Modified Porsche 914 Race Car

[@windmill1965]

From the description box: "This Week With Cars - Episode 00356". How appropriate to have the video about a Porsche.

[@Derf1313]

Way back in 1979, I bought a 914-6. No motor, interior trashed, but the outside great! Someone had done a full Trans-Am package, air dam, 10" wheel flares & a whale tail. Didn't realize it wasn't stock till many years later (sold it the next fall, was looking for storage, a guy offered me way more than I had in it, & as a college student it played for my rent & tuition for the next year, lol). Found a fresh motor with side draft Webers, at a buddies shop, that hadn't been paid for... Still miss it, was fast & handled very well... Thanx !

[@paulhall170]

One of your more fascinating projects, Steve, I'm looking forward to seeing what progress can be made!

[@mundanestuff]

Finish it, and run it as a track-day car for friends you invite along. "Hey, Kevin, this is Steve. We're going to Hawkeye for some laps, meet me there." then show up with a cool car, and this Poorsche for Kevin!

[@ThisWeekWithCars]

Haha I’ve been trying to get Kevin to the track with me forever.

[@windronner1]

That’s one very cool track car. I love.

[@stephenricketts7764]

Wow that is crazy that it started first time with the bigger jump pack. I think you should sort the wiring and finish the car even if you don't race it Steve I think it needs to be used. 👍👍

[@ThisWeekWithCars]

It probably had plenty of fuel in the intake from failing to start it that it started right up once I had enough battery power to it.

[@robertlewis2]

Please do more with this Porsche.

[@evs2760]

Oversized knobbly tires and off to the RallyCross!

[@johna1160]

Love the LOWBRAU/POORSCHE play on words. Very much in keeping with the 24 Hours of Lemons. I'm a Ford guy who has always appreciated SBC's.

[@jimringo2569]

Glad it runs but still should go to the crusher. Save your very valuable time for the MG TC. Or maybe give the 914 to a shop class to study. Thanks for your very relaxing shows!

[@davidevans1128]

Just love 914s. But the transmissions simply vampire them of almost any potential. Never have I ever had so much frustration shifting a automobile...lol. I've driven quite a few of them and my God it takes over 1.0- 1.5 seconds to change gears when accelerating ...😅 Ive driven conversions and one w a G50 conversion ..albeit it was a 911 engine too. One with a flipped Boxster transmission was sublime. When the awful linkage has been replaced it's a ..GODSEND! I say a stock 2.0 with a modern trans swap would out perform a v-8 w a stock trans the performance is that drastic. But in The last 10 years..914s have gone from $800.00-$1500.00 running cars to 20k plus, and newer transmissions are so hefty IN PRICE it takes the fun out of a cheap car However is what it is, if you throw everything in the book at a 914 tranny to aid it's clunky shifting , it helps a lot. Great lil cars....but given a choice I'd pick driving a 510 6 ways till next Sunday... looks like fun regardless👍

[@stephenhenion8304]

That's One High Brow , Low Brau... I'd say work your magic Steve and finish the build..

[@nedkline886]

that engine sounds good, no noises. do you know the cubes. that car is going to be a blast to drive if you can get used to the shifting pattern.

[@gornzilla]

That's great! I did the first couple of Lemons. It's such a wonderful thing! First team was the first diesel (early Rabbit - DNF) and 2nd team was first air-cooled VW (bug - DNF). You should add a half-assed shift gate plate so you know where the gears are.

[@djambrosia]

The drive axles are going to be a reliability issue at that angle. You have the same issue with Subaru swops into bugs when trying to clear the rear valance. Might be worth trying to squeeze the engine forward more if possible.

[@thebruniverse276]

Add fender flares Adjust linkage Tidy up wires New tires? I like this one! Data on hp, 0-60, 1/4 mile Dyno data Fun

[@wilson42cc]

It would make a great point to point racer ,

[@TimSolanic]

Put the small block in something else. Make this a hybrid daily driver rally off road style that has about 300 mile range and enough power to make it fun to throw around. Keep it light. Some kind of rack to hold luggage & gear for road trips.

[@bobstark184]

Bless it, that’s a proper mongrel (and I mean that positively). It’s really endearing! I’d say keep the looks but get it to drive properly. Something tells me this car is a survivor…

[@machineethics]

Looks like a great candidate for a nut & bolt concours restoration!

[@hardball107]

There's only one thing to do with that hot mess, get everything working , cleaned up and safe and get it registered for the road. What a ball ripping up an interstate or just stoplight to stoplight .

[@jlwilliams]

I think you should just get it safe to drive hard, and then start entering it in Porsche Club of America events to horrify the other members! I'll bet it's faster than stink, too, at least until the forward-swept half shafts chew up the CV joints...

[@ThisWeekWithCars]

Oh my!

[@1967250s]

Cv's are designed to run that way. Why would they get chewed up? Maybe they are not strong enough, but that was probably factored in...

[@johnclayden1670]

Alwaays enjoyable

[@ellesmerewildwood4858]

I love your videos when you work on a particular car like the previous MG with the stuck engine. But you never seem to get back to a particular car so we don't find out any progress. It's annoying. Can you please do updates on the cars you work on ?

