Hello & Happy Father's Day. I have been lurking here & on Pelican since around January when I first picked up (actually dug out) my very 1st 914. The information here has been invaluable as I have attempted to stabilize & repair my silver rust bucket. If I would have looked here 1st I would have known not to buy this car, but I'm attached to it now & in too deep to stop. One thing I have learned here is "the thread is useless without pics" so here are some pics & I will ask dumb questions later.

I registered the build & paint info on the database here. Most of the car is the original silver metalic, although I think some of it has been repainted. It was built in 9/71 & is a 1.7 with old Italian webbers & an of the period aftermarket exhaust from the heat exchangers back. It was last registered in 1995 & had been stored in a pole barn on a red clay dirt floor. The floor pan was basically sitting on the ground with the 3 wheels sitting in holes. It was parked when the right suspension console rusted off. The PO had the replacement console sitting in the passenger seat. I went with my brother in law who wanted to look at it & talked him out of buying it because I knew he would never be able to fix it. We left & I couldn't stop thinking about the car after I saw it even though I had never thought about having one. I waited a couple weeks & bought the car for $500. It took me 7 hrs over 2 evenings in 15 deg temps to dig the car out, free up the wheels & figure out how to rig up the right rear so the tire would roll. Ended up using 2 rachet straps to strap both swing arms together & wedged a 2X4 between the long & the right swing arm to roll it on the trailer & tow it home.

Anyway, I have really enjoyed seeing everyones build threads so I thought some of you may enjoy my 914 story. Sorry my first real post is so long. Thanks for all the great info.

wow....that will be a labor of love! Looks like you have your work cut out for you!

I had no clue how bad he rust was. The part that wasn't buried all looked solid. Laying on the dirt floor didn't do it any favors. I've actually already fixed a lot of it. Now whether it is fixed right..thats another question.

We are glad you are part of the family!

It's an addiction, there is no cure.

Looks like you're heading in the right direction from the pics - can't be worse than sitting up to it's belly in clay, now can it? So anything you've done or will do is positive.

I don't envy you the suspension console repair, but if you've been lurking here and on the bird board you know you've got a lot of people who've done it before and are willing to help you figure it out.

Good luck!

Welcome Y'all!

And thanks for saving another.

Laugh every time I drive through Florence. And to think it used to say "Florence Mall" until a lawsuit....

I grew up in Cincinnati & we have lived in Florence for about 9 years. Compared to the goofy politics & negative attention Cincy gets these days, I will take the Florence Y'all water tower any day. Much less drama over on this side of the river.

Now I wish I would have taken more "before" pics when I started working on the car. I was so anxious to get started I kind of forgot to stop and take them. Here are some of the work I have done so far. I had to come up with a way to "reinforce" the console ear since I measured over and over and still welded it up in the wrong place, just by a bit. I cut off the ear and mounted the suspension, got it lined up and welded the ear back on. I have several widths of 16ga. welded all the way thru the hollow console in all planes so it should be strong & stiff. I am going to wrap the 1/2" tubing over the top of the long when I finish it. I fixed the longs with 3 layers of 16ga. On the passenger side I bent it 90' and tied it it into the floor pan sections I welded in under the bottom of the long. There are also 2 runs of 1/2" tubing welded to the bottom of the long under the new sheet metal. I also cut open the outer pas. long and welded a 1/8 x 3" bar the length of the long and roset welded the outer skin back over it. On the driver side I had to replace most of the floor pan and all the long around the jack support. I redid where the bulkhead ties into the inner long then used 16ga welded to that good metal thru a slot I cut in my new outer. The whole length of the floor pan and long is also supported by 2 runs of 1/2 tubing. I just sprayed everything with weldable primer on the inside & rust converter on the outside until I go back and grind the welds. I'm certainly not offering this up as quality work. The only thing I can say is that so far I have not spent much money, and if I have wasted anything it's only my time.

You already have one of the coolest screen names. Now we just need to hook you up with "I Like 2 Grind".

Actually, I'll dispute that. I lived in Middletown, OH when the mall was being built.... Many moons ago.

The tower was supposed to say Mall.....however, the mall wasn't even built. So, they changed it to read "Y'All". I remember the story in the news. I guess they tried to change it once the Mall was built but everyone liked the "Y'All". Of course, you have to get much further south before you start hearing "y'all" for real

Of course, it was so long ago I may be wrong......

Funny you should mention that. Apparently my wife is feeling neglected & thinks I am working on the car too much. She mentioned she would rather have me grind... I also need to grind those welds off too.

and the sickness!
All of the best for your project, you look like you are moving in the right direction, and keep us updated with pics.
Tom

Hi and welcome to 914world.com

It looks like you're making good progress. I remember that car and looked it at back when the owner discovered something was up with the right rear wheel. I live about two miles from where you picked it up. It is good to see it going back together. I look forward to watching the progress.

Nice work!

Welding is fun, grinding really sucks after a while.

Keep in mind if something will be visible or if it will be undercoated before you spend too many hours grinding it.

John

Sounds like you have it plenty strong, I wouldn't worry about smoothing it out too much, you can't see it once the rocker covers are on.

Good luck on your project.

Dave

Not much farther south. I'm about 45 minutes away from Florence in Georgetown and Ya'll is quite common. Its as common as cornbread, soup beans and taters. :-)