Here's the plan:

1973 Porsche 914

Tub up restoration/customization (no cutting corners here).

Speedster styling.

40" tall

Under 1900 pounds.

320 horsepower WRX engine.

Let the games begin!

First off here is a little history on the car.
In 2002 I found this 1973 1.7 in a field outside Laramie WY where it had been sitting since 1982 with some other VWs. After bolting on some webers and swapping out the battery, fluids, and tires I drove it out of there.
As you can see she was pretty rough but other than some surface rust she was darn near rust free.

While in school I added a custom cage and interior both of which will be modified during the course of this project.Here is a picture of the 914 about a month after I found it, next to it is my '37 Plymouth street rod. As you can see I had already installed the rollcage when this picture was taken.

After school I moved to Las Vegas to work for Renegade Hybrids. This is when I really started upgrading the car.Here is a picture of the car with stock body and drivetrain after I had installed the carrera front suspension and polished fuchs.

Here is a random pic I found, the car was my daily driver and I could only weld on half a set of flairs per weekend. This shot was taken after the first weekend...

After school I moved to Las Vegas to work for Renegade Hybrids. At Renegade I designed the 914 WRX conversion kit using my car as the test bed. My car is running a 2004 WRX engine with exhaust and computer mods bumping the power up to 320HP.


Here's a little example of what happens when you put a WRX engine in a 914...

The car has been featured by SubieSport magazine and by several online publications including Cardomain.

I drove the car in its subie powered form as a daily driver for about 2 years then decided to move from Las Vegas to Wyoming. I bought a real car and figured now would be a great time to build the street monster I had been dreaming of. I am going to take my time and build this thing right.

The technical details:

2004 Subaru EJ20
Custom up-pipe
SS Wrx Header
3.5-inch straight pipe exhaust
Renegade Hybrids radiator
KEP stage 2 pressure plate
KEP 9-inch Kevlar clutch disk
KEP billet aluminum adapter plate
Renegade Hybrids high power axles
911 Carrera front suspension
Bilstein adjustable rear struts
200-pound springs
2002 Porsche 996 rims, 17 x 7-inch front 17 x 9-inch rear
Kumho 712 tires 205/50/17zr front, 255/40/17zr rear
Steel AA 914GT fender flares
Custom roll cage
Custom interior
No radioNo top
No windows
Getty C/F Rear lid
GT-Racing F/G non-headlight Front lid
Getty F/G BumpersGetty F/G Rockers
Chopped and raked windshield
Pontiac Solstice door mirrors
Customized Porsche Boxster Humps
Ferrari F430 rear diffuser
F/G Belly Pan

I have almost finished stripping the tub and have been documenting my weight savings with excel. Here is my spreadsheet showing the part removed or replaced, the resulting weight and power to weight ratio, along with the info from a few other cars for refrence. So far I have dropped just over 400 pounds. I have a feeling this car will kill me if I ever get it on the road.

No turning back now! I cut off the targa bar and made this hideous hole...




The car is pretty much stripped but I am leaving the engine and tranny in for now so I can build the belly pan and design the intercooler system.

I got a heck of a deal on these Boxster Humps. The plan is to 'glass these into one piece and build up the lid to match the rest of the car. Then I will rebuild the metal around the area. I absolutely hate working with F/G so I will make the metal match the F/G lid rather than vice versa.

My dog Bailey checking the fit.

This just might work!

I raked the windshield posts back as far as the stock windshield allowed. Next I will chop the windshield posts so the top of the frame is even with the top of the rollbar hoops. I found a guy that will cut the stock glass to fit. Or cutting a lexan one is always an option if all else fails.




Here is how things are looking now.

I started 'glassing the humps today and remembered how terrible fiberglass is to work with.
I 'glassed the two halves together and filled in the area at the back of the lid between the humps. Despite my total lack of skill I think it's coming along pretty well. It's a good thing I got these humps for cheap because the quality was totally awful (good thing I am just cutting them up huh?)



To blend in the sides I am stretching polarfleece and glassing it (a trick used by audio guys to build complicated sub boxes). The fleece creates really nice transitions and when covered by F/G cloth is really strong.

Here are some more shots of the car and the garage.

I was playing around with the concept of a lift off hard top with drop in windows. It would be pretty tough to build but it would really make the car alot more useable. we shall see...

I added a layer of F/g last night:

I sanded the humps down this morning. There are a couple low spots but the shape is getting pretty close. I should be able to get it straight with one more glassing session, after that I will finish the bottom and edges.

Today I made a wood template to ensure that I install the windshield at the right angle after I chop it.
Then I cut the thing off so I can modify it. Looks pretty cool huh?
I also test fitted my Getty F/G bumpers, they will need a little work but are pretty close.

My dogs decided to wake me up at 4:45 and I couldn't get back to sleep so I got an early start on the car today. I added a layer of 'glass to the humps. I chopped the windshield frame and mocked it up on the car. I need to do a little welding and cleanup to the frame such as rounding the top edge and corners before I install it for good.

How funny is this, the car is on 18" jackstands and its still lower than my Subie!

Check out the stainless steel DC sports header I installed along with a custom up-pipe I built. Purty aint it? It frees up some horses and is 12.2 pounds lighter than the stock manifold.

Tonight I pulled my tank and gutted everything in the front trunk, I bagged and tagged everything, next stop for the parts I am keeping is the powder coater.
I will be welding up all of the un-needed holes then stripping the remaining paint in preparation for primer.
I knew this chassis was clean but I still was amazed by how perfect things looked under the tank...

I snuck away last night and got the windshield cleaned up and reshaped. I started out by using the templates I made earlier to position the frame where I wanted it. I was going to mount the frame so the top of it was even with the top of the head hoops but it just didn't look right. Now that the lift off hard-top is looking like its going to happen having the frame a little higher will be better anyway. I ended up mounting the windshield an inch higher than the hoops so now the car will be 41" tall not 40".

I welded up the relief cuts I made in the corners, then I rounded off the corners of the frame and boxed them.

I then ground down the pinch welds and rewelded the frame with butt welds. As you can see I left a small bit of the pinch weld at the bottom of the frame so I would have something to clamp to for final adjustments, this will be ground down once I have welded the frame in place.

Here is a good shot of the new rounded frame.

I boxed in the corners but left the center un-boxed. The interior side and back of the frame will be wrapped in vinyl and I will make a matching removable filler piece for the center of the frame. When I make the top I will design it so its front lip fits into the center slot (with the filler piece removed) for a secure and fairly water tight fit.