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Customer Cars: Mick Hovsepian's 1972 914 1.7L Resurrection

Tuesday, June 22, 2021 4:19 PM

We love seeing what exciting projects our customers are currently working on. Every month we would like to showcase a couple of cars in whatever state they are in - on the road or on the rack.



This month’s submission comes from Mick Hovsepian who is in the process of resurrecting his one owner 1972 914 1.7.




Mick bought the car new at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport from a Shipside Showroom back in 1972. His sole purpose for buying the car was for him and his wife to drive south to Monaco for the GP.


After the event, his 914 was shipped stateside to the Port of Jacksonville FL and then driven home to Atlanta. The car then became his daily driver for several years. In 1974, Mick decided it was time to pull his baby off the street and put her on the track to get his SCCA ticket in the Showroom Stock category. As he puts it, it was basically the SCCA's way to get new members into the club by adding a roll bar to a streetcar and going racing.


Things initially started off well in the school races at Palm Beach, where it easily beat out the D-Sports Racers, but at Road Atlanta he found the car simply did not have the power needed to be competitive. The stock fuel-injected engine was slow, even for the Showroom class, and the only way he could pass was by out-braking the other drivers in the turns. He was in desperate need of more HP.


So, Mick found an engine builder and got to work polishing, porting, Magnafluxing, and balancing. The stock fuel injection was removed, and 48 IDA Webbers were added. The engine received bigger jugs and high compression pistons and the flywheel was turned down to 12 Lbs.   


While this brought him the competitive edge on the track, it was not meant to last. The upgraded pistons began to overheat and the cam and crankshafts which were original to the car caused continuous problems. Before he could get these issues sorted out, life happened. Mick found himself in the middle of a divorce, effectively ending his racing career.

 

The car was relegated to storage where it sat for several years. The rollbar was removed, the Webber 48s as well as the front & rear bumpers were pulled off the car and sold to local race enthusiasts.

 

Some 49 years later the car is now at DC Racing & Development in the capable hands of Dan Cashman. Dan builds and races 914's and services all the air-cooled Porsches as well as preparing them for racing. The old 1.7 has been rebuilt to 2.2 specs with dual 40 IDA's & a performance cam. He has also sourced a rebuilt 73 side shifter transmission to get rid of, as Mick puts it, “the fly swatter shift linkage”.


His 914 already has the upgraded 914-6/911 suspension and brakes. The body is going to be a GT Clone, though the car will be a 914-4 until he can find the right 911 engine to swap in. The oil cooler mods will all be installed without the cooler so his car will be ready for the transplant at moments notice. This is one of the more detailed builds we have featured, and we love seeing a vision come together. We look forward to seeing you on the track again soon Mick, thanks for the great submission!

Please submit your image and a brief summary to blake@914rubber.com. If we select your photo for the newsletter you will win a $15 914Rubber gift card!

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Mark's Corner: The Porsche "914S”

Sunday, June 20, 2021 9:52 PM

The Porsche "914S”



After recognizing the need for more horsepower in the European market, the factory decided to increase the performance for the launch of the upcoming 2.0 model. They built around 2000 cars originally intended for the European market. These cars were meant to be more refined than the standard 914 but they never made it to European dealers and would eventually become  somewhat of an enigma in the 914 community.



Did the factory produce them?



Yes, they did create an “S” model, but it was done unintentionally.  When they created these European Spec cars, they included the larger displacement motor and used an 8.20 compression ratio to give the car more of a sports car feel. Front and rear anti-roll bars were now stock, also included was the appearance group package which came with alloy wheels, leather steering wheel, center console with padded armrest, and a leatherette wrapped roll bar pad.




Despite originally being made for the European market, Volkswagen of America decided to purchase the entire production run of the cars. They immediately went to work on a marketing campaign to announce this new 914 model in America, and thus the “914S” was born. This was highlighted in the dealer handouts and a few automotive publications at the time where it specifically called out the “S” designation.


Due to the lack of some specifications on the back of the hand out (ie weights, a mpg specification), I believe the handouts were printed right away to help promote the new improved model. This is where the “S” designation first came into play.

 

The Timeline



January of 1972 - Motor Trend does a comparison between the 914 and the “S” model that had an additional $288 price premium over the stock 1.7. No mention of a stock 2.0 vs the “S”.



February of 1973 - Road and Track publishes an article on the 914 2.0 where it highlights the tension between the Factory and VOA, specifically noting that they were self-designating the model as the 914/2 after the backlash from the "S" designation. 



According to R&T, comparisons were being made between the 911S and the 914S in the early marketing literature and that rubbed factory the wrong way. The 911 had a bad habit of the rear end sliding around if you let off on the throttle. While this characteristic could be exploited by experienced drivers, in the hands of a novice it could end badly.



With the 914, the center of gravity was so close to the middle of the car that it was a much safer and easier to drive car that could utilize the HP in cornering. With the added stiffness of the roll bars (producing understeer) and the increase in HP there was more and more talk about the 914 compared to the 911S.



This is where the the engineers realized they had made a car that could kill the flagship model if it was given the same HP. After the initial delivery of the 2.0 European spec cars the compression was lowered and the appearance group package was split up with a few a omissions. 



In late 1972 the updated brochures and literature eliminated the "S" from the official 914 line up. We will probably never know the entire story, but you can see that from 1973 forward the cars only got bogged down with more heavy emissions equipment and no further increases in HP. In all actuality this “S” designation may have put the prowess of an improved 914 on the factory radar and may have contributed to its subsequent elimination early in 1976.



