new forum member, but an old Pelicanhead

zotman72 · 01-01-2009, 08:54 AM

I am new to your forum lads, but an old timer Pelican 911 bigot. Yesterday, I picked up a relatively rust free '74 2.0 yesterday here in Denver to make into a club racecar. I will do my obligatory searches I promise before I ask.
As an introduction, my first Porsche was a '74 2.0 some 27 years ago, so it is kind of bizarre to return to the platform. The "new" car is a sound as in structurally, but the engine is dead and with the dreaded dual Weber conversion. Bad white paint over original Zambezi green. I want to pull the engine to sort out what is up. I used to have a '72 Camper and '68 squareback so I am familar (but foggy) with the layout of the engine. Now the game is whether to add my euro SC engine to it, find a smaller 911 six or fix the 2.0. Stay tuned.

speedo · speedo's Garage

And we don't have a problem with you having spent some time on "the dark side...911ness". The good news is that the prodigal son has returned home. The white 911 jacked up next to your new find looks to have seen better days. Maybe you should take the best of the components from that car, and use them productively on your new car...engine, front suspension, 5 bolt hubs...and put the rest of the carcass out of it's misery. Then you'll have twice the space for the 914

Keep us posted on the transformation. Will you be ready to run High Plains this spring?

O'deeps

Rrrockhound · Rrrockhound's Garage

I've never seen a 914 with a spoiler in that spot before. Wonder what that did for cooling?

zotman72 · 01-01-2009, 11:33 AM

Hey who let this wanker in this forum? Where is his 914? To think Speedo recently confessed to me that he personally knows nothing of 914 platform. Yet he follows me over here out of his 911 comfort zone and needles me.
Yes, I will strip all the goodies off the dead '74 911 and give what I can to his model year brother and current stable mate. But wait are the cars really the same family? The VIN plate on the 914 says VW, what is up with that?
Duck, roll, cover and grab my nomex driving suit.....

Honestly guys I know the 914 pedigree well and honor it. No mas.

Oh the spoiler is loose, I just left there yesterday. Interesting location though....

rfuerst911sc · 01-01-2009, 11:58 AM

Welcome back ! I'm a fan of the 3.0 but I'm biased as that's what I'm installing in my 75 GT clone. Good luck with your choice.

jim912928 · 01-01-2009, 01:06 PM

I'd say put the big six in it...the 74 911's front end and brakes...might be able to use the Fuch's with the right size tires...oh, but then you can get really wide tires and get some metal flares and make it a gt clone!.

I'd love to spend others money!

Welcome back to 914 land!

Joe Bob · Joe Bob's Garage

Nothing wrong with dual carbs if it has an upgraded cam. The FI cam is kinda weak and all carbs do is give ya crappy mileage. Now the center mount Pinto/Weber carb bites green donkey weenies....

Make sure you build the car to the class you wanna run and not find out later that your mods put you in the cubic mega bucks class where you'll be chasing a check book.

Matt Monson · 01-01-2009, 02:55 PM

Bill,
Congratulations. I saw the car on CL and it looked pretty solid. I just don't need another one. I'm glad it went to a good home. Let me know if you ever need a hand playing with your new toy.

I'll second the opinion that the much maligned Weber conversion gets way too much undeserved grief. My '73 2.0 with Webers, an Elgin cam, a Mallory optical distributor and some Euro P&C's is rock solid and runs very well anywhere from 50 to 90 degrees out. Above and below those temps I wouldn't want to drive it anyway. My Bumblebee with it's factory FI on it runs like a turd and has much troubleshooting in it's future before that car will ever run right. And before the purists jump me, this is not to say that the factory FI is a POS. I'm just saying that it's taken me far less time and effort to get the carbed car sorted.

