Porschevy 350, a 914 with mo.....

First, it's not mine. Nope.  I do not to date have any blood, sweat or money in the car.  What I bring to this adventure is that of associated project instigator and parts/idea chaser.

Next, the exact details of this adventure will be those of a qualified "wag".  Given that the car has been a very long term project, started in Northern California, that got to the almost running stage and then lived in a body shop for years.  The tell on this phase of it life is the assorted paint drips on the car and what looks like a really bad case of flaking dandruff on the motor/transmission.  Might be years of bondo/fiber glass dust that was absorbed by the leaking/dripping motor and transmission.  For some reason this combination did not promote rust. No, that rust was reserved for the floor pan. The car was rusting from the inside out.  Not sure what was used under the carpet as a base but it did a great job absorbing moisture.

Now that the floor is fixed and the replacement rear panel is in place, lets review what has taken place.  The owner of the car has know about it for a "long" time.  Years as it turns out.  In fact he first purchased another car from the then owner.

The '99 M-Coupe was built as a "One Lap of America" car and will be discussed at some point in the future.  Just know that it is still being driven in car events and is not treated as a hanger queen.  Nope, it gets worked.

But that circles us back to the '72 {?} 914.  At some point it was some ones money pit.  Large and vast quantities of money, time and I would bet blood where spent on this project.  The V8 is a 350. Not sure what is in the motor. The kit to get it in the car includes Renegade parts.  Conversation with them has revealed that unless we can confirm that the car has only their parts,  they are not claiming the car has their kit.  So time is being spent on the enter-net to gain knowledge on the combination and how to make it all work.

Not that it is not a driver as it sits.  In fact the owner drove the car from it's old home just north of San Francisco too it's new home near Long Beach on a one day road trip down the Highway 5. In one day, as a solo driver with not much more than a few tools, cash for the car and the gas to go south. He did have a fire extinguisher, the wiring is really questionable. He did not know how bad the floor in the car was, yet.  That came soon after it made it south.

But first, can it look better?  

It starts with the rims, right?

Then someone has to work the body.

And after a full day of two people who know what they are doing you end up...

Paint drips that if removed will take the black paint off the car.  But what you can see in this picture is one of the issues that might have killed the momentum on the project.  Just inside the 914-6 flairs you can see the stock fenders on the 914.  Some how the stock fenders were never cut to free up the wheel wells for larger tires. Nope. not even rolled.

Yet.

But first, the floor got fixed.  See above picture.

It's in Long Beach for good? 
 

would love to see it in person 

is the m coupe s52 or s54?

As far as I can tell it is not going anywhere, soon.

The coupe is a s52, with a supecharger.   Yes, it rocks.  Now that the rear sub frame is fixed it is no longer as much of a hand full.

Nice.


But 14 year old me had you beat by about 39 years.   




(I traded two letters for another engine to keep it under budget)

I miss my Dakar , no sunroof. S52 coupe. What a fantastic machine it was. I had the Randy forbes reinforcement done. 

It might not be going anywhere soon because, remember. the leaks?

Given that it's a Chevy small block the distributor requires a space to live you have to cut a little on the car,  As this one might have had really rusty floors no one had any issues doing this.

The effects of body working stuff sticking to the motor looks like this.

What the above picture really shows is the Carter carb, is on backwards.  Turns out they are built like this. The front of the motor is also too low, to keep the valve cover's off the sheet metal that the seats are mounted just in front of.  That is now brand new.

The coolant leaks are part of combination of hose connections and pump at the front end of the motor.  The oil is coming from everywhere. 

To locate and fix the leaks it only takes four blots, half shafts and some unplugged wires to end up with this.

The transmission is going out to be resealed.  Because shifting the gear box makes it much easier to drive, right?

Progress on the car is starting to happen.  The removal of the exhaust system provided the opportunity to add some additional action items to the list.

Next, the underside.

So, something is going on.  I am new to the "old school" Chevy V8 world.  I have learned that a valve guide seal is, optional or it could just be an "O" ring on the valve stem.  Or in this case, a blend.

This was a smog motor,  low compression and run "warm". 

Both heads had two sets of cracked exhaust ports.  

Would some one put a fresh valve seat in a head that had a crack?                      

What transmission is it running?

