My first 914 joys, woes, and discoveries., My newly acquired 914 saw pavement for the first time in four years Options

[dvid3k]

I'll be updating this post as I work and learn my way around my first 914.

I posted an introductory thread back when I joined, this is for my updates and observations. I've received quite a warm welcome and I've learned a lot from this forum already. I'm amazed at how helpful members are, I definitely appreciate any advice I have received thus far.

A week ago I purchased my first 914 project car (72 914 Chalon) and during the past week I've been getting it back up and running, a task that has involved a little blood, sweat and possibly a few tears. (thanks to a pry bar to the finger) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif)

The car had been sitting for several years, at least since 2009, possibly longer, several inches deep in mud it sat at the corner of a mechanics garage where it seemed to have been dropped off several years ago.

I installed a new fuel pump, replaced rubber lines, removed and cleaned out fuel tank, repaired the accelerator bracket, changed the oil cleaned up the floor under the seats. I've now got the car running and today I took it out on my road for a test drive to see what else needed attention.

So far I've found the following:

1. Tach does not work
2. Odometer does not work
3. Front suspension feels very loose and bouncy when going over bumps.
4. Throttle cable is a bit rough
5. Shifting will definitely take me a while to get used to, (tail shift)


I will be thrilled to get the car back in good working order, but I've got my work cut out for me. I washed it up once already but It'll take a few more washes to get 4 years of gunk off.

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[dvid3k]

I've been busy and haven't had much time to work on my car the past few weeks but I have had some other related developments come up. At the time I purchased this car it was located at a garage and I did the transaction through the garage owner and not the actual owner of the car, it was just being stored at the garage.

After talking with the original owner of the car I got a little better back story of the car and how it ended up where it was. It turns out he had approximately 6k invested in the car overall and he hadn't the motivation to continue the project. He had engine issues that resulted in installing the new engine but he still had some driveability issues after the swap and just threw in the towel and moved on. So the engine had probably no more than 50 miles on it after the install.

He also has a truckload of random parts that he had acquired with the original purchase of the car in 2004 and some that he had bought himself. I checked out what he had today but I'm still on the fence about purchasing them as he is asking 500.00

While sifting through the parts which consisted of about five or six large totes of items here are a few things I saw:

1. Original breather assembly
2. what looked like most of the fuel injection parts that came off the car during the carb swap
3. Set of old rear shocks with springs
4. set of tan seats in moderate condition
5. dash board heater box assembly
6. vintage stereo
7. engine cover with emblems
8. pedal cluster
9. sun visors
10. misc electronic ignition parts
11. k&n breather assemblies

That was just what I could remember off the top of my head, he had a Chevrolet S-10 filled with plastic totes full of random bits and pieces. I wish I would have taken photos so I could digitally sift through the parts after I got home. I'm just having a hard time deciding on purchasing these items, I am a parts junkie, I'd almost be happy with the thrill of sorting through everything to see what goodies I could find but I'd like to get this car on the road before Autumn sets in so I can get out and enjoy some time behind the wheel on some of the WV back roads. There wasn't too much included in the lot to help me accomplish that goal but there were tons of spares that could be useful in the future. I'm such a terrible decision maker.