75 914 Laguna Blue Project Options

[Graydingo]

Hello everyone, my name is Duane and I love me a Porsche project. So much so that I've had five air cooled cars (mostly projects mind you) in the last few years. I've pared that down to a mere 2 911s (one massive RSR project and a pretty good little driver 75.) By fate, every single one of them was a 75, or a 77 model year.
I guess I love an underdog and a project! Any-who, here's me latest acquisition...



A 1975 Porsche 914 2.0 in Laguna Blue L50C. What a color!



It all started when I found a 76 2.7 911 motor on craigslist. I inquired and got a snappy text back from a known number. Turns out, it was a friend and the owner of the local Porsche specialty shop. I went over to check out the motor and ended up buying it. A pretty clean 2.7 core, missing a few parts, but had a set of Italian 40 IDTP carbs on it.

While there, I was shown the 914 which the 2.7 was actually destined to go into at one point but then the owner decided to go nuts and planned to put a 3.6 in it.



He had acquired thousands in parts but lost motivation in the project. He had flares, elephant suspension and all kinds of stuff. Sadly (or perhaps fortuitously,) he had sold a lot of the new parts to another 914 enthusiast, so what was left was just the original car.

Already having a big project in my 74 RSR tribute, I passed on the 914 and headed home with my new 2.7. My 75 911 has a similar motor and It's ready to rebuild. I thought I would take the best parts off both motors and make a 2.8 twin plug beast for my 75. Ya never know what condition the crank or heads are in, so I figured it was a good plan to have more parts at the ready for cheap, and then sell everything left over later.

One thing that struck me about the 914 on that first visit, was that the car was extremely dry. Here's the ....ahem... heck hole.



Though the car was taken apart, the previous owner seemed to have all the original parts (though many of them were in his storage facility and not with the car.) Another cool factoid was that the car was actually purchased in a nearby Audi/VW dealership right here in Las Vegas. Vegas in '74 was very, very small, so to have a survivor 914 in the same town that it was 46 years ago is pretty cool in my opinion.



The car was more or less stripped in preparation for a GT conversion. I remarked in my mind about how solid the car was and went home that day thinking it was a good deal but that I'm a snobby 911 guy who doesn't buy anything but 911s :-P The car was definitely marinating in the back of my mind...

Fast forward a few months later and a younger friend was talking to me about project cars, and it got me excited about the 914. On a whim I reached out to see if it was still there and bought it the next day. I think I just really liked it and I fell in love with the color. It feels like a mix between Gulf Blue and Miami Blue. I'm actually painting my RSR Gulf, so I absolutely love all the cool blue colors.

The shop had a bunch of waterpumper parts stored in the back:



PO had the original Fuchs 4 lug wheels, but no tires. the 914 was also on a pretty sweet dolly, but unfortunately that wasn't part of the sale.



I took the wheels to a discount tire and got the cheapest tires I could buy, just so I could make it a roller for the impending flatbed trailer pickup appointment.



I had to scrounge around and find some lugs to mount them. Luckily I had some open 911 lugs as well as some 996 studs to complete the temporary fix.

After getting it back to the shop I thought: "I've got a complete project build going already, wouldn't it be fun to try to build a total survivor driver with original paint, dings, dents, damage and all, but have a bit of a sleeper engine and nice interior. So mostly original, but everything works and is nice in terms of get in, turn the key, take it to the grocery and not worry about parking it. "



Stay tuned for the paint correction...

[Graydingo]

More progress on the 914. Currently it's sitting under a tarp outside my shop as I complete work on the 911.

Haven't had as much time in busy December to get to the shop and a lot of unforeseen supplier issues with the 911 parts I needed have slowed work, but I continue to source parts for the build.

Anywho, I did spot a front bumper on Facebook marketplace for a decent price (I already scored a clean rear bumper for the backdate locally.) The front bumper met a few requirements, mainly that it was not chromed and not severely rusted. Seller sent me a pic of his kitchen sink too! :-D



It looked pretty clean so I made a deal to have it shipped from NC to WI where I asked Ben Mcfarland to apply his metal skillz to customize it for the GT opening.



He sent me a few pics of his progress already and I'm excited to get it mounted up.



I also asked him to delete the license plate holes. That's something I did on my 911 valance and I really like the smoothie look.

I really dig this car.



Definitely the direction I'm heading. Clean, narrowbody with GT front, and I think that's the Patrick Motorsports "Limited Edition" valance, but not 100% sure. Anyone know who owns this car? More pics!