I feel like a lightweight 914 with a 350 with a big lumpy cam could be dangerously fun.

mr2s2000elise said:

I miss my Dakar , no sunroof. S52 coupe. What a fantastic machine it was. I had the Randy forbes reinforcement done. 

I used to live a handful of houses down from Randy. For along time I always wondered why his driveway always had different M Coupes/M Roadsters in it until he stopped by one way when I was painting my E30 outside. Cool freaking guy for sure.

This needs a set of 180 degree headers, it would sound amazing.

The leaking from every where transmission is a magnesium case Porsche item.  When used in this application they have first gear deleted.  The transmission was sent to a local shop, disassembled, hot tanked, inspected and ended up needing nothing more than gaskets.

The word from the shop was they did find shinny stuff in the case but nothing could be traced to the mechanical parts of gear sets.  If I have this right they provide the fluid refill directions, by the weight of the oil going into the box. Not the viscosity of the suggested of the Red Line oil, but it's volume by weight.

As for headers, paging Mr. Nelson.  The issues of room, ground clearance and the half shafts from the transmission to trailing arms travel would need to be taken into account. 

If you take a look at the picture of the of the front of the motor, on the ground, you can just make out the bend in the transverse engine mount.  The "beam" tuns out to be quite tweaked.  The goal is to add some material and have it act as a sump guard. 

The engine has had some work done to it, at least that was the story.  Time to find out what was, or not done in the past.

Removing the pan revealed a note on the crank.

Removing a rod cap was next.

Doing that exposes the crank shaft.

Putting it back together and turning the motor over allows for cleaning the build up of carbon, lots of it. The lack of valve guild seals has a direct effect on the build up. Before...

After...

The parts replaced at this point include the timing chain and sprockets, the oil pump and the oil pan.

The chain was loose and the sprocket teeth were showing some ware. New is better, and not that much money.

Again, enhanced volume of oil is the goal.  So new it is.

But bigger is better, yes?

More of the during carbon removal looks like, this....

Then, this..

With the application of effort, it looks like this...

Adding a head gasket makes it look like...

The fresh head, last view of the business end looks like...

And finally, dropped in place give you...

Yes, the BMW E21 in the background is also the same color of the engine.  No, the car is not rocking a small block.  It will get it own tread, promise. 

Glad to see you didn't spend any money on the heads you took off the engine.  They are late 70's / early 80's light weight heads that are about 6 lbs each lighter than the heads you put on the engine.

you can tell the good heads, as they have 2 small notches to clear the dipstick tube, and the light weights have more scalloped lower edge and bigger water jacket holes on the gasket face, plus they are thinner castings overall.

they crack just like yours from normal use, you don't have overheat them.

I spy RE71s!

I'm in lust.

Always wanted a 914. 

Whither a Chrysler 300m drivetrain swapped in. And itb's.

I think I have an old R&T article on a similar 914 V8 build.  Somewhere........

Progress and bling, but in this case it is heat management.

First the exhaust system is coated,

But the key to keeping the motor cool is increasing the volume of fluid moving through the system.  The solution

in this case is a Davies Craig Electric Water Pump System.  The controller will allow for adjustments of use and will keep moving fluid when the motor is not running.  The motor is a tight fit up against the bulk head.  The diameter of the new hose and the fittings at the front of the motor could require a touch of work to that new metal, we will see.

Man that is a great looking 914, It's going to be really fun with the SBC!

It continues, the motor is just about ready to be reunited with the transmission.  The never ending details include, the plug wires.  Start with a well worn bench that has seen a few projects...

Focus on this project...

Measure lots, cut once...

Having a well worn tool and the application of pressure gives you...

A finished product that you only have to do seven more times.  

But the big picture items also include their location and how it all fits together.

The electric water pump and alternator have swapped sides for this build.

Yes, the wires do look good.

Yes, that is a stack of washers on the bolt holding the alternator at the correct distance.

With the bottom bracket in place, time to get it in the car.

Taking on a sort of finished project will eventually have you take on what the previous owner turned a blind eye to, in this case it was the wiring.

Having a running car at the beginning helped get to Southern California, the fact it did not smoke the loom was just luck.  So it starts by looking like this, the one in the car and most of another in a box.

This is what is in the car, sort of.

Starting with a usable section, you repair as required to make it work.

But first, it is inspected.

And inspected.

Then repaired as required.

Until it is ready to instal in the car.

The tail end of the car is now done.  Next is the engine area.