Great content Drew! Before I had my 996TT, I had two rusted out 912 project cars, a ‘66 3 gauge car and a ‘68. My plan was to restore the 3 gauge car due to how rare it was, then to do exactly this to the ‘68! I found my 996TT and the 12’s had to go before I even started their transformation. But the Subie engined 912 idea always piqued my interest. It’s so cool to see it done right! Hat tip to ya Michael!
Funny to think had Porsche made the right decisions, both the 912 and 914 could have actually merited 911-based Flat-Fours including 2-litre+ turbocharged Flat-Fours. Instead of having to make do with the 356-sourced Porsche Type 616 and VW Type 4 engines as far as 4-cylinders units go. Unfortunately such an outcome was prevented by the troublesome development of the 901/911’s Flat-Six and its initial limitations, due to the biral cylinders (that restricted displacements of the unbuilt Flat-Four prototype engines to 1334-1484cc) and the need for the crankcase for the 2-litre 901/912 Flat-Six to be redesigned for the 2.2-litre version to prevent the crankshaft of a 901/911-based flat-4 coming into contact with intermediate shaft.
As a Porsche fanatic I’d almost rather see someone drop an engine like this Subaru flat four into a 912 than a 911 flat six. If you take a 912 and drop a 911 flat six in it then it’s basically just a 911. A 912 with a Subaru engine is still a 912. I don’t know if that makes sense to anyone but it does to me.
Also a Porsche fanatic, strictly air-cooled... For me swapping in another manufactures engine (into any car) diminishes what the car is, and it's manufacture. I'd actually be embarrassed to say "my Porsche 912 is fast" because Porsche and/or 912 had NOTHING to do with making it fast. It would be like me creating a video game character and having you play - then - me saying "look at how good I am at this game only because that's my gamer tag".
Ya! I wonder, does he watch your channel??? Great looking 912. Be interesting to get you both on a local track (when yours is finished) and see how they compare.
About 10 years ago l was looking for a 70 Dodge Challenger, or a 90's 300 zx,l came across a 60's red 912 for 6500 complete than ran l wasn't familiar with it and passed, boy am l sorry.
