FS: 1974 914 1.8L L-Jet Options

[Rob-O]

1974 Porsche 914

12xxx miles since rebuild, odometer was zero’ed at that point.
1.8L with restored L-Jet fuel injection

2003 Porsche Boxster Arctic Silver

Texas car that I originally purchased in 2000 as a rolling chassis. I can’t know for sure of course but I believe it was here in Texas all its life. The title was an ancient piece of paper, the plates that were on it first appeared in Texas in the late 80’s and the last window registration was in 1993 or 1994. The car initially looked like a Limited Edition Creamsicle when I bought it (L80E with orange bumpers and rockers, no targa trim). But the VIN didn’t fall within the LE range, and the bumper and rocker color was more Signal Orange than Phoenix Red, the rims were Western Wheel mags and the bottom piece of targa trim was present, and LE’s wouldn’t have had that. It did have a center console and it does have front and rear sway bars, so initially this was probably a 2.0L car.

Interior:
• New 914Rubber dash installed.
• New dash face basket weave.
• Gauge Pod refinished in wrinkle finish.
• Gauges refurbished. Glass installed in place of plastic lenses. LED lighting installed on all gauges with remote so you can change colors.
• New fiberglass door panels with new basketweave.
• New German charcoal loop carpet (914Rubber).
• Seats recovered with new German vinyl and ‘Pepita’ cloth inserts. New foam added as well (Autobahn Interiors in San Diego).
• Seat adjusters restored. The steel seat bases were powder coated and associated parts were re-plated. New bushings where necessary.
• Fuse panel painted, cleaned and new fuse cover installed.
• New Lloyd floor mats.
• New clutch and brake pedal covers.
• New plywood floorboard under that.
• New ignition switch and new steering wheel bearings.
• Momo steering wheel installed with a leather ‘Porsche’ horn button installed. Original steering wheel included. The original wheel is the foam kind from later year cars but is in good shape. I powder coated the horn pad steel part and installed a new cancelling unit and rubber horn isolator so it’s ready to go back on (I may do this before selling).
• I installed a later climate control (‘75/’76 model) in perfect shape and cleaned and installed all of the lighting. Moving the switch turns on the front blower fan however the cables that actuate the flappers in the front trunk are currently not installed.
• New ‘PRESS’ stickers on seat belts.
• New shift knob.
• Leather boot was redyed.
• The red heater knob is a 914Rubber piece and it was refurbished. It works as advertised (pulling it back turns on the engine bay blower motor).
• New sun visors – the ones that match the factory heat sealed seams, from a company in Europe, can’t remember their name.
• New clock from Automobile Atlanta. Not currently hooked up.
• New window winder handles. Window regulators were cleaned of all old grease and new grease added.
• I installed a Blaupunkt Frankfurt stereo in the stock space, along with some speakers from an outfit in Germany. The stereo was gone over by Vintage Blau in New York. It works about as well as one would expect an almost 50 year-old stereo to. The time frame of this Blaupunkt is probably more associated with an earlier car. I believe a ’74 Blaupunkt Frankfurt would’ve looked a bit different. I also added a Bluetooth adapter to the back of the stereo. It plugs into the DIN input that these stereos came with back then. It quickly connects to your phone and allows you to play music on your phone through the stock system.
• The back pad needs to be recovered. It’s got an area about 2 inches square on each side near the seat headrests where the vinyl has cracked and is starting to peel back.

Exterior:
• Euro lenses in front and rear.
• Front euro lights have separation with driving light installed.
• Fog lights/driving lights in front have new yellow lenses and seals.
• Rear lights have new seals to the body and the reflector was spray painted with a silver paint so the lights are bright.
• The engine lid was refurbished. Chrome Porsche letters reinstalled, along with a rain tray, drains and new stainless hardware.
• Door stays refurbished.
• Outer door handles had the key tumblers pulled, cleaned and new grease. As a matter of course, I did this to all of the key cylinders in the car (Door, rear trunk, glovebox, ignition and front trunk lock). Has Fuchs 2.0L wheels with 914Rubber center caps and chrome lug bolts. The rims have some curb rash and a nick here or there. Tires are Bridgestone Potenzas with lots of grip. Door vents are new units. I started to replace the chrome trim last year. Bought new Porsche targa trim and the driver’s side wasn’t the best quality so that piece went back and currently it was a trim piece that is painted the same color as the car. Front and rear bumpers, as well as rocker panels, are currently painted the same color as the car. My plan was to paint the bumpers black and the rockers black after adding the texturing back (currently smooth). Then install the targa vinyl. It looks good without it but I was moving towards a more stock look. The front and rear bumpers have had their bumper guards removed and the holes welded closed before they were painted. No rust in the rockers or the hellhole. No rust at the suspension console or in the front wheel wells. The only rust I have found on the car is a small amount inside the passenger compartment behind the passenger seat. It looks like rain must’ve been entering the car through the rear window (which was loose when I bought the car) and accumulated there at some point. Rear window has been reattached. Clutch cable tube was repaired long before I got the car. It’s holding up well and I felt it best to leave it undisturbed.

