Restoration Design needs your help to determine what 914 part to make next. I listed three here, but if you have any other ideas as to what part would be a good addition let us know.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

I don't think that anyone makes a right engine mount bracket, and I know that it gets hit by the hell hole rust. I have one cut from another car to replace mine.

I say a whole new tub. That way I don't have to worry about rust for at least a year.

It would be great to have that piece. In fact, when i get around to fixing my factory /6, i will need one of those.

With the parts that go under the headlight buckets as shown in the picture.

That would be great!
Andy

Another part that is rusted out on almost every 914 out there (most owners don't even know) is the top of the rear fenders right over the taillights.

The factory stuffed some foam into that cavity which, after 40 years, has cracked and is now a sponge full of water with rust slowly eating it's way through.

Andy

With the number of FL cars that had the dealer installed A/C, front trunk floor are hard to come by down here is the south.

-- Rob

Of those 3, IMHO the front trunk floor is the most often needed, esp. for AC removal retrofits.

Here are a couple of other ideas for more needed parts & the reasons why needed -

1. 70-74 Front Wall body Panel (behind bumper) - often damaged in F-end accidents & rust at bumper/foglight/horn attachments
> the front wall brace(s) inside the trunk would be nice too, either separately or pre-welded to the F-wall.

2. L & R Headlight Buckets & drain tube (70-74 w/ knock-outs for 75-76) - rust damage

3. Replacement F Trunk Seal channels (curved & straight & angels0 - often rusted by trunk seal holding moisture & rusting thru

4. 70-74 Rear Wall body Panel (behind bumper & betw taillights) - often damaged in R-end accidents & rust for leaky taillight seals

5. Underbody pan sections at L & R Front Suspension Cross-member Struts/Braces Attachments (R most common) - rust due to water & windshield washer fluid leakage into bottom of fuel tank compartment, & critical suspension area stress

6. Steering Rack Cover Panels - rust & road debris damage

7. 72-76 Full Engine/Cockpit Firewall Panel with F Engine Shelf & Heat/Sound Pad & Wiring Harness Clips - heat/sound pads hold moisture against firewall/shelf & cause rust damage on later 914s (70-71 had no pads IIRC).

8. Full Hell Hole Replacement Kit &/or Pre-Assy. (Long, Inneer Wheel House, Susp. Console, Motor Mount, Engine Shelf, Battery Tray/Support, etc.) - RUST!

9. Engine Tin Sets - rust damage, road hazard losws, lazy mechanics & DAPO's not putting them back on, etc.

I'm sure others can add some to their wish list!

I say above mostly 70-74 models - not as a slam against 75-76 914s - but because there were far more 914s built & therefore surviving in the first 4 years of production, plus I have a 73 & am most familiar with issues that MY & similar MYs.

Front cross panel for concours . Or the top portion of it for our daily drivers. Had a tough time finding a portion out of a parts car. Project has been sitting for 6 months waiting. Finally found one.

Both of my project cars suffer the rust that Tom mentions.

+2

For what it's worth Pete, I got four NOS inner left longitudinals several years ago from Porsche. I've only sold two, in probably eight years so there's not that much demand.

Front trunk floor is probably a better go for you, especially if you can include the relief area above the front A arm. I have seen a few cars with that area rusted.

Front trunk floor is the most needed piece of what you listed. That front fender section would be second.

I removed a front panel (the latch/nose panel) from a parts car. It have been replaced at some point with a factory replacement panel and barely brazed on the car. I gave it to jmill. If he didn't use it I'm sure he would loan it to you for a pattern. It's a nice stock part. These get hit all the time. Also a 1/4 section of this peice would be nice to have to repair the rust where the bumper bolts on the front.

This section as a repair panel would be nice.

Click to view attachment

Yes, I need the first 3 on this list and also my longitudals are very bad on the inside of the car when I pulled my carpets out....it would be nice to see some new parts come out that are not available from AA

The lower inner wheel house rear section is a complicated piece to make in the garage too. This one was repaired with foil tape and body filler covered with black undercoating.

