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914 The car for BIG KID's - An Autocrossers Delight

Hi I am ralphgood1.
The song and dance band is setting up as we speak.

They are all excited about the subject of playing with cars. After all it is something we (males especially) have all done since we were kids. As a maturing adult I have finally found the time and a few $$ to go play with cars like I wanted to at 16. Therefore as my classroom project I am going to share with you how to set up, and sources for info and parts for a 914 Porsche project car. The main purpose of the car will be to drive - have fun in and to autocross. AUTOCROSSING is the sport of racing by yourself ...against the clock... but by keeping time against other people. There is very little danger involved but some very close and spirited competition. Many time .01 second determines a winning time.

My interests are: FAST CARS AND SLOW WOMEN.

The description of my page is: internet research
The Porsche 914 as an AUTOCROSS/FUN CAR

My reasoning for doing this paper on the 914 Porsche is that it is a car that can be fun to restore and rewarding to drive - just for the fun of driving it on a daily basis and rewarding to competge in at autocrosses both in SCCA and Porsche club events. It is very rare that a car which is 25 years old can still be competitive (A modifified 1974 four cylinder 914 Porsche won Top Time overall at the 1996 national event) and fun to drive on the street everyday. True they are car that only a mechanic and tinker can love, but they are also simple enough that a basic learner can enhoy and have fun playing with them. Porsche built the 914 from 1969 to 1974. The statistics for those of you who are interested can be found at www.estinc.com/porsche. That information will give you both 6 cylinder and 4 cylinder cars. For purposeas of what we are talking about in this paper I will stick with the four cylinder cars since the are more availabe and not as expensive to purchase or maintain. The sixes have become major collector cars and require big bucks to purchase.

THE CARS - MECHANICAL

There were three different four cylindefr engines built for the 914. A 1.7 liter engine, a 1.8 liter engine, and according to the experts the most desirable a 2.0 or two liter engine. As a strictley stock engine the two liter is preferred. Obviously the increase in size is an advantage. However for competition purposes there afre classes that the smaller engines can run in and excell over their bigger brother. As a matter of fact a well tuned car with the proper suspension is almost the exact duplicarte of its bigger brother. The choice of course is up to the buyer and his pocket book. It is of great pleasure to me to see some young gun who has worked diligently on his car and his skills take on and beat athe big boys with their modified machines. Modifications will be discussed later. FIRST FOLLOW THE RULE "IF IT AIN'T BROKE DON'T FIX IT' - THEN IF IT IS - GO TO THE MAX!!

WHERE DO YOU COMPETE

There afre probably more venues for a 914 Porsche to compete in than any o9ther car made today - THAT'S WHAT MAKES IT SO MUCH FUN. Unlike other car marques (a fancy wod for makes) a 914 can compete in local and national Porsche events, time trials, rallys, club racing, SCCA IT racing and just cruising around town, AND STILL BE COMPETITIVE!! Not bad for a car that is still around for its silver anniversary In almost any major city in the US there is an SCCA club which autocrosses and theere are some 50+ Porsche clubs around the country which have regular autocrosses and rallys. For a number of a contact for the closest Porsche club to you contact the Porsche Club of America at www.pca.org. The SCCA website is www.icnet.net/users/dgamble/ which will give you names, phone #'s, email, and event dates for OK, TX, MO, & Kansas. Don't be intimidated- go on out, we were all rookies once upon a time. As a matter of fact I participated for almost two years before I won my first event. There is a learning curve, but it is very rewarding.

THE CARS - MODIFICATIONS

Maybe there are rules for this which I am unaware of but MY CHECKBOOK told me - DO A FEW EVENTS AND BE WILLING TO LEARN FIRST!! Having made this mistake myself I can honestly say GO TO AN EVENT OR TWO AND SEE WHAT IS GOING ON. Trust me you are not going to outrun Mario or Micheal or Lil' Al at the firsst event. Learn watch and listen. Talk to people who drived your type of car - they really are friendly - BUT DO NOT RUSH OUT TO BUY THE LATEST GIZZABLINKY TO GO FASTER. What makes you go fasterf is time(seat time) and experience from the learning curve(same thing). After you have four or five events under your belt THEN you can begin to make changes because you will know what is happening and what you feel or expect.

Then you make changes in this order:

5. If needed improve your springs

If you have gone this far you will have leaned enough and made enough friends to make wise decisions about anything else you do.

A major caveat - KNOW THE RULES OF THE GROUP YOU RACE WITH BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING. I have seen people do simple little things like run too wide a tire on a stock car and be bumped into a class where the are not competive in both SCCA and PCA. Remember that for the first few times just go and have fun.

INFORMATION SOURCES - WHERE YOU CAN LEARN MORE NOW

http://www.dgi.net/914 The Porsche 914 Club
http://www.icnet.net users/dgamble/ Okla SCCA
http://estinc.com.porsche General Porsche (ask for 914 specific)
http://www.stoddard.com Parts source & diagramed catalgues
http://www.team.net 914 fan club
http://www.autoatlanta.com Major 914 parts source

PUBLICATIONS:

Email me at ralphgood1@yahoo.com in the meantime.
Please come back soon and visit me.

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