Long Overdue Intro and Status Update Options

[Cfletch]

Hey there everyone. I have been a member of this forum for maybe about 11 years or so give or take and generally speaking have been inactive in it. "Long time listener, First time caller." I have made posts in the past about specific things as I have been going through the car, but its about time I gave an intro and a status update as well for my car.

I purchased my car locally in town at the start of 2014 and at the time I was about 19 years old or so and didn't really know much about 914's in general, but knew that I liked the shape and concept of them being a targa. Had no idea about -6 cars or anything like that. I drove my car around town for city college and work and after some injection issues I realized it was not something I could quickly learn and decided to take it to a local Porsche shop and have them take a look and also give me an all around check on the health of the car. It was not the worst case news for these cars, but there was the beginning stages of rust in the hell hole due to a bad battery and my engine was tired with low compression in 2 of the cylinders. After doing some searches I found some engines for sale near me and thought it might be a fun project to tackle with my dad to do an engine swap. We were really close to buying two different 2.0 engines, but ultimately the deal fell through and I was stuck with my engine.

After looking around online more, I came across 914-6's and what those meant. I love 6 cylinder cars and got it stuck in my head that I wanted to swap my car to a 911 engine. I did some minor research- not nearly enough as I should have, but ended up buying a 1974 2.7 engine for it and got it shipped to my house from a shop back east. That was such an exciting day, being able to say that I had a "Real Porsche" engine and all of that. But then the reality of it all sank in and I had no idea what I was really doing. After some long hours researching what was needed I had the general list if you will for the typical items one might need for a swap and the costs just started increasing more and more. I had a part time job at the time and while I kept working to save for a new part, the goal of getting a running 6 just felt impossible to reach.

The car ended up in my parents back yard on jack stands with the 4 cylinder engine out, and the 6 cylinder hanging from an engine hoist for a long time before switching to a harbor freight motorcycle jack. From that point forward it essentially did not get touched. I transferred to a different college and moved away and ended up losing interest in the project because I was more focused on graduating and finding a decent job.

Fast forward to about 1.5 years ago or so, I was 29 and the goal of getting that car running became front of mind once again. I really started to figure out what exactly was needed, made lists of things to tackle and came back to this forum to see what was "new" in terms of part availability and companies that might have started since my interest was lost. I think I spent far more time on the computer researching the project and what was needed and how to tackle problems I was encountering than time spent on the car itself!

Fast forward once again to yesterday, I was able to get my car back down on the ground, with new axles, and have it move for the first time since it was parked back in 2014. I was really bad at documenting my progress, my phone is filled with random car related photos to pin down things or analyze stuff if I was not near the car at that point in time, but I was able to get a video!

Anyways the car is a 1970 914. Built in 12/69. It has a redone interior that is not yet fully complete, but will worry about the remaining portion once I can get the car actually driving properly and aligned. It has a 2.7L out of a 1974 911, but I ditched to CIS system to go with just Carbs- stock engine internals and I might go down the route later of changing pistons and cams to work better with the carbs. 123 ignition along with an MSD. Stock 914-6 oil tank. I converted the car to a side shift because when I did drive my car with the tailshift, it was like shifting a bowl of oatmeal. I have a full 5 lug swap with 911 based output flanges and hubs along with PMB rear -6 calipers. And headers because I cannot afford heat exchangers and I live in SoCal so its not really a big issue to me anyways.

Anyways thats me-Colin, I hope to get this car insured and registered again very soon so it can go to a shop for a final check to be sure its safe, tuned, and aligned. Once that happens you can expect me to attend some SoCal drives you guys always seem to do!

Link to vid of it moving its first baby steps after installing the new axles and adjusting the clutch so it functioned properly:
914 Vid

[Cfletch]

Here is a photo of the car in Oct 2014 and as you can see it really has not moved much since then.

[sixnotfour]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif)

[Cairo94507]

Very cool to see it moving under its own power. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[IronHillRestorations]

Great post Colin. It’s awesome to see a younger generation of people who love these cars. You took on quite a challenge and your hard work is paying off.

[Cfletch]

Great post Colin. It’s awesome to see a younger generation of people who love these cars. You took on quite a challenge and your hard work is paying off.

Of course owe you a big thank you for not only the harness, but also fielding all of the random questions I had along the way! Thank you Perry

[fiacra]

Nice work! I look forward to seeing your progress. Just the fact that it is no longer on jack stands puts you ahead of the game.

Love seeing Otto's license plate frame on your car! Hang on to that. It's a good sign in that it means at some point your car was under the care of an expert. I'm lucky enough to have a car that he restored for his own use.