I finally got around to organizing my pictures to document my progress. I bought my car, a 75 914 2.0 in November 2010. It was originaly purchased in Sacramento Ca, the original owner sold it to his son in 1994, the son drove it until "it started running rough", and he parked it. It sat until 2008 when he sold it to his friend who was going to get it running, two years later it was still sitting, but with the engine out and pieces in boxes. So being the smart guy I am, I bought it. Here's some pics of the car when I got it home.

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The PO had pulled the engine with the intent of fixing it, then somewhere along the way he purchased a "running" 73 2.0. So I have a spare motor.

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I spent a few months buying books and reading what I could find, (never worked on a 914 before) found this website!
I decided to rebuild the original motor... here I go.

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Got the engine stripped down, and the case split.

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Found out why they parked it, looks like a dropped valve seat.

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Damaged the top of the piston as well.

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I took the case, heads, crank, and cylinders to the machine shop, Time to start some rust repair.

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The battery tray was toast, the rest seems to be just surface rust, except the trunk it has a few rusted through pin holes.

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After I finished removing the battery tray I pressure washed the engine compartment, trunk, and under the trunk.

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I finished all this by february, but the next step was to sand blast the rust, and EVERY weekend it would be raining, so the car sat in the garage.
Then I had a major set back, My Dad was diagnosed with cancer in april, had surgery in May. So April - june are kind of a blurr, He has recovered very well, but progress on the car was slow for a while, had to get caught up on work.

I went to Doc's tranny clinic in Discovery Bay in June and rebuilt my transmission.
My tranny all apart.

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Good thing Doc talked me into going, bearing was in pieces when I took it apart.

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A few familiar faces.

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All done ready to install, wish the car was ready...

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Of course in all the down time I did find time to do a little parts shopping.

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And I decided to build a blast cabinet

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Almost done

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Ready for action.

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And I did a lot of reorganizing in the garage, this is the first car I've done in 20 years, oh ya, did I mention i'm old.

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Well the weather finally got nicer, work slowed up a bit and I finally got the car out and sandblasted.

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After I finished sandblasting I washed the area down with metal prep, and then back in the garage for painting.

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Almost ready to primer

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Everything got two coats primer.

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I decided to paint the engine compartment gloss black, and under the trunk and fender wells flat black.

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I bought cans of color match paint online to paint the trunk.

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A final coat of clear and the painting is done.. for now.

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Well I finally started putting things back together.

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But... since I took the rear suspension off to paint, I thought why not rebuild the calipers, new wheel bearings, new bushings, and a fresh coat of paint...here we go.

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decided to give the blast cabinet a try, blasted my cylinder tin and valve covers.

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I had full intentions of putting the motor together myself, but with all the other work I still need to do to the car....I decided I want it done faster than I would be able to get it done....so I boxed up all the engine parts and dropped them off at Original Customs and McMark is building my motor

I'm hoping to have everything back together and the car driveable before the end of the year, but you know how that goes. I'm sure the motor will be ready.

But at the very least I'm shooting for before 5/12, don't want to hit the 14 yr mark and have the car still sitting.

When you said a "little parts shopping" you were not kidding!

Awesome thread, keep us posted.

Terrific job of getting this car back together correctly and on the road soon. Keep the progress pictures coming too. Nice work.

Well I figured if I can't work on it might as well buy parts for it, now I just need the time to install them all

Jeff

Thanks Michael, it seems like it's taking forever, since my original goal was 5/11.
But that's my fault, too much "while I'm in there" going on. But... That's how I am.

Jeff

is anyone else impressed at how much jeff put on 1 post?! that, besides the nice work on a deserving teener.

thanks for taking the time to share this with us. looking forward to seeing more progress.

now i'm going to go kick myself for missing that clinic...

Impressive

Nice!

Whatever is in the bright yellow box that's labeled "URO", I'd pass on and look for a name brand. Their products don't have a very good track record.

