So I get a phone call a few days ago from Mike Rose, the fella that graciously lent me his 914 for the WCC a month ago..."hey Mike, I was under my car and noticed a dent on the heatexchangers that looked odd, then I noticed the pass. side flapper box was gone"

ummm, I knew I didn't take the car off road or run anything over that I knew of and then I remembered that while driving down on hwy 101 to the breakfast that Friday of the WCC, my wife and I had been cruising at about 70 or so (indicated 80+ mph, but he has smaller than norm tires on the car) when I heard a bunch of noise like under the car and then saw something in my mirror bouncing/sliding on the freeway behind us until the object was no longer in my view due to the cars behind us........Well, now I'm 99% sure what the racket was

I still have no idea if we did run something over and it popped up and took off the valve or just vibration did it in......

What else have people "lost" while driving their 914?? I know a few people have "donated" their targa tops to the convicts cleaning up the side of the road, anything else??

- sway bar drop link ...
- one of the nuts holding the tranny to the engine ...
- sand, lots of sand ...



that's it (i hope) ...
Andy

I lost a piece of engine tin once. (the piece at the front left corner of the engine) Didn't hear a thing, one day it was there, the next it wasn't. I even drove along my commute route to try and spot it. Cost me $20 at an actual Porsche/Mercedes wrecking yard because I didn't want to be without and risk overheating.


I believe TonyAKAVW has a humorous parts loss story to tell

Speaking of funny noises, I once got hit by a palm frond right on the targa top during a rainstorm.. didn't figure out what the heck that noise was until the next day when I saw palm fronds all over the street.. one of the hazards of California I guess

I lost my dignity when a driveshaft fell off and took out my clutch fork, and then through a strange series of events I ended up ramming my door into a lamp post...

J-tube came right off while driving after i'd put headers on but hadn't gotten to ripping the rest of the heater junk out.

it was kinda embarassing...

n

Yup, lost my heater flapper box as well.
It made a lot a racket since it was still attached to the steel cable.

if there was an award for best response, you'd get it Jeff

Hmmmm, lost the whole freaking motor once....downshifted too hard and the mounts on the bulkhead mount decided to say...BITEME and gave it up....only thing holding the motor in was the shift linkage....

Various heater thingys....never used them much anyways.....heat is fer girley men....

Lost my virginity in a 356 once....like I can ever do THAT or FIND it again.....

didn't lose anything, but the other day i came into a corner a little hot, and heard a "clunk" sound behind me. turns out the battery support structure finally gave up the ghost. i tore it out and the battery is bungied in there down by the hell hole for now.

~a

Lost my chrome windshield trim on the freeway, one side gone, and the other flapping in the wind, since top was off, I reached up and grabbed it.

dave

Ahh yes, I have lost a couple items on the road. I was driving from Santa Barbara to Thousand Oaks for a funeral and I heard a strange noise. It sounded like an exhaust leak and I figured "okay its an exhaust leak, maybe it will go away" and a few moments later BANG, and the exhaust leak got noticeably louder, as though a harley had pulled up next to me, WOT. And out my rear view mirror I noticed a Bursch muffler that looked EXACTLY like mine, rattling towards the center divider. The same rust patterns and all! So I stopped for a moment and decided southbound 405 was not the place to be walking around so I got in the car and drove to the nearest exit. I looked around for a muffler shop, but in the end I parked the car, had a relative drive me the rest of the way and drove back home later that day without a muffler.

I've also lost numerous quarts of oil to the road, but haven't we all...

First 914: lost the driver's side lower winshield trim corner piece. I was driving down a 35mph street (busy), saw it come loose and hanging by one side. Looked in my mirror to change lanes so I could stop, looked back and corner piece was gone. Tried to find it - no luck.

Second 914: Had taken exhaust off to fix a stud. Put it back together but didn't hook up heater. Left flapper boxes wired up with mechanics wire to be re-assembled another day. A few days later was on freeway doing 70mph or so. Road was under construction but it was the weekend and workers/equipment gone & no signs. Flew off a huge shelf where new cement ended. Heard a racket below and looked in the mirror to see my flapper box catch about 12 feet of air as it headed for the ditch.

-Ben

ps - I've also lost my disposable income while driving both 914's, but I excluded that because I didn't consider it "original equipment".

Before my car was abducted by aliens and had wierd experiments done to it, I lost all 4 nuts off the transaxle mounts. The tranny dropped. The CV joints would kinda lock and lift the rear back up and slap the Ansa exhaust back down to the ground with every rotation with kind of a crashing slapping action. It was horrible!

Last week I was out late testing a few things. My friend was driving on a pitch black back road. We hear a metalic sound and something hitting and exiting the underside of the car. We turned around and searched the road and found the voltage regulator fell off the relay board. Car was still charging so I guess that's spare parts!

