75 914 Laguna Blue Project Options

[Graydingo]

Here's the bumper fitment, It's actually touching both sides:





After measuring the front suspension points from the workshop manual, its off side to side by maybe 1/16" which is in tolerance.

So I'm wondering how close these fenders should be to the bumper.

I don't have the bumpers mounted yet, I was mainly using the valance as a reference since i have the later 75 front section with no mounting points for the steel bumper. (That will be another bonus of replacing the front to the earlier bit.

[friethmiller]

So I'm wondering how close these fenders should be to the bumper.

@Graydingo - Not sure on the measurements however I've found that the bumper ends tend to migrate inward over time. My theory is that it is caused by mailboxes, fire hydrants, and garage walls. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) I've had good luck cutting, pulling, and re-welding these ends to get the proper clearance.

UPDATE: I meant Bumper not Fender ends. Corrected above.

[Graydingo]

Good call Fred. I think the drv side migrated outward, hence the too tight fitment. Wondering what the clearance should be between the steel bumper and the fender, assuming my bumper didn't shrink when the GT mouth was added and it somehow pulled the tips in. Hmmm just thought of that possibility.

I'm looking at a set of donor cars that have extra bumpers. If I end up getting another bumper I'll have another point of reference.

[Graydingo]

A few highlights.

- Bought harbor freight "pinch weld" dollies. Seemed like a good alternative to building a dolly. Metal is expensive right now and the time and effort to build it would have been a week for me. For $400 I got 4 of these tripod dollies to move the car around the shop instead of it living on the quick jack. I want to build the RS 2.7 motor so I can stick it in my 911 until the 914 is ready. The 911 motor is tired with the original 170k miles on it.

- removed front part of trunk entirely. About 100 spot welds. Also had a nice 6 hours in the ER. I was feeling a spot weld and the new bit went through quicker than I thought...



Passed through my finger tip all the way out the other side. 3/16" bit! ouch. Fragmented some bone which will stay there forever.



- Test fit the Restoration Design 72-74 front panel that I bought. Found out the hard way that the headlight bucket design changed in 75. So now I either have to modify the remaining bucket and graft the 74 donor bucket in or modify the removed drivers side.

Did I mention I bought two more 914s? not sure if I did or not.



Great deal as they came with a bunch of parts including another set of trailing arms since PMS said my pair off my 75 were bent. I sent them pics of the extra set that was laying in the trunk of the 72 and they said they looked bent too.

So then I went on a crazy odyssey of trying to figure out what constitutes a bent 914 trailing arm. I spoke with a bunch of notable 914 peeps and they seemed to think that a visibly bent trailing arm was pretty hard to identify. I also met a gentleman on FB that built a jig to test trailing arm dimensions. His findings are that they vary about 1 degree in terms of the pivot shaft in relation to the hub (which is approximately 12.5 degrees +- 1 degree.

All that and I decided I want my trailing arms back from PMS as they don't really want to do the job it seems.

I also decided against boxing them. It's not a track car. I don't need the extra unsprung weight and after speaking with a lot of folks who have been doing this way longer than me, they all seemed to agree that if they bend, it's usually the mounting ears or the pivot shaft is bent. Not the arm itself.

Anyway the light ivory 72 is for sale in the classifieds. Good project base imho.

I also found that the support pieces in the trunk are different on all three examples! The 72, the 74, and the 75 all have different reinforcement bits on the lower wheel well. So my choices are fix the 75 pieces, pull the 74 pieces and weld them in, or sack the 72 and part it out for the best support pieces. hardly seems worth that last option.







Not sure what I'm going to do there. The 74 has no title, so maybe I'll cut out those bits and move them over. The 72 is listed on the for sale classifieds if anyone is looking for a very dry project car.




lastly, does anyone know what size tubing this is? Not that it has to be exact but what have you used if you done the GT cooler reinforcements?

[Graydingo]

check out this cool RPM gauge I found in one of the donor cars



Anyone seen one of these before?



It's a real VDO

[porschetub]

check out this cool RPM gauge I found in one of the donor cars



Anyone seen one of these before?



It's a real VDO

Series 1 944 or 924 originally, I think the gauge can be changed for a 914 glass or plastic flat one ,cheers.