Ridiculous 914 stories?, You haven't lived if you have never... Options

[Moneypit]

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?

[ClayPerrine]

Way back when my car was somewhat running with the original 2.0 4cylinder motor, I had to make a road trip to Waco. On the way back, just north of Waco, the throttle cable broke. I had dual webers on the car at the time, so I just took the top off and pulled the wire to the right hand speaker off the radio, split it and tied the two pieces together. Then I tied one end to the crossbar on the carbs, ran it through the mesh in the engine grill, and the other end I ran over the targa band and tied it to the laces of my right shoe closest to the toes. I could step down where the accelerator pedal normally was, and the car would speed up. I could lift my foot and run the brake because the brake pedal was high enough to leave slack in the wire when using it.

I was coming up I35 just south of the split, and it started to rain. I was going fast enough that the rain wasn't coming into the car, it just went over me. Problem was, a Texas State Trooper came up next to me. She saw me in this beat up, multi colored (11 different colors at that time) old car with the top off in the rain. So she had to stop me. I stopped under the next bridge. She came up and asked me to step out of the car. Well, I then had to explain about the broken throttle cable, and how I rigged it to get me home.

A few minutes of laughing and commenting on my ingenuity, she said she understood why the top was off, but she wanted to know how come I wasn't getting soaked. I explained to her that as long as I kept moving, the rain was blown over the car and didn't come inside. She shook her head and, after a quick check of my license and insurance, she sent me on my way.

I got wetter getting back up to speed than I did the whole rest of the drive home.

And I got to accelerate at full throttle in front of a state trooper without getting a ticket!


And somebody needs to get Dave Darling tell the story of how he got his nickname (Damp Dave).

[poorsche914]

To keep with the theme of "carbs and fire", here is my story...

One of my dream cars was a Lotus Europa. I actually found one for sale that was affordable (this is back in the mid-80s) so I bought it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

When I went to pick it up, my sister went with me to drive my 914 while I drove the Lotus. The 914 was powered by a euro-spec 2.0 with dual Webers.

After about an hour drive, I decided to stop by a friend's house along the way to show him my new purchase. As we approached his house, I noticed my sister was falling further and further behind. I stopped and waited for her. As she got closer, she suddenly stopped. I could see smoke and flames coming from the back of the 914 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

I ran to the car and grabbed a fire extinguisher and put the fire out. It pretty much destroyed the right side of the engine down to the head. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/hissyfit.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)