Got the car out this afternoon and Mel and I double-teamed it. She worked on getting the rest of the tarboard out while I worked under the car and in the engine bay.

Some things found:

The outer firewall is rusted to the point where a screwdriver goes through in several small places.

The rust spot on the passenger long is actually a hole about 3-3.5" tall and 2" or so inches wide.

Removed the seat belts and the trim in the back.

Was going to cut out the battery tray but realized that I smelled gas. This made me rethink throwing sparks around. I don't think there's anything in the tank, but I'll go to drain it just in case the next time we have it out.

Struck by DWS, I realized that I'm not far from a tub. The car could use some paint... Somehow Mel agrees with me that since we're close to having it stripped down, why not get it painted.. Why not indeed.. (Of course there's the cost, but hey, worth looking into..)

Pictures

Since the weather was so nice yesterday, I took the day off to work on the car. Turns out I wound up doing other stuff for most of the day, but still got in a couple of hours or work.

Cleaned the bottom of the floor pans with a twisted wire wheel on the grinder so I could see / access the spot welds. The cutter came in last night - I got a 3/8", but looks like I could go for a smaller bit...

Dug into the rust spot on the passenger long - it's a bit of a mess, going through a bit of metal (1/8" maybe) i went to take a picture, but the batteries in the camera were dead.

So the next time I have it out, I'll be drilling spot welds and cutting to good metal on the inner firewall.

Should have some money inbound, so I'll be able to order parts that I need. The seat hinge mounts were paper-thin. Will be looking at the package from RD for the pan, mounts, reinforcements, ect. Also, since I'll have the engine out and the pan off, might as well replace the tunnel fuel lines. I'd thought to put that off until later, but hey, while I'm there.

I have plans to get the car painted, perhaps at the end of the year, but since I've nearly got everything apart in the engine bay, I'll just take it to metal and get that nice and clean and painted as well.

This weekend doesn't look condusive to working on the car outside, so may be next week before I get do anything... Will watch the weather and see..

No work done on car, but got order in on some spot weld cutters and replacement bits. Those will be in next week and I'll start cutting stuff then.

If the weather clears up, I'll push the car out of the garage and start working on the underside .

Need to do a few more searches and see how to get the steering coupler de-coupled and remove the last piece of carpet.

Pushed the 914 outside and spent some time getting more tar out of the floor pans. A friend of mine came over to see the car firsthand and determine what sort of assistance he could offer. So, once I have the car ready, he's up for coming to get it and helping me weld up the (soon to be) missing bits. Such as floor pan, inner firewall and battery tray / support.

Found some more rust at the cowl junction on the underside of the panel. I'll mark that for clearing come winter, along with the rear trunk pan.

With everything taken out of the car, the garage is now unusable again, so I sort of need to push it in and out to get anything done. Not so bad though...

Got the engine on the stand last night, will be draining oil tonight and doing valve adjustments and whatever else looks like it might need to be done..

Played with the soda blaster as well again. A friend wanted a full tower ATX case soda blasted - turned out to not work well. That baked on enamel is a bastard.

I did play with blasting some car parts (primarily to ensure that I had media coming out of the business end while working the above...) and will be working on some tin and bits. The soda doesn't seem to tackle the factory body paint all that well, though it did blow off the latex stuff in short order. (But I am having a pressure problem with the compressor)

Tonight should have an answer on help with welding. Saw a deal on Amazon for a Hobart / Miller Auto Arc 130 with some basics for 385 shipped.... Thinking I'll be going for that after a paycheck or two.

Didn't get anything done on the car 2/28, but went out and got a couple extra scrapers for the multi-tool and replaced the air filter / regulator on the air compressor with a new one that doesn't leak. $40 regulator from harbor freight and got just over 2 years from it...

Having company over tonight, gonna do some unrelated soda blasting on a computer project, get my 1.8L on the engine stand and maybe get the car out of the garage for a couple of days so I can move around it easier... (No rain and temps in the 70s today / tomorrow)

While I have no pictures to stick up, I did go out last night and spend another 20 minutes or so with the vibrating multi-tool and the tar. There's a bit of rust in the front floor pan as well. Once I get it all up I'll know if I need a full replacement or if it can just be welded up.

