This was out of the blue...My wife and I planned a trip to Santa Barbra ( about 2.5 hours )Trip She said LETS TAKE THE 914! ....My car drives ok, but man I don't know about driving her that far
I'm I just a wimp....It was on a flat bed trailer before.If you know what I mean.\Not to sure if I can trust her.

Just go over it Jaime. Create a check-list of things to go wrong, or just convert to carbs Once I'm back at school, we can go over everything, pre-flight checklist per say. and SB is really only 2 hours in a 914..haha

I've made that drive many a time for Field hockey games for the GF. It's an easy drive, apart from the giant hill right south of Oxnard. That is seriously tough on cylinder head temps.

What put you on the flatbed last time?

2.5 hours is doable. Some of it depends on the weather. Take earplugs. Those made long trips in the 914 much more bearable.

--DD

Cracks me up when people call 2.5 hours a long trip. Is your car really that anemic? Are 914s really that lame and fragile?

NO!

Mine is not because I know its state of tune and have some basic tools and parts on hand.

If you are not confident that you could drive your 914 on a several-hour drive, then do everything you need to do to have that confidence. Then enjoy it!

The 914 is a pleasure to drive. It is not a pleasure to fear.

Just another $.02.

2.5 hours trip? I do more than that evey week end. This is how you get your car reliable. Failure is an option and is part of the 914 experience... It never happend to me but I know it will happen one day. Have an insurance, I think you call that AAA in the States.

I did 814 miles in February in the middle of the night with a motor I had tested for about 400 miles. Then I drove it back. Man up and drive that car!

What are the most likely failure points for an FI and/or carb-ed 914?

The fuel pumps? Points? Alternator belt? Relays?

What maintenance can you do to make your car more reliable?

What 40 year old parts does it make sense to replace and/or carry with you?

If the 914 old timers could chime in it would help a lot of people.

John

I never carry parts nor tools outside of the basic first aid.

...

On long trips ... I carry the following:

Fan belt
Fuel Pump
Points
Throttle Cable
Clutch Cable
MPS (when I had a four)
Couple of feet each size fuel line
Rags
Gloves
Tools
Water
AAA Card

Most of which I have used on other people's cars when they broke down.

2.5 hours is a long trip?? Thats just getting the oil warmed up! Yeah the Canejo grade does suck so take the Coast highway then! Mine has seen 5 trips from the west coast to the east coast. Not all without issue. Once I had a heater pipe wear a hole in the oil filter in the middle of the high desert in Az. It was more of a mess and nuisance than anything else. I broke a accelerator cable once in K.C on a Sunday afternoon heading back to LA . I had a pair of vice grips hold it to the pedal linkage and drove it to a family friends house near Wichita where I could work on it and early the next morning I was back on the road. Come to think of it the oil filter issue was on the same trip. SO make sure you have some small locking pliers soft tie wire and duct tape added to your tools list and you will be set!!! And drive it!!!!

This is a joke, right?

check out Red Rock Classic thread
lot's of great pics. of HUGE smiles,
drive her!

Bought mine in Anaheim and drove it home to the SF Bay. 6-7 hours. No issues during the trip.

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

Guys, maybe I'm just crazy (likely) or maybe my 914 is just a freak of nature...I think it's as reliable as my DD for the most part and wouldn't hesitate to drive her pretty far

Bought my last one last November, hadn't run in 10 yearsand had no idea the condition on the engine, by December I was driving to work occasionally and every weekend, fixing thing as I went, only left me stranded once, bad relay board, even autocrossed it a few times, total miles to date 9300, mostly 1-3 hr drives.

I guess too it depends on why you bought your car....I bought mine to drive

And yes you're being a wimp, the wife wants to ride in the 914...take the 914. And remember a break down can be an adventure, it's all how you look at it.

Jeff

From my past experiences, I wouldn't hesitate to jump in the 914-6 I purchased back in 1977 and drive it across country. Of course, I've owned it and maintained it for all these years, so I know it inside out. Only had to have it towed once in all those years, and it was a minor problem, but dark and raining so I didn't want to deal with it myself.