Oh incase your wondering how my car still charges without the regulator on the relay board I have a Bosch alternator with built in regulator.

Left rear wheel at Sebring.






Crew member forgot to tighten lugs.




(me )




Paul

Ok..this isn't a teener story, but a long long long time ago I had just finished restoring a 1966 Porsche 912. I had been driving it for about 2 mos and really didn't check all the bolts. I was driving down the highway and there was the Mercedes just hot dogging me the entire time...pass me, get behind me, pass me, get behind me. Well, I decided it was time to just blow his doors off (had a great cam in this thing, webers etc...so it was a pretty hot setup for a 912). I downshifted and blew by him like a bat-out-of-hell. Not long after that I heard a bang and looked in my rear view mirror to see the passenger side of the rear bumper sliding down the road. Needless to say he tooted as he drove by me as I slowed to go pick up my discarded body parts! Oh the embarassment!

Both Monza exhaust tips on freeway -- "Why are all those cars dodging back and forth back there?"

Also not a teener story but I had a full size Blazer that the PO left the CB and magnetic antenna in. Driving down 395 at 65mph and suddenly hear something beating the bottom of the floorboard on the passenger side. Cars around me suddenly backed off. I pulled over fearing I had dropped the front driveshaft or something. Turned out the magnet had separated from the CB antenna base and was hanging from the cable under the truck.

Also lost about 4 feet of exhaust pipe and the muffer on my full size Jimmy. Never heard it go. Must have had the stereo up too loud.

Knock on wood - nothing's fallen off the 914 yet.

Amateurs...

Driving east on the 210 freeway in LA doing about 75 in the fast lane, I had black 700 series BMW pushing behind me. I picked it up to about 80 and then... one moment the targe top was there and the next moment it was gone!

I looked in the rear view mirror in time to see the top frisbeeing at the BMW and just lift over the top of his car and disappear out of sight, fortunately looking like it was heading for the median. That will teach him. He's lucky I didn't push the Jame Bond oil slick button. From the way the top flew at the guy and barely made it over his car I am sure he had to change his shorts when he got to work.

Took the next off ramp and circled back to see if I had created any carnage that was going to cost me insurance or jail time and to look for my top. No sign of carnage, no sign of the top. I spent the next 30 minutes climbing hills along the freeway and even coming up in the middle of the freeway at an underpass searching for that top. It was gone.

Options:
- It disintegrated upon impact
- Some one stopped and picked it up.
- God was trying to take me and only got my Targa top.

- Dave

we have a winner in Dave!!!....bet both of you had to change your shorts!

It was sucked up in the smog and disappeared from sight of the neked eye. It eventualy landed in some M yard and was used as a new roof for the shack.

wow, I've had some of the same experiences...

- the magnetic CB antanea will not stay on the roof of a 924 turbo above 120mph and makes a BIG bang as it swings by the cable into your door glass...

- I lost the balls out of the cv joint in the middle of a tight corner #7 at SCR, when the flex in the swing -arm mounting point allowed the arm to flex so much that it pulled the CV joint (outboard) cage apart. This was PRE- suspension bracing on my car and required a new ear be welded in.... (car spun out too, imagine that)

brant

Don't think I can beat Dave

Also NPC - My 1972 VW Beetle when I was 18... had it for about three days at this point. I was climbing up a hill in gorge country all of a sudden POP and the exhaust gets really LOUD. I look back to see my chrome exhaust tip rolling down the hill.

So what do I do.... Pull the car over to the side of the road. Run back to get it and.... here comes the "Here's your sign part" I reach down and pick the F'in thing up with my bare hand. Of course as the thing is burning a hole through my hand I intellegently throw it down only to have it go over the guardrail and into the gorge.

OK Buddy >>>> Here's your sign

Don't feel alone. My "here's your sign moment" didn't happen on the road but in my back yard. I was cutting the grass with the rider (aka the old pile of Sh!t) when it got real loud. I shut it down and seen that the muffler on the front had came lose yet again. Went and got the wrenchs and yup tried to hold it in place with my bare hand, 2nd degree burns on 4 fingers and the plam of my hand.

here's your sign

Hmm..

My other "Here's you sign" moment came 6 years ago when I bought my 6 x 8 utility open tilt bed trailer. I load the POS rider mower on it and started to head to my mothers house about 6 miles away. I had a F150 then and could just barely see the top of the mower. People were honking at me, pulled over and yes I forgot to put the pin back in to keep the bed from tilting at least I was smart enough to strap the mower down or I would have lost it, not that would have been a bad thing

OK Buddy Here's your Sign >>>

When I was around 6 years old I remember my grandparent's VW bug losing the exhaust one day. I don't think my grandmother realized what had happened (I certainly had no idea) but my grandfather drove around and found the exhaust later that night. What is it with aircooled VW engines losing their tailpipes?

lol.. I was wondering when Dave Bell was going to speak up about the Targa Top Incident. I actually wasn't sure if it was him or Sammy. Oh, yeah, we all figured the reason he couldn't find the top was Sammy picked it up already.

