Another 914

First post so first thing is hello to everyone. I am not new to the to swapping engines { except the tdi} and had an earlier porsche 914 that had a subby 33eg in it and have done the 283 sbc into a 914 years ago. I'm done racing and just want a nice road car now , again a 914 { I like them}. I think the tdi would make a good hwy cruiser package and to that extent have gutted a 97 Passat of its drive train, wiring, fuel pump and instument custer and gas pedal assembly { everything except the glass and metal shell}. Not planning an doing much to the engine as it should meet my goals as is ,maybe a chip. My problem is the gearing . I could stay with the 901 tranny but I don't want to do the h gear mod to 5th and I think that only 2nd though 5th would be usable as it is.That and the fact that I hate changing up wiring so I would like to stay with the new style audie / vw gear box and fit the 914 half shafts to the transmission so I don't need to cut a clean 914 body and could use the electronic speedo hook up . I have read that the only possible U.S.A. tranny solution as far as hwy gearing is the 6 speed from the v6 that comes in the newer vw audie. Does any one know if this is correct and if so will the 97 wiring work on the newer tranny. Thanks

I too am doing a 914...well when I get the car back from the body shop.
I am taking a different approach, but i your case, I would use an audi transaxel.
Source a front wheel drive unit, possibly one from europe geared for the tdi.
Might be a little work getting the shafts correct, (problem I am having right now)
but will have the correct gearing, and the motor will bolt to it.
If I remember corectly, the v6 units are 4.11 and the 1.8t are 3.89

Agree with 2many diesels:

There are people in the UK doing TDI swaps into Vanagons using an inverted transaxle. There are longitunal FWD cars in Europe and the Vanagon people make an adapter plate and turn the transaxle upside down. The nice thing about doing it in the 914 is you don't have to invert the transaxle. You put it in to be mid-engine and your gears will all be going in the right direction.

Hope to see lots of pics as your conversion progresses!

Mark

This thread is why I love the tdiclub, sounds like a great project.

Thanks guys . Pictures as soon as the weather permits . The porsche is gutted at the moment and sitting under wraps. I bought it from a man in Strongsville for $550.00 as a roller. The body is pristine but was lacking glass which I happen to have. I got the Jetta as a non runner for another $550.00 brought it home and got it running{two wires to the fuel injection pump and a spare cold start injector that was in the car}. Live in the country so had to go for a drive. Runs great! The problem though is it's a sidewinder and the porsche is too clean to cut up and weld. I have heard the the porsche 944 came with a 3.54 ring and pinion and a tall overdrive if the guts can be transfered to a newer tranny case from a VW/Audi it might give me the gearing I want. Does anyone know if this is possible?

The Boxsters use the same basic transmissions as the longitudinal FWD cars, and they seem to be geared VERY tall. Probably an expensive one to buy used, though.

oilhammer said:

The Boxsters use the same basic transmissions as the longitudinal FWD cars, and they seem to be geared VERY tall. Probably an expensive one to buy used, though.

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actually i was looking into this yesterday ... tons of boxster trannies on ebay for well under $1k some as low as $450 !

Can the boxster trans take the torque?

markd89 said:

Can the boxster trans take the torque?

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LOL, yes. The Boxster transmission IS the same transmission that Volkswagen already uses behind the BHW, which in stock form makes 136hp and a whopping 247tq. Plus, even the most plebian bottom feeder Boxster engine, the 2.5L H6, makes about 200hp and 250tq.

Besides, in a featherweight like the 914, which even if you plunked a cast iron lump VAG I4 and added all the water cooling bits still probably wouldn't tip the scales much more than about 2000 pounds.

LOVE 914s! throw a TDI in the mix and its a great combo!

Wow. A 914 TDI. That's cool. Good luck, post pictures.

Thank, I am rebuilding the stock brakes and suspension on the 914 as they worked well enough from what I was told. Just want to be able to cruise at hwy speeds around 2500 rpm. Weather is looking better so pics will be coming soon

I like this idea. So much, in fact, that i have one in the garage patiently awaiting a tdi as well! Keep the info coming!

http://projectanklebiter.blogspot.com/ Hopefully will look somewhat like this when I'm done { just the bodywork no lightening} with the original top slightly modified. Plans for rims and paint are along these lines https://www.flickr.com/photos/modellauto-schmiede/4047798888/ with some patches of grey primer showing through and 70's tire profile instead of the rubber bands on rims look.. I was origanaly doing this build with a corvair powerplant but kept secretly hoping a TDI would turn up for the right price. I thought it would make for a better package as far as sound and performance go. Got my wish

Sorry for the hiatus . Between my broken foot {lysfrank fracture?} and the wifes two surgeries things are on hold for awhile . May mock up the engine in the chassis . Also have a 65 corvair . Side note which would you do if this was just a dd? Porsche better handling and lighter weight . Corvair more room maybe more comfortable { sit higher} and definitely be easier to access the engine but will areodynamics and weight have a noticable affect on fuel economy and go power

A TDI Corvair would be interesting, but I really like your TDI 914 project. Just as a thought, if you are looking at different transaxles for better TDI gearing, the Type 1 Beetle transaxles have a huge aftermarket support. You could have one built with just about any gear ratio setup. Granted, they are only four speeds, unless you step up to the plate and have one of Gene Berg's five speed conversions done...I have one in my '60 Bug, and it's a blast to drive!

Ok long hiatus but moving forward have managed to snag a European Audi A4 fwd tranny along with the car so the gearing should work. Corvair in porsche 914 out due to age factor. Have cleaned and inspected the whipple charger from the mazda millenial and have set aside the rebuilt garrett t3 from the Mustang SVO. The crazy thing is old fashioned hot rod wheeler dealing has put me at 400$ in so far. Love this kind of playing around

octfifty said:

.... Corvair in porsche 914 out due to age factor.....

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Age factor? How old are you???

My Corvair is a 1969, last model year...914 Porche is a 1970 first model year.

Be 60 this Oct. Comfort issue has to do with multiple back neck and other joint surgeries because of wrecks and other fun related stuff that happens when you are an adrenaline junkie. Can't even drive my Subaru SVX more than 100 miles with out the lower back complaining combine that with the scar tissue from lylse {spelling} frank fractures of the feet and wrist surgeries and it is just too uncomfortable to drive . Point being if it was just handling I wanted it would be the 914 hands down but comfort is in the mix for a road car and both the 914 and the corvair look good to me.

I had considered doing a common rail swap into a 914, but good ones are hard to find in my price range. Used to be a day not tooo long ago peaple would almost give one away. They are comfortable cars I have heard, if you can get in and out of them.

I know about car seat and back pain issues. I had a friend who had a solution to buying a comfortable car after buying some that wouldn't work for her. Any car she was seriously considering buying, she would take a book and sit in the driver's seat and read it for a couple of hours. If the seat didn't inflict pain during that time, then the car was a possible purchase. I always thought that was a novel solution to a very real problem and figured I would use that technique too someday if I got to that point where car seats killed me. Almost there now.