zotman72 · 08:42 PM

Geez sometimes I just hate what earlier owners do when they "work" on Porsches. On this car the price was right so I can not really complain but......The young kid I bought it from did not know much about cars and had just got it last summer from shadetree buffon who just "rebuilt the engine." The kid drove it about three months before engine made a horrible noise so he parked it and listed it on Craigslist. I trailer it home, charged the battery and this weekend set about sorting things out.
The nasty noise, I discovered was that the cooling fan which had come loose. Simple fix I hope. So tonight I started the dissconecting process to pull the engine tomorrow night and fix it and clean things up. The nimrod who put the engine together must have read way too much John Muir and did not remember half of what he took off. Shroud bolts are missing everywhere. Two CV bolts were rounded out internally and attached by using Vise Grips! Well it was Vise Grips I had to use to remove them, such a idiot. Detaching the speedo cable revealed a broken cable end, nuts again! This genius also put in an external oil filter mount but used the wrong rubber oil lines too! It is a weaping oil mess. Stay tune. It looks like I am either going to flip this 914 or swap for 911 shell.

Matt Monson · 01-06-2009, 05:08 PM

Bill,
PM sent.

tcar · 01-06-2009, 05:28 PM

Bill,
I don't see your baby blue '72 in the pics... is it good?

zotman72 · 02:44 PM

Well no worries Tom, my gulf blue '72 is safe in storage in Castlerock. It is going to be made into a vintage racer if I can move on from this nefarious 914.
UPDATE
The engine/tranny is out of the car and on my garage floor, the simple fan fix was "planned" for today's activities. I did a partial tear down to get access to the fan area. The three fan bolts sheared off the crank fan mount, not just backed out. Mmmmm. I get some new allen head bolts yesterday and visit with a local Porsche wrench about the engine (Eisenbud's wrench, Jim), he says he never seen a 914 fan shear its bolts. Mmmm. So today I decide to separate the tranny from the engine to turn the engine to do a compression test as I noticed that I was missing some components on the fan end of the engine and I needed to turn the engine. After a little wrestling removing the exhaust hanger off the tranny, the tranny comes off too easy. Uh Oh, not good. The engine flywheel sheared its bolts too! This engine must have gone kaboom. I am looking at a serious piece of junk, a miserable,oily 914 engine that is dead big time. Now the kid that sold me the car cheap is not looking as dumb as I thought. Oh lordy, how do I get this POS car out of my garage?

MLedesma · 01-13-2009, 08:29 PM

That is quite impressive to shear off both the fan bolts and the flywheel bolts. I saw that car on craigslist and considered looking at it as well, but don't need another project. Looks like a pretty sound car and in decent shape.

Matt

speedo · speedo's Garage

I think the car needs a little respect. So what if the type IV is toast....the car would benefit from a better engine...either fresher or larger. I'm going to guess if you source either and include it with the chassis...if you do decide to sell...that the package will help you get even $$ wise. These are great cars...we love working on them and improving on the breed. Let us know what you decide to do.

O'deeps

gint · 01-17-2009, 08:43 AM

Looks like it'sd make a nice v8 conversion.

If I had the room to store it I'd definitely be interested. I could store more junk outside if code enforcement would allow it.

zotman72 · 01-17-2009, 11:27 AM

My 914 has left my garage to a really nice fella, Dave, probably well known to the Denver 914 posse. We gathered up all the "stuff", strained to put the engine in my truck, and then pushed the car onto my trailer for delivery to his garage. Dave recognized the engine as 1.8 right away not a 2.0 as I thought. Everybody is happy. Thanks for letting me hang with you fourteeners for awhile. Exit stage right for zotman72....

Here is a shot of Dave with his new (to him) 914 in his garage.

gint · 01-17-2009, 01:55 PM

Dave got himself another 914! I haven't seen him in a while.

speedo · speedo's Garage

So by this "exit stage right stuff" you head back over to the "dark side"? Thats how its going to be huh. You at least owe us some beer for the psychological support.
Good luck with your cars that have the engine and trannie facing the wrong way.

O'deeps

Matt Monson · 01-19-2009, 02:13 PM

Owe "us" some beer? Lars you talk like you are one of us. Unless that new '68 project you are planning involves moving the engine around to the other side, you are still one of "them".

nixtfy · nixtfy's Garage

Wish the car could have had a better ending with you. Could have been much worse possibly being a 911 like the one you found for me. Three years later I have no complaints.