Man, I miss the SoCal gang. When are you guys going to do another fun run??

Jen

Statue of limitations has run, I can safely tell this one:

1984, my very first 914. I'm driving home from work one night and getting on it pretty hard on a nice little inside curve, all the sudden car loses power, and I hear this popping noise from the engine. I'm on a pretty busy road, so I pull over onto the first side street about 1/4 mile down the road. The car was such a basket case that I had previously taken the engine lid cover off because it was only siting on the broken reminant of the one lid cover hinge bracket it had left. So, I get out, look at engine in the dark, and eventually figure out that I have shot the rearmost passenger side spark plug clean out of the engine, and because the engine lid is off, it is gone. I rifle through a bunch of crap the PO left in a box in the front, and sure enough I find some old plugs. Screw one in, thighten up with a pair of pliers from the box o' crap, drive home. 2 days later I read a story in the paper about a guy driving in the same area in the opposite direction on the same street on the same date and time, who's Bentley was damaged when a small hard object hit his hood and windshield, denting his hood and cracking his windshield. Police suspected neighborhood kids were probably throwing rocks.

Ya, that's it, neighborhood kids, rocks.

Burr Patterson isn't on this site... so I will tell one for him... not losing stuff from the 914, but losing stuff with the 914...

As Burr tells it, he was traveling home on a dark road out in the So. Cal. desert and had some dip stick tailgaiting him for a couple of miles. So rather than slow down, he speeds up... the guy tries to keep up in his less agile car.... Unfortunately, for the tailgaiter, Burr knows the road much better and realizes the road is coming to a "T" intersection shortly. He times himself for a late as possible fast 914 corner and gets to watch the guy behind him bouncing off road into the desert. At this point Burr starts roaring in laughter as he tells the story.... Have Burr tell it to you himself if you ever meet him.

As to future So. Cal. runs... Mike Dodgen is thinking about something in October in Santa Clarita area. I would like to set up a local run and mini swap from the house in Canyon Country sometime. I still got pictures of Burr in the pool with a rubber duck and Jeff Shyu surfing on a boogie board. Maybe we can get Steve Malm to set up a run... and there is always the trip up to Ventura in the fall to see the Porsche event up there.

- Dave
- Dave

NPC but.....

My worst moment was driving my Karmann Ghia convertible with the most powerful aircooled engine I have ever had. Had two speeds- lumpy idle and GO-OOOOOOOOOOOOMYGOD!!!!!!!!.

Hit the gas at the light, laid a buncha rubber and the engine stumbles, stutters and begins to rattle. Oh crap, sounds just like a loose rod knocking around back there.

Pull off on the beach and it's idling fine and still knocking like crazy. I was a couple of blocks from the house so I revved it up and did a U-turn. It wouldn't accelerate, and the engine was coughing, bucking, knocking and was putting out black smoke.

Pulled up to a light and waited, feeling embarrased with the nasty knock. Light turned green and I drove to the turn off into my housing area, did a hard right and the knocking stopped.

Still ran like crap though. Did a two hour autopsy in the driveway and couldn't find anything. No knock, idled great, no acceleration, and black smoke.

Finally I took the top off the carb. Noticed the "U" shaped brass spatzel tube for the accelerator circuit was missing. Then I realized the rod knock must have been the brass tube rattling in between the head and cylinder. When I went around the corner, it flew out the tailpipe of the header.

Put a spare accelerator spatzel in place and motored on for many more years.


Ken

I lost one of the bolts that attach the front calipers. When i head the "sound", i pulled over and found the little bugger. This was helped by my mechanic who forgot to tighten the new calipers he just installed.

I also lost the rear tail light lens. They were removed for cleaning and the teflon nuts were screwed onto the incorrect stud. That was an expensive mistake; I take credit for that one.

Yeah, I agree. One of my first 914 experiences (had owned my car for only a couple months) was on a run that Dave put together. That was in summer of 2001, 3 years ago already! Then there was the run after the German Autofest that year which was also a nice drive. I'd volunteer to put on a run, but I don't exactly live real close to any of the fun roads. (the only fun roads around here have a lot of traffic)

http://www.tunadog.com/topdon/dave-bell/index.html - pictures from that run on Don's website.

In my first 914, I had unloaded a bunch of stuff from the front trunk and evidentally didn't fasten it tightly. As I'm tootling down the highway, the front trunk lid flies open and off, over the top of the car.