The Cap'n

Great work, keep it going and you will have a very nice car. I wish I had the motivation to do what you are doing. Really great job!
Tom

I've seen this car in person and it is going to be very nice. I suspect I was a bit of an influence for getting Jeff to drop off the engine with McMark.

Jeff, I am going to be down at Original Customs Sunday for some tuning... You should come on down.

Are you building a stock engine? The 2056 is a nice little pop in horsepower and torque and when done right can even use the stock EFI.

Cool thread! I will be following this one.

....Yeah, cool story....keep on!

Cap'n, those are the front rubber control arm bushings, I also bought the polyurethane rear bushings, both from PMB performance. Are those not the best choice for these cars?

Thanks,
Jeff




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Thanks everyone, and Rob no its not a stock rebuild. I bought the keith black pistons and 9550 super cam kit from Jake for a 2056 build. My heads are rebuilt with new valve seats, new ss valves, new guides ect. I had my stock cylinders bored, and the case checked, registers milled. Crank had to be ground and polished.
Rods reconditioned, new ARP rod bolts and head bolts. Then all the rotating parts were balanced. And now Marks building it......can't wait to drive it. Keeping the stock d-jet. Might make it to Marks on Sunday, love to hear your car run...and visit my engine. One more pic of all those engine parts!

Jeff



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I didn't get a chance to get these pictures resized to include with my original post,
but before I took my motor to Original Customs for McMark to build it, I drilled and tapped my galley plugs. I had already bought the drill bits and taps, so why not.

I decided to take alot of pictures and try to be thorough for anyone yet to attempt this.

First, there are twelve press in galley plugs, here are their locations.


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In the last picture the circled plug looks like its ready to pop.
The small one in the picture below also. This is why I decided to do all twelve.

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I drilled a small hole in the center of the plugs and screwed in a screw with a large head on it.

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Then attached a slide hammer to the screw to pull the plugs out. Most of the plugs came out very easy, one to two TAPS with the slide hammer. Only one was a little difficult. Kinda scary how easy they popped out. But kudos to my machine shop, not one speck of dirt behind any plugs.

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Below you can see the plug out of the hole, this plug, (can you see the second plug in the hole), is really the only hole you need to be really careful not to drill too deep, and you need the second tap ground down to get full threads.

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From my research( I'm somewhat search challanged) I thought you need this for all the holes, since I had already bought two of each tap, and ground one, I double tapped all of mine anyway.

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All the plugs out, anyone want to buy a NLA press in plug set, slightly used, only one small hole in the middle.

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I had bought a "plug kit" from a vender I won't mention. But unfortunately they don't have a clue what plugs our engines need. So I had to order new ones from Jegs.

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Also in my research I found mentioned having to modify the tap handle or problems with clearance issues tapping some of the holes. I solved this by using a socket and extention with a rachet wrench to tap those holes, worked great.

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Thats basically it, be careful to drill straight, and not damage the second plug in the one hole. Clean up is very important, and don't close off any passage ways with a plug too deep. ( I just put mine in a couple of threads), I'll let McMark have the fun of actually installing them. Here are the new plugs, black anodized aluminum.

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Hope that helps someone.
This weekend I hope to get the other trailing arm apart, and start getting the parts cleaned up and repainted, then the calipers.

Jeff

My son came over yesterday while I was taking the rear trailing arms apart, and showed me a cool trick, he's a mechanic in Oakland. I was trying to get the shaft out of the hub, first one came out no problem. The second wouldn't budge even with a bigger hammer. Some of you already know this I'm sure. He showed up as I was beating on it and said no no no, you need an air hammer, that's what we use at work.

I don't have an air hammer, but I do have a demolition hammer drill with a hammer only setting. Put in a pointed chisel, put it in the end of the shaft and literally 20 seconds and it popped out! Now I'm trying to think of other applications, may never beat with a hammer again guess your never to old to learn something new.

