550 Spyder /Porsche 914 compatibilities

Hi everyone,

I'm going to the 550 Spyder kitcar route. I have a 1974 Porsche 914.

What are 914 parts are compatible with the 550? I looking at either Beck or T. Ranch kit.

914-

Engine (Type IV), will this mount onto the transmission without any modifications?

Could I use the 914 transmission without modifications.

Steering, suspension?

Thanks.

Chet

Check out the TR 550 A6 option. I ordered one with a Type 4 front engine mount a few years ago. I'm still (slowly!) working on it. ;-)

That will accept your 914 engine and trans with an upright engine cooler like Jake's DTM which will require ditching the stock fuel injection. Keep your rear brake calipers if you ever want a parking brake. If you have nice alloy wheels on your 914 they might look very nice. I was going to use the Fuchs from my 914 donor but then I found a set of never used old Minilites on eBay. I think they'll look good.

Don't bother trying to use anything from the 914 front suspension, steering, or brakes. Use the usual Bug and Ghia goodies.

There's really not much else of use from the 914. Salvage the pedal cluster assembly and brake master cylinder. I haven't gotten to the point yet of figuring out if the shifter and linkage can be made to work. I have a cable shifter on my '89 Beck that works great except for the lack of a reverse lockout. I'll likely go the cable shifter route.

It's all in the journey. Driving them is fun, though. You *really* get noticed driving around in a Spyder. People strike up conversations and even follow you for miles and gawk sometimes.

Yes, the shifter works and the linkage will after it's shortened - I believe your 74 is a side-shifter - much better setup for the spyder.

Grab the guages - you can have them refaced for a more vintage look or sell them out right. Tom may allow you to build your car with more options to use 914 parts - but you must ask and order accordingly. It would be a non-standard build, but it wouldn't be the first non-standard he's shipped... Tom sold our kit to us configured for 911 brakes, the front lower a-arms are 911, the master cylinder is 911, and the steering rack is 911. 911 and 914 actually share or share compatibility of alot of those parts. e.g. 911 front suspension is a common upgrade for a 914 (bigger brakes, heavier torsion bars and 5 bolt lug pattern). The master cylinder for a 914 is 17mm IIRC - the 911 is 19 with the later cars and turbos somewhat bigger. The bolt pattern to mount them is the same though for all the sizes. Cool, huh?

You can also use the pedal cluster entirely, though some of the nice CNC aftermarket stuff is pretty darn sweet. The 914 pedal cluster would take a standard cable linkage to your 901 transaxle - seems to me that it's a shortened bus one. It's proven very sturdy and has easy adjustment. I would give serious consideration to scavenging as much of the heating system as possible, particularly any good blower motor that is on the 914 (I don't know what they look like on a 914, I am assuming they have a heater blower motor as they have a defroster). This conceivably could allow you to fabricate a heater for the spyder out of nice workmanlike german bits. That would be a really nice touch. There's plenty of room in the side pods to bring the heat forward with some creative engineering.

Build what you love, love what you build. There's room for all of us who think way, way outside of the box...

http://kitcar.automotive.com/87107/0803kc-replica-porsche-550a6-spyder/index.html

angela

Thank you for the inputs. If anything I would like to make use of the Type IV and reading on Jake Raby's website makes it more tempting.