I stopped, went back, but had no way to put it back on or in the car. Left it there, got a friend to go back for it in a bigger car; it was still there.

Man, if I'd known then what I know now.... I'd have bought a lot more gas. $1.49/gal, that's crazy!!

At the WCC, Mike D had mentioned intentions of getting a fun run together. I'll keep my fingers crossed...

Anyhoo, sorry for hijacking the thread. Lost a pizza from the top of another car. Classic case of setting it down to open car doors, and then hearing it plop on the parking lot after a speed bump. Nothing yet in the 914... unless you count losing paint when I spanked the guard rail... <_<

Jen

Yep, can't keep up with the frisbee story above, but in the interest of keeping this thread going...

-Left rear tire (stupid high-school mechanic -- me -- forgot to tighten the wheel)

-heater box x2 (forever shaking my wife's trust in the car)

-various metal particles holding lower Bilstein shock mounting eye to the rest of the shock (hmmnnn... that's odd, why does my car still go straight but the horizon is tilted funny and the steering wheel is not so straight...)

pete

When I was a kid in the car with my sister my dad took a turn in his Packard and she fell out. The door let go.

No damage to my sister

From the age of about 3-5 I spent a lot of time in the luggage compartment in our VW [it was my only option since we were a family of 6].

To this day I can here a VW a mile away! Hmmm....914

Haha, geez. My dad used to take the dog to the vet in the trunk of his Mercedes because he didn't want it to mess up the interior.. and I thought THAT was cruel

(My love of 914s is probably me trying to compensate for years of riding around in a slow-ass early 70s 220D)

Oh yeah, almost forgot.

-Various aluminum particles when my driver's side axle came loose, swung around, and knocked the starter (and a chunk of its mounting boss) clean off the bell housing. Not so nice to get handed your started with a chunk of transmission still attached to it.

Incredibly, I thought about trying to reuse that starter, but thought better of it. As for my car's original transmission, it went on to the great gear-cruncher in the sky. Pity.

12 years later I finally know why the above happened. Brad's advice about having to remove the flange and replace it after you have an axle get loose is dead on. Mine had come loose and I simply retightened it to the proper specs, not realizing the flange surface was, well, toast.

cheers!

pete

I have lost over the years:

Oil
Heater valve
Windshield trim
Various engine/heater tin

Not much else from a 914 though.

Get this one though:

1990 in a Baja Bug, can't remember the year though? Belonged to a buddy of mine. Driving along on Hwy92 in Washington going about 55mph or so. Our turn was coming up, he lifted off the gas and we saw a tire go rolling by. What the? He stepped on the brake and WHAM! the front left corner of the bug hit the ground with sparks flying! He let off and hit the gas, front end came back up! It took us like a mile to stop and a while to find the tire. I guess he forgot to tighten the lug nuts. Oops!

Parts fallin' off?

Well, lessee......one time at band camp I lost a valve stem cap.

Not a 914 patt but off a teener.

When driving to the church the day of his wedding, he put the rings on top of his 914, and drove away.

At the church he couldn't fnd them and went back; he found the box on the ide of the road but no rings. Half and hour later he found the rings in a stream next to the road.

Needless to say, he wa over an hour late for his own wedding, and got the shoes and first inch of his tux muddy.

Vw content...

My first car was a '70 Bug. There was a building near were I lived with windows that went all the way down to the ground and the crown of the road was higher than the building. When you drove by you could see your reflection like a mirror. So you put your best pimp act on as you drove by.

So I'm driving by the building trying to look cool and look over and something is under the car, almost dragging the ground. "What the hell is that?"

I pull over, look under the car and the battery has fallen through the rusted floor and is about an inch from hitting the ground. I pull the seat up to look at it and the ground cable is the only thing holding it.

This was in '77 and it was the original battery. I bet the seat had never been lifted to even look at the battery since it was installed at the factory.

Like Neal Young says "Rust Never Sleeps"

Paul

Hey, that's cool. On my usual drive into work I pass a building with a lot of storefront glass. I always check out my ride! Yeah, baby!

While not as spectacular as parts flying across the interstate, I lost a part that did scare me. I had left home one morning and about a mile from home the 914 suddenly started running really rough. Then I smelled gas. I immediately pulled over, checked the engine compartment, and found gas all over the right side Weber carb and sheetmetal. I dried it with a towel and checked the fuel lines, which were okay. I kept searching and found gas leaking from the carb body. One of the plugs had fallen out of a port allowing gas to flow out. I kept looking and found the metal plug sitting at the base of the intake manifold. That was luck. I put the plug back in, it was snug but not tight, and drove back home. It stayed in with just a bit of seapage. During all of this I was just waiting for the thing to burst into flame. I removed the carb, dried and cleaned the port and plug, then epoxied the plug into the port. Worked fine for years afterward.