914 Journey to the Concours, Project: 1974 914 2.0L LE Bumblebee Options

[JeffBowlsby]

Because it handles so well out of the box, most 914 owners want a 914 so they can tinker with it, race it, and modify it so that it is ‘better’ than the factory ever envisioned, to whatever their definition of ‘better’ is from their perspective. We have seen so many great things on the internet about the 914 lately, on this website and others. It is exciting to see the interest in the car thrive and I am glad to be a part of it.

As much as I appreciate and admire the modified cars and the tremendous efforts put into them, I really like the stock, factory original cars the most. I don’t know if it’s the nostalgia or what, but to see and be near a 914 that looks, feels and smells like it just rolled off the assembly line 30 years ago is an exciting event for me. So many have been modified, and so few are original. I don’t know if I ever will be able to have a 914 that is a contender in a Concours event, but I think it would be fun to try. This continuing saga will be my online chronicle of the effort. I prefer to use photos so I will attempt to include lots of them as I go. To anyone who doesn’t share my enthusiasm for original cars or stock restorations, I hope you will still appreciate and encourage my journey. One great thing about these cars is that they are intriguing on more than one level and this project is about preserving originality for us, and future generations, to enjoy. But I still will drive it to enjoy its best attributes…

Here are a few detail shots of my car VIN 14536, the object of this thread, that I recently sent to Otto, to assist him in the restoration of his 914 LE Bumblebee VIN 14700:

[JeffBowlsby]

Side Valences

As careful as the previous two owners were with the car, they didn’t know what we know now about one of the 914s weak spots…the Longs. My cars’ side valences had never been removed in the 30 years of its existence and I was hesitant to look. Actually, when I inspected the car before purchase, there was every indication that this car was well-cared for in its critical areas that I could inspect, and it had lived its whole life in a dry climate, so I wasn’t too worried, but I just didn’t know. We’ve all seen the carnage to the longs on other cars created by accumulated wet dirt at the jack posts in particular. I took a calculated risk and bought the car anyway because of its overall condition.

The cars side valences have the original Sunflower Yellow paint and the original factory rivets holding them in place were exposed raw aluminum, not repainted black like on typical 914s with black side valences. Last weekend I carefully drilled them out, first with a 1/16” inch pilot drill, then a 7/32” inch drill bit to completely remove them. I soaked the three M6x1.0x12 cheesehead screws with PB Blaster, and they came out pretty easily. The screws had an internally toothed lock washer over a plain washer under each screwhead, and are yellow-cad plated.

The side valences came off easily and there were two or three fistfulls of dirt that came out of each side, but the original paint at the longs was pristine and shiney, and there was not one spec of rust anywhere. Whew, big relief. I am going to try to preserve the original paint on my side valences and just remount them, but I haven’t looked at them carefully enough yet to make that call. Interestingly, there was also a large collection of debris at the front passenger wheel well, right behind the front edge of the passenger side valence. The debris was dense and rock hard.

BTW, Why do we refer to the side valences as rocker panels? The term ‘rocker panels’ doesn’t make sense to me. Does the car rock on them, or do they conceal rockers of some kind? Maybe they are ROCK(er) panels because they take a lot of rock chips picked up from the tires? It’s a mystery to me some of the terms we use.

Here is my sidevalence investigation: