What have I gotten myself into, New old 914 Options

[Rick H.]

Evening everyone,

I'm new to Porsche but have always liked the look of the 914. Drove one a few times just enough to realize the shift pattern was not what I was used to. I've been looking around for a project car and found several MG and Triumph models but they were all either rust buckets, a project someone started but dropped or stupid expensive. Besides, who wants to deal with British electrical systems from the 60's? Not me. Fortunately I have decent mechanical skills and once built a 350 4 bolt Chevy in my kitchen. I was single and what else was I going to do with a kitchen? Worked out well. Last week on Facebook for sale I found a 914, looked at the photos, lost my mind and bought it. It's a mess. Stored inside or at least under a roof for 20 something years. The guy that bought the property found it and a lot of other stuff in one of the barns and finally decided to get rid of it. He pulled it out and it rained immediately. The paint is dead and the interior is awful but I found no signs of rust, just some surface corrosion. It's a '74, not sure which engine but not a 6 cylinder. Looks like most of that is there, all the dash instruments are there. No sign of rodent infestation damage. Tires are toast of course but I should be able to get it on a trailer to get it home. All four wheels turn, no lock ups. Headlights and bumpers are missing but I suspect they are in a storage building with a lot of other stuff. I'll need a flashlight and a shotgun to root around in there but the rattle snakes haven't started moving yet. The seller thinks everything is here, just not all in the same place. I'll post a few photos of my latest nightmare, I mean project, when I get it home. Should be next week. I've found quite a few videos on YouTube that have been worth watching and there's a place in Atlanta that does a lot of work with the 914. I also found this place thank goodness. I'll need to learn who the parts sources are for these cars and a whole lot more. For now I'll settle for learning what to look for and what questions to ask. First question: is there a decent shop manual for the 914? Back in the pre internet days someone produced a series of very basic shop manuals for nearly any kind of car but I don't know what's out there now. I've done resto work on a 68 Mustang and a 79 Z-28 and what I learned from those is how to figure things out and how many things the previous owner did wrong. Anyway it's nice to be here and I hope to get underway on this car soon.

Rick H

[Rick H.]

Well I finally was able to go and pick it up yesterday and bring it home. A very interesting journey it was. I rented a U Haul car trailer and drove about 90 miles back to get it, still sitting where I left it. The seller helped me get it onto the trailer and then we went searching for missing parts and found most of them. The bumpers are in decent condition for their age and I got a couple of other trim pieces I can't identify yet. Got the door cards, all the window and door handles. All the dash instruments are there. It has a set of Fuchs wheels. Haven't found the headlights yet. The tires are trash, never seen steel belted radials deteriorate quite that way. I'll replace them all with some old cheap tires to move it around but will put all new on it to drive. I can open the rear trunk without any problem and both doors can be opened but the front hood, boot or whatever it is called is stuck. It's partly open but won't open completely. The passenger side hinge there only has one bolt. The driver side release is in need of lubrication as is just about every other hinge on this car. I tried to get the plastic battery tray out but one of the bolts seems to have a stuck nut on the inside. Happy to say there is so far no evidence of serious corrosion but I'm just getting started. The rear trunk had a bunch of junk in it but I cleaned all of that out and again, no sign of rust or any serious paint failure. I do believe this car stayed under cover out of bad weather for the last 25 years or so.
Got all the carpet out and floors there are in surprisingly good condition as well. I think I'm going to let it sit for a few days completely out of the weather and just let it dry out. This is going to be interesting and I hope a lot of fun. It's hardly the worst car I've ever restored but not the best either. A few photos from my phone are hopefully attached, I'll post better shots when I get them downloaded.

Rick H