Hey guys I'm brand new. I'm a mechanic and my dad has a blue 1975 914 with the 1.8L in it. He's had the car for 20 years and has let it fall into neglect. It runs but has a good bit of blow by. It needs to have some rust spots sanded out and repainted which he is having done this summer. Interior needs some work but he wants me to rebuild the engine. As I start looking for parts I'm not finding a lot. Keeping the engine stock would be preferable. I'm going to be doing the rebuild in hayward, WI.

The motor will come out next month and I'm trying to get him a price on a rebuild. Where do you guys go for parts? What kind of things have people done in the past and what are you recommendations? Any good machine shops familar with these engines in WI? What should I watch out for ?

Can't help you much with your questions, but ...



Oh, and

We have vendors listed that can help with parts plus use WTB feature in parts classifieds. We are here to help. I have received numerous help the past year from our members.

and the sickness!
Before you get too far into this, please check for rust. Read some threads here on rust repair so you will know where to look. If the car has been outside where you live, it could have some problems.
Good luck with your restoration, it will be worth it in the end,
Tom

The Classifieds here is just about the best you can get!!

Becides looking for rust, I would recomend looking for a 2.0L motor and building that up. Yhen sell off your 1.8L! You will be happier with the extra HP of the 2.0L and you can make it the way you like it! Look into Jakes threads and research some of the stuff he can do to get you the HP than you want! He can also do it with the 1.8L!

I'm in WI but way SE of you. You need to talk with Rick 918-S. I believe he's in MN just North of you. Check to see if your hellhole is rusted out. I haven't seen a Midwest car that isn't toast. Hopefully your dads was spared.

I'm in Duluth. As far as machine shops go There is a small town shop here that I would trust. If your a mechanic you should be able to check the line bore and check for collapsed registers. Beyond setting up the cylinder heights the rest is just engine rebuilding 101. If you have a running core engine you are ahead of the game.

As others have said check the pocket down infront of the battery lovingly called the hell hole. The acid from the battery gets washed down in there and rusts out the chassis.

Shameless Plugs

1- Order a new set of stainless steel replacement fuel lines for the tunnel while the motor is out (if not already swapped)

2- Rebuilt pedal set from BDStone on our site

3- Rebuilt tranny from Dr. Evil here

4- Restored brakes/better than factory from Eric Shea/PMB here

5- 914Rubber for all rubber seals/gaskets/seat covers/bumper tops/dash caps/carpet/new door panels/etc...

6- Better than factory or exact replacement hardware kits from A&PGirl

7- Bits 'n' pieces from Tom T., Pelican Parts and others...

I have to stop now as there are many others listed on our site who give openly of their time and resources, most with zero expectation of compensation other than "thank you".

Review the threads here on our site and others so you get ahead of the game