914 2.0 > 3.0 GT Conversion

[23e Heure]

[jtparr]

Keep 'em coming Stephen...

[chief]

Awesome work there our kid!

[defianty]

It was my initial plan to use the original oil cooler fixing holes on the oil cooler shroud to fix on to my oil cooler with an adaptor plate. This was completely unnecessary but would look more correct. After going over what I'd done previously I found the oil cooler was sitting just a bit too high. So I set about modifying it all to enable me to lower it.

After a few hours I came up with this. I think it's a much better solution and I now have the room above for the adaptor plate.

[defianty]

Ever had the sick in your stomach feeling?

[Mr Pharmacist]

that's a lot of filler

[KS]

Because 'Merika...

[chief]

Jeez Louise!!!!
On the upside, it will be so much lighter after all that bondo (Filler to us) has been removed. I truly think these American body shops employ sculptures not tin bashers

[defianty]

Whilst hiding from the car and it's filler problems I turned to another little project.

I plan on having a very stock interior in my car, most of what was in the car was already in great condition and the few parts the weren't, have been replaced.

The dash and gauges were in a lovely original condition and fortunately didn't need refurbishment. However now having a six cylinder engine I wanted more information on the dashboard.

Being an early 914 the car had silver dot gauges. It's common with six conversions to swap out the large 914 fuel gauge and replace it with an oil temp and pressure gauge from a 911. Unfortunately those gauges are expensive now and I really wanted a cheaper solution.

My engine is a '83 3.0l and more by luck than anything else I managed to get hold of a reasonably priced gauge from the same era. The lucky part being my sender units on the engine were a perfect match to the gauge. The only problem with these gauges is the lack of a silver dot. But not for long.

911 oil gauge on the right and partially torn down 914 fuel gauge.


Silver Dot from the 914 gauge not stuck on to the 911 oil gauge.


Reassembled - A trio of silver dot gauges.

[defianty]

All very well but you may have noticed that I no longer have a fuel gauge!

Some of the GT cars had a gauge mounted on the dash in place of the radio. Here's a picture here you can see it's mounted at an angle to face the driver.


The last time I saw one for sale it was for an eyewatering amount. Again I had to get creative.

The case of these gauges had a 60mm circumference todays VDO gauges are just 52mm and all have a rather modern look. My first task was to find a 60mm case. VDO has made gauges for many manufactures and in the mid 60's they made this for SAAB.

And look... a lovely silver dot too.


Unfortunately the internals weren't compatible with the 914 sender unit, so for compatibility I got this.


Now it was just a simple case of merging the two together.


The really didn't want to come apart!


Saab gauge in pieces with the new gauge internals pictured.


I wanted to use the original spade connectors on the back of the Saab gauge so that meant modifying the new VDO gauge to suit.


The needle on the Saab gauge wasn't quite Porsche enough for me and it wasn't quite long enough either, so I went about creating a new needle. This was the final version and it was made from a milk jug Yes and milk jug!


It turns out Revell enamel Matt 25 is a great match for a faded Porsche needle.


To create the dial I used several images of GT gauges to create a new artwork I could print. These are just some of the early printouts.


As always happens I forgot to take photos of the build up but here's what I ended up with.


Together with the rest.



Another fun project completed. The last one I saw for sale was advertised for 950 euros. This cost me less than £70.

[hot66]

Superb

Are you going to make up the angled pod too ?

[defianty]

Superb

Are you going to make up the angled pod too ?

Absolutely. My heat exchangers are being made at the moment and I'm hoping when I collect them I can grab an offcut of tube with the correct ID.

[glovebox]

Looking great

[Mr Pharmacist]

Great work!

[23e Heure]

That oil gauge looks familiar

Lovely work as usual, obsessive attention to detail.