Jeff

Well progress slowed up a bit on the 75, mainly because....I bought another 914!!
And this one actually runs!

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The new car is a 74 2.0, Ran rough when I got it home, worked on it a little and got it running well enough to be driveable, but the brakes are shot, so after a few short drives, it's in the garage, up on jackstands, for a complete brake overhaul.

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Oh boy two 914's on jackstands. Had a nice talk with Eric Shea yesterday, gave me a lot of great information, and got the rest of my brake parts ordered.

Thanks again Eric, I appreciate all your time answering all my questions over the past week or so. ( I'm going to rebuild my calipers myself)

So I took all the calipers off both cars, and today I'm going to finish taking them apart to take into the plater, found one 20 min from my house.

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But now for the real progress, as you know I dropped all my engine parts off at Original Customs in Sonoma for Mark to build my new motor. I talked to him yesterday it's almost done and here are some pictures he sent me.

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Looks like he's got it almost ready to run. I'm sure he'll post a video of the break in.
Isn't that a pretty sight!

Thanks for the pictures Mark can't wait to hear it run

Jeff

Looks really great. I see from the photo your 75 has factory fog lights. If you ever have occasion to look at the wiring to the dash switch I sure would like to know what 2 wires, along with ground is run to that switch. Thanks, Underdog

I believe it is solid white and the other wire is solid yellow with white stripe.
PM me and I can send a wiring diagram.

Actually there is a brown wire a black wire and a greyish(maybe white) with a red stripe. But a picture is worth a thousand words, hope this helps.

Jeff


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Did you pick up those ARP head bolts from LN engineering? how much did you drop on those?

Couldn't find the invoice, but I think it was LN, I do remember they were around $325.00, not cheap. Hopefully worth it though.

Jeff

What was your logic in using them? Did you run a much higher compression ratio? I only ask as I am thinking of going down the same road, but the standard convention (thus spoke jake raby) is that it is not necessary unless you run Nickies or have a much higher compression ratio. I am thinking of doing 11:1....plus I like having much more heavy duty hardware....

While researching my engine combination they were something I thought I needed, I probably would have been fine with the stock ones for my engine, but I had already bought them and never mind something being better than it needs to be. I also used the ARP rod bolts.

Jeff

Looking great Jeff. You've been busy.

My son totaled my '74 last month so I'm starting a new one this month.

Thanks Lennie, Mark has made more progress on my project than I have lately, but progress is progress.
Sorry to hear about your 74, but new projects are always fun especially if they're financed by insurance.

Jeff

great thread jeff, do you happen to remember what size drill bits and taps you used for you oil galleys? what size plugs and how many of each? i am just about to tear down my engine and this info would be real helpful.

WHAT!!!!

Mental note... My Son will never drive my 914...

Do you still have that roller?

5 - 3/8" plugs tap size 3/8 - 18 NPT drill 37/64
5 - 1/4" plugs tap size 1/4 - 18 NPT drill 7/16
1 - 1/8" plug tap size. 1/8 - 27 NPT drill 21/64

The large plug near the oil pump seems to vary by case or maybe year I've read some using 1/2 NPT plugs, mine was larger I had to use a 3/4 NPT I borrowed that tap and the 59/64 drill bit from my machinist for that one. But that's if you do them all, seems most only do the main 3/8" plugs.
Hope this helps.
Jeff

I went to Sonoma today and picked up my new motor from Original Customs.
McMark got it all put together and broke in. All the black parts he powder coated, sure looks pretty.

Now I need to get busy and finish cleaning and painting the rest of the parts so I can get it installed in the car.

From a pile of parts on my garage floor....to this...Thanks McMark!!!

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Can't wait to feel the difference from my tired stock 2.0 in my 74, to the new 2056 in the 75 when it gets finished.

Jeff

Judging from his posts on Facebook Jeff, Mark is just as excited about the completion of his new addition. I'm really glad you two found each other!

