Derelict 914 - k24 powered

captainawesome said:

In reply to fouckhest :

You mentioning it got me motivated to at least trim it a little, so I thank you for that.

Also I'm looking forward to future progress on your mk4 v8 project!

Nice!  Glad I could be of a little bit of motivation!

Thank you, Thank you....I am looking forward to it myself, I should drop an update in my thread, I am close to wrapping up my side project, so its getting cloes to getting back on the v8 car!

I had only enough time to mount the new wheels and snap a few pics yesterday. I'll be honest, the first reaction was disappointment. I think partly due to the tire size not being near as wide as what I took off, or at least as square. The wheels I took off I think are wider for sure on the front. There's more wheel gap to fender now, so some spacers may be employed to get the hips back out. After staring at it a few minutes and reviewing the pics I took, I know they were the right choice for the direction I'm headed. When I placed the side skirts back on that helped as well. Honestly I think if the car was on the ground it would look better. I'm still debating painting the centers. I'll save that until the front bumper rework is done.

I think that looks obscenely good, AND period correct.  But it's not my car, so... 

In reply to golfduke :

Yeah I think some of it may be I've been so used to the set of wheels that came with the car it took a moment to absorb the new.

They look great!  Any idea if the seller/green car was using any spacers behind them?

In reply to Lof8 - Andy :

Just got a message back saying he ran spacers on all the wheels for his car. Not sure how much yet. I'd need to install longer studs to do spacers but that's no biggie. I've got some 5mm universal 5 lug spacers that I can test out this evening. I'm guessing 10mm minimum in the back?

captainawesome said:

I had only enough time to mount the new wheels and snap a few pics yesterday. I'll be honest, the first reaction was disappointment. I think partly due to the tire size not being near as wide as what I took off, or at least as square. The wheels I took off I think are wider for sure on the front. There's more wheel gap to fender now, so some spacers may be employed to get the hips back out. After staring at it a few minutes and reviewing the pics I took, I know they were the right choice for the direction I'm headed. When I placed the side skirts back on that helped as well. Honestly I think if the car was on the ground it would look better. I'm still debating painting the centers. I'll save that until the front bumper rework is done.

Well...  you are wrong.  

I looked at the pics and studied them before I ever read your words. 

My impression from this side of the keyboard was WOWZERS!  THAT LOOKS BERKING GREAT!

Great, now I have envy.....

Od need to see side by side comparison pictures of old and new tire/wheel setups. 

My gut reaction to the new wheels and tires: tires should be a 60 series instead of a 50. Give you some more sidewall meat, which will make them look bigger. Also, probably come out about 3/4 inch if you can. That'll really help the look. 

For future reference, I always buy used tires for initial fitup. Because 35 bucks mounted, and it lets me zero in on fot/look for cheap. 

In reply to Dusterbd13 :

I wish I took before and after pics, and I'm too lazy to swap them back on one side for comparison. As of right now the new tires are taller and tucking where before they were at best flush with the fender opening. They are the same width overall as what I took off, however the tread blocks are narrower with more stretch than bulge. I think 60 series would be too tall, maybe even a 55 series. Based on what I'm reading and what the previous owner of the wheels said, I'm probably looking at a 25mm spacer out back. Tonight I'll take a measurement to see and also see what length studs I'll need to make that happen.

Last night I took some measurements with the old wheels on VS the new wheels.

The old wheels are all 15x9. The new wheels are 16x7 and 16x8 so half the reason I have width issues is strictly due to narrower rims.

Of course the conclusion of what size spacer comes down to around 25mm or an inch. Which makes sense because the new rear is an inch narrower than the old and the front is 2 inches narrower. I've always thought the old wheels poked a little more than they should up front with very little clearance. So I plan to get a pair of 25mm spacers to try for one side and then decide if it needs more before spending a bunch of money on a set of 4. Which after my math actually is going to cost me quite a bit. Roughly $75 for a set of 4 spacers, extended studs aren't cheap around $75-150 depending on source, then I bought the wrong lug nuts so add another $45. This may get postponed on the item list since I'd rather buy new brake lines and pads or other stuff that keeps me from driving.

Old front. Not much room.

New front. Too much room.

Old rear.

New rear. Not quite as dramatic as the front but still needs a 25mm spacer minimum.

I also tried to take an overall side view of the old vs the new for looks comparison. I still like the old wheels quite a bit but like the new wheels more.

Maybe streets on one set and race stickies on the other?  I did both but the mesh really pop.  That could also just be the color difference.  Just buy ALL the wheels, my personal motto as a wheel whore.

In reply to 84FSP :

Well I do still have a set of Rial mesh wheels in similar specs to the Riken mesh the car is currently sporting. I could use the cash from selling them but just can't make that decision yet. So I already have 3 sets of wheels.

captainawesome said:

Last night I took some measurements with the old wheels on VS the new wheels.

