New Member, old car Options

[TACAN73]

So I bought a 914...
914's have been on my list for years. Last year, an Irish green '73 1.7 appeared on Craigslist and with some serendipity, a cashier's check, and a helpful friend it's now in my driveway. I did my pre-purchase research on 914world, and let me say, what a great resource this community has built. It made me very confident I could figure out what to do with this car, and how to get it right. After a year of research, disassembly, cleaning, a borescope, more research, and so on, I am getting close to a plan. Having a 914, even under a cover, in your driveway and you get to hear a lot about how your neighbors spent their time in high school. I even had a visit from a guy down the street with a 1972 he has owned for 30 years. The Good: the engine runs, the transmission shifts, and the bodywork seems straight. The Bad: passenger long is more of a suggestion in places and one of the previous owners (PO) tacked about 30+ hand made patch panels all over the place, including the entire passenger floor. The paint job seems to be the factory color, but the chassis plate and bolt heads are red, so not original. I live on a hill, so I don't think the 1.7 is going to cut it. I thought about a -6 conversion, then i saw what air cooling costs these days. All of this also has to happen in my driveway...

There's plenty of inspiration in this forum, though.

The current plan is to pull the motor, transmission, wiring harness, the brakes and replace those. I am split between the K and LS swap, having seen excellent examples of both. Boxster 6 speed, brakes and 5-lugs for sure. The body is going to get put on a rotisseries, repaired where needed, strengthened, and some flares added. I am not too concerned with doing a restoration, rather building a solid platform. I read Roy Smith's excellent book (The Racing 914's) and I think I am going to keep the exterior and interior close to what was raced in period (rally and the Marathon de la Route).

RFI's
1. Any recommendations on where to put reinforcements for a cage ?
2. Any advice on dealing with prior repairs- cut out or use (or threads that discuss this)?
3. The car has (to my surprise) all original glass. I don;t know if this should come out or stay in as the car gets structure built around it for a rollover stand/rotisserie. Any pointers appreciated.

All of the extra 914 stuff will be posted to the classifieds here first. Progress will be slow as I have an active racing program and two small kids. Looking forward to it!

[KELTY360]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/welcome.png)

[bkrantz]

Welcome and good luck!

From memory, when I built a 914 race car back in the 90s I mounted the cage to L-shaped plates that were welded to the top and inner side of the longs--not the floor.

As for design and specific location of tubes and mounting, that depends on how much you want to compromise access and interior obstruction with rigidity and crash performance.

[bkrantz]

Also,

POST PHOTOS!!!

[Montreal914]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/welcome.png)

As mentionned... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/thisthreadisworthlesswithoutpics.gif)

For the roll cage, you may want to contact Chris Foley at Tangerine racing.

On your rustoration project, if the passenger side long is gone, chances are the driver's is somewhat compromised, but you will see. As for previous repairs... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

A couple of members are currently doing restoration work outside, Paul and amazing Fred. There is a forum for restorations only where you will find a lot of information.

Paul: http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=301473

Fred: http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=368359

Build threads forum: http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showforum=78


Good luck with your project! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smash.gif)

[SO.O.C914er]

I’m not seeing anything green here!!

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/welcome.png)