71 Project. Third time is the charm?, Started working on my 3rd 914 Options

[AZBanks]

The first car I ever bought was a 71 914. I bought it a few weeks after I turned 18. It was red with a 916 style front bumper, American Racing wheels, and a VW bus engine. I should have taken pictures.
I started disassembling it right before I went off to college. I never drove it again and sold it as a basket case three years later.

My second 914 was a project when I bought it. No transmission or engine because the PO had pulled the Buick grand National engine out of it a couple years before I bought it. It had a Chalon kit and the targa bar had been cut off. At some point the PO had added and then removed Testarossa style side bars on it and had not cleaned up the mess. It appeared to be in good shape but as I started to work on it I found the PO was really good at covering rust with fiberglass. I dumped it for a loss soon after.

Here is my third attempt at 914 ownership. The transmission for my 1990 922 S2 Cab is in the process of being rebuilt and I was checking Craigslist for a cheap transmission to throw in while I wait for my good trans to be finished. I didn't find any cheap 944 transmissions but I did find a VERY cheap 914. It looked/looks ugly but it has almost no structural rust. The battery tray is gone but the hell hole has just one smallish hole. I will have a patch panel made to replace any weak metal in the area. On the outside of the car, the PO went nuts with black spray paint over grey primer.

I've cleaned up most of the black spray paint and some of the primer.
The wheels are off and will be media blasted and repainted and I'll throw some basic tires on them for moving the car around during the rebuild.

The car is going to be stripped of paint, bondo, and rust by a dustless media blasting company before I decide what direction to go with the bodywork. The options are stock, steel flares, Sheridan kit, or slight flaring of the stock fenders.
There are some issues with the existing stock fenders so making major changes won't be messing up a pristine original example.
Here are the pics of how it looked the night it came off the truck from the PO. Years of grime and neglect hid a decent set of bones.

[AZBanks]

I am starting to look for a seriously low powered engine for this project. Once my son has had time time drive it for a while with low power we will start looking for something with more.

Anyone around the southwest have an old, gutless 1.7 they want to part with cheap?