Goldie, new to me 92 914 1.7 Options

[72 IXXIV]

Hi Fourteeners,

I'm Chris.

I just bought this gold 72 1.7 from the second owner who owned it for 40 years! It is in really amazingly well preserved *almost* rust free, *almost* original condition. It has about 70k miles on it. It lived most all of its life in the high desert of so cal, owned by an engineer who maintained it himself (with a log!).

Unfortunately I didn't do a compression test on it before I bought it, and now I see that it has two cylinders at 130 and two at 165. And the 130 cylinders are not on the same side....

Anyway, I just thought I'd introduce myself.

Here's a question; I think I'm going to keep driving the original, 1.7 matching numbers mill for a while. But, I'd like to put a reasonably fresh 2.0 motor in there. Any advice on my options? Long block? Used rebuild? FI v. carbs?

Best,
Chris

[72 IXXIV]

Thanks again for the warm welcome. I'm looking forward to learning a lot more here from you all.

The gold is a respray that is pretty good quality, but old an not an exact match. It feels a little yellow, and maybe a touch metal-flakey compared to the paint in the trunks and door jams. But it is fine for now. It suits the 70s time machine theme. I need to take better pix of the stickers in the back window but they are from porsche parades in (I think) 75, 77 and 78. The "aspen 78" has an appropriately groovy font.

The big bore top end is a very appealing option. This car really wants to have a super stock appearance (I'm keeping the steelies) and that would fit perfectly with that aesthetic, cost less and give me a small power boost and be totally reversible for originality purposes, with he stock heads, barrels, pistons (rods?) in a box in case the next owner wants to win concours.

How do you know if the bottom end is strong enough to warrant a rebuild?

That said...a 2056 is exciting to think about. Then I'd switch to carbs, but I do want heat and a stock looking muffler.

I'm not nuts about the compressed porsche script on the back. The badges (old PCA ones) are sun damaged and I prefer the cleaner look.

Has somebody quantified the correct spacing for the letters? I'd like to switch that back.

I appreciate the tip about Haggerty. I got GREAT quotes from them, half of the Allstate I use for my other cars. But I was concerned about driving restrictions. I had two conversations with folks at Haggerty asking what would constitute a violation of the restrictions and they said that running errands, driving to work or picking up my kid at school. It is NOT a daily driver. I want to preserve it and use it for fun drives. But I also want to use it however I want whenever I want.

Maybe I just had two bad phone calls, but that put me off.

What experiences have other people had with haggerty?