My rustastic build thread, restoration of my 73 1.7lt Options

[kphimself]

I decided to start a build thread like so many others in the hopes of motivation and some usefull advice. I bought the car back in febuary and tinkered with it since then but due to health problems and work i was unable to do much. I now have some time to put toward it and im excited to get to work. Last week i pulled the rocker covers off to check out the rust. It turned out not to be as bad as i had thought. The longs are rusted out near the jack post, worse on the drivers side, the battery tray is mostly gone. Friday i pulled out the interior and spend the weekend making new upholstery. This is the first time i've ever attempented to do this. It didnt come out perfect but its better then what was in there and it only cost around 120 bucks which is much cheaper then what local shops whated to do it. So far i have the area around the seats done and the material cut out for the seats but i needed to take a break from it and watch some football (drinking beer and doing upholstery dont mix, welding on the other hand).

[kphimself]

I got the seats about 75% complete today. Between the garage work the last couple days and all the other upholstery work my fingers have had it. I have gained a new respect for auto upholstering. Plus I couldn't for the life of me find my philips head screw driver, i live in a 800 sq ft apartment and i somehow managed to loose my only screw driver here and didn't feel like going to the strore to get one. I miss my garage so much. My girlfriend is going out of town this week so i'll be able to get alot of work done. I will be very happy if i can have all the seats finished by this weekend when i tow the car home.

[kphimself]

Does anyone know or have a picture of where the fog light switch would go? My car came without them but i found a set of fog light bazzels thanks to the PO but i don't see a place on the dash board for the switch. Thanks in advance.

[dlee6204]

Here is a picture for you. Its the yellow one. The hole should be in the dash frame, you just have to find it and poke through the basket-weave material.

[kphimself]

Thanks, i found the switch as well just didn't know where it goes.

[kphimself]

Well got one seat finished but i'm hung up on the lack of clips that the rails bolt into. I went to some of the local upholstery shops tring to find these clips with no luck. It looks like i'm going to have to make some. Tonight i'm going to take inventory of my parts, mainly the gaskets and seals to make sure i have everything before i go and paint it. I don't want to turn the car into a leaking rust bucket again.Well I need to order my primer and paints tonight as well. Sorry about the lack of pics but i didn't feel like uploading any tonight i'll do it tomorrow when i have more to show.

[kphimself]

I was about to order paint and i just realized i don't know what color i want to paint the top, should i go with the origional finish or should i do a smooth high gloss black or do it silver like im going to paint the rest of the color, so many choices......

[kphimself]

So my girlfriend just emailed me and it turns out she did some research and found out the 914 isn't an automatic and wants to know if i can make it one. I'm glad to see she is taking some intrest in my cars but on the other hand i think it may have been better off if she didn't. She now wants a sports car she can drive. I'm thinking about giving her my mustang. Im not a fan of it anyway, however she knows that and may think i'm just giving it to her becouse i don't want it, on the other hand i'm scared to see what she may want me to build for her. I need to get a dog so i won't have these problems. On a good note i finished the seats. I guess the next project to hold me off till i can do the rust repairs will be removing the gas tank and replacing the wires. I'm not sure if i'm going to use the fuse box or get an updated one. I like the stream line look of the one thats in there. Oh well i'm going to call it a night i got an early morining ahead of me and a very long day.

[bandjoey]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif) Wow! You are doing great things for this car. Keep us posted and some pictures if you can.

Borrow a Ford Fiesta stick shift from someone not really a friend, and go teach your girlfriend to drive a stick. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lol-2.gif)

You can really depend on people like Eric and Scotty and others for quality work and help. Go back about say 800 pages on this site and come forward. You'll see experts that have done and posted it all on 914's for a long time.

Check out the vendor section too. When looking for rubber seals, go to 914rubber (also in the vendor section) Better than original.

Hope to see you up and running soon. Bill

[kphimself]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif) Wow! You are doing great things for this car. Keep us posted and some pictures if you can.

Borrow a Ford Fiesta stick shift from someone not really a friend, and go teach your girlfriend to drive a stick. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lol-2.gif)

You can really depend on people like Eric and Scotty and others for quality work and help. Go back about say 800 pages on this site and come forward. You'll see experts that have done and posted it all on 914's for a long time.

Check out the vendor section too. When looking for rubber seals, go to 914rubber (also in the vendor section) Better than original.

Hope to see you up and running soon. Bill

Thanks Bill,
I told her i'm going to take her to Pennslyvania this winter and give her a stick shift blazer to drive around on the hilsl in a snow storm, Thats how i learned, Sink or Swim!!!

[kphimself]

Well here is a pic before i go to bed.

[kphimself]

Its missing the clips so it will look alot better once i make them, its more of a test fit then anything.