A friend of mine is coming over Thursday to look at what I've got and see if he can help me get the welding done once I'm ready to do it. Another friend of mine is coming over Wednesday night and I'll have him give me a hand getting the engine on the stand so I can play with a couple of things.

I've driven the 914 as a daily driver for a couple of years with a few minor issues. Then, in 2009 (wow!!), the car quit. It appeared to be a vacuum leak, but I couldn't locate it via the usual spray something in there and watch idle. I decided to go ahead and drop the engine. Which I did in 2011....

I was going to get it fixed. Then I was going to get it fixed before I got married last summer. Then I was gonna get it fixed before the end of the year...

Now, I want it safely drivable before the end of April.

To do list as of 26 February, 2011

• Strip tar from cabin
• Order battery tray and support
• Determine if rust on inner firewall requires replacement panels or if I can do patch panels, likewise for seat support channels and hinges / hinge brackets.
• Order rear floor pan
• Address any residual issues with engine (including self-imposed problem(s)
• Clean garage to have room to work

This is just an initial list. The list is not necessarily in order. Other items will be added.

Parts list

• Replacement panels.
• shift related bushings
• Heater related items I don't yet have
• Potential engine / trans mounts
• Upholstery
• Oil

Initial pictures

It's been close to a year since I've last posted on this, and well, since I've picked up the "new" 914.

Current State of Events:

Wrecks and general bad luck have prevented me from selling my Impala quite yet. Between that and moving (now with a rent and a mortgage payment) I've not quite gotten anything done to the car I wanted.

Sometime in the next year I plan on building a rotisserie and stripping the car down to bare metal. There's some rust issues, but so far nothing appears major.

I'm currently trying to make final arrangements to make it to the Atomic Ramble in the next couple of weeks. I should know the day or three before I'd take off.

Current Near-Future Plans for the Car:
100 - 140# rear springs
Pulling the gas tank to run down the smell of gas in the car
Alignment
General Maintenance
Keep driving it.

I've been re-using my old valve cover gaskets the past couple of times I checked valve lash. This last time, upon reassembly and a drive, I noticed I had a funny smell.. And a trail of oil on left hand turns.
Check oil, went directly home, and redid the VC gasket again. Started car and ran it at various angles (still on my 3 ton Craftsman jack) and didn't see any evidence of leaking.
Drove to work, and when I got off, I noticed there was, once again, a puddle. Picked up oil at WalMart and went home. While grabbing some stuff for my Monte Carlo, I asked the parts jockey about the gaskets, and was told they chould have them tomorrow. "Sure"

They're a 1/2" too long. So, now I'm going the route I should have in the first place and looking for a VW / Porsche place in OKC to get gaskets from. Hopefully before being stopped for expired tags again...

20 June 2006 -- I've had enough changes 'round here that I was able to pick up another 914. Sure wish now that I'd kept the old one, it'd be awfully handy for parts right about now!

I flew out to LA 8 June 2006 and pursched a 1975 914 1.8L complete with L-Jet from Leamon, who by the way, is a heck of a guy! And so "The New Adventures of the 914" began. It was a ways home, and overall, the trip back was really a very pleasent one. Got a little lost in LA (looking for a Wal-Mart off the Mountain Ave exit, I took the Mountain exit, turned around, turned again, ect )

Drove from LA to Blythe that Thursday, and stopped around 0430 CST. Stopped at a Motel 6, and had to deal with a Hot Start issue (which I was expecting). The next morning, my supervisor calls at 0900 CST with issues at work that I'd not experienced, so I pass along to call the vendor, and "revealed" the secret location of my notes for the phone number. Wound up borrowing a hammer from the Maint Guy there to get back on the road. I didn't bring my hammer, and had forgotten to get one at Wal Mart the night before, so I tried my channel locks, ratchet, big Mag light all to no effect. Calling Leamon, he said they'd tried other "implements" without success as well, and that only a hammer seemed to work. At which point my phone lost signal and remained that way until hte next "stop"

On the way outta town, smelled something electrical, and noticed my gauges were not working. Quick check showed a blown fuse. Since I didn't have any fuses with me (despite being told that was one important thing to take), I didn't bother, thinking maybe I'd pinched a wire tapping the starter.

Down the road a ways, I decided I'd like to have some knowledge of how much gas I had left. I pulled off into a Roadside park, and swapped the fuse for something else that was red and didn't seem important at the time, got a bearing on how much I had, and started to go. And the car stalled... And I've still got no hammer.

