the dinner tables, for a bit of alternate flavor and mid-engined contrast in a typically 911-dominated event.

Photos by good friend Pete Ritter

Good question—was in the group of pics I got from the engine builder. Suspect that's one of his other builds.

Btw, need to find then pics, but I eventually did mount that 215/60R15 to a real 15x7R to see if it could be snuck into the rear fenders.

Working with washers and longer studs, I was able to get it into both sides, but the inner tire was rubbing on the trailing arm and car brake line, and there was NO room for the tire to "walk" around under load. So I skipped and went to 185/70R15 Avons for now. I like them, but miss seeing fatter rubber tucked under the car. May move to something else. We'll see.

Here we go...

Beautiful 914.