V8 Conversion question.

[914GT]

Jay, I just watched your video. Heck, the sound was enough to get me off! You gotta tell me what headers/exhaust you're running with. Everything else for that matter. I just passed a milestone this evening - the first trial fit of my V8 into the car and it fit perfectly. I'm on a roll now. And going to be in the 70s this weekend - perfect!

[Jake Raby]

I'd do a 327 Chevy or 350/383 anyday over a six conversion.... If you are gonna take the TIV out may as well get some real power that is cheap to do and basically is bulletproof...

I'd like to do a Buick V6 Turbo from a Grand National into a teener.... I think that would be a revvin animal!

[sean_V8_914]

here comes the cat...
problems with a 383 are that the 400 SBC crank is externally ballanced. Renegade sell$ an external counter weight and radiator. It is equally difficult to build a 383 with under 350/350 hp/tq, as it is to make the 901 survive under such conditions. the two factors mentioned above require high dollar system modification to handle los grandes Guevos.
Me and Rod Zappata from NY shoe stringed together a 71 914 over 13 yrs ago. I have been dreaming of build a nicer version ever since. it was a .060 over 350 with a tunnel ram and twin 650 double pumpers with a 4 inch spacer and a 3 hole fly catcher popping over the roll bar (no top in NY). the car was a filthy rusty turd, but that was before I knew what a 914 really was all about. I thought my 71 Camaro was way cooler on teh chic magnet scale. Man when that thing came alive in 3rd gear, it snapped ya back. 3500 was the magic number. the tranny lasted 4 glorious months and 2 not so stellar. The car and Rod moved to SD back in 91 or so. In 97 I met a man in Ocean Beach who had a 72 sleeper with a 383, Paxton centrifical compressor and a 250+ NOS shot. the bottle was mounted in teh cabin as an arm rest. He was running a G-50 with an oil pump and an ext cooler for teh tranny, shifted by a Patrick's Motorsports cable shifter. Years later he had it cherried out and up at Pomona for sale. That thing was the kind of car that you tape a $100 bill to the dash and tell people that if they can grab it before you shift, they can keep it.
oh back to earth now. I am building a 327 with AL roller rockers and light push rods. should go to 6500 with a grin. nothing else special. I dont pretend to know everything CHEVY but if you need to know something SBC, just ask (even historical crap)

[sean_V8_914]

the 68 302 z28 revd to 75k with ease. I love the way a grand nationals turbo comes on like a switch at around 3.5k

[Eddie Brown]

Hi. I'm very interested in this topic. I have a 72 914 roller chassis that I'm cleaning up for a SBC v8 conversion hopefully in the near future. I'd like to do Renegades"Open Budget" conversion, less the engine. I'd like to get a LS1 crate motor. My friends 99 Firebird has one. It's all aluminum. It has very smooth power. I'd like to keep the motor as light as possible. I'd like to keep the FI on the motor also. If I can't get that motor, then I'd like to get a 327 with aluminum heads.

Sean, my question to you is what kind of reinforcements are you doing to your chassis if any??. My chassis needs some work since the upper gap on the passenger side door is less than the opposite side. But I've checked for rust and haven't found any. It just seems like some sag. I'm sure that a chassis stiffening kit will be in order.

We'll see how it goes. This is my first 914. I've struggled with the decision of whether or not to do the v8 conversion. But then my vw's are not stock either. One has a turbo, and the other a T4. So why should the 914 be any different...Besides, I've always liked chevy v8 motors. And the 914 lends itself to it very nicely.

Keep the pictures coming Sean.


Thanks,

Eddie.

[sean_V8_914]

if it sags, it needs help regardless of engine size. Look deep under teh battery tray towards the firewall and under teh trailing edge of the doorn under teh rocker panel (passenger side). poke it with a pointed scribe. If it sags, you will find rust. Look at it from teh rear, dead-on. Does one tire lean in at teh top more than the other? This would indicate a compromised rear suspension console. a 914 will not twist up like my Vega did because the eng & transaxle are coupled.
I am installing the Porsche GT style kit and a roll cage....overkill
there is a guy named Brad from teh mid-west, he makes a 914 stiffening pc that runs from the rear suspension pick up to the front edge of eth rocker. May on this board have said it is a good way to go. I think its about 300 for both sides. I would do my car with his pcs if it sagged at teh passenger side door.