Click to view attachment

Here is what is available after each listing:

Of those 3, IMHO the front trunk floor is the most often needed, esp. for AC removal retrofits.
I agree that this part is needed. However most are bad because of the ac cutout, but most just reinstall the air conditioning. The front transverse link mounts although discontinued by the factory, are easily and readily available used and rust free

-

1. 70-74 Front Wall body Panel (behind bumper) I agree with this one. Although the factory new front panels are readily avaialble, they are different than the 73-74 style and by installing the superseded panel, ones car is changed forever. They also rust away. Make this one!

> the front wall brace(s) inside the trunk would be nice too, either separately or pre-welded to the F-wall. one side is still available but most times these are NOT rusted and can be cut out of a donor

2. L & R Headlight Buckets & drain tube (70-74 w/ knock-outs for 75-76) - rust damage
Headlight buckets would be a good one. These do rust out and new ones are no longer available and the new ones that WERE available are shorter than the 70-74 style so that they could accommodate the 75 76 bumper shocks

3. Replacement F Trunk Seal channels (curved & straight & angels0 - often rusted by trunk seal holding moisture & rusting thru
These are actually made by us and are readily available

4. 70-74 Rear Wall body Panel (behind bumper & betw taillights) - often damaged in R-end accidents & rust for leaky taillight seals
These are still readily available

5. Underbody pan sections at L & R Front Suspension Cross-member Struts/Braces Attachments (R most common) - rust due to water & windshield washer fluid leakage into bottom of fuel tank compartment, & critical suspension area stress
These brackets are readily available, in fact I bet we have over 100 NOS on the parts shelf

6. Steering Rack Cover Panels - rust & road debris damage
These too are readily available rust free used and new

7. 72-76 Full Engine/Cockpit Firewall Panel with F Engine Shelf & Heat/Sound Pad & Wiring Harness Clips - heat/sound pads hold moisture against firewall/shelf & cause rust damage on later 914s (70-71 had no pads IIRC).
Rear walls are readily available complete (I bet we have at least 20 NOS upstairs, and we already make the patch panels left and right inner and outer where these rust the most. We also have rust free back walls that can be sectioned and used to repair other rusted ones

8. Full Hell Hole Replacement Kit &/or Pre-Assy. (Long, Inneer Wheel House, Susp. Console, Motor Mount, Engine Shelf, Battery Tray/Support, etc.) - RUST!
You may have seen the old thread where we welded together all of the parts we make for this area: Was a fun picture, looked like the right rear half of a real 914! All readily available but really cannot be sectioned in as one!!!

9. Engine Tin Sets - rust damage, road hazard losws, lazy mechanics & DAPO's not putting them back on, etc.
Plenty of this stuff available totally rust free and nice, even the right 2.0 cylinder cover!

Personally it's probably just me but I would buy a inner fender hell hole piece and the battery tray and support made out of stainless to put in my car if it ever needed it. Welding is the same with either mild steel or ss. I would guess the ss might be a little tougher to stamp but I'm sure it can be done. I bought some outer long shells in case I was going to open the longs for coolant hoses and if they had been available in ss thats what I would have bought.

Here's my 2 cents....

On my good car that had almost no rust anywhere, there was rust in three areas. First, the back of the floors and the bottom of the bulkhead was rusted due to the rear window being loose. Parts are available for that, Second, the hell hole area had some rust and parts are now avaialble for that. Third area was the ""U" channel area under the front trunk seal and no parts are available for that.

There is a real market for the front trunk "U" channnels. That's a market for ALL of the "U" channels. On many cars, the curved "U" channel in front of the windshield is mising chunks near the fenders, and the center is bent or damaged from careless owners. That metal is thin, and my workaround was to replace the entire section ( including the grille) between the trunk and the windshield and patch the corners.

The long "U" channels of the front fenders are crying for a replacement piece. Made both of them by cutting curved vertical sections and welding a floor to the verticals. Would replace them in a heartbeat with decent replacement pieces. I'm picturing a universal left and right curved "U" profile that can be used for both fenders.

Another part might be the vertical wall of the wheel area that the fender "U" sections are spot welded to. On many cars, the removal and replacement of a fender leaves a wavy piece full of drilled out spotweld holes running front to rear. Maybe a replacement piece that's nothig more than a long flat strip an inch high would be in order. Cut the top edge to match the curve of "U" of the fender. Make the bottom as a straight cut for butt weld or as a dogleg. Dogleg would let you spot weld it in place with an overlap hanging into in the wheel area. Might be a universal left/right piece depending on how you do the bottom.

