74 914 Rustoration Options

[eatpez]

I picked up this roller last year and my brother picked one up as well. The original intension was a pair of Hayabusa builds, but I'm not so sure anymore, so I'm starting a new thread. The car was more or less complete and cheap. The longs and suspension points were solid, so I figure it was something I could work with.

Late this summer, I finally got back into the car, and the plan now is to take my time and make decisions as I go. Naturally, that means the first thing that needed to be done was to strip the car down to the bare chassis and tackle the rustoration first. This is especially interesting to me because the last time I restored a 914 was 25 years ago and I never got the chance to learn how to do body/suspension work. I'm using it as an opportunity to learn how fabricate and weld.

This will be my new thread and I'll be digging up pictures and posting updates with progress as I dig them up.

[Superhawk996]

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Since you have a couple of Hayabusa's maybe you should do a Hayabusa based V8 like the Lotus that was pumping out 450+ HP if your bother bails on his project.

Could be an interesting build.

[eatpez]

I don't have many pictures of the tear down, but I want to start with the history of this car's color.

The factory color code is L96M, marathon blue metallic and in the places where it's still fresh, I really am growing fond of it. I may match it when it comes time to paint. Especially since it was available on the 914-6 and my current inclination is to put a 3.0/3.2L engine in it.

It looks like it was then painted white, then red, then black with some kind of horrible brown primer after the white. The black paint job (and the red) were definitely not professional jobs - overspray everywhere and poorly bonded, etc.

I warmed up the rear quarter panel with a propane torch and managed to get a second removed in one piece. It measured with my calipers at 1mm thick.