I also picked up a new manifold bell crank stud from Larry over at youroil.net. He's been a great source for PMO parts. If you recall from earlier, the Webers got a bit banged up in transit to me from the seller and the bell crank stud arrived snapped in half. I'll get the new one pressed in and it will be good as new.



I like dealing with Larry, I get an old school vibe from him, though I've never met him in person. He's pleasant to deal with and always delivers. I was curious how hard it would be to get PMO parts given that Richard Parr had sold out to Empi. Not sure how Larry got the part, but it happened.

PO of the 914 called me out of the blue and said he had the remaining parts from the car. I dropped everything and went to his place of business where he had piled the parts he found into a big shipping crate. I loaded it all in my SUV and headed home.

Parts included : Gas tank, seats, seat rails, seat backer pad, engine sound pad, door sills, door cards, front headlight assemblies (with sylvania halogen - looking for Hella set), antenna, original front turn signals - (Those were Hella), rocker panels, washer reservoir, engine crossmember (2.0), and one of the missing engine grille side pieces (still missing one).

The only bummer is that both rear tailights are missing. The entire assemblies. Maybe they'll show up yet.



I guess that's the AC cover for the frunk sitting on top of the seats?

The backer pad is a bit warped from storage, and not quite sure if I can steam it to straighten it out or what. I might not even have to reupholster it.



Door panels are in OK condition but I already took advantage of 914rubber's recent group buy deal for new ones. Plus I'm deleting the door pockets and handles and running an RS style panel (Need all the interior space I can get!)



Finally, I also got a spare AWC cast Fuchs Replica. So now I have 5 of these.



I'll probably run my cookies that I had powdercoated bronze. I have 6 cookies, 4 15X6 and 2 15X7. The 7 might squeeze in back as it has a 205/50 on it.



Next up is to ship the seats and dash to my Upholster and to buy a carpet kit. Heard the ebay kit from Germany is solid.

[DC_neun_vierzehn]

Next up is to ship the seats and dash to my Upholster and to buy a carpet kit. Heard the ebay kit from Germany is solid.

@Graydingo

Loving your updates and super jealous of your bravery, skill, and available time to tackle all of your projects.

Can you share a link to the carpet kit referenced above, pls?

[Graydingo]

@Graydingo

Loving your updates and super jealous of your bravery, skill, and available time to tackle all of your projects.

Can you share a link to the carpet kit referenced above, pls?

Thank you! I don't remember where I spotted this, maybe it was here, but they are about $100.00 more than one of the big US suppliers, but A couple of reviews from those that installed it were very happy with the fit, finish and quality.

Black carpet kit for Porsche 914 LHD Made in Germany Loop carpet

Since I'm bumping the thread again, I got another pic from Ben now with the license plate holes filled and some additional finish work. I'm just learning how to weld but for something like the bumper that is quite prominent, I thought I would trust someone with a few more hours on the welder! :-)



I did receive my box control arm reinforcements and rear frame reinforcement plates, so my goal is to weld those on by myself.

Someone on FB marketplace had a set of fog grilles from AA. I picked those up for a great price and hope they survive the shipping process. I'd like to use old school lights.



I personally don't care for halogens, or LED headlights on vintage cars. I do 90% of my driving during the day anyway.

It's fun to parts hunt like this and pull the trigger on low risk items, because in a few weeks when the project is maybe in a lull, I'll get a random box in the mail and my brain will say "Oh yeah, here's that part I found." That will motivate me to move forward on the project and it helps keep up momentum in these long term projects.

Here are the steel rocker panels. Likely roll those though I do like the aluminum ones offered by a member here on 914World.



You can also kinda make out the beat up fiberglass front and rear valance. Obviously can't use the front anyway, but maybe the rear if I fix the cracks...

Here's the 2.0 crossmember. I'll list some of these items on the WTB eventually.



I'll have the cookies, but I also have Group4wheels Torque Thrusts that I think will look awesome on the 914. That's the beauty of having a narrow-body midyear 911 is that the wheels should be interchangeable when I want to switch it up.



The TT have a 32 ET which allows for a wider tire to be run in back. Haven't test fit it on the 914 yet, but I'm anxious to see if I can squeeze it under there with a 225/50 like I can on my 911. The 911 front donor suspension has 65mm steel studs. So I'll match the back with the same.

Those longer studs are nice for a 911R replica Fuchs back there if I want, which will give me the ability to run more tire on the inside to clear the stock flares. Who knows until I start stuffing tires and wheels under there. I know of at least one gentleman who's running 911R wheel in back, I think he modified the control arm to be skinnier though.