And, on every car that I've ever seen, the "U" channels around the headlights and front of the car need some work. The welded angle and seam sealer around the headlight buckets are a rust magnet. Ditto along the front of the trunk.

A lot of junkers have decent front trunk floors. They seem to be in an area that doesn't accumulate salt or rust. AC holes do appear, but never seen one in the midwest or the east coast areas.

Your proposed front fender pieces would be good. In salt land, a lot of cars seem to rust out from the inside in that double wall area in front of the doors. One of my front fenders was trashed by the rust, and another one was dipped to get rid of the rust in the double wall area.

Agree on Andy's mention of the rearmost piece of the rear fender above the tail light. It's a complex metal form and may involve more than one piece.

My 2 cents, hope it helps.

..Complete rear trunk floor?(I think)
most of the cars I've had,that was a very bad area also!

Replacement panels that weld themselves - No offence Scotty...

I would think the u shaped piece could be a piece long enough for both sides and the bodyman could put the curve in it himself. Most sheetmetal shops could make that I think pretty easily. Mine has some surface rust above the headlight buckets in the channel but no rust through. I can see how though in rainey climates that would stay damp and rust through would be common. Someone said that they would reccommend to not glue the rubber in the channel so it could be removed and dried or cleaned out. I will probably cold galvanize paint it and then put the epoxy primer over that to try and protect it I think.

Charlie,

The bitch with the fender "U" channel is creating the downward curve. Bending a "U" downward is hard to do. The upper sides of the "U" need to stretch as the part bends downward, and rather than stretch, the sides pull in. Need tooling to do it right. That downward bending operation is way more than I want to do with the tools on hand.

You'll get that when we get houses that sell themselves

Front trunk
front wall behind bumper ( That Rick showed )
STEEL rockers
Front valance
Rear valance


Front trunk seal channel is pretty easily made, but I could certainly see a large sale of it pre-made

Thank you all for the input. There are plenty of pieces that could and should be made. For now the piece that will be priority is most likely the front trunk. All the other areas will definately be on the "to do list"

I am just finishing up some other dies, including the pedal support bracket welded on the underside of the floor pans. I will let the world know when new items are available.

Pete

One more vote for the 1970-74 front panel..

Thanks for reminding me I haven't fixed the front trunk, ya #$&%!! Just when I thought I was getting dangerously close to finishing the welding on the car, too . . .

I don't need the u channel but if I did I would probably buy a piece of thinwall square tubing and bend it then cut the top side off with my bandsaw and sand it to final size. It looks like 3/4 tubing is about the right size, no?

Scotty

I just bought left/right steel rockers from RD.

They ain't plastic and they ain't tin.

Getting them treated and coated this coming week.

John

My vote is for an entire assembled 914 shell.

Actually, I voted front trunk. I could have used one about 2 months ago. So many hack the $h!t out of trunk floors for AC or Oil coolers or radiators etc.



PITA to source a trunk floor, then patch it in.

Looks like this guy is already selling the pedal cluster reinforcements on e bay!!!


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...16#ht_729wt_941

+ whatever
I have some fiberglass work in mine

I would vote for the inner and outer rear suspension console parts. The outers first, and followed up with the inner parts......


PLEASE!!!!

Thanks.

I wish you could get a piece for the 'inner inner' passenger long, a foot or 2 of where it's flat under the door and then a foot or so up the slant toward the battery. I'm talking about the sort of 'corrugated' piece that you can't see because it is inside.

I voted for the rear of the front fender, as the way it is double walled mkes that pretty tricky. Also, I'd love to get new metal shaped for just the ends of the cowl, both sides. Forming that's gonna be tricky, too.

The inner inner long as you call it is available.

To clarify, I'm not talking about any of the pieces shown here:

It would be behind #23, from about that 2nd big whole back, through where the firewall attaches and up a bit on what would be behind #22. It wouldn't need to go very far up. The acid/water has gone between the 2 layers, down the slope and sits right there.

