GPR's take on the 914-6 By Les Bidrawn

Photos By The Author

By today's standards, the Porsche on these pages is primitive, a savage sled of a car that's too loud, too low and requires Popeye-sized forearms to steer. The seats are no more than simple fiberglass shells covered with some foam and vinyl, and most of the interior controls are linked to systems long since retired. The dog-leg 901 gearbox is an ambiguous mess of a transmission hell-bent on frustrating the unschooled. A heater? Forget it. Air conditioning? You've got to be kidding. This is as basic as it gets, the poster-boy of Spartan motoring.

Too bad they don't make them like this any more.

In an age of automotive refinement, a vehicle like Dave Shepard's 914-6 is a rare treat, a car unspoiled by NVH guidelines and consumer clinics. The recipe, like the car, is simple: Take a burly 3.2-liter engine from an '86 Carrera, put it in the middle of a good, lightweight chassis, give it a suspension and brakes and bolt on some big ol' tires. In a steel-clad nutshell, that's what this car is all about. "It's nothing fancy," said Shepard, "but it works."

It works damn fine. It turned out to be the most fun I had in a car (any car) during the last year. It was the kind of ride some refer to as a "screamer". Imagine a comfortable shifter kart that's street-legal. Add the classic wail of a flat six to the mix and you've got a perfect description.

With a curb weight just over 2,200 lb, this 914-6 accelerates with the savage urgency of a superbike. It also feels as exposed. Even at moderate speeds, the Porsche gave the impression it was going much faster. That's just the nature of the 914--despite its on-the-edge attitude, though, it sticks like it's on the proverbial rails. You'd be hard-pressed to find a more neutral handling car than the 914. What great fun for passengers.

Dave purchased the car back in 1985 when he balanced college, racing and a small performance parts business. Before long, his parts business grew into German Parts and Restoration (GPR), a sizable Mecca of go-fast gear and hard-to-find bits for German cars. In 1993, GPR started offering 914-6 conversion parts. A few years later, Dave decided to make one for himself, a car he could drive on a daily basis and still kick ass at the local track.

"Most of the 914-6 conversions I had seen were overdone," said Shepard. "The idea here was to do it as inexpensively as possible and yet still be effective. The whole thing, including the car, cost about 24 grand.

"During the last 20 years, European Car has featured dozens of 914-6 retrofits. Thanks to the "Mr. Potato Head" parts interchangeability of the 911 and 914 chassis, the conversion can be done with a minimum of surgery. And, while it's possible to simply purchase a real 914-6, the things are becoming exceedingly rare--for a driver, the conversion is the only choice.

The engine is a 3.2 from a 911 Carrera. "This was a straightforward swap," said Dave. "All the color codes on the 911 and 914 are the same--this made wiring the injection very easy. We retained the factory Motronic brain so it all works like a factory-built car."

The engine is linked to a sensor-laden Motronic flywheel and a heavy-duty clutch with a modified release bearing. A heavy-duty mount holds the transmission in place, and the balky shift linkage was upgraded with custom-made brass bushings.

AutoThority's mass flow sensor and performance chip replaced the factory's system and allow less restrictive and more accurate fuel/air metering. The AutoThority kit features a freer flowing "hot-wire"-type mass flow meter. Intake air flows over a heated wire, and the amount of air required to keep the wire at a constant temperature determines the amount of airflow. The output automatically reflects changes in barometric pressure, air density, ambient air temperature and relative humidity--ultimately it makes the car more tunable, more responsive.

Bursch headers funnel the spent gases into a Bursch Sport exhaust that has been re-baffled and routed into dual tips. The car runs on the factory oil cooler, because Dave has found it doesn't retain enough heat to warrant a remote cooler.

The suspension features Koni gas-adjustable dampers augmented with GPR's 180-lb coil springs and torsion bars. GPR's polyurethane bushings and 930 turbo tie rods help tighten the ride, and 19mm/22mm sway bars lend extra stability.

The brakes are GPR's own special blend of calipers, vented rotors and performance brake pads. The GPR kit essentially doubles the braking surface area and clamping force and yet is very reasonable in price. Ate Superblue brake fluid flows through the braided stainless-steel lines.

The running gear consists of Porsche 993 Cup wheels measuring 7.5x17 in. up front and 9x17 in. at the rear. Dave runs Sumitomo rubber sized at 215/45ZR-17 and 245/40ZR-17, and while that's more than most 914s can handle, the box fenders make it possible. The flares are made from hand-laid composite (hard to believe they weren't steel), and the front grille is a GPR GT replica. The body (including the 911 mirrors) was covered in a rich three-stage Porsche silver. GPR did the interior with recovered seats and panels and fitted 911 gauges in the factory places. Additional instrumentation (fuel, oil temp, oil pressure) can be found in the center console.

I spent the better part of the day beating on Dave's Porsche and for the better part of the day my astonishment grew. How something so old can be so good is a quite a testament to Porsche's engineering. And a healthy dose of GPR's ingenuity did not hurt one bit.