Jump to content

Meet Old Yeller ('73 914 3.0)


sopor

Recommended Posts

(a car, not me. and hopefully not a dog either) Here’s my latest “challenge”. The car is a 73 914 that started its life with a 1.7 flat four and received a heart and lung transplant about 8-10 years ago in the form of a 3.0 engine from an SC and a 915 gearbox with a Wavetrac LSD and a Wevo side shift conversion. The engine was rebuilt with higher compression pistons and hotter cams, spec unknown to me. The front suspension was swapped for 911 bits with 964 front callipers, the wheels are polished 16x6 Fuchs and Bilstein dampeners were added. A fair bit of love was given to the interior; the standard seats and the added console are upholstered in loverly soft leather.

A 914 was the first Porsche I drove. It would have been about 1984 and I believe it was an Olympic Blue 2.0. I’ve always had a soft spot for  914s; I like their small size, light weight and cart-like dynamics. In 2019 visited the Porsche Museum to see their 50th anniversary exhibit and also went to PCGB’s 914 event at Brooklands. I have been looking for one on and off for several years and concluded that what I was after was a 914-6 conversion. Original 914-6’s are too dear (good ones command 6 figures) and are a little underpowered for me as they only came with the 110bhp 2.0 engine from the 911T of the era. Hence the 914-6 conversion search. I found this car on Hemmings in the US and bought it sight unseen without a PPI after the strength of the photos and documentation provided by the seller and the measure I got of him as a person over the space fo a 60 minute call. Big leap of faith but it felt right. And so far real no surprises. :)

He bought the car from a dealer in southern California who bought the car at auction. It seems like the person who did the conversion sold up before the car was fully finished. So the selling dealer finished up a few things and then the buyer had a thorough PPI done by Black Forest Automotive in San Diego and they put quite a few things right but it seems there’s more to do.

The car arrived in the UK around 2 August and I was able to collect it about 1 week later. I’m now waiting on the registration process; NOVA to HMRC has been done and I’ve applied for a V5. I’m told that could take 6-8 weeks due to ongoing Covid restrictions and employee strikes both slowing things down and having created a backlog. Hey ho.

So, on the to-do list…

the screen wash system is pretty much absent. The original system used air pressure from the spare to push the fluid out the bottle, through a valve behind the steering column and into the jets. The bottle and the hoses are nowhere to be found and the jets look to have been butchered as well.

pretty sure the CIS system has not been correctly wired. the warmup regulator appears to get power all the time and there are no connections on the thermo-time switch. The WUR also looks to have been damaged/modified. Not sure if there is a cold start injector fitted and/or if it’s wired in correctly.

I can see what looks like a sender for the oil pressure warning light on the right timing chain cover and a separate oil pressure sender closer to the centreline of the engine but neither is connected to anything. not clever in my book. There’s an oil temp gauge in the console but no pressure gauge. Might swap the clock for a pressure gauge.

The car has a Wevo shifter fitted but getting into 3rd and 4th is v difficult. Might have been caused by me thinking that a screw on the shifter was loose and mistakenly tightening it. Silly boy. Needs investigation.

Some of the bulb contacts are a bit temperamental; they probably need cleaning and perhaps slight tweaking.

There seem to be far too many wiring connections in the engine compartment that don’t look remotely weatherproof. So they need addressing. As does some of the wiring under the dash.

I think the car is otherwise fine mechanically and cosmetically it appears to have been resprayed to a high standard. But I’m sure I will find other things that need doing.

 

 

79506626-770-0-2-X.jpg

79506612-770-0-2-X.jpg

79506621-770-0-2-X.jpg

79506629-770-0-2-X.jpg

79506641-770-0-2-X.jpg

79506646-770-0-2-X.jpg

79506662-770-0-2-X.jpg

79506663-770-0-2-X.jpg

Edited by sopor
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • johndglynn changed the title to Meet Old Yeller ('73 914 3.0)
10 minutes ago, sopor said:

Oh, go on!! :)

Well, back when I was a schoolboy someone I  knew had a 914 and I used to lust after it, a lot.

Probably as much as I lusted after his younger sister.

Sadly he never even let me get inside the 914, but his sister was far more forthcoming...

  • Haha 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, tea boy said:

Well, back when I was a schoolboy someone I  knew had a 914 and I used to lust after it, a lot.