It would be pretty much what's been welded in here:

resurrection.

So the F. trunk floor piece has been available for awhile & I hope its been a seller.
So How about #2 on the list per the reply's was the Front Cross Wall for the mid years
(74-74).
Has there been any action towards reproducing it?

I ask since I too need one for my Black 74.
I had a Yellow 76 follow me home this WE before snow-pocalypse hit the Seattle area
and i was considering cutting its nose off for transplant.
Though I recall it being mentioned that there is a (slight) difference between the mid & late parts (beyond the holes cut out for the bumper shox)?

Lots of people need these. And they are a pain to into shape. Or find good ones.

On my list to make my life easier would also be complete narrow fenders Fronts in Eurospec, we can drill out our own wart holes if we want. And door skins.

Oh if you would do a 916 roof there would be a limited market for that one also.

This for the early cars.


Click to view attachment

My suggestion is the rear panel from trunk close to valance bolt holes and everything in between.

I looked at 1 car in Belgium that had a rotten and slightly bashed in rear. Another in the USA which had similar to above. The one I settled on had rust issues in the area where the trunk floor attached. Floor was shot and I got that from yourself in the Netherlands.

It was a major pain for a skilled amateur to cut out and replace that.

Late as well, at least the two corners.
My lad will be looking for both sides from a donor or we will have to pound out our own.

So can you have them ready for the next open house Pete?

I have one for the wish list... Maybe Pete will make one before I end up cutting into my car.

I second the rear panel between the taillights at least. Please.

Brett

I think RD could do that now if they jigged up and welded the panels together.

Since they already make every panel (I believe) in that part I very much doubt they will ever offer it (the long and wheel arch section) as a single piece.
Unless like I said the part was welded up.

Maybe they will one day when they start making bodies in white.

Impressive collection, almost as good as RD's.

Gentlemen,

I have some good news. I have completed the dies to stamp the rear latch panel that you speak of. I still have to polish it and try to stamp a part. I have many dies that I have machined for the 914, 911 and the 356 but they are just waiting to be polished.

I can make them faster than my employees can polish and try them in the press.

The front latch panel, I have plans for. I have a scan of the early and the late versions. There is in fact three versions, but the third version is just the later one with a different trim pattern.

I have actually sent the entire longitudinal away to get scanned as well. But I don't think that I will be making this die very soon. Or perhaps it will be made in sections. Right now I don't have a press large enough to stamp such a long piece.

In the works is door lock posts. Nicer and crisper than the currently available. Also working on the rear trailing arm mount(the piece with the three nuts that always have broken bolts in them).

Also, the engine tin for 6 cylinders. This one have been a long project. I have all the dies machined but have yet to stamp any because of the polishing issue again.

I have also stamped out a mount for the front suspension.

I also have the pedal area scanned, so that is a die that I could be making in the future as well.

There are just not enough hours in the day for me to expedite these parts. We are installing another laser cutter to speed blank cutting up,in addition to the 600 ton press to do more die trial.

If anyone wants a part really bad, they are welcome to come out and help polish. But trust me, its not a fun job.

Ps. I know you guy always joke about bodies in white, but there may be a time that this could actually happen.
Then everyone who says they will buy one will actually have to step up. You know who you are, and I know too. I have been keeping track

Pete

Whoo hooo! sounds like you've been doing a lot beside drinking Extra Old Stock. Now if you could get the boys to get their polishers out of the pawn shop...

Good on ya Pete. Will be looking forward to the new metal. I'll check to see if the statue of limitations is up on my "situation" I'd love some mindless polishing bout now.

Thanks for all you guy's are doing.

Inner wheelhouse, lower left would be nice...

Keep up the GREAT work .......................

Curious what a body in white would cost? Also curious what the legality is regarding moving your vin over to it?

I have no idea what it would cost me to put an entire body together. Perhaps 15-20K, as for the VIN, you guys would have to deal with that on your own.

What are the thoughts on putting a VIN on a brand new tub? Porsche sold entire front clips, so they had no problem with a customer doing it. It wouldn't be VIN swapping because there's only one VIN to begin with. I'm sure there could be a huge discussion about this(along with the dozen other threads already talking about the same issue).

Pete