[Matt Monson]

Yes, if its all correct a Bumble Bee brings a premium. Problem is my car has a handful of molestations. It's been repainted in the wrong black. The front spoiler is missing, though I have one. The grey head light relay covers are cracked and need replacing. They added sail vinyl when they painted it. And it has a 5 bolt conversion. All restorable but we are really looking at $10k to make it right.

However, it is my nicest condition 914. My '73 needs $5-6k in just rust work before paint. And then it needs a full interior restoration. The '70 is in primer but still needs some dents and dings massaged and would need to be reprimed at this point. The trim and interior on it are decent but it hasn't been driven in 10 years. I would need to go through brakes and suspension and then I'd be driving a rat rod in primer. Not my style.

So that brings me back to the Bumble Bee. It's a solid good looking car. Brakes and suspension were gone through before I bought it because it was auto-Xed. It is numbers matching.

So I could do the swap, drive it while I slowly correct its non-Bumble Bee flaws and then some day go through the original engine and reinstall it.

Not looking to turn a buck here. Looking to enjoy my car more. I don't drive it much because the injection is finicky and I've had issues with it. Threw $500 at it with a professional and it didn't get much better. So if I want to drive a 914 right now I take out my rusty '73 with a Euro 2.0,Web cam, Weber 44's and Mallory optical dizzy. Runs great, but its not a pretty car. I've considered just throwing that motor in the Bumble Bee but then this 3.0l came along.

The other thing I should mention is if I do this I'm going to a Cayman cable shift 6spd gearbox. I think that gearbox is the future of 914 hot rods and want to have one of the first ones out there given what my business does.

Sorry. Long post. Thinking out loud mostly.