Hi folks, First off great forum!

a little history, I had been looking for a 914 for quite some time all over oregon for the last few month's. Most of what I found were either complete junk or too much money and too far away. Just so happens that a guy that lives down the street from my shop was clearing off his property due to pending city ticket for all the junk in his yard. He's got to be the world champ junk collector, dudes got two of everything. They had moved a bunch of other stuff out and uncovered not just one but two 914's. I stopped and offered to buy them both. He declined but I offered him 600 for the 74 anyway and gave him my number. Three weeks go by and the guy calls and says 425 and its yours. Towed it the block and a half to my shop and so the mission begins.

About the car, My buddy Steve owns a body shop here came down to have a look. Theres quite a bit of surface rust in the front trunk pan but not bad. So no replacement. There is a little bit under the foot control but doesnt look fatal there either. The rear trunk pan is rusted through in spots so it will need replacement. Other than that it looks solid inside. Outside is decent, few dent and dings but not bad. Engine is there, owner said it ran but had electrical problems when parked. I have no idea what engine it is other than its a 4 cyl. Trans shifts in all gears. Interior is intact but thrashed.

Here's some questions:

Where is the best place to find replacement body parts. ie floor pans?
How do I figure out what engine is in it.
What are the common problems and things I should watch out for?
How the hell do you get the seats out?
Where is the best place to start this project.

Ive never restored a car before so any help would be great. Thanks

do a search here on "hell hole" basically below the battery tray in the engine compartment. Also the inside rear suspension arm mount that is below the battery. Slide the seats forward and remove the 4 bolts that secure the adjuster to the hinge. Lift the adjuster lever at the front, then pull the seat assembly back out of the front height adjuster.
Strip the car down to a bare body to determine the true extent of the rust. Especially in the longitudinal under the door, and in particular near the jack spur. When you decide it is restorable, check out "Restoration Design" for the parts.

In '74 you have 1.8 with 4 stud heads or 2.0 with 3 stud heads (studs that connect the intake runners to the head). The 1.8 air cleaner is off to the left side, and the 2.0 is central.

Some required reading:
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=16748
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=76791

The real rust hides under the battery in the engine compartment and under the rocker panels under each door. Look there to find the real state of the chassis. Also look behind each seat under the mats for rust.

Parts of all sorts are available from several suppliers. That is not the problem. Usually the problem is how much $$$$ do you want to invest.

Thanks davep, Air cleaner is off to the side so its a 1.8. Im going to see if it will start today before I rip it apart and get the grinder out. I was crawling around under it last night the bottom of the car is cleaner than the top!

Most of the body seals are bad is there a full kit available for these cars?

I will try to post some pics soon so you guys can see whats going on.

Keith

The carpet is out mostly. No rust so far, still trying to figure out how to get the seats out or at least slide forward enough to get a look under them. Money is always an issue but Im not in a rush to get it done so little by little it will get done.

You are not looking in the right place. The trouble spots are hidden from obvious view.

1) pull out the battery.
2) vacuum out all the leaves, mouse nests, etc that are on the engine shelf below the battery and to the well to the firewall.
3) now that you can see the metal, where the shelf dips down to the firewall (the hell hole) poke at that with a screw driver. This is not for the faint of heart - as you have a very good chance of poking through. But it is better to KNOW where your problem is then find it when your car is terminal.
4) pull the passenger side rocker off and examine the sheet metal from the jackpost to where it goes up into the rear wheel well of the car. Poke it with a screw driver.

The metal is only good if you can't poke through with a screwdriver, pushing as hard as you can.

Good luck! Almost EVERYONE find some rust through in the hell hole. it is a design flaw for the car. Finding it now and fixing it is the key to long and happy 914 ownership.

Zach

The seats have a lever in the front that you pull up to move the seat forward. Often times, the handle is broken off, but the lever is there, look for it. Once the seat is all the way forward, there's a metal tab that you push and the seat will slide off the rails.

Andy

Thanks, I will do that tonight and see what I find. Fingers crossed.

Thanks Andy, That would explain it!

Well pulled the battery out to find it sitting on wood blocks and under that was the remain of the battery box box. Found some nasty rust on the main rail, firewall, inner fender. Im afraid to pull the rocker panel off. Pretty disappointing for sure. I have a buddy that owns a body shop coming today to have a look to see if its worth fixing. Might just part it and look for a better one if its terminal. I'll try to post some pics so you guys can advise me on this. Aside from that the car in good shape body wise with lots of usable parts.

As I said, almost all 914s have rust there. it is a design flaw. Battery acid leaks down and mixes with rain water. it goes into the well, and sits, slowly eating the metal up.

but it can be fixed! replacement metal can be found through a few vendors. Take pics and post them up.

Mine looked like this when I started (this is an example of minor rust):



After cutting out the rot:


I don't have any pics of the finished area.

Zach

First:

Second:

Third: Check the members vendor area. http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showforum=4

You can get sheet metal, rubber parts, engine wiring harnesses, etc. Lots of parts.

Welcome the the addiction.

Check out this post. Lots of good photos of repaired stuff. http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=100718

If I may. Another spot for rust that folks usually don't mention is under the windshield bottle. Remove it and look straight down into the corner. I have seen several with this problem. Then, if possible look on the other side, in the corner. It can be distrubing.........

Zach, mine looks almost identical to yours. Hate to see what major rust would be Had my friend look at it too and he said "no big deal" very cool. I took some pics but having trouble getting them to load. Im going to start tearing it all down to the tub this weekend. Thanks for the pics, looks like a b!tch to get to but they wouldnt call it the hell hole if it was easy. Now that it looks like its not terminal I need to decide complete restore or.....

Take a look at mine and count yourself lucky

Drop the engine (this is something that all 914 owners need to learn to so at some point) and use any means at your disposal to investigate the situation. You will need to pull off the rockers to inspect the jack points and clean out the pound or so of dirt that they have trapped against the long.

This gets a lot easier when you can just stand in the engine bay. Hop in, and clean and probe until you have found the edge of good and bad metal. Cut patches (what I did) or buy the parts pre cut and weld them in. This is pretty much the trial by fire for almost all 914 owners.

For Veltor, it was more a trial by jumping in a volcano. but he saved his car, and the thread is one hell of a good read.

Zach

Thats my plan first, drop engine and trans (I think its going bye bye anyway) and start digging. Still cant seen to get my pics to load.

Velter, dude that is amazing work, how long did it take to complete?

Try the FAQ ...
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=13637

800x600, JPG, 72dpi, Medium Compression (5) works good for uploading images here ...
Andy