New 914 Owner Options

[Zanardi]

Hey guys. Tonight I put a deposit on my first project car, a 1975 914 2.0. The car has 65,000 original miles with some surface rust and rot on the rear quarter.

The car has been sitting for 3 years without being cranked. Supposedly it ran before it was parked. My first concern is to get running so I can enjoy it a bit. What steps do you recommend on waking this sleeping car up?

I'm thinking change the oil, drain the old gas, new battery, plugs and wires. What else?

I look forward to all of your advice. I am very much over my head, so this will be a real learning experience.

[Rusty]

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Welcome! You've got a good basic plan! The above advice about cleaning out the old fuel is good advice, and can be accomplished with basic tools.

Replacing the black rubber fuel lines is key for safety. I would pull the plugs, and if they look good - scrub them with a wire brush and reinstall.

Getting the car to go is important. Making sure you can stop is even more important. I would flush the brake fluid from the system. If you have a stuck caliper or master cylinder that's about to leak, a good flushing the system will stress-test the brakes and let you know.

You have two options to flushing brake fluid: Speedbleeder brake bleeding screws or the traditional method of pedaldown-hold-crack-tighten-pedalup. Just make sure you keep plenty of fluid in the resevoir, or you'll be bleeding bubbles rather than flushing old fluid.

Again... welcome! Glad to have you here!

Cheers,
Rusty (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smoke.gif)