So how can I identify a model “S”? It should have a late 72 production date and a serial number in the 1st 2000ish of production. They start at 473290001. The true tell tale sign is the leatherette roll bar pad. They do not crack like the factory non-wrapped ones. I actually came across this as a prospective sample for our tooling on roll bars we made, but ultimately we made the more common texture as it would suit a larger number of cars.



One of our customers is currently selling a car that fits into the category as far as we can tell. It exemplifies all the attributes of the cars first designated as an “S”. The VIN is 4732900184 and it is a well cared-for rust-free Oregon car.
 



 
If you are interested please contact Pete Olson via email at visach9@gmail.com. 



Sincerely,

Mark Whitesell AKA Mikey914

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Customer Cars: Karl Schulz' 2-time PCA National Concours Winning Creamsicle

Friday, June 18, 2021 5:05 PM

We love seeing what exciting projects our customers are currently working on. Every month we would like to showcase a couple of cars in whatever state they are in - on the road or on the rack. This month's winner is Karl Schulz! Karl is the owner of a 2-time PCA National Concours winning 1974 914 2.0 Creamsicle, which he has proudly driven for over half his lifetime!



The car came into his possession in 1986 when he bought it from the second owner in Texas. Being a midwest resident, Karl realized that he had to take extra care to ensure the car never saw the snow during the salty winter driving season. Despite it being a seasonal car, he still managed to put over 200,000 miles on the odometer. 


The engine has been fully serviced twice in its lifetime. The transmission was serviced by Brad Mayeur years ago and is still running strong. Other than that the car is completely unmodified and Karl has noticed the interest in it increasing as the years go by. As an added bonus, his PCA show-car placard was included with his submission and has been listed below. Thank you for sharing this great piece of Porsche history Karl, we hope to see it on the road for many miles to come!





1974 PORSCHE 914 Limited Edition ‘Creamsicle’

  • 500 built to commemorate Porsche’s 1973 CANAM Championship
  • This car is UNRESTORED ~ (mostly) original paint, interior, carpet. 
  • Daily summer driver for 35+ years ~ 237,000 + miles.
  • 2-time Porsche Club of America National Concours winner,

    Preservation Class, 2001 & 2010
  • Mid-mounted, fuel injected 2.0 liter flat four engine, air cooled, 95 HP
  • 4-wheel disc brakes, 5-speed transmission
  • Cost new in 1974: $6,500 ~ about the same as a Corvette or Cadillac

Please submit your image and a brief summary to blake@914rubber.com. If we select your photo for the newsletter you will win a $15 914Rubber gift card!

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Customer Cars: Richard Nyberg's 1973 914 2.0L

Wednesday, June 16, 2021 1:45 PM

We love seeing what exciting projects our customers are currently working on. Every month we would like to showcase a couple of cars in whatever state they are in - on the road or on the rack.



This month's winner is Richard Nyberg! This is his 1973 914 2.0 project. He stripped the car in November and began a full rotisserie restoration.

 
 
Richard has completed over 30 restorations in his lifetime and this was his first Porsche. Overall, he says that he has been very impressed with the fit, finish, and engineering of the car and it certainly won't be the last Porsche he owns.



 


His car recently came back from the paint booth sporting this stunning blue. The exciting part of his build is coming up next as he begins to put the car back together. We look forward to seeing this car on the road soon and wish you the best of luck in your restoration. Thanks for the great submission Richard!


Please submit your image and a brief summary to blake@914rubber.com. If we select your photo for the newsletter you will win a $15 914Rubber gift card!

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Mark's Corner: New Roll Bar Pad

Tuesday, June 15, 2021 9:43 PM

New Roll Bar Pad Coming Soon



I would like to thank everyone on 914world who supported our efforts to create the new roll bar pads for our cars.



To recap, we created these using a metal substructure just like the OEM part. This was the only way to get these to secure to the body correctly and allow for a softer formulation of rubber. Another manufacturer did try to make these but skipped the additional cost of the metal structure and went with a plastic material that is much harder than the OEM.



We created the correct texture to make the new ones hard to distinguish from the original part. The OEM version was a soft foam that had a textured vinyl thermoformed over it. This is the same technique that the dash tops used, and as time has shown us, they have the same issues. The foam and vinyl expand and contract at different rates. Over time they all form cracks at the same stress points.



We have utilized the same technique that we use on our dash tops to make these. We utilize a self-skinning foam injected into a mold under high pressure to pull the texture off the molds. This means the product is made from the same material all the way through, creating a uniform elasticity throughout the part that should last (I.E., not crack) indefinitely.



Production on these is in the final stages and we expect to have them ready to launch next month. While not required we have also put together a “hardware kit” that consists of new screws and screw hole plugs. The new screws are a #2 head that will make life much easier should you need to remove the roll bar pad in the future. This kit consists of 12 screws and screw covers.



Tips for Removing the Roll Bar



The factory screws are quite small and use a #1 Philips tip. Try a #2 and you will strip them out. I recommend using a shop vac and a tool like a small screwdriver or pick to clean out the openings on your old roll bar. If you can see the screw head, it makes it much easier to remove without stripping. A little bit of additional prep time here will save you loads of headache later.



Also unannounced, but I wanted to give you a heads up about a kit we are making to rebuild the rear roof latches. I wanted to mention this as we are making the springs now and within a month hope to have the complete kit together. It will be comprised of new lever plates, double loop springs and a replacement pin for the arm. It is virtually impossible to clean the old latches up fully assembled and recoat them. You will have the ability to do this shortly.



 Again, thank you all for your support. I have several other exciting new items coming soon.



Sincerely,

Mark Whitesell AKA Mikey914

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