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Tobacco Road Feb 7, 2000
Scheduled to appear in GRM late this year or early next year, our 2.0-liter Porsche 914 was bought in North Carolina, where it had been stored in a tobacco barn for ages. The Porsche changed hands for the princely sum of $1200. Deficiencies included a lack of clear title, which was quickly solved, and a bad exhaust leak.
Once the engine was removed and disassembled, it became clear what the problem was: the number-three cylinder had developed a head gasket leak which had gotten much worse, thus ruining the head. Fortunately, the engine is now in the very capable hands of Shine Racing Services (http://www.srsvw.com), where it will be completely rebuilt with the addition of a Web Cam, Euro pistons and some other neat tricks.
Our 914 also received some serious port enhancement. That's the old port on top--the reworked port is on the bottom.
The body on the car is virtually rust free--a major bonus. At this point we are stripping, prepping and painting the engine compartment. Next, we will tackle the suspension and brakes.
Work begins on the 914 Jun 14, 2000
Work on our Project 914 has finally commenced--in a big way. With the Ro-Spit and vintage racer TR3 complete, the majority of our attention will now turn to the 914. We recently spent the better part of a week at Shine Racing Services in Walpole, Mass.
While at Shine, we bead blasted and painted the myriad of tin pieces that make up the cooling system on a 914 engine. We also watched, took photos and assisted as proprietor Dick Shine expertly assembled our 2.0-liter engine. Shine has been building these engines since these cars were new, first as a Porsche dealer mechanic and then as an independent shop technician. To say that he knows these engines is a major understatement, as he built ours to completion without ever once needing to open a shop manual.
We chose Shine to build our engine because, in addition to his knowledge and skill with these engines, he shared our ideas and beliefs concerning these engines and our project. First and foremost, Shine (as well as most top 914 experts today) understands and believes in the original Bosch D-Jetronic fuel injection. Yes, he admits that fuel injection has advanced a bit in 30 years, but he believes (as do we) that an expert can make almost any fuel injection perform better than aftermarket carb kits.
We were also out to build a modest, nearly stock engine using as many original or at least high quality German components as possible. Our goal is to make between 110 and 120 horsepower and still have complete streetability and drivability. The plan was to take a stock 2.0-liter and balance and blueprint every component. We will also replace the U.S.-spec pistons and liners with European Mahle pieces which bump compression up nearly 1/2 a point from 7.6:1 to 8.0:1. In otherwise stock form, this modification should raise horsepower from 95 to 100 (DIN). To this basic configuration, we added a mild Web cam, incredibly well-ported heads from Import Machine Service and a few fuel injection and tuning tweaks.
Soon we will be running our new engine on a dyno and determining if our goals have been met. We will also be trying several tuning tricks: comparing popular 914 exhaust systems, electronic ignition versus stock ignition and fuel injection and air intake modifications.
Building the decidedly un-stock 914 engine Oct 20, 2000
When discussing how to build our 914 project car's 2.0-liter engine, we decided on three primary goals. First, we wanted way more than the stock 95 horsepower at 4900 rpm. (Stock torque is 108 ft.-lbs. at 3500 rpm.) Second, we wanted complete reliability and drivability. And third, we wanted to buck the popular trend of converting these engines to carburetors, preferring to stay with the much-maligned factory Bosch D-Jet fuel injection.
Virtually everyone we talked to told us our goals were not possible to reach. The experts all agreed that you can't make any real power with the unalterable D-Jet fuel injection.
Every expert, that is, except one--that one being Richard Shine of Shine Racing in Walpole, Mass.. Better known for his very fast water-cooled Volkswagens in SCCA IT racing, Shine promised us he could make at least 110 horsepower with a stock 914 2.0-liter engine, with complete drivability and reliability without messing with the D-Jet Fuel injection.
To back you up a few steps, we located our beautiful (beauty being in the eye of the beholder) Zambizi Green 1973 914 in a tobacco barn in North Carolina a couple of years ago. Despite years of neglect, the car showed very little rust (a rarity for 914s) and looked very restorable. As expected, a bad (we mean really bad) exhaust leak turned out to be a badly damaged head (the number three cylinder was leaking). This head damage, combined with our inevitable desire to tinker, necessitated an entire engine rebuild. It was decided that we needed a nice, fun daily driver that would be a blast at the occasional autocross. Thus was born Project 914.
