New race car project...

campbellcj · 06-20-2002, 04:37 PM

Woohoo! Yesterday I picked up a super clean 73 2.0 -- with a fresh pro-built hotrod 2.4 and somewhat upgraded suspension -- to build into my next club racer. It will most likely get a six stuffed into it at some point but for now I will run it with the big four until I get farther up the learning & licensing curve.

I uploaded some pics last night:

http://www.nosubstitute.org/914/racecar/images/

Lots more info and pics to follow as the build-up moves forward.

Cheers,

kellzey · 06-20-2002, 05:51 PM

Nice find! Nice and clean!

Dare to share how much you paid?

Good luck with your new baby.

Regards,

Karl Ellzey

Serge914 · Serge914's Garage

I could be wrong but it look like all the rust free cars are hiding in California.

Kevin Powers · 06-20-2002, 07:18 PM

just curious, was it a internet, newspaper, or word of mouth find?

campbellcj · 06-20-2002, 10:14 PM

Well, let's just say it was a very good deal IMHO. The 50% rule (of sale price vs. amount 'invested') definitely applied here, and then some. More like 25-30%.

The only rust spots I have found on this car is a small (quarter sized) section in the rear trunk -- big surprise -- and the usual stuff in the bottom edges of the doors under the rubber seals. The car is really darn clean.

Kevin - I think I saw an ad somewhere a few months ago but it was not a very heavily promoted car and essentially the seller contacted me when he was seriously ready to unload it.

J P Stein · 06-20-2002, 11:10 PM

"You've done well, pilgrim"

Rleog · Rleog's Garage

Does it run hot? Are you using an external oil cooler?

Bob G

campbellcj · 06-20-2002, 11:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Rleog
Does it run hot? Are you using an external oil cooler?

Bob G

No external cooler yet (I've only had the car for 36 hours), but it will get a huge front cooler setup shortly. I drive desert tracks and So. California canyons around here, where the ambient temps exceed 100F in the summer -- track temps well above that -- and aircooled motors hit 270-300F oil temps really, really quickly if you don't take care of that matter beforehand.

Having the coated header in place of the heat exchangers and all that ducting and extra sheet metal does help shed some heat, from what I understand.

The PO said it never had heat problems on the street, FWIW.

JmuRiz · JmuRiz's Garage

Yea!!!

I knew it wouldn't take you too long to get back in the 914 game. That car looks GREAT! They already gutted the vetalation stuff too so that's one less thing you have to worry about. Good race-car color too! So, how does the big-four run? A lot quicker than your old 2.0? I am thinking of going the big four route at some point and would like to know your oppinion. Good luck w/ your future work on it!

Nathan

jabb · 06-21-2002, 06:35 AM

Looks Good.......
Good Luck

Brant · 07:14 AM

Chris....

that car is a beauty !
almost too nice to beat on....

what venue will you be participating in...
If its PCA club racing, you may want to either go up or down in your motor....

The 2.4/4 are out gunned in the GT classes... and any car with metal body panels is out gunned too.... There is a guy here with a 2.0/6 built for 230hp.... and some 2.4/6 motors over 250hp....

so you may want to drop down in displacement into the production ranks....

I speak with experience... In my first year (about 95 or 96) I ran my "cammed" 2.0 in GT and Martin Snow's 600hp twin turbo passed my with about 100mph speed difference on the straight aways.... Needless to say I completed 9 out of a 12 lap race before I saw the check flag...

brant

Paint Legend · 06-21-2002, 07:18 AM

Almost as cool as Ravenna! Seems a shame to rip it up for racing even though it's a good reason. I look forward to your updates.

Have fun,
Tom

norustscott · norustscott's Garage

On the East Coast that car would be fought over...I look at the Each time a 914 goes under the torch for the track the value of mine goes up! Supply and demand

very nice find campbellcj...you got to love it when they bring the deal to you...

campbellcj · 09:01 AM

For the next year or so, the car will be set up as mainly a training/licensing platform for me, and kept nominally street-legal, so I am not super concerned about class competitiveness. The main group I have been running with so far is POC, and some PCA, but I may also explore HSR West, TCRA etc. This car should hold its own in the POC class structure because it will be in with other 914/4's, 924's, 944's etc and separate from the sixes.