9 June 2006 -- A great couple, working at the roadside park, came over to me offering whatever assitance they could, and loaned me a hammer to use. Tapped, tapped, crank. The car sputters a second and dies. And then will only crank. Long story short, spent some time with Leamon on the phone, going over basic stuff, vac leaks, spark and fuel. After talking and us believing that it is prob the fuel side of things, and my fear of breaking the hard plastic line on the road, I st about trying to figure out the fuel pump relay, since the pump was not heard doing it's job. Finding ground and +12, I strung some wire from the + side of the pump back to the engine bay so I could use my meter and test for continuity. Bingo! Jumpered that to the positive and I was ready to go! The couple that had been coming to check on me had disappeared, but a pan handler told me that they'd be back. I left the hammer with him, asking that he return it (I was getting odd looks wandering around with a hammer in hand looking for them), and hopped to it!

(As an aside, a couple offered me a couple of bottles of water and told me they wished they had some mechanical knowledge to help me out. Kind folk! They insisted after I mentioned that I had 7 Gal in the trunks. Turned out handy the next day though!)

I got into Phoenix w/o further issue, other than some traffic on I10, caught up with a couple of guys that I've known for many years from the Monte Carlo Mailing List, but haven't seen in a while. I also had the luck to meet Greg Robbins, who set me up with some relays to make sure I got home. I felt pretty bad, as we were waiting on the wrong end of the parking lot, and I wasn't sure how long he waited before he came over to our side. Being on the road must have dulled me a tad, and I didn't see the club hat as he walked up asking "Is that a Fiat?" He let me know that a couple of people would be looking out for me and may holler on my way back.

Walked across the lot and picked up a jack from Harbor Freight plus a hammer, and then grabbed a bite to eat. Before I took off, we confirmed that Matthew, of MCML fame, is ill suited to the 914, mostly due to the shifter.

Took off for Flagstaff to stay the night and crash earlier than I had the night before. Driving through the mountains turned out to be a little interesting. There were stretches where the car felt like it lost power, had to drop to 4th, and once down to 3rd to keep going. All the vitals looked good, and other stretches of similiar inclines there were no power losses. I'm guessing that I fell outta the power band, and getting back into it was the problem... (BTW, I popped in some replacement fuses I'd picked up in Phoenix, and they didn't blow the rest of the trip)

Right on time, rolled past the limits sign at 0111 (CST), and procedeed to look for a hotel room. After 6 stops and no vacancies, I tanked up and took off again. Wound up pulling the same stunt almost in Holbrook, but found a Comfort Inn, again around 0400 and crashed for the morning.

10 June, 2006 -- A friend of mine called at 0930 to make sure that I was still alive. So much for sleeping until noon (CST). Hopped up, took a shower and hit it!

Other than running over a 2' sucidial tumble week and seeing some amusing signs, it was a pretty uneventful day. I'd figured that I'd be in my own bed by midnight, there abouts and had been looking forward to it. Early to Amarillo, around 1830, and started looking for a place to have a nice dinner. Took a turn, heard a bad crunching noise, so I pulled off into the parking lot of a Graham Central Station, looked around, and finding nothing, did a figure 8 to see if it came back. Which it did, very briefly, then no more go... I gave Clay a call (Greg gave me my copy of the Emergency Contact List when I met up with him), and he was on target with a CV joint issue, initially having me check that it was still bolted. Unfortunatly, it turned out to be a little more serious, with the actual CV joint in pieces and parts. I decided the best thing to do was to either try to fix it (if the parts places had the half shaft) or get a U-Haul. Well, now that I know what everyone else here does, no parts to fix it, and as it turns out, no U-Haul trucks to pull it back with.

Dave, my neighbot to the rescue. He'd told me before I took off that if something happened within a day of home, he'd come and tow me back. At a good clip, Amarillo is only 3 hours from home, so I called him back (I'd "put him on standby" the night before) and asked really nice if I could get a hand.

So, he rolled up at about 13:15, we made arrangements, picked up the tools, dolly and car, and booked it back home.

So, I'm waiting on a plethora of parts, A/C system, CV joints, maybe a starter if I order it, and plan to have it back up on the road by mid July!

Pics to come!