914 Travel Stories - Add Yours, How you used/use your 914 Options

[sixnotfour]

flew to Texas and drove home to WA.

[sixnotfour]

Bought this out of the blue , 1 week later drove to Torrey UT, RRC2008
The previous owner had the tank cleaned,blablabla, only problem I had I assumed he put a new fuel filter in , wrong, still made all the way, just stumbled on long pulls, replaced fuel filter. The previous owner also said there were no more mice, It had to go.sold it (PeeGreen)

[TheCabinetmaker]

Hey six not four, pee is not green (unless you are very sick). Peas are green.

[TheCabinetmaker]

For those that don't know, when I got a chance to visit a bit with Curt while in Tulsa in October, I found out he started the Talimina run from Talahina OK to Mina AR, so he probably has a few good ones from them as well! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving-girl.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Actually Tom, it was a joint effort between Joseph Mills (joseph 222) and myself.

[sixnotfour]

Hey six not four, pee is not green (unless you are very sick). Peas are green.

True, here is the rest of the story;
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...=125462&hl=

Tom, you need to get busy on your ole ride. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif)

[GaroldShaffer]

I was going to get married in 1995, long story but I called it off. In a weak moment during a poor me party I was having I bought this 73 914 knowing NOTHING about these cars.


Fast foward to 1998 I married my wife Julie. I still had the 73, but work, life, building a new house ....... I had no time for it and sold it to guy in Kentucky the summer of 1999.

Fast forward to summer 2003. My wife was tired of me talking about the old 73 and told go find a car. Gotta love her (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif) I found my 1970 on ebay. In the ad the guy said that it was at one time owned by Brad Mayeur and he still serviced it for him. Knowing Brad I called him to get details on the car and then contacted the owner via ebay saying that if he didn't get the $7500 that he wanted on ebay to contact me because I am a serious buyer, but not at $7500

The 914 didn't sell and the seller contacted me and we struck a deal at $5k and I paid for Brad to do one more PPI on it for me. Drove down to Peroia IL and met the seller at Brad's shop exchanged $$, bought a set of Fuchs Brad had and drove my 914 home. The following weekend I drove it all the way to Toledo OH for one of Barber Dave's 914 meets. I did get pulled over in South Bend IN by a State Trooper, no ticket but we did talk about cars for 30min before he told me to slow down and have a nice day. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

It's a great car with a 73 2.0L engine & side shift trans. Plus it is setup to pull a small AX trailer. I had it repainted in 2006 and I autocross the snot out of it now plus drive it ever chance I get.

Here is how it looked when I got it:


After a few updates to the suspension:



And current look after paint and new interior.

[ConeDodger]

I regularly take my 914 100 miles or more so I am not afraid to drive it. My most memorable trip was from Portland to Sacramento in the Bumblebee Racer or Submarine as I called it. For you newbies, do a search - it is a rather famous car that was owned by Porsche Rescue then me and now resides in Norway.
The car is a Bumblebee that was converted to a six. Sixnotfour built a 3.0 liter engine for it and it flat-out flew! After many pictures over the internet and a few conversations on the phone, I got a flight from Sacramento to Portland to take a look at it. It just so happened that WCR was in Portland that weekend so I booked a room at the host hotel and hung out with the gang for part of that weekend. I met some great people to be sure... By the way, if you ever get a chance to go to Turtle Mountain Brewery in New Mexico they have some very - very good beer!

So after some very good times with some very good people, I gassed up the Bumblebee Racer and headed South on I5. Jim Chambers (Porsche Rescue) had warned me that the gas gauge was not accurate and he didn't know what kind of mileage the car was getting so I should fuel up every 100 miles or so. I took his advice at first, until I figured using my GPS as an odometer that the car was getting 25 miles or so on the highway.

Now here's where my inexperience with Porsche 6 cylinders showed up... Somewhere around Grants Pass I check the oil. Engine off on slanted ground. OMG!! There is nothing showing on the dipstick! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) I toss in a couple quarts and off I go, worried that my new Jeff Hines (sixnotfour) engine is burning or leaking oil badly, though I saw nothing in the rear view mirror and no obvious leak under the car on the bottom of the engine. Back on the highway, I decide I am going to take advantage of the great mountain pass curves so I tickle the peddle on the right a little. Just then, I notice an oily smell coming into the cabin and can actually see smoke! OH SHIT! I'm on fire! Not. I look in the rear view mirror and see smoke billowing out the back and oil flecks all over the rear view mirror. I had overfilled the oil tank... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lol-2.gif)
400 miles later, I pulled into my driveway with an experience I will never forget, a badly sunburned left arm, dehydration, and new found knowledge that you must check the oil on a six and a 911 by the way with the engine running, warm and on level ground... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

[3d914]

Back in 2004 my son and I took a 3300 mile trek from Phoenix to Illinois & back in my sweet Ravenna. This was an acid test for the Megasquirt I had installed. It performed quite well - though not without some problems.


