74 914 - what to do Options

[gil914]

In 1996 I purchased a 74 914 (phoenix red) that had last been on the road in 1994. It was in decent shape, ran strong, but had a hellish, mosquito killing, blue fog that came out the tail pipe, complete with oil residue. Life happened, racing, businesses, marriage, kids. Some point in the mid 2000s I stripped the interior, pulled the motor and took it to Chris at Tangerine racing. He put it on the rotisserie, called me with the inevitable news, and proceeded to do the necessary repairs. Some small longitudinal work, jack points, some minor floor work. He checked the rest, including the hell hole, installed a chassis stiffening kit that reinforces the interior longitunals and sent it home. Due to an issue with funds, see marriage above, the work was not completed. The sail panels need small patches in the flat portion, a battery tray, but not support, needs to be installed, the entire underside is primed but needs paint.

My daughter is now off to college and I have started on car projects again. I recently finished an engine swap and restoration of an Mr2 Spyder to use as a fun daily driver. The 914 has been moved out of the barn and into the garage. Prices on 914s have gone up. What to do with this car? It says, 2.0 on the back and the engine that came out has 2.0 liter heads but no engine number. I have a spare engine with 2.0 liter heads and a GC engine code. I also have a 2.4 6-cylinder that was built and dyno'd at 210hp that I used to race. It was put away wet and forgotten, see kids above. This is setup for a 914 and I have the oil tank, lines, front oil cooler, weber carbs, fuel injected butterflies, etc. fort this motor. It, like the two 2.0 four cylinders, will need a complete teardown and reassembly. To finish off the collection I have a 74 1.7 parts car (bad rust, bad front corner repair), as well as all of the parts off a 3rd 914. Both 914's have the appearance package.

I had planned on restoring the car, but the lack of engine number on the original motor means I can't authenticate it as a 2.0 which seriously erodes the value. At this point the car is likely not a candidate for restoration but rather a driver or something else.

I see a few choices:
- slap it back together, get one of the 4 cylinders running, throw the carbs back on and see what happens. Ignore the old paint and various blemishes.
- restore it as a 2.0 with a non numbers matching engine, get 2.0 djet working, etc.
- put the 6 cylinder in it and restore it as a narrow body 6 or a widebody 6.
- sell the whole lot, take my losses and move on...

Sorry for the long post but I am unsure how to proceed with this project. Any advice or guidance is appreciated. I will try and post pics later tonight. I'm having some issue getting photos of appropriate sizes inserted into the forum.

[Cairo94507]

Well you have a few choices for sure. The good news is it seems like you have some of the big parts, regardless of direction. What is it you really want?

It would seem a waste to have that 2.4 sitting and going to waste when it could easily go into the car and transform it into something you might really like. Of course, the cost goes up considerably to do that even though you have a lot of parts already.

I would leave it narrow bodied and get it together and drivable. But budget controls how fast these projects move along mostly.

So, what is it you truly want to drive? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)