Kewl, Makes the 914 look a little tiny huh ?

So today I removed the headlight buckets and I've got to tell you it was a lot harder than i thought it would be...
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Despite putting up a good fight I got them out with out damaging anything
I also scraped out the black tar from the bottom of the bucket.
Next I need to make a new hood seal channel for the bucket-less trunk.
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Here you can see I had already removed the sheet metal that used to surround the spare tire when I installed the radiator the first time.
Also you can see the venting holes cut for the radiator air flow.
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To replace the heavy pop-ups I am running KC hilites in the foglight holes.
They are not street legal by any stretch of the imagination but neither is the rest of the car so I might as well stay consistent.
All I know is they work a lot better than the stockers (and look better too!).
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Over all I cut a total of 21.6 pounds which translates to 3.66 BHP

Nice werk,Nice car, nice bicycle too

Wow, you sure do very nice work.

When I talk about the cars weight loss I have mentioned the equivalent BHP a couple of times. Since there have been a couple topics and questions on the subject I thought I would explain how I am coming up with these crazy numbers just to prove that I am not making this crap up .

The original weight was 2300 pounds and it had 320 BHP.

Since the car now weighs 1875 pounds and still has 320 BHP.

1875/320 = 5.86

So if the car still weighed 2300 pounds it would need 392 BHP to be as fast as it is now.

2300/392 = 5.86

If we divide the weight lost by the theoretical BHP gained:

425/72 = 5.9

This means that for every 5.9 pounds the car drops it gains an equivalent of 1 horsepower.
The beauty of this is that the lighter your car gets the less poundage it takes to gain a HP! Yay!
So there you go, bored yet?

That's just cool. I want to get my car that lite.

Umm, last time I checked, Wyoming only had a law that you had to have lights, turn signals, brake lights and running lights. I don't remember the law saying that they had to be in the stock place. I remember the Cheyenne Police asking nicely if I wouldn't mind reving my motor, but ( year 2k) but no noise either. I don't think anybody is going to give you grief unless you get caught out at night in the rain, near Gurnsey.

My brother in law is a Wyoming state trooper and I have spent alot of time with his "laws of the road" book, by my count the car is in violation of 12 major laws, so far...
There are a lot of laws like minimum headlight height and required front plates on the books in Wyoming but fortunately you have to be doing something really stupid to get anyone to care about it. So as long as I don't drive like a total jackass I should be ok
The only really obvious legal problem I have is that after I mount the diffuser there will not be any room for a rear plate, and that is one thing I think they may notice, better get on that problem huh?

Rear diffuser? How are you going to do that? I want one

I got mine off of a Ferrari F430, the thing is going to fit really well, more on that later...

Stater? Cool. Brother in law was a Sherrif in Cheyenne. Can you do a ricer thing and put it up on one side between the tail lights? a little work and you should be good. I loved making the run from Cheyeene to Laramie then down to Ft. Fun then back up to Cheyenne. Loads of fun. Mountains, curvy roads, sand dunes, then back on the freeway.

Don't suppose they have many of those laying around

dude.. that is TASTY!

just fantastic...

Got to agree this has me wanting to chop the roof on my 914.

Here's what you do:
1) Join a Ferrari forum.
2)Wait for some guy to brag about the new carbon fiber F430 diffuser he got because he backed into a curb with the old one. (It happens more than you would think)
3)Ask how much he wants for the old broken stock one.
4)Obtain Ferrari diffuser for cost of shipping...

Try it, it worked for me!

I am in the middle of patching up the damage now. Should be an easy fix. Wait 'till you see it on the car it is HUGE!
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I'll try that. Then I just have to wait and see how you do this.

I stripped down the paint inside the cowl area.
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Between the original owner and myself we managed to add quite a few extra holes in the cowl that needed to be filled.
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Since the car will not have any climate control I filled the vent holes along with any extra holes that will not be needed.
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It was tough working with the complicated thin metal but with a little high build primer it should turn out nice and straight.
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Yah, such putrid rustage. OY!!!
Glad your tub is worthy. Keep it coming, ya freakin' weiner.
Dammit, I'm an envious SOB. Grr. Sweet project. Go go go.

