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?

[lalee914]

Way back when, I took my 914 1.8 one weekday evening to get it inspected for an upcoming DE. The inspection went OK and I headed home as the sun was beginning to set. Driving down RT81 there was hardly any traffic. I was closing quickly on 2 big trucks driving nose to tail in the right lane. I passed the first one OK and was passing the leader as we were crossing a pretty long bridge. I was almost past the leader as we neared the end of the bridge when I noticed the 6x6 wheel chock laying sideways in my lane right at the end of the bridge. There was no place for me to go. Big truck on the right, guardrail on the left. I hit the brakes then hit the 6x6. BAM! It went flying off into the median and the big truck went thundering by on the right, then the other big truck.

I went into diagnostic mode. No vibrations, the tires all seem to be holding air, wiggle the steering, thats OK. No funny sounds. The car seems alright. By now I'm down to about 40 MPH so I downshift to 4th and step on the gas. There is a rest stop coming up in a few miles, I'll stop there and check everything over. Run up in 4th gear, quick shift to 5th and I'm closing on the big trucks again. I go by both at a pretty good clip then lift off the gas to get back down to something resembling the speed limit and the car keeps accelerating. That ain't right. About 90 MPH, I turn off the ignition then turn it back on when I get down to about 55. Do that a few times and here comes the rest stop.

Pull in and get out to look the car over. Surprisingly there is no obvious damage. I start the car and it immediately goes to red line. Long story short, something was binding the throttle cable and I couldn't touch the gas pedal or the clutch pedal without the engine redlining. I got the engine to idle then set the idle speed to maximum, started the car in 1st gear then crash shifted the odd gears up to 5th. Going fast enough to get close to home on the highway. One crash shift down to 2nd coming off the highway in the dark and I could make it home running only a few stop signs.

A few days later I've got the car up on jackstands and find that something from the 6x6 came under the car and hit the clutch and throttle cables. Somehow moving one of them such that when I pressed the clutch, it pulled on the throttle cable and when I stepped on the gas, it would open the throttle but the return spring wasn't strong enough to close the throttle. The clutch cable was holding on by just a few strands.

I replaced both cables and everything was OK.