Probably as much as I lusted after his younger sister.

Sadly he never even let me get inside the 914, but his sister was far more forthcoming...

TB….Q: Is that like twice as good as the second coming?

VT

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great to hear of all the love for 914s and thanks for all the nice comments - they are seen as a bit of an ugly duckling by many but I rather like the shape and the dynamics are fab.

Slowly getting to know the car a bit better; all needs to be done visually as driving is a no-no. Had a very quick and super helpful reply from the chaps at Wevo about the shifting and will have a go at re-adjusting the linkage over the weekend. Their comment is that the 915 shifter is sort of wasted on a mid-engined 915 install (as opposed to in a 911) due to the unavoidable play in the long linkage between the shifter and the box. Refreshingly frank feedback!

15 hours ago, Mondrian said:

Nice purchase Felix, looks like a fun car. What's the long term plan ... road or track biased?

Thanks @Mondrian; it'll be a road car for sure.

11 hours ago, jellyfishfields said:

Love that, looks great.

What are they like for legroom, can tall people fit in these?

Leg room is quite good I think. I'm 5' 11" with what must be a disproportionately long torso so have headroom issues in some cars, particularly when a sunroof is fitted. I'm a snug fit with respect to headroom so need to investigate a thinner seat squab. But I seem to have loads of room to move thw seat further back.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Much to my surprise the V5 arrived last week and number plates should be here tomorrow - will have to venture forth. But will need some fuel first - not going to put much trust in the fuel gauge without verifying first.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

Hi Felix,

Judging by the several events I have been too in recent months, the 914 seems to be very much in vogue, seen some crackers (Jonny’s is off the chart!) and equally many work in progress project, and the odd shed too!

So was wondering if there was any update on yours, which on paper looked like a great find?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Kris, good to hear from you. And funnily enough I was getting ready to post a bit of an update over the next few days.

I was able to get the car registered without issue and without needing an MOT which was a small bonus.

I don't really have much real physical progress to report. The shifting issue is unchanged; still need to pull out the centre console and carpets and pull the shifter. I suspect that something isn't quite right with how part 24 in the diagram attaches to the Patrick Motorsports shift rod that's part of their 914-6 conversion linkage kit. From what I've read the PMS rod isn't machined to accept the conical screw but I need to pull things apart and see what's really there. The wiring to the three add-on gauges in the console is a bit of a spaghetti fest so that needs sorting out as well as part of pulling the console. I'd like to install a multipole connector so that the console can easily be removed and installed and even driven without it in place; might well need that to test and adjust the shift linkage.

Space in the engine compartment is very tight and access to the airbox/fuel distributor is poor on all sides. I did discover that the car has a 1980 SC engine but the CIS appears to come from a 1977 2.7. I suspect this was done because the frequency valve that would have been on the 1980 SC's US-spec CIS would have interfered with the firewall. So no bad thing. But the warmup regulator looks to be a bit battered. I'm not sure it's the right one for the car - haven't been able to find a part number on it. Yet. And it looks like the vacuum port was snapped off.

I plan to fit one of these https://unwiredtools.com/utcis-cpgauge.asp to check and monitor the control pressure. From what I've read on pelican the presence of a 2.7 system isn't a problem in and of itself provided everything is working as it should.

There's a cold start injector and a thermotime switch on the cam cover but no wiring which goes a long way to explaining the hard cold starting.

From my conversations with the previous owner and the work he had done as part of his PPI that the car was never driven in anger after the conversion was done. During that PPI a number of snags and unfinished details were resolved but a few more remain. I'm OK with that and haven't found anything that's put me off having bought the car. But I need to get my finger out!

 

Screenshot 2022-03-09 at 10.15.37.jpg

IMG_3770.jpeg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So pulled the console today and found this kanckered bushing that was not inside the bracket. New bushing ordered from Matt at @Type911 - should make a difference. But wondering if it will all line up...

IMG_3886.jpeg

IMG_3887.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And also discovered that the hole in the shift rod is cylindrical so the tapered screw doesn't properly engage with the hole. The threads on the tapered screw make contact with the edge of the hole but that's hardly ideal. I think I can just rotate the shift rod 180 degrees and drill/grind a tapered hole opposite of the existing hole so that the tapered screw engages such that there's no movement.

IMG_3892.jpeg

IMG_3888.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...