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Posted by: Rockshredder Oct 14 2022, 06:34 PM

Good evening everyone,

My Late father gave me his 914-6 before he passed. Unfortunately the car has sat dormant for the past 25 years.
The Good ; it is a legit 6 bought new by my father in 1970. Everything is original. All numbers match
The Bad ; because it sat for 25 years the engine, tranny, calipers, brake lines, and pretty much everything will need to be rebuilt or replaced.
The Ugly ; there is a fair amount of rust in the hellhole area underneath the battery tray, including the battery tray. I see the rust also flowed down to the floor near where the drain from the engine compartment drains. There was also rust on the body, however I sanded it down to stop it from getting deeper.

The car has been in the family longer than I have, so my sole intent is to keep the car and restore it back to its showroom condition. Definitely not interested in selling, sentimental reasons.
I am looking for advice on where to take the engine for rebuild, where to get the tranny rebuilt, where to purchase calipers or caliper seals, where to purchase 914 parts to start the process.
Who would be a amazing sheet metal guy/girl that can tackle the hellhole and other areas needing attention? A good body shop with rotisserie for bodywork and paint after sheet metal is completed.
I am in the Las Vegas area, I can transport the car anywhere in the southwest area if there is an incredible shop that can complete the project. Or if there is an incr3dible shop in the Las Vegas area that can handle this project please let me know. I don’t think I want to send it to Atlanta to the Porsche Factory restoration shop, however if you tell me that’s the best bet, then I will consider it.
Thank you in advance for any advice and information.

Posted by: mepstein Oct 14 2022, 07:02 PM

Posted by: tygaboy Oct 14 2022, 07:36 PM

Trans = CMS in Arizona
Brakes = PMB in SLC, Utah
If you want to hand it all off (and spend ALL your $!), there's Patrick Motorsports in AZ.

Most importantly:

Posted by: davep Oct 14 2022, 08:14 PM

Congratulations on the car, and you have come to the right place. There are very experienced people here. I sent to an email on documentation.
Dave

Posted by: Cairo94507 Oct 15 2022, 07:04 AM

Condolences on the passing of your father. Congratulations on having an all original '70 Six.

I can only speak from the experience of having been through a complete rotisserie restoration on my '71 Six.

Select a shop you are able to stop in and see the work as it progresses - monthly.
Expect the restoration to take about 2 years and be expensive.

I would recommend talking to Eric Shea at PMB Performance in Utah. They are doing great work on our cars and Eric is a terrific guy who loves these cars. He would be my first choice.

If Eric is unable to accept your car (I am sure they are busy), try Patrick Motorsports in AZ. James Patrick is also a great guy and they definitely wrote the book, (in my opinion) on building these cars to spec. They have done a lot of real Sixes as well as conversions- all done expertly with show winning results. They are expensive, but you get what you pay for. I have been to their facility and it is impressive indeed.

There is a lot to be said for the shops that have been building these cars for a while now and have seen it all when it comes to chassis/rust repair. This is not an area where you want someone learning on your dime at billable hours. Also, depending upon the car history, accidents, etc., a shop with or access to a Celette bench is a big plus. You want to be sure your chassis is laser straight or it will haunt you forever.

Lastly, you can sort of farm out parts of the build. A great metal/paint shop to handle the full body restoration, a mechanical shop to handle the engine/transaxle, etc. and then find a shop for the full assembly if you can't or don't want to do that yourself.

Also, find an excellent interior guy. You will get recommendations for all of the above from many members here who have walked this path. It is exciting and fun.

Most of all, take your timer and research the path you choose carefully. I hate to say it but some people will try to take advantage. We all know most of them by now.

Congratulations again and Cheers,
Michael

Posted by: PanelBilly Oct 15 2022, 08:24 AM

You might think about doing it yourself.

Posted by: mb911 Oct 15 2022, 08:59 AM

So just to keep things in perspective. The average pay a shop price for a proper restoration of body and all mechanicals you’re going to be in 150k. I know this because I work often with the shops mentioned. If you do everything yourself you will be in somewhere 1/3 of that price.

Posted by: jhynesrockmtn Oct 15 2022, 09:14 AM

Sorry about the passing of your father. Best of luck as you go forward with the car. If you want to do more of the disassembly and assembly yourself and hand off major mechanical stuff and body/paint to someone you'll get some great recommendations here. PMB on brakes for sure, could also do any of the other stuff. I've had good luck with CMS on a 996 trans, also check out Dr. Evil. On the engine, I'd consider contacting Jack Morris near Spokane WA. If he won't take on the motor, he'll have some recommendations or may know someone closer to you. Myself and a buddy have personally had issues with PM on buying parts, but I know they have a lot of fans so YMMV. Others I have dealt with who have been great, 914rubber on parts, also Auto Atlanta, Rich at 914werke.com, Jeff Bowlsby for wiring, Bruce Stone, the list goes on. You have a special car. There are real experts here that I continue to learn from. I am just getting started in my late 50's learning about these cars!

Posted by: rick 918-S Oct 15 2022, 09:38 AM

Posted by: flyer86d Oct 15 2022, 02:35 PM

It’s great that you want to restore your Dad’s -6! If you farm out the whole car, you will get the car back someday. I am not putting down folks in the business but I owned and operated a shop for a bunch of years. My advise is to figure out what you can do yourself and farm out the rest. There are many excellent folks on this board.

For example, I am restoring the -6 that I have owned for 41 years. I recently had the car painted professionally. While can do it myself, I would never get to it in my time left. I can rebuild most everything else and I will. I enjoy building my own engines and will do this one. I don’t enjoy fussy assembly work.

So, run it like a project and follow the progress so it doesn’t get pushed into the corner of the shop. Best of luck.

Charlie

Posted by: r_towle Oct 16 2022, 09:14 PM

Good luck, you landed at the right site to get good information

Posted by: TRS63 Oct 17 2022, 02:17 AM

Sounds like an amazing project, cars with such an history are rare!
I sadly can't help with the shop recommendation, being in the 914 birth land..

Bests

Antoine

Posted by: kerensky Oct 17 2022, 03:51 PM

You might ask the local/state PCA guys for shop recommendations. Sure, it's great to give your priceless car to Eric with a blank check - I'd love to do that, but ain't no way I could swing it. If you plan to do the work piecemeal, I'd bet there are some good shops in Vegas. Just let them do smaller chunks of the job, satisfy yourself that they do good work, then let them tackle another chunk. I have a shop here in OKC I trust to do the work he wants to tackle, and to give me good recommendations on the rest.