Now, I don't want to think how my body would feel after that long of a drive, but the car would do fine. A friend of mine drove his 1972 911 from Chicago to the last Rennsport Reunion and back by himself just after an engine rebuild last year. These cars do wear out, but don't break down that often.

Go and enjoy the drive!

I bought my first 914 used in Baltimore in the mid 1980's and it had issues. I drive it home (approx 6 hr trip) with me having to add brake fluid along the way due to leaky master cylinder! Granted, I did have someone following me. In late 1980's I commuted to college everyday in my second 914 and that was about a 1.5 hr trip each way. That car was also a bit of a heap (not in the best condition) and it never failed on me!

If you feel the car is in good shape go for it! I wouldn't hesitate.

Regarding tools, in my current daily driver (Honda Civic), I generally carry a flashlight, some gloves, baling wire, duct tape, a small gas can, a multitool, a small cheap socket set, 1Qt extra motor oil, jumper cables and some water.

Richard

Back in the early 90s, I drove my '73 from Indiana to Brandon, Florida on holidays,
and long weekends. The only thing that occured after four 1800 mile trips was a
passenger side front wheel bearing failure. A failure I blame myself for, because
I stopped in just inside Georgia and checked and readjusted the front bearings.
I did not displace the washer with a screw driver (a check I normally perform) and
I believe that I over tightened that bearing.
My normal driving during the trips was 75mph for 12 to 14 hours, depending on how
many stops I made.
I always clean and double check EVERYTHING the day before.

My usual spares kit for long trips is as follows:
new throttle cable
new clutch cable
spare distributor with new points already set
spare new coil
front wheel bearings
small can of grease
three qts of motor oil and filter
spare electrical fuel pump
tool bag
small aluminum floor jack
spare gasket kit
simple green
everything fit inside a small cardboard box in my front trunk next to my duffelbag of
clothes.
Just check everything and go for it.

I drove mine from LA to Pismo and back in a day to pick up parts. It was a great trip. Just enjoy the ride.

If your machine needs service, do it before the trip, not during.

If I may make a suggestion, take the 10 until it ends, and then take PCH through Santa Monica, Malibu, and Oxnard. It's much prettier than the 101, and a lot cooler in the summer. It is a bit slower, but the trip is worth it.

And I forgot ...

spare fuses
JB Weld

I did 800 miles this weekend for the RRC - piece-o-cake! My only consideration for a 2.5 hour trip is how hot the weather will be since I live in AZ and the teener has no a/c. Other than that, I just make sure that I'm sensitive to changes in how it runs (which is pretty easy since it's my daily driver) and I keep up on the oil change & valve adjustment routine. Just drive it - in a 914 "The Journey IS the Destination"

Easy trip. Stay off the 101 and take 1 through Malibu. Get back onto the 101 at Los Poses road.

I drive mine every day and if I need more padding I just add some. For trips (lots of them including a 600 mi round trip every month or two to visit family) no worries as I regularly inspect. Since mine's a DME six, a few of the standard tools are not needed. If I have to drive for a bunch of hours I do a complete top-to-bottom inspection and pack roughly the following.

1. Spare battery cutoff key
2. Good engine oil
3. Duct/gorilla tape
4. Aluminum tape / Aluminum foil
5. Electrical tape
6. Normal tools incl/ hex and serrated bits (four-square) in a small bag
7. Multimeter and jumper wires
8. Battery booster: Never had to use it myself but have rescued a bunch of folks
9. Ground mat and gloves
10. Spare DME relay
11. Epoxy
12. Stock jack
13. Small worry bar
14. Fuses / electrical crimp connectors / wire / light bulbs
15. My wiring notes and a factory wiring diagram
16. Hand cleaner and a few rags

The rest is luggage and, every now and then, a passenger!

Driving is the point...

.....The truth is!......These cars(914)...loooove long drives....But your butt
don't! as mentioned above if you know the state of tune of your car......turn
up the stereo and go for it!!!!! (take your road service card!!)

cone screw, fuses and the 12 point socket for the cv joints are good things to carry.

Ok ...just saying when I'm out with my lady...and shit happens. Don't want to be stuck out there. Yes and I feel that my car is not completely dialed in yet.
Sad but my wife really to take the 914....I told next time....very soon we had a blast in S.B.

