l found a 912 online in which the owner has replaced the old engine with a chevy 350 V8. I am a total believer in respecting and maintaining vintage vehicles, but the car is in my price range, looks nice, and if having a Chevy engine means it is more reliable and less expensive to repair, then l have no problem with it. What are your thoughts? Is this a good thing or a really bad idea?Also would not the cooling system be preferable to the oil cooled engines of the early porsches?

Thanks so much!

Clark

l do not ever recall the air/oil cooled engines having problems with cooling. One thing l want to know is how you would be able to fit a massive V8 under a tiny first Generation 912/911 hood. The weight in the back will definatly throw off the car is handling. It will go faster for sure, but I'd pass on that abomination.

On paper, a change like this looks pretty good. if u use the aluminum SBC as a replacement, it can come in with less weight than a 911 engine, & because part of that total weight is a radiator in the front, the overall rear weight bias of the car is better. And, of course, the V8 has gobs of power which is always nice.

But there r some substantial issues. first, it is not an easy fit! Aside from needing to fit a radiator, there is alot of fabrication to be done with the sheet metal in the back to get this engine in the car. Then there is the fact that the suspension & brakes of the 912 were designed for a car with much less power, so these will need to be upgraded. when all this is done, u will find that the cost of this upgrade will be more than the purchase of a different car.

But this avoids the biggest problem with this change. while the F/R weigh bias of the car is good, the center of gravity on the V8 is substantially higher than the boxer engines used by Porsche, as such the car will have very poor side to side weight transfer. I've personally observed two such cars at track days & autocrosses in the past, & while they sounded mean & had great acceleration down the straights, they had to come to near complete stops in order to take any turns, & as a result, the 912 with the V8 would've been faster around the track if it was just a regular 912! And if u r talking about anything other than the lightest SBCs, then u r making things even worse.

Such a project can be an interesting thing to do, but it will not really improve the car. If u r looking to improve performance, there r better routes to go, & ultimately, for the cost of a project like this, simply buying a much newer 911 would better the performance at a much lower price. If u want to improve cooling (though I've never heard of issues on the early 912s), upgrading to the 3.2L 911 oil cooler would be an option, or going further with an external oil cooler up front would take car of any possible cooling issues (did u ever see any of the 911 RSRs or other air cooled race cars of the era suffering cooling issues?).

As an owner of an early 911 l feel qualified to say run from this vehicle. You will be far better off waiting a little longer and and saving a little more money. The motor is too heavy and will get you killed in that car. A 911 is a bit ''touchy'' anyway. Aside from this is the whole cooling issue. l do not care what they tell you about how they have a radiator mounted.it is not going to stay cool. Just my opinion.

l wonder why this Guy is selling that car do not you? it would be fun to take a test drive. l have one question on this home built headache.. who is going to fix it when it breaks?