First I'll say that all these problems arose only because I switched out the stock Ignition with a Permatune CD unit before the trip. I didn't have any real time to test it prior to the trip.

My son and I set out on Sunday, but barely made it an hour north of Phoenix before the fuel pump & MS both crapped out from the heat. Thankfully I had my Laptop PC and could connect to MS and determine that the Injectors circuits weren't firing. Also the Fuel pump was spinning, but when I pulled a hose it only trickled out onto the road.

I thank God that just as my son and I started hoofing southbound to a rest stop some miles back, a couple from Mesa stopped on the southbound side and waved us over. They even dropped us at our front door. Got the car towed back to Phoenix that afternoon.

Needless to say, the fuel pump was toast, as was a resistor and chip in the MS coil circuitry. It took three days to locate and install the replacements, but we were back on the road Wednesday afternoon.

I had to bump the 390 Ohm R10 resistor all the way to 1.0K before it would run without getting too hot. Even at that it still was discolored and starting to break down by the time we drove 1000 miles. So in the motel in Wichita I bumped it up to a 1.5K. This worked well for the remainder of the trip to Illinois.

All would have been well for the return trip, except that I made the mistake of installing the cover on the MS, as I had been driving without it to aid cooling. I could tell the resistor was starting to crap out again as the car behaves much like one that is suffering from vapor lock. So we found a station in Oklahoma that had a seating area, plugged in the soldering iron and went to work.

My brother (in Illinois) suggested putting two 1-watt resistors of 1.0K ohms each in place of the single 1/2-watt. Since I wasn't using the D8 diode, I decided to replace the jumper with another 1.5k 1/2-watt along with a new 1.5K 1/2-watt R10.

This worked quite well with no excessive heat - and would have seen us the rest of the way home had one of the solder joints not broke loose. The weird part was that I didn't know at first whether the fuel pump had overheated and I was getting vapor lock. The new resistors still looked fine and didn't appear to be overheating. Since the solder joint was on the back - it was only because I touched them that I noticed one of them moved. But now we're stranded miles from the next rest stop. So we waited about 20 minutes to see if it would start. Nope. Then miraculously with one more crank - it started. We went about one mile and it started to cut out again. So I'm on the shoulder of the road, coasting, trying to start it. Again it starts up just long enough for us to make it to a rest stop 2 miles down the road.

So picture this. I have an extension cord running from an outlet in the men's restroom with my soldering iron plugged into it and resting on a rock. I've pulled the MS unit out to re-solder the faulty joints. My son is holding the circuit board while I'm repairing the solder joints. I'm just glad no one reported us to homeland security.

That's all it took. The rest of the trip went flawlessly - mechanically speaking anyway. It was one of our favorite trips. The feature event at the reunion was an incredible fire works display at my parent's place outside of town. The show latest for an hour & a half.

[Tom_T]

That's a hoot Gerard! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

I used to carry a bit of the thin aluminum or Copper tape in my toolbox on long trips, just in case I needs an emergency quickie elec. connection fix. Snip a bit to fit, clean some adhesive at the contact points & stick - usually works in a pinch!

[Tom_T]

Hey six not four, pee is not green (unless you are very sick). Peas are green.

True, here is the rest of the story;
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...=125462&hl=

Tom, you need to get busy on your ole ride. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif)

Jeff - I've run out of space & need to get a canopy garage for my parts shell & build some more storage to get crap out of the garage for full time jackstand or rotisserie mounting - then I can work on it here & there. As it is now, I need to roll it out (good weather only - fortunately SoCal) - jack it up on stands, work for awhile, jack it down & push back into the garage - a royal PITA! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

I've pretty much dismounted everything on the strip-to-shell that I have room to store for now! Since this pic both 914s are stacked to the rafters with parts in boxes & new roller tool chest, mower, etc. fill the space between them. Our "2 car" garage is only 7'6" clear ht. & 17'-6" w. x 18'-0" d. - good enough for 2 Model Ts or 2 914s, but not to work on them with both in there!



Then there are the other 2-3 cars to work on, our 1921 house renovation, & the wife's honey-do list, my business/work (I'm eating a late lunch & typing now) in competition for my time!
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

[Tom_T]

For those that don't know, when I got a chance to visit a bit with Curt while in Tulsa in October, I found out he started the Talimina run from Talahina OK to Mina AR, so he probably has a few good ones from them as well! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving-girl.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Actually Tom, it was a joint effort between Joseph Mills (joseph 222) and myself.

Thanx Curt, I couldn't recall Joseph's name. Credit where credit is due! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
... I still hope to drive my 914 back & do one with all y'all! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

[Tom_T]

Rob, Jeff, Gerald & 3d914 - both great stories & pix.

I'll have to find my old footlocker in storage & see if I still have any old 914 pix in there? ....you've inspired me to find some! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Tom_T]

Classic Shot Gerald!

How about one with your Mom & a 914 &/or her service covers?

How is she doing now?

Shamless plug for his Mom's excellent 914 Service Covers - I've got mine - do you? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)