Ridiculous 914 stories?, You haven't lived if you have never... |
|
Porsche, and the Porsche crest are registered trademarks of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG.
This site is not affiliated with Porsche in any way. Its only purpose is to provide an online forum for car enthusiasts. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. |
|
Ridiculous 914 stories?, You haven't lived if you have never... |
Moneypit |
Apr 24 2014, 11:58 AM
Post
#1
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 195 Joined: 4-January 06 From: Georgetown, TX Member No.: 5,360 Region Association: Southwest Region |
I was just recalling the first time we ever drove our '74 1.8 with Twin Webers. It was the first 914 we'd had after my dad sold his back in the 80's, and we picked her up for $600 dollars after catching it on fire briefly while trying to turn the motor over. When we got it home, we started digging through the car, and discovered two main things: 1) the passenger side Weber was seized up, which resulted in 2) the crappy metal crank that attaches the go pedal to the throttle cable being broken. So basically the gas pedal was non-functioning. After removing the carb, pulling it apart and freeing it up with WD-40, we at least could get the car finally started! After much trying, backfires, and standing around with fire extinguishers, the motor jumped to life!
Not content to just have the motor running, my dad and our friend (a body man who restores old cars & worked at a porsche/bmw/mercedes/audi dealership) kinda looked at each other and said, "wanna take it around the block?". We had removed the rear trunk and engine lid to get better access in the engine bay, which incidentally led to possibly the most ludicdous 914 sight I've seen yet. I want you to picture someone sitting in the rear trunk, manually running the carburetors by hand, while my dad steered/shifted, and me along for the ride. It took a few moments to synchronize driver/throttle man, but soon we were pulling out of the back alley, and cruising along our neighborhood in a backfiring, trunkless 914 with a guy hanging onto the rollbar working the throttle. Needless to say, all the kids in the neighborhood were pointing and following, then ducking and running when it backfired. We did a few laps, and then parked her, victorious! We only did it the one time, and naturally this was before cell phone cameras and even digital cameras being everywhere, so sorry I don't have a pic or video. Soon we got a replacement lever, rebuilt the carbs with a rebuild kit, sorted the throttle linkage all out, and had her driving normally. Anyone else have ridiculous, 914 stories from your restoration, trips to meets, or just daily driving? |
Bruce Hinds |
Apr 24 2014, 12:51 PM
Post
#2
|
V-8 madness Group: Members Posts: 733 Joined: 27-December 06 From: Port Orchard, WA Member No.: 7,391 Region Association: Pacific Northwest |
Oh yes . . . I can see it all now. That's funny.
I had built my V8 car and was having a ball. My dad was my hero and had taught me to work on cars at an early age so we always had that connection and as the V8 project progressed we'd talk each week about what and how to do stuff. He was in AZ and in CO. After coming to visit and riding in the beast it ignited and old spark. Fast forward about a year later and I'm visiting AZ, so far it's been all talk until I go out and get the newspaper. Low and behold I see a teener in the classifieds and I circle it and label it Dad'd 914, then leave it with his coffee. Off we go that afternoon to take a look. The V8 car was my 4th teener and I'd had several VWs before that so I was pretty confident that we could get this baby running even thought the ad said it starts, but needs some TLC. It wouldn't idle so the throttle was adjusted to run about 1500 RPM and it would spit and miss. Even so we tried to drive it around the block and the accelerator cable was looped around the clutch so every time you pushed the clutch in it opened the throttle. Dad was ready to run away from this "project" and the sellers had no clue what was wrong or how they were going to sell it. It was a really clean no rust '73 1.7 with steelies and nice chrome caps so I looked in to see what I could see. I found that the point were welded together and that's when I noteced the single carb conversion. I think we bough the car for $800 on the spot(1988) but we had to get it home. I borrowed a screwdriver and an emery board to fix the points and gapped them with a piece of paper then started playing with the carb. I was leaning over the engine when I told dad to start it; not a good plan. The flame was about 3 feet long and the explosion got everyone's attention only to see me emerge with my face smoking. Mustash, eyebrows, hair and even my eyelashes were singed and smoking. It could have been a whole lot worse, but it was pretty funny at the time. |
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 19th May 2024 - 02:52 PM |
All rights reserved 914World.com © since 2002 |
914World.com is the fastest growing online 914 community! We have it all, classifieds, events, forums, vendors, parts, autocross, racing, technical articles, events calendar, newsletter, restoration, gallery, archives, history and more for your Porsche 914 ... |