Help! I'm Undiscided 914-V8 or 914-6 Turbo 3.3

[Beakster]

I have an opportunity to get a 914 both have had the 911 suspension upgrades so now I'm stuck in the middle of what would be a better and easier and maybe cheaper swap .. To go the Renegade Hybird V8 350 way or to put my 83 Turbo 930 3.3 with the 930 Turbo 4sp tranny in the 914 .. BUT Because I have never owned a 914 .. I don't know what issues or $$$ cost I would be getting myself into .. I would love to here for the members that have gone down this path .. Thanks ..

[JJK78-951]

I'm having a rough day so forgive the harshness of this reply... that said...

Start with something better then a 914, like a boxster. There are so many problems with either of those swaps it is hard to tell where to start. I assume you will be doing all the work yourself so that will make it a lot cheaper but here are a few things to consider...

I manage a small Porsche repair and restoration shop think I recently quoted a more or less bare bones 2.4 swap into a 914 and was like $14,000 in little parts and labor, not including the motor and really only taking care of the basics, my 914 guy tells me he could easily spend another $20K or better making it right. Add to the fact that your talking about a 3.3 turbo so there will be many more issues from fuel delivery to air to the intercooler plus bigger oil cooler etc.

Do a v8 swap and your talking about adding radiator coolant pipes etc. and I guarantee that if you don't upgrade the transmission and axles that they WILL break... I have just put renegades upgraded axles into a 914-8 which we also built the gearbox and put a 911 front end on. It probably had $30K in it or better already before we did that work.

Also have 3 broken 914-8 gear boxes which we are currently upgrading for a guy (trying to 1 good one plus a spare) which we also had the gears Cyroed and REMed to try and keep the gears from shattering, and I mean shattering. The 901 gearboxes and just not very strong. Only time will tell on that one.


Also note that I just shoved an LS motor into a boxster and it is awesome, but stuff still breaks so just figure if you are going down this path expect the unexpected.
Good luck.
$.02
J

[TCracingCA]

It kept blowing out transmissions (but they were all pretty stock 901's back then), but the overheating I solved by louvering the entire rear deck lid along with other things.

So what kind of HP are you looking for? I assume somewhere in the target range of a 3.3 turbo! If your heart is set on this and you are not rich, then I would sell the 3.3 liter to fund the project with emphasis on the tranny and drivetrain, brakes etc. I don't see how this build can be hard, just expensive!

I realistically (and now it would be hard to come by), was looking at the 4.3 Chevy V6 90 degree version in all aluminum! I would have built it to about 350-375hp, and it would be exotic as hell and stout, and less prone to break stuff as my 450 hp did.

I still like the little box 914's still to this day.