I'm Gonna Need Help, 74' 2.0 (almost) "Barn-Car" Options

[MAD914]

Hello Everyone:

I'm Matt. I've been lurking long enough, and this seems like such a friendly site, I thought I'd lose my posting virginity, and look for some suggestions. I'm not new to 914s - I've owned this one since 1983. I've "tinkered" with it, and replaced the transmission, but I've never restored one before. It's been under a cover in a garage in California for about the last 15 years, and was only driven about 5 times in the 10 years before that. For the first few years that I owned it, it was my DD. Then adult responsibilities took over, and it mostly just sat. It spent a couple of years in a garage in Houston (hence, the plates), but it was originally a California car. It doesn't currently run, as the fuel pump is gummed up, but I think that's the only problem. I've owned and worked on a couple of Bugs, and also had a Targa with a transplanted mechanically injected engine. I'm no mechanic, but I know which end of the ratchet makes the "ticky-ticky" sound.







I'd like to build a "spirited" street car, and among about a million other things, am contemplating a 2270 RAT motor, chassis stiffening kit, brake/steering/suspension upgrades and of course, repair of the hell-hole sheet metal (see photos below). I'm more interested in agility and responsiveness than brute horsepower and straight-line speed.

It may not be a real "barn car", but I think it's in pretty good shape. I'm sure there's some very devious rust I haven't found yet, but most of the usual spots seem to be clear, and the interior is OK. You can see the remnants of the 80's here, with the "wink" mirror and the fuzzy dash cover thingy.







In about 1988, I had the weird presence of mind to remove the stock rocker panels, clean out all the leaves and crap, wire-brush the metal, and spray the longs with rusty-metal primer. it seems like it helped fend off father time a bit.





Now the bad news - there's hell-hole rust on both passenger's and driver's sides, and I'm hoping it's not too catastrophic. Some words from the wise (and experienced) would really be appreciated here:



This is the driver's-side hell-hole, viewed from underneath.





And this is the passenger-side, underneath view. The hole you see there was caused by my yanking a bit too hard on the fuel hose to the fuel pump. The pump came off in my hand, along with a chunk of metal that looked like it came off of a sunken pirate ship.

Both the front and rear trunks are clean and rust free. Here are photos of the front.







The battery tray and support will obviously need to be replaced, as the tray looks like Swiss cheese.





Given the condition of the car, I'm still trying to gauge the amount of time/money/effort/grief I can justify putting into it. I'm married, so there's also the "enraged spouse" factor to consider. Any suggestions or warnings would be welcomed. I'm probably still a little light on the lingo, so you may have to spell it out for me.

Thanks in advance for any input or advice.

[Cairo94507]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/welcome.png) That looks like a pretty sweet little car you have there. The rust looks very minimal. Don't rush the job at all. Spend some time reading as many restoration threads as you can find on here to see all of the issues you might want to consider as you begin your decent over the cliff we all seem to love.

Make a list of all of your issues and prioritize the tasks. Always, always, always assess your chassis first and deal with the rust issues correctly (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif) so you never have to look back. It seems some people, none of the members here of course, start off willy-nilly with no plan and end up spending money on things they end up having to re-do again later as they were ill-advised to begin with or just did not do their research (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif) .

We have some serious experts on this forum (IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif) and they will be revealed as you read the different threads. I know what I wanted to do to my car but do not possess the skills to do it myself. So I farmed my car out to Scotty B. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smash.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif) Scotty is one of the best body guys you will find when it comes to our little cars. I know others are just as skilled at body work but most lack the hands-on experience with our cars to know what to look for and how to address it correctly so it is resolved for good. Scotty B. is that man as far as I am concerned. The hardest part for me is that Scotty is literally on the other side of the country so I am seeing my car through pictures (IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif) as it progresses along its path to being a beautiful weekend driver.

For transaxles we have Dr. Evil. He actually is a medical doctor (IMG:style_emoticons/default/w00t.gif) but his other true passion, aside from the occasional cross-dressing episode, is our cars. He has never met a transaxle he could not heal. He is the one who performed all of the work on my transaxle and it is stunning. I wish it were not on the other side of the country as I would like to see it in person.

Then there is Eric Shea of PMB Performance in Utah. Any questions you have regarding brakes, suspension, etc, and he is the man. Brakes are one of the only true safety equipment devices on our cars and I was not going to mess around with that on my own. Eric's work is often found hanging on gallery walls as most owners can't bring themselves to bolt his beautifully restored parts on their rusty cars (IMG:style_emoticons/default/first.gif) .

Look there are many other experts on this site doing incredible work (IMG:style_emoticons/default/pray.gif) and they will offer advise and their opinions along the way. By mentioning the above I am not trying to devalue the work of those I have not mentioned.

Finally, be very careful buying parts from people who seem to good to be true and have no history on these sites (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif) . It is not impossible for a "lurker" with no posting history to have unobtainable 914 parts in factory new condition, it is just improbable. You can trust 99.9% of these people but there is always the one douche who slips in there and tries to rip and run. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/WTF.gif)

Good luck with your car and have fun.