The old wheels are all 15x9. The new wheels are 16x7 and 16x8 so half the reason I have width issues is strictly due to narrower rims.

Of course the conclusion of what size spacer comes down to around 25mm or an inch. Which makes sense because the new rear is an inch narrower than the old and the front is 2 inches narrower. I've always thought the old wheels poked a little more than they should up front with very little clearance. So I plan to get a pair of 25mm spacers to try for one side and then decide if it needs more before spending a bunch of money on a set of 4. Which after my math actually is going to cost me quite a bit. Roughly $75 for a set of 4 spacers, extended studs aren't cheap around $75-150 depending on source, then I bought the wrong lug nuts so add another $45. This may get postponed on the item list since I'd rather buy new brake lines and pads or other stuff that keeps me from driving.

Old front. Not much room.

New front. Too much room.

Old rear.

New rear. Not quite as dramatic as the front but still needs a 25mm spacer minimum.

I also tried to take an overall side view of the old vs the new for looks comparison. I still like the old wheels quite a bit but like the new wheels more.

Instead of buying 1 inch thick spacers, you can stack spacers as well.  We ran (2) 1/4 inch spacers on our endurance road race car.  Once the lugs are torqued, clamping load is maintained whether 1 spacer or a few.  

However, don't do this with bolt on spacers.

In reply to wvumtnbkr :

Surprisingly enough there are 25mm spacers at a decent price. Like a dollar more than than 10-15mm spacers. I plan to stack if needed so avoiding the bolt on style. It would be the easy button but like you say then I can't stack so it makes whatever I choose permanent.

I think spacers plus a taller sidewall next time you replace the tires is the answer. Just pushing them out will do wonders though. 

I love the look of the mesh. 

I'd be looking to make those deep lip Rials work on the rear, but they all look pretty sweet.  

I'm doing a 914 6 conversion. Build 2.7l Porsche engine.  The answer is always Fuchs in the proper offset.  Running huge spacers is hackery IMHO.  I like the 5 spokes over the flat center.  Good luck with the build!

In reply to maj75 (Forum Supporter) :

I'm not in love with the idea of running spacers this large either. My research led me to believe these should fit as is without them. I don't know where the disconnect is but here we are regardless. With that said, the factory used fairly large spacers so I'm not doing anything that hasn't been P car approved. Also IMHO there's enough Fuchs shod 914s in the world. Not that I don't love the look of them but one less 914 wearing them should be okay.

Saturday morning I got a late start. I spent an hour or so cleaning up and reorganizing the garage again. I was tired of moving stuff out of my way or tripping on it.

Then I started the template for the brake and clutch master cylinder. Or at least that's what I planned to do. Instead I spent an hour or so flattening the bent up opening on the pedal assembly. No pics but it turned out great.

On to the template. I'm using a VW brake master which requires a little plumbing adjustment to the factory 914. It's a 20.64mm bore vs the stock 17mm since I'm using 911 calipers. The 20.64mm is a match to my new setup.

The clutch master cylinder is a 5/8" Honda unit.

There's quite a bit of information on setting both up but not necessarily together.

So here's the start of the bracket.

I killed my Ryobi drill on this bracket. It went up in smoke. I'm okay with that because the moment I bought it, the thing was a piece of E36 M3. I ended up getting a Dewalt to replace it which is what I had before. This is where I left off for the day.

This morning I removed the bolts welded into the pedal assembly so I could tack in longer ones. A dremel with a carbide bit made easy work of that in the tight space. I also did a bit of trimming of the bracket to bolt everything in place. Bolts were tacked on for the Honda clutch master as well as a large hole drilled through the footwell for it to pass through.

It's a snug fit near the steering rack boot. I shimmed the rack up a hair but I think my bracket is thicker than most use which pushes the reservoir feed line even closer to the boot. I slipped the plastic fittings that will be fed from the reservoir to make sure it's okay.

I'll probably swing the angled fitting towards the passenger side for better clearance. It's tight but from what I can tell everything will work just fine.

I have ordered up the new clevis that will be modified to work with the stock clutch pedal cable pivot. I need to bend up new brake lines to the master. I also need to decide how want to run the clutch line through the cabin.

Nice and beefy!  Looks great.  I sent the clutch line through the center tunnel with fuel lines, throttle cable etc.  

In reply to Lof8 - Andy :

I think I'll do the same. Did you do a soft line all the way back or hardline with a short connection by the slave?

In reply to captainawesome :

SS soft line the whole way.  

It's been a hectic start of the week but I got my new $32 battery in and fastened some terminals to it. It's the same dimensions as a pc680. I'm still deciding where I want to place it and the Haltech stuff.

In reply to captainawesome :

I'll be curious to see where you put that stuff.  I contemplated the passenger footwell for a bit.