I bought the 70' 1.7, 1.5 hours North of Charlotte and drove an additional 3 hours home. 4 hours 1-way. Nothing spectacular.


It had half the tin, no engine to compartment seal to speak of, JB Welded speado drive, no joke-bailing wire around side shift console, only the most important seals leaked like sieves-all others stayed dry. The flaps fuel pump sounded like a slurpy machine grinding ice, the only good thing about the single carb was that it didn't need adjusting as the grease hid the superglued throttle screw from view, I had many different plugs and types of wires mix-matched in there-obviously to limit 1 reliance on 1 vendor's product lines

I bungie tied the passenger door tight, in case we did a Wiley Coyote around a mountain pass, lest my daughter get airborne. The brakes? There were 4 corners - best we leave that subject alone. 1 can of stop-leak for 2 opposite corner tires. Oh, the wiper motor worked, just neede a right wiper. I wired in an additional temp gauge once I got to Charlotte, cause I didn't trust the one hanging precariously from the dash - lucky for me it wasn't needed as the PO reassembled the tins with the air flaps stuck open.

Only thing that truly failed?

We needed to push the 914 2 blocks to a gas station, in rush hour traffic, just 4 miles from the seller's house. The damn fuel sender was BAD!!

8 gallons later, and a balmy 92°, and we were set for our 3-4 hour drive home at 70mph (I guessed at the speed). I pulled the block the next week, the cylinders and pistons were burnt and starved, but after cleaning and adding oil, all cylinders had decent compression and a scope of the innards and paint filters on the oil changes after showed no shavings - go figure.

Billh1963 has seen the car, he probably thought it sat for 30 years prior to my pulling the motor and parking

That is one ugly damn car! I can't believe it made it back from Charlotte. David must have balls of steel.....makes eveyone else looks like girls!

the boss said "LETS TAKE THE 914"

thus - i don't understand the question : ))

sounds like your odds are better than 50/50 with making the round trip problem free.

and being in CA, you'll probably pass the home of a fellow 914 owner every 5 miles or so.

Are you saying that California world members are not only spoiled by rust free cars; but, they are also "girlie men"?

Sounds like a "double dog dare"...soon to be a "triple dog dare"....

Go for it, AAA card and a list of 914world people along the way would be all you really need.

Whatever items to pack, it'll be something else.
Took mine on a 2 hour trip and had the fuel pump crap out on me...ended up getting it to a shop that used to race them (phew!).
Last long trip was for my wedding, almost 4 hours away...that time only the exterior door handle stopped working, but otherwise worked like a charm.

Oh boy!

I drive my 914 daily (it's my ONLY car other than my wife's). I think the longest trip I've had any 914 on was from Santa Rosa (about an hour north of San Francisco) to San Diego, out to Mojave, back over the pass there, into the valley and back home. The whole trip, said and done was around 1400 miles, almost half of which was done in 100+ deg temps! There were some issues, but nothing I couldn't work out while on the road. That was with an untested 914 at the time too.

I've 914s to Tahoe and Virginia City (including over the 9k' Mt Rose Pass) with FI and carbs, up to Chico (another 4+ hour drive from here, one way), and up and down the coast a 9/10ths the whole way. These are very reliable little cars if you are in tune with what the car is telling you.

Bring spares as listed above, a few tools and the 250 mile AAA towing package. Just in case. Hell, I'd have that even if we just drove modern cars.

Seriously though, if you don't trust your car, then it's because you probably don't have enough seat time in it. Has my car been flat bedded? YES. Was it on a long trip? NO! It was across town. Normally my cars will give me a lot of little signs that something's not right. Maybe a strange stutter, an odd clunk, flickering lights... something to make go "hmmm, what was that all about?"

Before a long trip, I also think about all the maintenance I've been deferring and weigh in what can wait and what shouldn't. If you don't know your car at this level yet, then I understand that it can be daunting. Short of your car catching on fire, what's the worse that can happen though? Take a Valium (just kidding, kinda) and enjoy the drive. The smile on your sweetheart's face will make it worth it. If something does go wrong, just turn it into an adventure, and remember, at worst, you're only 2.5 hours from home. Sure beats being 1000 miles from home and having something major go wrong.