[JayDarden]

Guy - In the video I have an old set of Renegade headers and flowmaster muffs. I now just run headers and straight pipes out the back. It shoots solid flames at WOT and Pops side to side when downshifting. It looks like orange flash bulbs in my rear view at night. Fun stuff!

[914GT]

Originally posted by jhs914
You run the alt. and water pump belts off of a grooved harmonic damper. Do all this and you still can't get you finger between the firewall and the front of the engine.

Actually I've got plenty of clearance between the firewall and the balancer/pulley. I'd estimate 1.5" but haven't measured it to be exact. This is with a motor-mount bar vertically aligning the SBC mounts with the original 914 bolt holes, and the balancer shimmed enough for clearance on the timing cover. Also, the old firewall pad stripped and covered with more modern sound insulation material.

Does everyone else with V8s have similar clearance on the front of the motor?

[914GT]

Originally posted by JayDarden
I now just run headers and straight pipes out the back. It shoots solid flames at WOT and Pops side to side when downshifting. It looks like orange flash bulbs in my rear view at night. Fun stuff!

Maybe I should consider doing this so my wife will not want to drive it! I think she thinks I'm building this car for her.

[sammyg2]

My wife rode in my V8 914 once. I did a burst from a rolling start in second (sideways) to about 100 mph (of course it was on a closed road with a professional driver, don't try ths at home yada)
She had her hands covering her face and never climbed into it again
Was it something I did?

[914GT]

Originally posted by sammyg2
She had her hands covering her face

The G's you were pulling she probably couldn't get them off her face.

[JayDarden]

I have at least 2 inches clearance. Easy to change belts, but thats about it in the front.

I really like sleeper cars, but if you are going for shock value, nothing beats a heavy cam and straight pipes! My wife doesn't ride much in the car for obvious reasons, but the kids like getting dropped of at school once in a while. . .

I am working on shooting some video of the flame thrower to send to Renegades site, I was thinking of having someone follow in the bed of a pickup so they could get a good passing shot.

[AJS]

Jay,

Where is the 2" measured? Would that be to the rib on the lower part of the firewall from the dampener?

Andy

[sean_V8_914]

where is this video?

[JayDarden]

I just went and measured. . . If the pulley was next to the "Rib" at the bottom of the firewall it would have exactly 2".

But the bottom of the main pulley is about 4" above that rib and thus has 2 1/2 inchs of space. The waterpump belt does come really close to the shift linkage and probably hits it in at times. (tailshifter) but no problems in four years as a daily driver.

[JayDarden]

http://www.renegadehybrids.com/fun.htm

go down a little to my car (yellow 914)

It's not the greatest video, I shot it with a friend just goofing around, never thinking it would end up on the net. But the audio is kinda cool.

[silver2.0]

are you using the stock transmission? I have seen adapters to do that, although I don't imagine they would hold up to more than 200 hp or more?

[sammyg2]

The stock 901 transaxles don't care about horsepower, they care about torque.

The can usually handle up to 350 ft. lbs. of torque from a V8 without failing as long as 1st gear isn't used and the 2nd gear burnouts are kept to a minimum. I trashed mine very hard on the track and it never gave me a bit of problems behind a warmed over 350 chebby.

With a 6 they can't handle quite as much torque, or so I'm told.

[silver2.0]

What do you mean with a 6 they can't handle as much torque? Torque is torque, it doesn't matter. You just said that they don't care about horsepower. The reason that a 6 can make less torque and still trash the 901 is because they make more HORSEPOWER.

[sean_V8_914]

300 ft /pounds of torque divided by 8 power pulses is 12.5 ft/lbs less torque per pulse than a 6 cyl of similar output or 25% less