Good evening All,

A few weeks ago I asked for some advice on buying a 914 and you guys directed me to the pellican parts buyers guide, thanks. It worked out well, I purchased a 1971, 1.7L from a fellow forum member. It appears to be pretty much original and unmolested. Still has the fuel injection. It even runs well and looks good. I am waiting on my Haynes manual in the mail and wondered if you could provide some guidance while I wait on the book:

What size spare tire should I put on the 15 inch spare steel wheel? The tire on there now is too large (and dry rotted) and does not really fit well in the front trunk.

Any tricks to adjusting the parking brake? It is not holding.

I noticed a light in the rear trunk. I don't know what triggers it. Is there a pin switch somewhere I can't see?

Everything on the car appears to work (all lights, etc.) however the odometer no longer works. Is it particuarly difficult to pull the gauge (if that is the problem)?

The doors look like they need to be taken apart and all the rubber replaced. I have done this with my MG Midget (it was not pleasant but I got through it). It looks a bit more difficult with these doors. Any advice appreciated.

I look forward to learning this car and meeting the members on this site. Thanks again.

A 195/60 or 65 would fit, or smaller.
Trunk light "should" come on with the headlights.
The rear breaks are not self adjusting- I think PMB performance has a how to, also search on here for rear brake adjusting.

Doors can be a PIA to deal with, get your rubber from 914rubber.com-member mikey914 here.

There is a how to somewhere-maybe pelican parts? on how to fix the odometer. Thats common, its from turning the trip re-set knob ( under the dash) while the car is moving.

The rear brakes have a nut hidden under a cover on the outboard side of the caliper. The cover looks like a nut but screws off with a wrench. Use an allen wrench to hold the center adjuster nut and loosen the lock nut around it. Then you can adjust the venting clearance and retighten the nut holding the allen head until it is tight!

Test your e-brake and repeat if nessary!

Hey,

Welcome to the club and the neighborhood.

My odometer doesn't work either. I attempted to fix it with the instructions (tech article) on Pelican, and failed... Will probably send mine away for a rebuild at some point. As noted above, resetting the trip odometer while the car is in motion is what usually breaks the odo.

It's weird, but the light for the rear trunk and engine compartment (lights through lenses on both sides) is always on when the headlights are. Take pride in the fact that your engine is lit - even if nobody can see it - when you're driving at night.

How's the shifter? Is it still original tail-shifter, or has it been converted to side-shift? The latter (as well as replacing shift bushings) will upgrade the shift action for horrendous to tolerable.

All the responses are telling you how to adjust the venting clearance on the rear brakes.

That's not the parking brake adjustment.


To adjust the parking brakes, find where the parking brake cables come out of the firewall in the engine bay behind the driver's seat. There's a nut on each cable that will take out the slack.

The stock spare tire size is small, a 165r15 or 155r15 is the correct stock-ish arrangement.

If the speedometer works and the odometer doesn't, it's internal to the gauge. To remove the gauge, simply pull it out. Send it off for repair or replace it with a working used unit.

Welcome.

It was for me!!

I was having the same problem and by adjusting the clearance it solved my e-brake problem!

It could be a cable issue but I always asked the questions after checking the obvious stuff and not getting it to work!

The trunk light comes on with the headlight switch.

There is a PCAPotomac tech session in Rockville on the 21st of May. Check out pcapotomac.org for details. You can have your car put up on a lift for free and check things out and have tech inspectors explain things about your car. Free coffee and donuts in the am and pizza at lunch. Could be a good way to get into local Porsche happenings and events although in my opinion, 914's are not at the top of the glitzy fast crowd credit card mechanic type cars. Re the emergency brake; I'd look at adjusting the venting clearance. There are 2 companies in CA who repair gauges; North Hollywood Speedometer and Palo Alto Speedometer.

Support a member. This link will take you the site of a guy on the forum who goes by marks914 and he sell custom gauges and does repair. NewVintageUSA

test your brakes before you go to far. if your rear calipers need a rebuild they will
drag/lock up.

Stock tire size was either 155SR15 on 15x4.5 steel wheels (standard eqpt.) or 165SR15 on the 15x5.5 steel or Pedrini alloy wheels (options) - look at the sticker on the expansion tank around the fuel filler on the gas tank for tire size & inflation pressures. The window sticker may also list it if they were the larger optional ones. Kumho, Bridgestone/Firestone, Riken, Vredestein & others offer the SR & TR rated tires for your 914 - just Google whichever size is on the sticker.

If you go with a non-stock tire, the the 195/65R15 will give you less speedo & odometer error. There is a tire size calculator to check tire sizes & errors vs. stock spec. in the 914 info section at the top of the page.

Good 914 info also at Originality & History forum & the links below - in addition to the Garage forum here.
http://bowlsby.net/914/Classic/
p914.com