Get that thing in and drive!!!

Thanks to you Rob. Glad you pushed me to drive out and talk with Mark, he's a great guy, and does great work.

But unfortunately my parts broke his new cleaning machine, dropped off some parts yesterday, half way through the machine died.
Guess its back to hand cleaning.

Jeff

Yeah, Jeff broke my parts washer. Just kidding.

The motor went together relatively smoothly and ran GREAT on the test stand. The 'test-stand-feel' seemed slightly stronger than the usual 2056. Can't wait to get a ride!

Oh, and Rich says Certificates of Authenticity are on 'sale'. Read about it here.s

It's tempting to just hurry and get the motor in and drive it, especially now that it's sitting on my workbench staring at me. But I still have things I need(want) to do first.

Need to get the 74 back drivable to satisfy my urges for now.

Once it's in, Sonoma will be the first place I go, to get it dialed in.
And after seeing the video of you driving robs car, I think I'll let you take me for a ride!

Jeff

Its been a while since I updated this, but I have been working. I got my trailing arms all sandblasted, primed and painted over the holidays.

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The rest of the suspension parts got sandblasted, primed and painted.

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Then a couple of weeks ago I finished sandblasting, priming, and painting the engine tin.

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Today I went to the Breakfast in San Ramon, 13 914s showed up, fun morning.
I got home and decided to work on the car, but I need a break from cleaning, and sandblasting. So I decided to work on my battery tray, I wanted to install my new battery tray so it was removable. Heres how I did it.

I welded a piece of angle iron to the inside fender to sit just under the back edge of the tray. Then I welded a piece of flat stock on the bottom of the tray to create a slot for the angle iron to slip into. On the front of the tray I drilled four holes that lined up with the tray support bracket, I threaded the holes and threaded a screw in with the head cut off, then spot welded the top side. A little grinding to flatten out the welds and we have four studs sticking out the bottom.

After a few adjustments it fit snug and goes in and out easily.

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I touched up the paint on the angle iron piece and the tray support with black rubberized undercoating paint, thought it might add cushion and maybe avoid a rattle, probably have enough rattles already.

One more coat of paint on the battery tray tonight, then one more item off the list.



Jeff

Nice work!!!

If you could outline the general spec's on the home made blast cabinet I would be interested. Nice progress on the car.

I think those little meet-n-greets give everybody involved a little boost of motivation!

Nice work on the battery tray.

Interesting thread with some helpful ideas, nice photo's and articulate narrative. Thank you very much and good luck.

Thanks everyone, seeing other 914s, and talking about them is always a good motivator.

I've had a few inquires about the blast cabinet I built, so I guess I'll put together a how to thread on it... Coming soon.

Now I can't decide... Go for a ....or more cleaning and blasting, still have the fan housing and injection components to go.

Thanks again everyone

Jeff

well I decided to stay home and work in the garage. I cleaned out my blast cabinet, and thought I'd take some pictures and measurements for a how to on it. I needed to change media anyway.

In the process I remembered a conversation McMark and I had, he saw a filter I had made for a sheetrock sander that filters the dust through water instead of clogging a shop vac filter in 5 min. He mentioned wanting something like that for his blast cabinet.......well I got side tracked, but my blast cabinet has a new filter

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The way it works, if you haven't already figured it out, is simple really. The lid on the ground in the picture shows how the inside looks. The vacuum connects to the fitting with the tee and creates vacuum pressure in the top of the bucket. The hose to the cabinet is connected to the fitting with the longer tube, the bucket is filled 1/3 to 1/2 full with water, the vacuum pressure will draw air from the cabinet down the tube and throught the water then through the vacuum as filtered air. No more clogged vac filter. Just a bucket to clean out and refill.

Looks like the how to will have to wait for now, and yes Mark the lid on the floor is yours, just add bucket and extra vac hose.

Thanks for looking, hope it helps someone.

Jeff

Awesome! I can't wait to try it out!