Rate It: Is a Flat-Eight-Powered Porsche 914 the Best 60th Birthday Present?

The Porsche 914/6 may have offered a much-welcomed bump in power over the already stellar 914/4, but what it would have been like to pilot a 914 powered by an eight-cylinder engine?

Well, Porsche apparently wanted to know as well, so it made two prototypes in the late ‘60s.

Dubbed as 914/8s, both prototypes were powered by the flat-eight engine out of …

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The Porsche factory shipped over one for Amelia Island not too long ago. It's subtle. 

I'd think a 1hp:7lb power to weight ratio would be all the fun you could reasonably use.  Wish they'd made a limited production run, although that engine was probably pretty expensive to maintain...

" Would a production 914/8 have dominated both the streets and the race track, or would a flat-eight have been too much engine for the car?"

There's no such thing as too much engine.  There's just not enough tire.

APEowner said:

" Would a production 914/8 have dominated both the streets and the race track, or would a flat-eight have been too much engine for the car?"

There's no such thing as too much engine.  There's just not enough tire.

I'll take option C, all of the above. 

Devil's advocate: If you're Porsche in 1970, though, do you want the 914 outrunning the 911? 

David S. Wallens said:

Devil's advocate: If you're Porsche in 1970, though, do you want the 914 outrunning the 911? 

If you slap a bigger price tag on it, sure.

ProDarwin said:

David S. Wallens said:

Devil's advocate: If you're Porsche in 1970, though, do you want the 914 outrunning the 911? 

If you slap a bigger price tag on it, sure.

I'f you've got a 914/8, why can't you have a 911/8?

I wonder how much extra weight that slung over the rear axle?  I'm imagining some awesome 914 drift action here.

David S. Wallens said:

Devil's advocate: If you're Porsche in 1970, though, do you want the 914 outrunning the 911? 

What about outrunning Ferraris? 

That said, I would hate to have to replace the spark plugs on one of those. 

Also, let me be the first to make this very clear:

If you give me a 914/8 for my 60th birthday, I will be forever grateful. 

Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:

ProDarwin said:

David S. Wallens said:

Devil's advocate: If you're Porsche in 1970, though, do you want the 914 outrunning the 911? 

If you slap a bigger price tag on it, sure.

I'f you've got a 914/8, why can't you have a 911/8?

While it probably could have been built as a prototype aswell the 914/8 would certainly work out better being mid engine. The flat 8 is a pure race engine designed for mid engine use. It was originally a 1.5 formula one engine and after porsche pulled out of f1 become a 3 litre sports car racing engine.

if anything else the 914/8 would have been the successor to the Porsche 904.

plus in the early 70s Porsche was already thinking the 911 life was limited and had begun work on its planned replacement the 928.

does it have the 908 motor which I think is based on the 12 cyl 917 motor ?

or is it an extended 911 6cyl motor  ?

I will happily take on the challenge of a tail heavy 914 with 350 hp. Hopefully it will come with a 930 wheel/hub conversion. :)

MotorsportsGordon said:

Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:

ProDarwin said:

David S. Wallens said:

Devil's advocate: If you're Porsche in 1970, though, do you want the 914 outrunning the 911? 

If you slap a bigger price tag on it, sure.

I'f you've got a 914/8, why can't you have a 911/8?

While it probably could have been built as a prototype aswell the 914/8 would certainly work out better being mid engine. The flat 8 is a pure race engine designed for mid engine use. It was originally a 1.5 formula one engine and after porsche pulled out of f1 become a 3 litre sports car racing engine.

if anything else the 914/8 would have been the successor to the Porsche 904.

plus in the early 70s Porsche was already thinking the 911 life was limited and had begun work on its planned replacement the 928.

So this would be more of a fast vintage race car than a street car. I think I could live with that. 

David S. Wallens said:

Devil's advocate: If you're Porsche in 1970, though, do you want the Volkswagen 914 outrunning the 911? 

Key.  Wasn't the 914 sold as a Volkswagen model in Germany?

In reply to Snowdoggie :

Just drop the motor and transmission for plugs and valve adjustments

Toebra said:

In reply to Snowdoggie :

Just drop the motor and transmission for plugs and valve adjustments

Every 3000 miles...   Drive like a sport, pay like a sport.

nderwater said:

I wonder how much extra weight that slung over the rear axle?  I'm imagining some awesome 914 drift action here.

Call me Ian

Is the 914/8 a mid-engined like the 914, or rear mounted like the 911?

I would hope they upgrade the brakes.  I am pretty sure the 914, as stock, had less then ideal braking performance.

Here's a pic of a 908 engine I snapped several years ago that belongs to an aquaintance.  Despite having both a 907 and 908, they ran Sixes in their cars because not only is the Eight less robust, it's also more costly.  If you're familiar with an AC 911 engine, you'll note the valvetrain is more bulky on this engine.  I'd be interested to see what was done to the 914 to allow it to accomodate the 908 engine.

californiamilleghia said:

does it have the 908 motor which I think is based on the 12 cyl 917 motor ?

or is it an extended 911 6cyl motor  ?

The flat 8 was originally an fl engine in the early 60s then modified for sports car use. The 917 engine is based on it  except that the flat 8 is a boxter while the 917 isant like Ferrari flat 12s are not a boxter.

Pretty sure boxster and flat are the same thing.  It's called a boxster because the rods make a motion like a boxer punching being directly opposed.

That's what I've read at least.

aircooled said:

Pretty sure boxster and flat are the same thing.  It's called a boxster because the rods make a motion like a boxer punching being directly opposed.

That's what I've read at least.

Boxer is an engine type, boxster is a car.   All boxer engines are "flat" but not all flat engines are boxers.  There is a hugely important distinction. 

A boxer engine has opposing cylinders hitting TDC at the same time, so they have their own crank throws 180 degrees apart.  A 180 degree V8 (and V4 and V12 I guess) would have shared crank throws, so opposite cylinders would have one at TDC and one at BDC.  I don't think you can have a 180 degree V6 and retain an even firing order. 

A 180 degree V engine has better internal pumping losses and a stronger crankshaft but worse vibration characteristics.  Vibes are more important for a street car so practically all production opposed piston engines are boxer type.

(A 180 degree V4 with an even firing order would shake MASSIVELY, too, since you'd have to have both pistons on a given bank at TDC while the other bank was at BDC.  The entire reciprocating assembly would be moving in the same direction at the same time.  The engine would be an internal combustion Shake Weight )

aircooled said:

nderwater said:

I wonder how much extra weight that slung over the rear axle?  I'm imagining some awesome 914 drift action here.

Call me Ian

Is the 914/8 a mid-engined like the 914, or rear mounted like the 911?

I would hope they upgrade the brakes.  I am pretty sure the 914, as stock, had less then ideal braking performance.

Mid engine well I guess listed as rear mid engine meaning the engine is a bit further back but still ahead of the rear wheels. The 904 was rear mid engine aswell.

As you can see here a non boxter flat 12 is just a wide angle v