914 901 direct bolt to 911?

[RickS]

I have a tail shifter 901 a gentleman may be interested in buying for his early 911. Why would he? $250 sounds like a reasonable deal to him. My question centers on the logistics to making the 901 work for him. I would assume the trany would need to be converted to a side shifter first, but after that any help you could lend would be appreciated.

Here is a pic of the humble thing....

[bmendel]

with a 914 tranny, you'll get 1 forward gear and 5 reverse gears. That does sound like fun, but only for a couple minutes...

There are a couple threads on it at 912bbs.org, you can search there and see what has to be done to make it work.

[kenikh]

All you do is flip the diff or ring gear or something like that to get the direction of drive changed. Easy as pie. Convert the shifting mechanism in addition to this and you are good to go.

[Eric911S]

Hello: You have to flip the ring gear and diff assemble. Change the end cover and shift rods. That's all. No big deal just buy a 901 gearbox for a 911 $500. Not worth converting a 914 gearbox for a 911. Now converting a tailshift 914 to a side shifter well worth it. Hope this helps. Thanks Eric

[Grady Clay]

Rick,

“I have a tail shifter 901 a gentleman may be interested in buying for his early 911. Why would he? $250 sounds like a reasonable deal to him. My question centers on the logistics to making the 901 work for him. I would assume the trany would need to be converted to a side shifter first, but after that any help you could lend would be appreciated.”

First let’s get the nomenclature clear.

It appears you have a transmission Type 914/11 (transmission number HA x xxx xxx). That is a tail shifter from ’70-’71. It is not a type 901 but many parts are interchangeable.

You say he is intending to use it in an “early” 911, the year makes a huge difference. It would easiest fit a ’69 911 or 912 but, with some creative combination of parts, fit many others.

The above posts are correct; you need to move the ring gear to the other side of the pinion (this requires the gear cluster be out of the transmission). This is easy to do but involves some risk that you end up changing the contact between the pinion and ring gear. This can be checked with the R&P set-up tools.

The breather must be re-drilled on the opposite side or it will pump out all the oil while driving.

The shift rails are appropriate for a 911 but the shift rod, nose piece, speedometer angle drive and pinion speedometer drive need to be 911. The nose piece needs to be from the magnesium mid-’69-’71.

The clutch release arm pivot is appropriate for ’65-’69 but not ’70-’71 without machining. To use the casting in a ’70-’71 911, a clutch cable guide ring and a cable anchor need to be fabricated.

The transmission axle flanges can be an issue. For use in a ’69-’71 911 the flanges from the ’70-’71 type 911 transmission will work. For use in a SWB 911, there need to be adaptors fabricated as I don’t think the late ’67-’68 Lobro flanges (simplified differential) will fit. The earlier “non-simplified” flanges absolutely won’t fit. The distance between the two transmission axle flange CV joint mounting surfaces are significantly less on a 914 and LWB 911 than on a SWB 911.

If someone has an internally damaged type 901, 902 or 911, the internals from a type 914 can be fitted.

I hope all this helps.

Best,
Grady

[kenikh]

I continue to bow down.

[DaveE]

I would take a good look at the gear ratios in the 914 box also. I don't think they are too well suited to an early 911. They were tailored to a low-revving Type IV engine.

[RickS]

Grady,

Excellent response. Kenik and I both bow down.

Thanks to all who responded as well. However I believe I will run with Eric's sage advice, "Not worth converting a 914 gearbox for a 911."

I will discourage the lad because he is looking for an easy, economical solution. I see neither matching his criteria.

By the by, I did have my other tailshifter 901 rebuilt and converted to a sideshift for the 914, and what a phenomenal improvement. However I am finding it a lot more belligerent to row through the gears than my 915. I have changed from rowing it to finessing it, with a firm tug now and then. Hopefully it will break-in in the next 2 thousand miles.

[Grady Clay]

Dave,

The type 914/11 is geared AFNVZD and isn’t bad at all with a CIS engine or large displacement T. With the addition of only two gears it can be AFKQV which is a real hotrod set of not-too-short fun gears for an S-camed engine. The V in 5th is about 3200 rpm at 60 mph. It won't test the land speed record but sure fun to 140.

Rick,
I agree. My 914-6 side shifters actually shift better than any other Porsches I have owned. The gear changes are only limited by how fast I can move the shift lever and operate the clutch. I have never missed a shift. To tell the confidence, I don’t have a rev limiter. A gear change from 8300 to 7200 is measured in miliseconds.

A 915 can only dream.

I don’t want to un-do your sale but I also agree the best bet is for your friend to find the correct transmission and then rebuild it himself – it is easy. Why is he in need in the first place?

Best,
Grady

[kenikh]

I agree. My 914-6 side shifters actually shift better than any other Porsches I have owned. The gear changes are only limited by how fast I can move the shift lever and operate the clutch.

I thought it was just me or the car I was driving, but I was utterly envious of the shift quality of Brooke Stabbert's side shifter 914-6 last time I drove it. Brilliant shifting. How do I get that experince in my 911?!?

BTW, AFKQX (I chickened out on the V 5th) is an amazing box for a small bore S cammed car that needs some highway manners.