[kphimself]

I spent the morning finishing up the seats. I started by making up the brackets the rails bolt into, i'm happy with how they cam out. The seats just need alittle adjusting around the head rest area and they should be finished. I have some cracks in the trim i may attempt to repair them until i can find some replacement peices. As i was going over parts i've collected i noticed i didn't have the molding that goes on the bottom of the windshild and the bottom of the rear window. I don't know how i overlooked ordering them. I'm going to have to order them today if im gong to be painting it next week.

[kphimself]

I have a windshield frame if anyone wants it. I took everything I needed off it and don't want to just toss it trash if someone could use it. You would have to pick it up, I live in norfolk va.

[kphimself]

Well progress has come to a standstill due to poor weather. I'm not a fan of trailoring my car in the rain so I'm stuck here in va waiting for the weathere to clear up. Wanted to start my new wiring harnesses but my wires are on back order. Id like to clean up the engine compartment of useless wires from the old fuel injection system. They seem like a short waiting to happen not to mention the current wires break if you bend them so that must be taken care of. On a good note I was able to pick up my sheet metal and some pipe to make the braces today and I happened upon a transfer case for my old internation harvester. I'm sure the old truck isn't going to be happy getting kicked out of the garage while I work on the 914. Well I guess I should try to find something to do today to keep me out of trouble.

[kphimself]

its been a busy few days. I had to wait till monday to get new stickers for my trailor so over the weekend i talked my brother into helping me clean the garage and polish a wheel (he pretty much just drank beer and used the die grinder for a few mins, but i got a pic of it) and repaired the busted rocker panels. Tuesday i brought the trailor up to va beach and picked up the car. Today i began digging into the rust, figured i would start and the back and go forward. The truck seemed to have developed an eco system of its own, some kind of 2 leafed clover things, dont know if thats a good thing or a bad thing. Never the less there home is gone now and has been replaced with fresh metal. Well the UV rays from the welder kicked my butt today so i'm going to cut this short tonight.

[kphimself]

oh almost forgot, somewhere along the north carolina state line my dad said "that car is growing on me." thought that was worth saying, he hates german cars. The man thinks the only sports car worth a damn is a corvette. I took a pic of that moment.

[kphimself]

Well today I had a doctors appointment out of state so i didn't get crap done on the car today however my father (the porsche/vw hater) spent the day removing that tar crap off the floor pan for me and even media blasted the seat rails. I guess it must be pay back for all the repairs I made on his 78 monte carlo this weekend. The wiring on my car is all kinds of jacked up so I picked up some new wires for it figure ill run it while the floor pan is off. Perhaps if I repair his floor pan and paint his car I might get him to strip the paint off the car. Well I got a couple odds and ends left to do with the upholstery so I might do that this evening.

[Cupomeat]

oh almost forgot, somewhere along the north carolina state line my dad said "that car is growing on me." thought that was worth saying, he hates german cars. The man thinks the only sports car worth a damn is a corvette. I took a pic of that moment.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/aktion035.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
That is a great little moment!

[Cupomeat]

I pulled out the engine this afternoon. Got that down to just over an hour. The CV joints were another story. It looks like the PO tried to use an allen wrench making the bolts impossible to remove. Last time i ran into this issue, on the transmission, i was able to get them out using an bolt extractor but there isn't enough room to use an easy out. Does anyone have any ideas on a easy way to remove them? I really don't wanna drill them out.
On a good note i figured out why my shifter has a huge amout of play in it, the bushings that connect the tail shaft to the shaft that runs through the tunnel. They seemed in good shape the last time i had the engine out but somehow they turned to dust. I knew i should of replaced them last time i had the engine out but i couldn't figure out how to remove them, i guess leaving them sit for 8 months will take care of that for you.
Now the next thing i need to is finish the upholstery and kill time till vacation at which time i will attack the rust and lay down some paint.

I like this thread and that you are tackling this car. I would recommend on replacing that progressive carb with either dual singles or going back to the FI.
That carb will frustrate you, especially in cold weather. Also, in case you have not read it before, the stock cam does not work well with Carbs, something to think about.

Go forward with the rust issues as the engine will run as is, but something to consider for the future.

[kphimself]

Ah, one step ahead of you, i picked up a set of used dual webbers, when i get finished with the body work and the car on the road and back to VA i plan on rebuilding them and putting them on the car. They seem like a good rainy day project that i can do in my apartment with out making my GF wanna leave me like when i did my upholstery. I want to get all the big stuff done before the weather gets bad. I also need to replace a floor pan and paint my fathers monte carlo before i get my shoulders reconstructed so i have lots of rust to deal with over the next few weeks. While i've been out of town my father took all the tar stuff off the floor and striped the paint off the front trunk lid and a fender, lots of work from a guy who hates porsches hahahaha, or perhaps he is wanting a show car finish on his car and he is kissing my butt. Im kidding he's awsome.