After almost exactly a year after initiating an engine rebuild I am about ready to claim "mission accomplished". I rebuilt a 1.8 to a carbed 1911 with rebuilt heads, agressive cam and webers. My objectives were:

> Cure massive oil leak
> Get better gas milage
> More HP to make it run like a sports car (not just look like one)

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! After having to tear it down to re-hone the cylinders (rings did not seat first time) and spending the last 3 months tweaking the timing and carb jetting the car is running just as I expected. I had a dyno done a couple weeks ago before I had it completely sorted and I was running over 100 HP! The car pulls hard through the complete range and has an impressive top end. I am still getting a small leak and am getting close to 25 MPG. Still need to get a good timing light to set the timing correctly and maybe tweak the carb settings but it is just as anticipated.

This was my first rebuild and I am sure I made every possible mistake but I am more than happy with the results. Thanks to everyone on the board (and Jake!) for helping - could/would not have done it without you!!

WOW great !
Can you describe what you have done to the engine to achieve theese 100+ HP. Parts used ? price ? .

And of course we like pictures here ! ...

Well done!!

congrats, now GO DRIVE...

Rich

1911 must be a really good combo then

The pictures do not do it justice! The total cost was around $4k - maybe a bit more. I started with a 1.8 liter, used oversize (96mm) P&C's, put in an aggressive cam with HAM heads. Everyone said the power comes from the cam and head so I did not want to skimp here. I am using the standard heat exchangers and exhaust. The big ticket items were the heads ($1k), carbs ($800) and P&C's ($500). It is a highly recommended combo!

Its amazing how many times that phrase is mentioned in the 914 world

Excellent work and thanks for the website documenting it, very informative!

Glad to hear you had such positive results and that I was able to assist...

BUT you know... You could have bought one of my kits for the same cost and you would have been driving a lot sooner :-)

I thought you discontinued the 1911 kit ?

Yes I did, the 2056 is about the same cost.. I can put together a 1911 kitasI still have all the directives for it, BUT it wasn't that much cheaper than the 2056 so I discontinued it.

Yes I did, the 2056 is about the same cost.. I can put together a 1911 kit as I still have all the directives for it, BUT it wasn't that much cheaper than the 2056 so I discontinued it.

He said he spent more than 4 k carbs included ! ... that means 3.2 - 3.5 k for the 1911 engine. Your 2056 kit is 4k ... Your 2.0 crank and rods are cheap ...