Tool kit location Options

[bbrock]

This is not a question about the contents of tool kits but rather, where did the proud new owner of one of these fine machines find their tool kit shortly after driving their car away from the dealer's lot? I've always been impressed how almost everything on these cars has its purpose and place carefully thought through. Of course, what else would we expect? It's German! Then there is the tool kit. I have yet to find a location where it doesn't seem haphazardly placed to just roll around and get banged up. The best spot I've found is in the center of the spare but that tommy bar is a tad long to be anything but awkward. So where, pray tell, did the factory stow these things? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

[wonkipop]

@ bbrock.

i wish i had driven mine away from the showroom.
- i've had it for 31 years and i bought it off the first owner.
it was untouched in most ways - might be a reasonable guide.

the sp57 spare was still in the front trunk.
cheerful (cheap) plastic bag VW tool kit was inside the spare - as per your photo.
towing hook was in the bag with the rubbish tools.

the tommy bar was with the jack in the rear trunk.
(ignore masking tape customisation, thats me).

back in 89 i got the feeling the toolkit hadn't been opened or used or the jack either. i've never used them, they look like they would break if i did. only taken the jack out to clean the trunk.

[bbrock]

Thanks for this! I reposted this thread in the garage and the consensus seems to be storing in the trunk with the jack but that is all current preference. Nobody has commented yet on where the tool kits were when new. You've come the closest. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

FWIW, as long as the jack point are solid, the factory jack is a surprisingly good device. I actually prefer it to my floor jack for getting the car on jack stands. It lifts a whole side of the car at a time so quicker and easier than my floor jack.

[wonkipop]

scanned my glovebox manual.
- tool kit (plastic bag) in front trunk.
jack in rear trunk.

lists breaker bar with the towing hook in the front trunk.
but on a 74, no way does the breaker bar fit in the plastic bag with the rubber band. i think with a 74 it goes with the jack where i found mine. probably does not apply to earlier cars (different jack?, in different spot?).

only extra thought is, if breaker bar was in front trunk was outside plastic bag but attached to took kit externally with rubber band. breaker bar wedges kit inside spare wheel then to stop it rattling about? but i found mine in rear trunk with jack.

yes, the jack is a good quality item. its the plastic handle pop in screw driver that made me raise an eyebrow. also vw included a hub cap puller just like my old vw squareback tool kit had. except no hub caps on a 74 (vw steel sport wheels that year). the bean counters missed an opportunity to save 2 cents or maybe upgrade the screwdriver. i'm guessing the hub cap puller was in there because these kits were standard vw issue for bugs, 412s etc?

[Tom_T]

scanned my glovebox manual.
- tool kit (plastic bag) in front trunk.
jack in rear trunk.

lists breaker bar with the towing hook in the front trunk.
but on a 74, no way does the breaker bar fit in the plastic bag with the rubber band. i think with a 74 it goes with the jack where i found mine. probably does not apply to earlier cars (different jack?, in different spot?).

only extra thought is, if breaker bar was in front trunk was outside plastic bag but attached to took kit externally with rubber band. breaker bar wedges kit inside spare wheel then to stop it rattling about? but i found mine in rear trunk with jack.

yes, the jack is a good quality item. its the plastic handle pop in screw driver that made me raise an eyebrow. also vw included a hub cap puller just like my old vw squareback tool kit had. except no hub caps on a 74 (vw steel sport wheels that year). the bean counters missed an opportunity to save 2 cents or maybe upgrade the screwdriver. i'm guessing the hub cap puller was in there because these kits were standard vw issue for bugs, 412s etc?

Brent - Ditto with Wonki-OZ - mine was in front trunk inside spare as in the manual, & I bouught my 73 from the OO in 1975, which was where it was when I got mine. However - unlike your pic of the spare, my OO had been the victim of the dealer's rip-off the alloy spare scam, & the spare was a Steelie with 4 original version Riviera's - which back then I liked the 5 s[poke design.

It would've been the 2L Fuchs x5, but we think in talking with the PCNA Service RM who was at the local SoCal dealers in 1969-78, he thinks that the new dealer pulled off all 5 of the 2L Fuchs due to the wheel recall on the early 73 914s, & just put on cheaper Riviera's which were popular then, & sold the incorrect non-self-centering 2L Fuchs to a 1970-72 914/4 owner for parts. Rick said that happened all the time, as well as stealing the alloy spares, get 4 & sell it at 100% profit to another 914 owenr (same with the 911s & 91s).

So for now - put the tool kit & bar wherever you feel it best works for you, as it can also fit with the jack under the rubber straps - all of which you'll need to change a flat!

And like Wonki - mine originally had the Dunlop SP57s, but they were replaced with Semperit 401s, & the SP57 spare - which I later replaced due to age because I actually drove my 914 all the time as my only car 1975-85.

If I'd only known then .... ! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif)

Cheers! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
Tom
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[bbrock]

Ah the owner's manual. Of course! That's not the first time I've overlooked the owner's manual for the great source of info that it is.

Tom, I'm curious if the breaker fits any better inside a steelie. The fact my car had all 5 Fuchs is actually what made buying it a no brainer. It was for sale at $500 due to being sidelined by rusted out hell hole. I planned to buy it as a parts car for my first 914 and knowing the Fuchs alone were worth the asking price made it an easy decision. As soon as I saw the car, I knew I would reverse my plans and the other car became the parts car.

[wonkipop]

yep, thats me whacking my head on a brick wall too Tom T.
if only i had realised what an unused, unmarked sp57 might be worth now!
not that you would dare even put air in it for fear of an in face explosion.

just kitted the 914 out with michey XAS's. $$$$$ hurt. but looks and drives right (though not sure how they would handle heavy rain/aquaplaning?).
the old tyre specialist here who did it for me (in a covert operation in the back of his tyre shop while the whole city was in fierce covid lockdown) still knew what an sp57 was. said to best of his memory they came out of the japanese dunlop plant - were considered a rally tyre in aus. he said they roared on upside down highways here - everyone complained and got rid of them as soon as they could. i think north american 914s were fitted with them in consideration of the winter performance they offered?

i had semperits on my old square back. they were a good tyre for vws. you needed a bit of grip up front in a type 3. understeer was an understatement, until it decided to oversteer in an overstated way. semperits helped to tame it a bit - or at least lull you into a false sense of security.