Fred's Backyard LE Restoration Options

[friethmiller]

So, I finally decided to create a build thread for my 2nd 914.

Quick Story: Last summer (6/2022), I found this car listed on FB Marketplace and it intrigued me. It was listed as a ’72 but some of the pictures were telling me that this thing was probably a ’74 and possibly an LE. Against my better judgement, I decided to call. The man who owned the car told me that it was, in fact, an LE and that the “72” was a misprint. I told him I’d come pick it up and pay him his asking price of $1000. So, I rented a U-Haul trailer for $68 (incl. insurance), and drove 4 hours from Austin to Leonard, TX, which is about an hour northwest of Dallas. Got the car home without issue and shoved it into a storage unit for a month while I got thing prepared at my house/garage. Unfortunately for me, I had promised my wife that I wouldn't restore another car "in our garage". So, I'm stuck in the backyard [for now] attempting to restore a very rusty, old car. It’s kind of a pain when it rains and have to cover everything up, but I prefer being outside.

Condition: Poor! To say that the floor pans were a little rough, was an understatement. The car had been sitting in a field with all the doors/hoods off for years. This is never a good thing. When I saw the car in person, it had about 5 inches of wet leaves in the bottom. The trunk replacement was a "hack" with no welds to the transmission support. I can’t imagine driving the thing with the backend loose like that. The hell hole was in horrible condition with about ¾ of the passenger side longitudinal ripped open with rust. The list goes on. However, it did have its original 2.0L (minus FI) + transmission, and the dealer installed A/C. To be honest, the condition didn't bother me at all. I love restoring and repairing these cars. Plus the COA (or whatever they call it now) came back as a CanAm package car. This thing needs to be saved! I’m going to do my best to bring back this bumblebee. I've got a lot of pictures to post but here are some of the initial pics.

[friethmiller]

Drivers Side Longitudinal - Part 1 (12/30/2023): Here we go on the other side! Snapped some good photos on Saturday showing the disassembly and removal of the inner rocker panel and part of the rear inner fender. This is my 4th longitudinal repair and I'm starting to get a little more efficient. Since the rocker is in good shape and I will likely reuse the part, I will attempt to remove the rocker with the inner fender that includes the jack post and the area up to the outer suspension console.

I start by drilling out the spot welds. This is a very tedious process that works best with sharp drill bits and oil. I used a cap full of chain saw oil since it's what I had available. The following photos show the process of removing components, making strategic cuts to eventually free the metal and expose the longitudinal.









With the metal removed, you can now see the large mouse nest. Nice! With my PPE still on I removed it and started the process to remove the heater pipe, clips, and the back section of the front inner fender. Next, I drilled out the retainers for the two heater elbow pipes (a real PIA), which finally exposed the entire longitudinal. This one is by far the best one I've ever seen!





Final shot at the longitudinal, which will be my starting point, and a lovely pic of me with my PPE.