[@carportchronicles1943]

Throw another team together and do another 24-hours of Lemons. According to the organizers, swapped 350s have a very high failure rate, so it would be very interesting to see how long this one lasts.

[@CharlieMetcalf]

I feel it should be finished and if not raced at least driven around for fun!

[@48920jeff]

Bring in a small team of would be racers and train them on how to get the best out of the car. Set them off on the right foot by making them do the repairs/upgrades rather than just selling or donating a finished car to them.

[@mikeconnelly7032]

Race it!

[@davidnelson6893]

Yes that cool 289 runs Peace out

[@shakey2634]

Flat spotted tires. Hence the wiggle in the camera.

[@SkinnyBiker]

Finish it!

[@ThisWeekWithCars]

Finish it to do what though, I need a goal to work to. I don't think endurance racing is still on the cards for this car.

[@quintessenceSL]

@@ThisWeekWithCars Drag racing?

[@SkinnyBiker]

@ThisWeekWithCars Finish the car, and when the opertunity shows up, it will be ready to rock the track.

[@parrotraiser6541]

Challenge #1 - knit a new electrical system. :-)*

[@guydauderman1645]

Where is it and what do you want for it?

[@Porsche_Past]

weld some metal flares on that puppy and convert to Porsche 5 lug.

[@edsalerno2790]

If only you had another 914 you could swap the drivetrain out to for a sleeper steet car. Orange in color of course.

[@mountainjeff]

That is super cool. What Class would that race in? I bet it's fast. Could you make it street legal? Helluva grocery getter. 🙂

[@ThisWeekWithCars]

It is still registered and can be driven on the street.

[@johnoldonekanole602]

Sell it cheap to some up and coming young person that wants to race.

[@abefroman606]

I've had 2 914s but many years ago, but im confused on why the shift pattern is reversed. Thats the original layout, obviously with a sbc instead of the 1.7,1.8 or 2.0.

[@ThisWeekWithCars]

I don’t know why they changed the shifter other than they felt the original was unreliable, this though has other problems.

[@cdhigs]

Original shifter linkage wouldn’t clear with the v8 in, but a known solution was to use a DSM shifter with some cables from McMaster-Carr. The pick-a-part didn’t have a DSM, so we grabbed what we could find, and the (surprise) result was the flipped pattern.

[@abefroman606]

@cdhigs I see. That makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up! Super cool car. I'd imagine it's a blast to drive.

[@Jayreganmusic]

Nice! How did you film that shot of the car while test driving? Would love to see more.

[@windmill1965]

That's a 360 degrees camera on a long pole. You can see that he is holding the pole in his left hand while operating the car with his right hand.

[@gearhead9828]

Löwenbräu!

[@davidraezer5937]

Is that still the dogleg 901 transaxle?

[@ThisWeekWithCars]

Yes still the 901, 911, 914 transaxle.

[@RichardCasto]

Looks like an early 914 (901 family) tailshift with a homemade cable shift setup.

[@davidraezer5937]

@@RichardCasto that’s what I was thinking not the 915 later transaxle with the standard H pattern

[@keithleonard5085]

I love it, but if that car was a horse, you’d have to shoot it!

[@markmcginn8012]

Wouldn’t the increased torque of the Chevy motor be too much for the Porsche transmission? The Porsche 1.8L produced around 118 ft lbs.

[@ThisWeekWithCars]

They used this transmission in the 911S which made 160-180 hp it is the axles that I am most concerned about.

[@davidnelson6893]

@@ThisWeekWithCars Its a 289 not chevy

[@JBLewis]

@@ThisWeekWithCars That offset in the half shafts can't be ideal.

[@RichardCasto]

You don't want to do hard launches in 1st gear as it will twist the cantilevered 1st gear right off the input shaft. CV joints is also a weak spot with increased torque. But better to blow out CV joints than something else.

[@citizaniac149]

Restore it to factory condition.

[@andremarais2706]

Why shout?

[@Porsche_Past]

Hack city

[@robertharrison9248]

At least correct all hack jobs done by your ex (I hope) teammates and put it back on the street at least. Not sure I understand the logic of putting a V8 in when a perfectly good Porsche 6 cylinder would have been a nice fit. But then just my opinion.☹

[@RichardCasto]

Cost? Honestly given how 914 prices continue to rise, I can't see how they can fit within 24 Hours of Lemons cost rules. And a six swap would be out of the question. Base core Porsche six engines that are not even running are many thousands of dollars.

[@ThisWeekWithCars]

Cost and reliability is why they did the engine swap. That team knew how to keep a SBC running better than a Porsche engine.

[@robertharrison9248]

After looking at the car the effort to do the V8 swap, it must have caused the cost benefit to have been significantly overestimated. The effort to make it derivable would be interesting, but to make it safe to drive on the street seems rather more effort, especially if the rear trans axle had been relocated. It would make a good comparison to the V8 swapped Covair's of which most seem to remain in an unfinished state. Best of luck whatever you intend to do with it.