newbie--914 ownerr for 36 hours '75 1.8, 26 years in storage. Now what? Options

[almus]

Greetings,

I am a newbie 914 owner. Said green 1975 1.8 has been
in garage in northern NH since 1984. There is rust,but it is
surprisingly not that bad. Purchased for the princely sum of 500.
Interior good. battery support is rusty but doesn't appear to be
real bad. Looks to be about 62k original miles.

Gas tank contents have reverted to primordial ooze.
Gas tank cleaning kit? or radiator shop? Donor?
Oil is clean; must have been changed just before being
parked. Can't open rear trunk

I am concerned the entire fuel system may be shot.
My thoughts are to find a rusty donor car to
scavenge.

I have some newbie questions.

Will any 914 motor fit in my car? If I get a 2.0 donor,
are there any years that *won't* fit because of ???
(transmission? mounts? etc?)


Any local (to me) gurus willing to show me the ropes?
I am in south east New Hampshire.


Thanks.

-a

[pcar916]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/welcome.png) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welcome.png) What a great find! Just don't try to start it yet.

I'll let the four cylinder gurus answer about the specific motor interoperability.

The car needs to come apart and (as stated above) have all rubber and suspension parts replaced. That carb needs to be replaced anyway but will certainly have varnish in all the wrong places since it hasn't been run since '84.

There are some threads here now and then that talk about how to start a properly mothball'd motor up again and some that talk about starting one that was badly stored. It all involves taking things partially apart and lubing it like crazy. The rings are possibly frozen in place. Even if it turns over the cylinder walls will scratch but may recover. You won't know until it's too late unless you approach it deliberately.

The brake system will be full of water. Don't be pushing on the pedal a lot until the brake lines and fluid is replaced, or you might be replacing the master cylinder as well.

Check out the electrical system too to make sure you have everything working like it's supposed to be once it all runs again.

You'll find a lot of information in the Lapuwali section on the main page. Cruise through that first, buy the Haynes manual and post questions here!