Cut To The Chase
To save you waiting for the stories to come out in GRM, we will tell you that Shine Racing met their promise and then some. When we got all done, we ended up with a perfectly reliable nice running 2.0-liter 914 engine that makes an average of 113.2 horsepower at 5100 rpm backed up by 128 ft.-lbs. of torque at 4100 rpm.
While most performance freaks may find this minimal compared to most 2.0-liter water-cooled engines, the Porsche enthusiast who understands the limitations of factory Bosch D-Jet fuel injection will understand that this 18.2-horsepower (or 19-percent) improvement is substantial. Torque figures are up by 20 ft.-lbs. for an 18.5-percent improvement. Again, we saw horsepower figures reach as high as 120, but we used averages, not one renegade run on a still cool engine. Remember, that air-cooled engines are rather difficult to dyno test, because unlike their water-cooled brethren, engine temps fluctuate wildly.
So, How Did We Do it?
Ahh, that's the rub. We spent thousands of dollars on dyno time and tried four different exhaust systems, as well as countless other tricks and tuning techniques. We can't just give away the whole story for free. (Remember, we are in the business of selling magazines.) Our Project 914 will start in the magazine soon, so why don't you order up a subscription online and have fun reading!
Virtually Rust Free… Jan 4, 2001
Since the M3 is pretty much done and the $2001 Vee is finished in its new coat of shiny yellow paint, all GRM project car efforts will finally focus on the Porsche 914.
After much deliberation, plotting and planning, the decision was made to strip the car all the way down. Our car is so clean that we could have done the project as a rolling restoration, but since the engine and transmission are already out of the car, it became clear that a more extensive restoration would be fairly simple.
There is only one right way to restore a car, and that is to completely strip it down to a bare shell, make repairs, paint and then begin the reassembly process. With our able assistant, seven-year-old son Tommy, we took the plunge two days before New Years Day 2001.
Disassembly has been pretty straight forward. So far, nothing has been found that is rusted or destroyed, other than typical things such as rubber seals and taillight lens.
Once completely stripped, we will sand, prime and paint the front and rear trunks. We will also make the minor repairs needed in the engine compartment. Yes, we do have a slight touch of the dreaded battery-box rust, and then once this area is painted and the car is completely stripped, we will take the body to our buddies at the Body Werks, a local shop that has painted virtually every project car in this publication's 17-year history.
While we do have the skills and the tools to paint project cars ourselves, we would rather leave paint work to the pros aside from simple jobs like door jams and inside engine compartments. Painting inside a home shop is extremely hard on your lungs, the shop itself and the environment.
Stay tuned as we detail the rust repair, repaint and reassembly.
914 Rust Repair Feb 16, 2001
Rust repair, even on a relatively rust-free car like our Project 914 is tedious, dirty and dangerous work (I don't know why I love it so). So far, we have fixed the minor hole in the rocker panel and surface rust in both trunks. We have built and welded in a new channel (where the weather seal fits) for the front trunk.
We have also welded in new rear trunk hinge mounting brackets. Breaking these brackets off is a common 914 problem. They quickly rust, because owners do not lubricate the rear trunk hinge pivot points. We sourced these parts, plus a new battery tray and battery tray stand from Automobile Atlanta. After we replaced the trunk hinge mounting brackets we realized that Automobile Atlanta sells full instructions for this job for $10.00. This might have been helpful, but common sense told us to put the new ones where the old ones had been, tack weld them in place and then test fit the rear trunk lid before welding everything permanently.
The next big project was to fix the area underneath this battery tray. Rust comes creeping into this area on most 914s because the battery leaks acid down onto the engine shelf area. Pelican Parts sells a replacement engine shelf, which is what most of this area is called. Although technically, we only had minor damage in this area, we went ahead and bought this piece so we could make a really nice repair.
Fortunately, between the 914 Network (Contact Perry Kiehl 800-867-4712), Pelican Parts and Automobile Atlanta we have been able to find all the parts, and perhaps more importantly all the expertise we have needed to restore this complicated little Porsche.
In the June 2001 issue we will be officially starting this project. First we will be looking into making more power for the 914 engine, and then by diving into more detail on rust repair and body and paint work.