Derek’s Willow Green, ‘72 914, Restoration Thread Options

[dereknlee]

Inspired by others on this forum, this thread will document the restoration of my 1972 914 1.7.

I bought it in summer of 2008. It was supposed to be my daily driver that I would make minor improvements to while keeping it drivable. There was a memorable couple of weeks where I was using it for my commute in the winter, with no heat (heat ducting/valves removed for paint), and then the ignition switch went out and so I was parking at the top of hills until I got that figured out/fixed. I don't know how 914s got on my radar or what drew me to this car. Le Mans was, and is, one of my favorite movies - so I thought 1970s Porsches were cool. 911s were a bit out of reach, so I guess the 914 was the next closest option.





[Side note, cell phone camera technology has come a long way since 2008....and these pictures make me feel old.]




The plan for this car to be a daily driver changed (not so much by choice) when I bought a house in the fall, and upgraded from apartment carport to an actual garage. I set aside a couple weeks to drop the engine and tend to some oil leaks, and of course - discovered rust. The car hasn’t driven since (12 years as of this writing).

The worst of the rust was in the hell hole. I bought a MIG welder and did a fair job of patching things up. I also attacked the rust at the driverside jack point and in the rear trunk.





Then the house remodeling got serious. The car sat for four years before I decided I wasn’t going to learn body work and the car deserved better. I hired Eurotech Bodywerkes to finish the rust repair and repaint the car. When I bought it, the car had been re-sprayed (and poorly masked) in a John Deer green. The plan was to go back to the factory color: willow green.

Eurotech found more rust in the doors, so it got new doors. They also fit factory sway bars. They fixed miscellaneous rust all over the place, filled dings, re-sealed the seams, installed a new battery tray, stripped the underside, fitted new rocker panel valances, restored the old front and rear valences and then laid down a very pretty paint job. The cabin and front tank bay are the only areas with original paint.








At the same time I had the engine rebuilt by NW connecting rod into a 2ish L displacement (not sure as of this writing whether it is a 1911 or 2056) with a carb cam. The plan was to fit dual Webers (more on that later). I also had the transmission rebuilt to fix a chronic 1st gear grind. And I had some parts re-plated.

And then the car sat for six more years while I permitted and built/finished an addition to the house, as well as picked up some sports to occupy my time.

Spring forward to Dec 2018, and a freshly separated shoulder from a cycling crash. I started working on the 914 again. Re-sealed the tank (the kits available for this are amazing).



And refurbed the wiring loom in the front trunk:



...before getting side-tracked again by a Vanagon. The Vanagon was a 2018 acquisition that suddenly needed a motor replacement in 2019, following a catastrophic failure that occurred a few days after this picture was taken.



Which brings us to the current covid quarantine times and cancelled vanagon trips. But on the bright side, work has restarted on the 914 again. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif) Will this be the final push that sees the car on the road? Track record says no, but only time will tell.



I will add additional posts to document progress. But at the outset I’d like to state my intentions with the project I would like this to be a stock 914 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/prop.gif) - at least outwardly. This presents a dilemma relative to my current 2L engine. I'd like to coax as much performance out of the engine and 1.7 L Djet system as I can. But a new cam is in order to even consider that, and as long as the engine is coming apart then I can re-think heads and displacement - with the aim to go as big as possible without ditching everything for a 2.0 L Djet or going microsquirt.

-Derek

[dereknlee]

Couple months of slow progress:
- I re-assembled the horn using slotted screws purchased from zoro. Wish I had started shopping there sooner. Belmetric has been my go-to, but shipping costs are a bit high. Got 100 screws for $5 from zoro. The horn and fog lights were the last of the exterior lights/lenses to be re-installed.



Next was cabin wiring. After viewing a 'Watch Wes Work' video where he re-spliced 40 wires in a wire bundle that someone had drilled through, I was convinced I needed to start using better butt splice connectors. So I got yet another crimping tool and an assortment of non-insulated butt connectors. Really happy with them, the crimps are strong and with just a layer of heat shrink applied after install they are slimmer than anything else I have tried.

There were a handful of wires leftover from a PO radio or security system. In the process of untangling and removing those connections I found that they had tapped into the instrument backlight circuit, which was being powered by a replacement jumper wire from the headlight switch because it looks like the original wire had shorted and melted. I got a short section of black with blue stripe wire and re-ran the wire from the switch to the dash. There were also a questionable repair to another melted wire on the switch that I replaced. I re-taped the bundle and re-installed the headlight switch.



While I had the instruments out, I soaked the instrument panel sheet metal in evapo rust and then repainted it. I am pretty sure I re-painted this back in 2008 after I bought the car. Just goes to show that rust never sleeps. Hopefully by dissolving all the rust and using a good primer I will have slowed it down.



Next was bumper and valance install. This would have been fast except for the surprising amount of unique fasteners and rubber spacers that I had to acquire. After receiving more 914 rubber and belmetric orders I had everything I needed. I have a 'snowplow' rear valance that I bought off craigslist years ago for $100. The paint shop re finished it for me, along with the front valance and rocker covers. I was told it was a 914-6 valance when I bought it, but I am not sure. Shouldn't have any problem recouping my investment if it turns out to be for a -6.

I went to install the brake pads and while the rears went in fine (after drilling out one tab) the front are too thick. Guess that will teach me to do more research before buying parts from rockauto. Installed the parking brake lever.

Brakes were necessary because it is time to move the car to a new home (not selling it, just storing it at another property). I lowered it down onto the fresh tires and rolled it out of the garage. The last time it rolled through that door was May 2013 when I got it back from paint. I rented a trailer and towed it to its new home where it also got a wash. Finally get to show off the re-chromed front bumper with license plate holes deleted. Not the best chrome job in the world, but I think I paid $600 at the time and felt really guilty about spending that much. Now I am kicking myself for not having the rear bumper done as well (it has holes from nerf bars, a couple dings, etc.).



As if progress could slow any more, the move of the car likely signals another pause in work on the 914. There are two big projects that I need to spend most of my time on. Getting the car out of the garage (and all the associated parts in the basement) clears up room to work in and is one less distraction*. But time will tell, maybe I can sneak in some progress here and there.

-Derek

(*given the pace of progress it is entirely fair to question whether the 914 has really been that much of a distraction in my life)