Front Trunk: This is the only part of the car that I think is a let down. It wasn’t painted when the rest of the car was painted. It still shows its original L80E white paint. There is a spare Fuchs wheel in there (that was painted…ugh) with a new Bridgestone Potenza on it. The windshield washer system works.
• The fuel tank is in good shape with new seals on the expansion tank and the gas cap itself.
• The blower motor works at all speeds but the cables to actuate the flapper boxes are currently not installed (mentioned in Interior heading).
• The windshield wipers work well but aren’t moving at the speed of 2019 model year vehicles. I’m not sure if 1974 model year windshield wipers even moved quickly. It was on the list to pull the wiper assembly and refurbish it but frankly the car hasn’t been driven in rain in 15 years so it was low on the list.

Rear Trunk:
• In the rear trunk I installed a shock kit (if I had to do it over again I wouldn’t have done this) that helped alleviate the tension of the trunk rollers.
• New 914Rubber carpet in the trunk.
• New rear trunk top latch (plunger), shock rubber covers, targa top cups and front and rear clips are installed.
• Restored Bilstein jack and the jack hold downs round out the work in the rear trunk.

Suspension:
• New balljoints and new turbo tie rods in front.
• New 140lb. progressive springs on Bilstein adjustable shocks in the rear.
• New rear calipers by PMB. When Ed Mayo at Mayo Performance did the brake work he felt that the rear pads and discs were okay so he reused those parts. Unfortunately, there is a squeal in light braking. I’m sure new pads and rotors would alleviate this. Parking brakes adjusted correctly.
• Front calipers rebuilt by Mayo Performance. New rotors and pads in the front.
• New soft brake lines at all four corners.
• Mayo Performance balanced all the tires and performed a 4-wheel alignment.
• All new brake fluid and a new ATE brake master cylinder installed.
• New front sway bar bushings.

Transmission:
• New mounts installed.
• Fluid changed.
• New seals and bushings installed at console.
• Shift rod powder coated.
• New bushings in shift rod union at the firewall. Shifts smoothly but a deft touch helps when moving into first gear.

Engine and Engine Bay.
• L-Jet reinstalled with help from Clay Perrine. All parts, including harness, checked before installation. Almost everything was powder coated before installation.
• The throttle body was restored and re-bushed (Phil on Samba did this. If you know, you know).
• The dual relay is new, as is the pressure regulator.
• New soft fuel lines in engine bay. New stainless-steel lines in engine bay but not through center tunnel. The fuel lines in the center tunnel looked in good shape and since the fuel pump still resides in the engine bay they don’t see any significant pressure (unlike the ‘75/’76 models with the fuel pump up front).
• New Dansk muffler and stainless-steel heat exchangers installed. Rear main seal and oil galleys were replaced.
• The hell hole is perfect. The hell hole was clean when I bought it as a roller and after paint it still looks perfect. Battery tray was replaced before paint.
• New Optima battery installed a few years ago.
• Restored the engine bay blower motor. I had all the heater parts powder coated and reinstalled them on the left side (and that’s all the ’74 would’ve had). It gets warm…very warm…in the winter.
• All new vacuum lines, as well as a new rubber elbow from the AFM to the TB.
• New clutch cable and accelerator cable.
• New valve cover gaskets. Valves adjusted.
• 123 Bluetooth distributor (the later version that uses Bluetooth and the app to adjust your curves).

How does it run and drive? Extremely well. With the FI it starts up quickly. The steering is precise. No shimmy in the steering wheel from destroyed steering wheel bushings. The alignment is spot on and even driving on the freeway is solid. No shake and the car tracks straight as an arrow. The brakes are about as perfect as you can get. The parking brake works correctly, the brakes work correctly. Without installing some larger wheels to accommodate larger calipers and rotors I can’t imagine the car braking any better than it does. Acceleration is smooth. With new shift bushings there is no vague shifting characteristics but as mentioned above there is 1st gear synchro crunch if you try to force it into 1st while still moving at a good clip. The car was painted in 2003/2004 and the rebuilt motor was installed (and the odometer zero’ed) right after paint. All work mentioned here was done within the last 10,000 miles. You can drive this car for years as-is. Also a few small projects (i.e. not out of commission for very long) left on the car (interior backpad, reinstalling fresh air cables, etc).

$21,000

[Rob-O]

More Pictures

[Rob-O]

More...More pictures

Will try to get some of the underside of the vehicle in the next few days.

[windforfun]

Interesting price. Where's the rust?

[maj75]

Love some interior pics with the P side floor rust. Looks like a really nice car!