I also received a F/G GT-Racing hood, it weighs 12 pounds for a weight savings of 21 pounds.
This brings my weight savings total up to 427.9 pounds.
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I am a big fan of Getty's work but for some reason they don't make a 914 hood with filled headlight holes so I had to buy a GT-Racing hood.
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Over all the hood looks pretty good but it was cut way to small so I have to do a ton of work to make the hood gaps anywhere close to reasonable. Also the filled areas are not supported in any way so they are really flimsy, they really need some kind of inner bracing to keep them from ripping off at speed.
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Seriously Getty step up, I know you are busy selling parts to the 997 guys but it is time to start making some filled hoods, this hood is going to take years to fix.

now that chappy's car is done, this is the coolest thread on the net.

If this car ends up half as nice as Chappy's I will be thrilled.
Thanks for the support guys!

...now I need to find a reason for my company to send me to Laramie for a visit!

I agree with all of the above quotes. This is going to be fun to watch..

On my way to Jackson(my home away from home) i will have to make a stop while passing through.

My good friend Charlie who has a nice orange 914 -6 lives in Jackson, i gave him and his boy Sam a ride in my car the other night when they were in town.

Charlie wants me to transform his car now.....

Too funny. What are you using to strip paint with Dana?

Since you are patching up all the holes under the cowl, you should add a piece of sheetmetal to box that area in and create and nice strong beam in that area. It will stiffen the car up and you won't lose any space.

I am using a DA and a wire wheel to strip paint. I have been taking my time so I don't build up too much heat and since it is the original paint it comes off pretty easy. I really should get the whole tub mediablasted but after spending $900 on text books money is a little tight!

Did you actually chop the windshield??
I know you were scared of getting it cut.
If you are getting it cut, please share the contact details of the company that is doing it.
I would like to send them a template to have cut from a 914 windshield.

Rich

I found This Guy who said he would cut one for $450 (not including buying the windshield) but it seemed pretty steep so I am going to go with lexan, it's lighter and a heck of a lot cheaper.

My GT-R hood gaps needed ALOT of work and the lid to cowl edge rubbed too. I'm concerned about the flimsy corners lifting and am considering dual latches but I don't have much room with the Boxster rads. IIRC we both requested Getty CF full lids during the group buy but they just wouldn't make them. I went ahead and bought the CF front but abandoned the idea of trying to mold in fillers and match the weave...

I'd be willing to bet that is the hood I sent back to them a month ago. I ordered form them for the same reason. No one else makes a race hood that I could find.

Chris made a hood using my stock hood and the headlight covers.

I would have loved to drop some weight but what can ya do?

Not trying to highjack this cool thread but what about Fiber-Lite Racing?

http://www.fiber-literacing.com/store.html

Anyone ever tried their front hoods or deck lids? They have a front hood w/o the headlight cut outs.

I bought the hood used so I am pretty much stuck with it, on the bright side it was cheap enough to make fixing it worth while.
And no, the guy I bought it from had nothing to do with the poor quality and fit, it was this screwed up when it was brand new!
Time to pull out the 'glassing gear!

By filling the holes in the cowl area I added about 7.2 ounces.
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Since this is a light-weight car I couldn't add this weight without cutting some weight too!
I cut off the remaining unused brackets and tabs, whipped out the hole saw and managed to trim off 7.2 ounces to counter-act filling the other cowl holes.
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Here is the final product:
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Yummy swiss cheese!
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Expect to see a lot more swiss cheese in the future!

This build is incredible!

Since I am doing so much to update the the cars looks I couldn't just use the stock mirrors. There are a lot of choices out there but i finally settled on 2006 Pontiac Solstice mirrors, they are quite a bit smaller (and cheaper!) than the Porsche Aero mirrors and I think they fit the cars style pretty well.
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Here is what I had to do to make them fit. I had to grind down the base to fit the contour of the door, then drill and tap deeper mounting holes. It was actually pretty easy to mount these mirrors, overall it took about an hour.
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Those look surprisingly amazing.

Yup, I think they look good with the style of your build.

Jim

jesus dude, those look like a factory fit. nice work!

