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]

Some updates on the Laguna Blue Project.

I've taken on a friends 911 project so the 914 will be delayed a bit, but I'm still working toward getting big things done, like the engine rebuild and now the 901.

I'm pretty sure this is the cars original transaxle, and after opening it up, it definitely looked like a 156k miles had been run through it.



Notably, the pinion gear is trash. Check out the valleys of pitting!



So I'm in the market for a new R&P for this 75 if anyone has a good set.

The gear (don't know what it's called) that drives the reverse gear is also chipped. Not sure if it's savable.

I thought it would be cool to give the case the black mag treatment from Childsmotorsport. I called and talked to Chris Childs over there and got a price to do the case. He bead blasts and then applies the same old school factory (Chromate?) coating like some of the early race boxes had.

Here's some of his work:



Removing the studs was pretty easy and fun. I love my snap-on stud remover. It's one of those tools that I got from my late dad and so I associate it with him and using it gives me nostalgia and joy.

A little MAP torch to loosen things up and out they come.



Next up is removing the races, which I've never done. Any tips? Then I can clean the case and send off to Chris for his coating.

In other news, my interior guy Dorian from autos international reached out. There were definitely some hurdles namely the rear piece behind the seats was in pretty bad shape. He doesn't have a correct panel on hand so his trimmer was worried it wouldn't fit right because the backing was water damaged and warped.

Luckily Scott over at 914 rubber came to the rescue and supplied me with an old backer pad. I can fit that in my car, then send to Dorian to get the German vinyl applied.

Speaking of interior the dash is done. Though it was more expensive, I wasn't happy with the aftermarket rubber dash, so I decided to rescue the original. The original always fits perfectly and it's way way lighter.

Here it is in the sun, getting that vinyl to tighten up. Or is it leather? Can't remember what I opted for for the Dash. I think I went all German Vinyl. Dorian uses the real stuff. That shop is amazing.



I went bold on the seats and I can't wait to show them off, but I'm going to keep it a surprise for now until I get a picture. So excited!

Lastly, I haven't received the case, heads, crank back from Ollies yet. Word to the wise, if you get a project, send the case right away. It takes time.