I bought a '73 2.0…. Options

[Larmo63]

I kinda lucked into a really solid black 914 with a lot of potential last Saturday. I found it on Craigslist and I went in hot. I was the first guy there, had the cash, and made the buy. I think I bought it VERY reasonably and I couldn't be happier. It came with all the manuals, paperwork, original window sticker, and complete history of the car. I am the third owner, the guy I bought it from owned it for 24 years. The more I dig around the car, the more I can see how truly solid it is, as far as the chassis. I have been playing around with my yellow '73 1.7 for almost two years, familiarizing myself with 914s and of course, falling in love with them in general. This is a much better candidate, almost TOO good to make into a street GT as I had envisioned for Speedy. The yellow car will get sold eventually, and the /6 engine I'm building will now go into Blackie. I'm stoked! They are still out there.

[Larmo63]

Chassis #1012 of 1973.

This car doesn't look like it was ever hit, although it has a '74 rear bumper(??)

I haven't peeled the rocker covers off yet. We had it on a lift over at Steve's house, and it looks good underneath.

As to whether I will convert this one, I am thinking long and hard about it. It is too nice of a car to hack up.

[Tom_T]

Chassis #1012 of 1973.

This car doesn't look like it was ever hit, although it has a '74 rear bumper(??)

I haven't peeled the rocker covers off yet. We had it on a lift over at Steve's house, and it looks good underneath.

As to whether I will convert this one, I am thinking long and hard about it. It is too nice of a car to hack up.

Of course he should do what he really wants folks, since it's his car & he's writing the checks & doing the manual labor - but I doubt that there would be any contrarians supporting him converting a factory 6 to a Subie or something!

We're all here to offer help to fellow members, & that's what we on the "recco to preserve" this early 73-2L side are doing.

The point is in ANY type of classic/vintage/collectible car arena - is that you don't mess with the rarer, more collectible car for an outlaw conversion, etc. Clearly, when he's got 2 914's & one is the least powerful & least collectible CA 73 1.7L .... then that's the car you resto-mod, & save the nicer & more collectible 73-74 2L (& an early "914S" as RobW noted).

Larry, I saw this one on CL too & wondered about the rear bumper, which may just have been the convenient replacement to a rusty or minor bump damage, since they bend so easily. However, it's well worthwhile to verify that there is no rear end damage & that the Chassis no. stamped in the trunk is there & matches the one in the door.

You may also see that they had to drill the mounting holes for the 2.0 badge in the trunk's rear wall, since they were still using up the 72 parts with the early 73's.

That's also why there are some/many/most early 73s with the chrome base window crank handles & chrome int. door handles - they were still picking from the parts bins with leftover 72 parts in there (later 73s went to the all black plastic types).

Also Larry, note that a 73-74 2.0 (74 LE's being a sub-set of these) in proper tune actually outperformed a factory six in the low end due to a flatter-wider torque curve which peaked a couple 1000 rpm lower than on the 2.0-6's, so it pulled better around town, then lost out to the -6's at higher revs where their HP & TQ peaked.

You could take it to Bill Brewster down by you, to get him to tweak that 2L-4 & employ some of the old school tricks to get them to perform even better than the factory manuals suggest - especially now that they're smog exempt .... wink, wink - nod, nod .... as the Python's bit went! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Then there's Ron at FAT Performance up here in Orange if you want a hot 2.0 build; & AASE up in Fullerton is another 914-meister, as is my guy Hans in HB - but he's not taking any more old aircooled, except long time customers (40 years this past summer for me); & some racers like Der Buggy in GG/Westminster to build/tweak 2.0/T-IVs. It all depends on what you want to do to tweak the 2.0 motor, &/or if it ever needs a rebuild.

If this is a clean, solid, rust-free(-ish) & mostly original `73-2L, then do what you really want, but think hard because you have the perfect donor for a 6-conversion example, which may also have a few donor parts for the 2L as the 1.7 gets modded for the Resto-mod/6.

PS - Food for thought at the Hagerty link below .... & this is before the rising early 911/912 SWB/LWB price effect has kicked in - not #3 & #4 values in particular - not factory -6 prices, but certainly nothing to sneeze at! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools...Porsche-914-2.0

Cheers! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
Tom
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