While your changing things you could go to a 5spd subie tranny. A OBX LSD is pretty easy to put in and stronger gears are available. The OBX goes for around 400.00. Porscharu had some nice adapters made to use the type 2 larger cvs so the axle deal is ok you probably only need two inner cvs and the adapters if you are already using bus axles.
I'm going to try the suby with just the LSD mod and see how it holds up.
The one thing that will save this subie application is the two wheel drive and low weight.
As the other poster stated a vf39 sti turbo will make more volume without the heat you are now making by over running the 2.0 turbo.
I am still stuck on the awic to avoid the air flow problem over the motor.
Also while your in there I thought about cutting out the bottom of the longs and putting in a 2x3 rectanglar tube with one of the 2 inch sides removed to provide a channel on both sides for the plumbing. Once it's welded in it should really make the rails stiff. I know you have a nice roll cage setup but I am trying to avoid a cage.
I'm going to use all the normal tub additions to try to stiffen things up so I guess I'm really going a little different direction than you.
I really like the style you have come up with. I have always thought the 914 was ugly and you have made it look fast and lean. The soltice mirrors are very nice. Some else used a gm mirror that also looked pretty good.
On the 6spd. sti tranny the mod that was mentioned was for a REAR wheel drive not a front wheel drive as I am using from Bremar. The Bremar I have will only work on the 5spd.
Several people are installing subie trannys in 914's.
I also have thought about maybe putting scoops in front of the rear wheels for a air intake and the ataic. A fiberglass duct could be made pretty easy on each side.
I am so glad you are so far ahead of my project so that I can study your approach.
You are doing great work. Are you tigging or miging?
I did my first rust repair 30 yrs ago with a stick welder boy what a job.
I have been miging for a long time but I am now using tig and it's really the lowest heat and the welds are more malible. Also there is lots less grinding and sanding of welds.
My 914 will be a street car and I also don't like the stock lights so I am trying to work that out also.
This may prove to be the best thread I am aware of.

WOW, sounds like you have a lot planned for your project!
To answer some of your questions:


I ran this drivetrain for two years and am really happy with it, at 320 HP it is very reliable and I think it makes plenty of power for the car.
If it aint broke don't fix it!


I ran an air to air intercooler on this car as a daily driver in Las Vegas heat for 2 years and didn't grenade anything but i agree awic for mid-engines isn't a bad idea!


I have a mig and a tig, I use either of them depending on what the job at hand requires.

It sounds like you have a lot of great ideas, I look forward to seeing how they turn out on your project!

Can I have this when you are done??????????

Sorry Jonthan. He said he was going to give it to me already

If by "give" you mean pay me $75K then yes Jon consider it yours!

Oh... That's what you meant. I get confussed easily

Toss in the movable rear wing and you have a deal!!!!!!!!!

I'm sure the stock tmic is ok for the wrx at 12 psi but the stock turbo really makes a lot more heat when it is pushed beyond it's capacity. To make 320 hp reliabily you will need a bigger turbo that makes it's volume at lower rpm and makes less heat. BUT it will need a bigger intercooler to handle the larger amount of cfm. On my son's sti at 20 lbs of boost with a 30r turbo at the top of 3rd the turbo was making 340 degrees f. With a fmic it was 106f on a 95 f evening at the tb.
It sounds like you have a perfect tune on the setup you have. The only thing I hope is you don't get some bad gas and get to build a better motor. 320 is A LOT for the stock 2.0 turbo setup.
I have lots of ideas but you have done a lot more than talk that's whats important. You have really raised the bar for the 914. Who cares that you started with a really clean tub. This will be sooo much more performance and style that a lot of guys with bought cars will not want to be seen next to you.

Like I stated before I will be running an upgraded Bell intercooler, even though the stock intercooler did a great job of cooling over the last 2 years I drove it. I agree that an sti turbo is a great upgrade but I don't feel the need to replace the stock one. I had this engine tuned to 320 HP by Vishnu performance and I trust their judgement and experience, they told me the stock turbo is fine and after 2 years of beating the crap out of it they have been 100% right. The main key to making this kind of power reliably in this car versus an STI is that the exhaust has a very short trip to the rear bumper. I am literally running a 3 foot long, 3.5 inch perfectly straight tube from the turbo to the rear bumper, the exhaust has no restriction and trust me that unties a couple ponies and makes the turbo's life a lot easier. Not to mention the fact that the engine is under almost no stress pushing around my 1850 pound car compared to the tank like STI

This thread is making me want to build another car. I cant wait to see how it turns out. Great job so far...

Thanks for the great support guys! 200 replies and over 10,000 views, wow, how crazy is that? It is so great having you guys follow along, it keeps me motivated and excited about the project. It's funny, when you post a picture of everything you do to your build it's really hard to cut corners, you all are keeping me honest and my car will turn out better for it!
Thanks again!
Dana.