Phase II of my Restoration of my '76 914, 2nd part of my restoration work first started in late 2017 Options

[Gatornapper]

The first part of my purchase and rebuild/restoration of my '76 914 is in Virginia Teener but I thought I should put Phase II in a 2nd thread.

In review, maybe I should recap the basics of Phase I started in Sept. of 2017. I'll try to do a condensed version:

Car was abandoned in good friend's barn in 2005 an hour from where I live west of Richmond, VA. Friend asked me to buy it from the owner - another friend - who refused to move it. ME: "Sorry don't want a 914. They are VW's that are rust-buckets." FRIEND: "It's in really good condition and was running perfectly when parked in 2005. You should at least come look at it."

I did, body was in very good condition with little rust. Found out after purchase it was an LA car (sold in Placenta). Owner raced 911's & 914's, wanted $7k. No way, offered $3k. He took it, albeit with much grumbling & griping. Driving home with 914 on my car trailer I wondered, 'What in the world have I gotten myself into?" I had never driven a 914 and knew so little about them.

This forum was my 914 'salvation'. Everyone here has been incredibly helpful from day 1 and I have no words for my appreciation for all of you.

Car's condition:

The good: 911 Master cylinder, BMW 320i front brakes, little rust, car super-tight. Paint a 1st class job, but oxidized on lids. New rack & pinion. Scotty Burnett inspects car - says one of most rust-free 914's he's ever seen.

The bad: Tank ouf of car, badly corrupted. Carbs horrible from years of gas left in them - almost beyond recovery. Dead battery. Tires shot. Rear brakes seized.

It was about a year's work to get car on road.

Long list of work:

Rebuilt carbs 3x. New jets, new idle jets. Studied book on Weber's. I'm pretty good carb guy, but never seen Weber's. Had dual IDF-44's which everyone said were too big for everyday driving. (Local Porsche dealer installed the carbs at PO's request, telling him they were too big.) New fuel lines.

All new ignition including EI. Dizzy was 009.

New rear brakes from PMB/Eric. New racing front brake pads made huge difference.
Other help from Eric too - thank you. Complete flush of all brake lines.

New tires.

Got car running and just driving up my 1/2 mile drive at 15mph - I knew I had a phenomenal car and was ecstatic.

Handling blew me away.

Took me a year to dial in the carbs. Finally got 44's running great for every day driving, but a bit louder than I like. Oh, well.

Drove car for 4 years/6k miles, loving it. Worked on tons of details:

Found/installed 050 dizzy - thank you Brant - and car's running and performance improved noticeably.

Replace many pieces of trim/visors, etc. Thank you 914rubber.com/Mike.

Dr. Phil gave me his like new 75 front bumper - mine was trash. Also sold me OEM Fog Lights - dramatically improving ugliness of big black front bumper.

Rick Berkowitz - local 914 friend/Porsche encyclopedia helped me with a million things, lots of pieces and parts including a nice front spoiler.

Found & had powder-coated nice set of original Mahle's that tranformed the car.

All new shift bushings.

Welded/closed lots of rusted thru areas on muffer, repaired issues with heat exchangers.

New Relay Board & relays, starter, alternator.

New ThunderSpark plug wires.

New fuel tank, new stainless fuel lines installed.

Installed fuel pressure regulator & gauge in engine bay to keep pressure precisely at 3 psi for Weber's.

New thermostat from Tangerine Racing.

New tail light bezels - European from Sierra Madre. Sorry - my preference.

Installed LED headlights, all LED's in all other lights.

Powder-coated engine tins.

Tons of other minor items fixed/repaired/renewed.

This was Phase I.

Started Phase II on August 5th, 2022.

GN

PS: I must say thank you to George as well. He's always been available for my incessant questions - while always screaming about how the 44's will ruin my engine by running too rich. At the same time I've sure sent a lot of money to Auto Atlanta over the last 6 years...... ;-)

[Gatornapper]

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My Ruby 914 (antique plates coming soon) could not be running or shifting better!

And I love the Malaga Red more every day. The old Scarlet Red bugged me every time I drove the car.........

This is a 7 year old dream come true!

First broke engine in with an easy 100 miles, no loads, 2,000 to 3,000 rpm at most.

Changed oil and filter.

Now have been pushing her hard on hills to seat the rings but no more than 3,500 rpm for a hundred miles, then no more than 4,000. Almost 350 miles on engine since rebuild. Could not be running smoother.

I'm amazed at the torque I have between 3,000 and 4,000 rpm. She is pulling strong. Not exceeding 4,000 rpm until about 1,000 miles.

Need to dial down idle a bit still - she's about 1,400 now most of the time but after an hour of running drops to about 1,100.

Biral cylinders running nice and cool. But then, it is cool outside. I'm looking forward to see how they do in the heat.

Will do another oil & filter change after 600 total miles (100 easy break-in, then 500 with some loads), and also adjust the valves. They seem good for now, but sure they will need it at 600.

Will keep you all posted along the way,

GN