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...... ;-)

[Root_Werks]

Very cool to see the updates and the 914 looks amazing!

Yes, it feels good to drive your 914 more than wrench on it.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

[Gatornapper]

Dan -

Boy, you nailed it! Love this car so much! More FUN to drive than any of my Porsches.

RichB45 followed me today in his '79 911 SC restomod in some area twisties I had never showed him before. We had about an hour and a half of fun driving on rural twisty Virginia roads - hills, mostly forest, lots of road with no lines. He always tells me that my leading in the 914 keeps him from killing himself in his 300+ hp 911. It may be true - he has a heavy foot. I do too but it is restrained by my not wanting to kill someone and not wanting a ticket for reckless.

Good example was today in very dark forested super-twisty section with very few houses all of a sudden there is a young mother walking her child on the road! She was on right facing us, and on the side of the road. Fortunately we saw her soon enough to brake and give her wide berth and slow down. But road was narrow and if a car had been coming toward us - I'm not sure we could have missed her or stopped in time. Scary.

Another note: I love the gearing in the 901 tranny. Every gear seems perfect - wouldn't change a one. Can do so much in 3rd & 4th. Can't say that about my 928 or 944 S.

I have wiring in place to put in gauges soon, but will do that at my leisure. Oil Pressure gauge, Voltmeter, Clock. All VDO black. Just need to connect wiring to gauges and mount them in below-dash panel.

GN

Very cool to see the updates and the 914 looks amazing!

Yes, it feels good to drive your 914 more than wrench on it.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)