So last night after work, about 11:45 I decided to drive the 914 to meet some friends.

Get home, fire it up it idles great and is running great. Get out of my driveway, literally 1 block away at the end of my street and it dies.

Shit. It was running really great even in the cold.


Will not restart, as it was dying in gear it felt like no fuel.


I did a three point turn by me power in the intersection and called said friends to ask for a hand. Boy these cars do not have too many great places to push and steer from. The door open seems to be my preferred method, with 1 hand on the wheel and the other on the windshield frame.

Attempting to use the window guide and the rear sail panel seam made a dent in my hand due to a lack of trim and hurt.

Within 30 minutes I managed to get the car back to my driveway, taking breaks to spit up piles of lung junk, sweat, and curse. There was a slight uphill grade that made it worse, and there was no way I could get it up my driveway by myself steering and pushing. Fortunately my friends showed up and helped get it up into the garage.


My guess is the cold snap did the fuel pump in finally or the factory fuel filter probably clogged.

That was a pretty intense workout. I had to eat an extra meal afterwards and drink the 2-3 glasses of water I sweat out. I went to the gym today and just did cardio.


Silly me! When I get home, I am going to pop my fuel lines into a small bucket, key on and play with the air box flapper to see if I am getting fuel, which I doubt.

My intuition tells me dead fuel pump or clogged filter.


Share your 914 pushing stories and methods here!

LOL good story.

The last time i pushed a 914 was when i was in my buddy's 74' 2.0L. It ran out of gas 9 blocks from his house. Luckily it was on the same street so we just pushed the car for a few feet and then hopped in and rolled a majority of the way until we hit a stop sign and then had to start all over. Luckily we only had to go through one intersection w/ a light. But it was quite memorable. These chicks in a truck gave us the thumbs up when they drove by.

hahaha that is funny.


One of my neighbors down the street walking his dog came up to me like I was stealing this thing, then was like Oh hey nice car.

I was like thanks, it's a 75 914. Now powered by me. I was like this is what I get for not going over the fuel system 100% and replacing a 35 year old pump/filter!

He kind of chuckled and kept going.

Back in college, around 1991, I tool a girl out for a ride (not *that* kind of ride) and the fuel light was on. I planned to go get $5 worth of gas, as $5 was a lot back then, and could get me about 5 gal, but the light went off...

No problem, I said...

Well, it died about 1 mi from campus. I had pushed it about 1/4mi before a friend stopped by and gave me a ride to get gas. The girl seemed non affected by the whole thing but really didn't help pushing or anything.

The funny thing is that while I was pushing the car, 2 different people drove by and yelled out "buy american" or similar. I'd never heard that sort of thing before, and never after. I guess they figured it was a NARP.

The furthest.....up on to the trailer.

I must be getting old but when I got back into old cars again, mainly 914's I went out and got a trailer...I know it will break down, its just a matter of time.

So far I have rescued mine twice, my sons a few more times than that, and my other sons beetle a few times.

If its a gas issue, I always bring a full can with me on the late night rescue adventures.

I built the trailer so low that I can push the car up alone....Also got a winch but its so damn slow I just push the car up....a running start and its on the trailer in a few seconds...hardest part is stopping it.
Rich

Rich,

I'd really love to see a picture of that trailer!

Pushing? In and out of the garage lately has been the most. But I did push it up onto a tow dolly a couple times. That's a real pain, as it's a pretty steep approach. Need a good running start with a couple of people pushing. Won't do that again. Friends don't let friends with 914s use tow dollies.. I have more than a couple dents in the car as a result of that cursed thing...

-Josh2

It is nothing special, in fact it looks kinda like crap right now...the plywood top needs replacing.

It started as a race car trailer I got form a local circle track guy...they have high ground clearance.

I got a 914 race car and on friday night before and autox I went to put the car on the trailer and because it was so low to the ground it got hung up on the trailer and would not move forward or back...it was a teeter totter. I had to use a big tractor to drag it back off the trailer.

So, I cut the bed off the trailer and made it a low rider beaver tail setup.
The bed at the rear is about 3-4 inches off the ground....with 4 foot ramps its a super low angle of approach to push a car onto it.
I tweeked the setup a bit more with an offset ball on my tow vehicle.
Even fully loaded the rear of the trailer does not scrape the ground....its damn close though... That just took a few different ball setups to get perfect.

Once the front wheels are over the beaver tail section, momentum does the rest...
I have pushed a few cars on alone...its really simple.
I have a few large blocks I put up front to stop it...then I hook up a strap and pull it to the final spot.

Rich

the night i bought my car, i towed it from new jersey to jarretsville md, to keep it at grandpas house. it was towed on a uhaul dolly, it was runnin rough, but it did start. it also had zero exhaust (very loud) so my idea was to stop at the church , top of the street and roll her down to the house quietly. 2:30am

the church had a huge parking lot, with a few speed bumps, but it was flat. I started the car and backed it off the dolly, jumped out to fold up the ramps and gave the thumbs up, my ride left. i jump in the car, shift into first, dead. nothing, no starter.

i ended up pushing it across a huge parking lot, spped bumps and all, by myself, out onto the street, then down the hill enough to where i could jump in to take controll.

holy shit. that car was heavy, it took a few trys on each speed bump.

but i did it.

I am very adept at pushing a 914 solo, and have perfected the "rolling jump-start pop-the-clutch" in reverse in the tight confines of a gas station.
If you use your foot on the wheel/tire it makes it really a lot easier to get the car rolling. I have mag wheels, and I can step onto the spoke easily to get her rollin. The initial push from stopped is often the most difficult, and applying the force directly to the wheel/tire really helps.

I pushed mine about 3/4 of a mile. Slght uphill grade most of the way. Got it to the top and got half way in (old and outa breath) then got a nice downhill roll to my house. Still not 100% in the car, went up the driveway, hit the brake dam it was the clutch pedal, right through the garage door. Good times.....

Betty has actually push started her 914 in high heels and a dress.........

Gotta love a sexy woman who can drive a stick....

1st gear + starter motor + good battery = Electric Car Woo Hoo!