renegade or red dawg for v-8 or v-6 conv??

[914kit]

any one have feedback on these companies?

[efeinsmith]

When I first began considering a V8 conversion, I requested an info package from both companies. The one from Red Dawg seemed to be lots of fluff, while Renegade Hybrids has more substance. After speaking to both companies for more extensive info, Renegade won hands down, so I ordered from them. I had the opportunity to meet Scott from Renegade when I was in Las Vegas in April, and was impressed with their operation. Visit Renegade's website for more info (renegadehybrids,com).

Eric

[campbellcj]

If you want to see Scott's (Renegade owner's) personal "460hp" orange 914 in action, check out this video (8mb).

The video is shot from inside MikeZ's former 914/6 3.0 car. The white car along side is Steve Malm's 914-280ZX hybrid. Scott flew past them in the Chebby monster...

[click here]

I have not done biz with Renegade but have met Scott several times and seen their work on a few cars -- very nicely done. If it were me, I would give them serious consideration. No affiliation, yada yada.

[This message has been edited by campbellcj (edited 05-13-2001).]

[odie]

When I lived in CA, I personally visited all three outfits...Renegade, Rod Simpson and PRO SCA (now Red Dawg). I also saw all three conversions at a kit car show, which offered lots of side by side comparison.

Each had strong and weak points. No one kit was a clear winner in my eyes.

My recommendation, use the PRO SCA/Red Dawg engine cradle/mount. It is by far the best one. Absolutly no comparison.

As for the rest of the conversion...alternator, water pump, radiator, plumbing...you will have to mix and match.

And one final note...everyone uses KEP's adapter plates, flywheels and clutches to mate the trans and engine together...so get a KEP catalog.

[SteveStromberg]

Can you post Red Dawg sites URL? Steve

[914kit]

http://www.reddawgbytes.twoffice.com/

[ramstein500]

Just a comment. A company I used to work for wanted Renegade Hybrids to do several V8 conversions for them. They contracted for a couple of rear and front engine conversions, with the intent to do 30-40 per year.

Doing the conversions in their shop, Renegade couldn't get a single one to work correctly. They overheated, had leaks, etc. The company finally had to cut the contract and take their losses.

Rod Simpson has been doing it the longest, and if my prior boss hadn't been burned so badly by Renegade that he scrapped the whole project, he would have probably gone to Simpson

Ram

[mike mueller]

1st thing you need to decided on is V8 or V6....both have positives and negatives.....

90% of the time, the V8 gets the approval since for just a few hundred dollars more, you can get a more powerful conversion if a mega-HP car is what you want....

both can be fine daily drivers, but if mid-200 to high 200 HP range is fine for you then the V6 might be a good choice

now if you HAVE to have 300+ HP, then you need the V8, but be warned that the more HP you want, the more expensive it gets, esp. in the transmission department !!!!!!

Now to the conversion parts:

I like the RedDawg engine/transmission cradle, we did a clutch job in what seemed like 30 minutes and I credit most of the time savings with the cradle design...their radiator design does work, but in my opinion it takes up too much front trunk space...

I've helped install the Renegade radiator setup in a friends 914 and it is a nice assembly and is what I'd personally use if I went down the watercooled path again.

For the rest of the parts, talk to all four (there is another firm, Desert something or another) and get a feel for the customer support and possibly see if they can recommend another customer of thiers in your area for a referral and to give a car a look over....just remember that the end user of the parts can make or break a conversion and how well it looks and performs.

[doozer]

Most of the time it is better to pice a kit together, if you go to my site there is a link under "RESOURCES" with all the vendors info.


http://hypertec.ws/todd_porsche/photos/









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