Downstream it will like be converted to a six, and stripped/lightened further as a pure trailered track car, so at that point I will have to decide where in the spectrum I want to be. Most likely I will keep it out of the "big money" classes so will probably run a 2.4-2.5-2.7 six built to class spec.

J P Stein · 06-21-2002, 09:40 AM

Gee, Chris, what happened to the "buy a complete race car let the other guy spend the big bucks" ......plan A?

Plan B looks like fun, tho.

Just think of all that wrenchin' you'll get to do........the wife will always know where you are.....your son will get to know how
to build a race car (and how to cuss).......every hard workin' American male needs a money pit to suck up all his spare time and cash.

campbellcj · 06-21-2002, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by J P Stein
Gee, Chris, what happened to the "buy a complete race car let the other guy spend the big bucks" ......plan A?

Well, the main thing that happened to that plan, is that we bought a house...so the $20-30K cash it would take to buy a car like I want to end up with just ain't around anymore. The good old "build it as you go and spend twice as much" strategy is about all I can do without being car-less for a couple years...sigh

Zeke · 10:03 AM

That's insane to use that nice of a car for serious racing. But, at the same time, it wouldn't do to not run the car at the track some, especially for DE events and some time trials. I didn't look at all the pics, so I don't know if it has a roll bar in it. But for racing I know that you already know that you need the full cage welded in, not bolted, and attached to body on both sides of door openings. And the interior stripped. Too nice a car for that.

I went back to the pics. I can see the harness bar, but can't see the roll bar if it's installed. It is a super car. Good find.

campbellcj · 06-21-2002, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Zeke914
That's insane to use that nice of a car for serious racing.

Perhaps true...but for now there is no shortage of nice street 914's in the Southwest. AND, I couldn't come close to putting together a comparable starting point using an "ugly" roller and a bunch o' parts from scratch, for what I paid for this car. BTDT. It takes around $15K to get a car to the point this one's at now (using pro labor). The economics don't make sense.

Plus, I've done my duties to the originality gods with my last two cars. Got it out of my system. Probably flushed around $35K in the process.

As JP knows...plan "A" was to buy a fully developed race car but that wasn't gonna happen either, seeing as I'm now an official amateur real estate speculator (and amateur plumber, pool man, painter, etc).

I am a big believer in safety equipment - it will primarily be a time trial (not wheel-to-wheel race) car for at least the first year or two or three. Sorry, when I say race I include TT's (not necessarily autox); I know many folks have differing opinions.

It will still get a welded cage, seats, 5-points, fuel cell, fire system, cut-off switch etc. I have grown pretty fond of my body over the years, and spares are hard to come by.

OK, sorry for the rant...next topic...

Zeke · 06-21-2002, 02:34 PM

I didn't feel a rant there. My race car will be red in the trunks, engine bay, wheel wells and on the bottom. The outside body will be silver, maybe with some accents along the line of the Martini & Rossi Porsches. It's nice to look into the trunk and see all that clean red.

BTW, I designed and had my roll cage bent, then I cut and coped the members and welded it in myself. It's 1 3/4" .095 DOM which is good enough in the various rule books for cars over 2500 lbs. It is a four point cage also attached in front of the doors and at the original shoulder harness mount. It has a knee bar and a diagonal in the mian hoop plus diagonal door braces. Iv'e got a little less than $300 in everything. It is a little heavy, but I didn't feel comfortable welding chromemoly as I don't have a TIG. I send a section of my weld to a lab for analysis and it came back as strong.

Efrain68912 · 06-23-2002, 11:10 AM

Chris-

That car looks great. I'll bet since you've sold Ravenna you've been itching to get back out on a racetrack, this looks like it'll be a great way of doing it.

You mentioned running with TCRA; have you run with them yet?