Have fun!

Ok...let me chime in here.

Past 914 trips for Betty and myself.

Hurst Texas to Huntsville Alabama for MUSR 9. 690 Miles, 11.5 hours. 2 different 914s, and the only problem was the dash lights quit on Betty's car.

Hurst, Texas to Albuquerque, NM for the Atomic Ramble. 625 miles. 10.5 hours. One 914/6 conversion. Only problem.... Broken Turn signal switch on my six.


Hurst, Texas to Vonore TN. For MUSR 11. 877 miles. 14.5 hours. Betty's car ran perfect, including the trip down the Tail of the Dragon. Mine made the trip on a trailer, as I knew I had an oil leak, but didn't want to miss the event. My car broke a clutch cable on the Dragon run.

Hurst, Texas to Salt Lake City, UT. For Porsche Parade. 1222 miles, 21 hours. Betty's 914 developed an engine knock in Dalhart, Texas, 10 hours down the road. We hauled it home on a U-haul trailer and replaced the engine. Started over and had to fix the oil cooler leak in Salt Lake. Ran fine for the rest of the trip, including the AX where I won first in my class. Found out the problem with the original motor was due to age on the cases. It just flat wore out with 340,000 miles on the clock (not including time with the odometer broken).


Our future trips...

MUSR 13. Short trip for us. Just up to NE Oklahoma. Both 914s are going.

Hurst Texas to Traverse City, MI. Porsche Parade 2013. 1228 miles, 20.5 hours. Going to Parade next year.

Hurst Texas to Monterey, CA. Porsche Parade 2014. 1648 miles, 27 hours. I want to take both cars. Not sure if we will or not. But we both want to drive our cars on the track at Laguna (Corkscrew!!! )


I even pulled the head on her motor two days before we left for one MUSR to fix a pulled exhaust stud. Had it back in the car the next night. Drove the whole 4 day event with no problems.


Frankly, 2.5 hours is a a local afternoon drive for us. We take our 914s to Mineral Wells for Autocross events, and that is 1.5 hours.

Just drive it and stop worrying. A 914 is too much fun to let sit in the garage.

I finished my 914-6 conversion a few days before the WCR this year and I have over 9000 miles on it so far without leaving me stranded once!!

Gotcha whipped Ernie ... 1082 miles ... 25 mpg average in the Six at 80 mph. From St. George to Victorville it was DAMN HOT

Where's my LD award

Stop bein' a whimp ... fire it up and go ....

Thanks for all your input...I'm going to take it on my next trip...after all is checked out.

I recall a MUSR either in Arkansas or Oklahoma where the alternator decided not to work any more. You couldn't find a spare alt, so you bought a plug-in charger to charge the battery overnight in the hotel. Also a spare battery just in case, but the Optima lasted your whole trip.

I think that may have been the year that Yoder drove out with no cooling flaps on his engine; he removed the engine lid and had it in the passenger seat.

--DD

Actually, upon further checking, the alternator only blew a diode. It was still working, just not at 100% efficiency. I was able to return the uninstalled, never used spare battery when I got home. That was also the ramble where it poured rain the whole time, and I was not about to change an alternator in the pouring rain.

Still have the battery charger.

March 2012, 3300 miles San Diego to Lebanon, PA in purchased car. No real problems that delayed us.
AAA card, finances, positive attitude is all you need!

in 05'. tacoma to portland to stockton to gilroy to santa maria to ventura, side trips to mulhalland/paramount ranch, to lancaster, to willows ca to tacoma. long run...

5 or 6 trips to eureka and home on a long weekend.

k

WELLLLLL not EVERYWHERE in CA is there a 914 every 5 miles. There are 3 in Siskiyou County and one is a parts car.. . just sayin'

To the OP, it's real simple. If you don't have confidence the car will make it, don't do it because you'll be stressed out the whole time and not enjoy the trip.

Wimp supreme with whipped cream. (reference to post title)

Hey oldschool, you make this trip yet? Play it safe? You have AAA?

Tell your woman this is going to be an adventure, and you may even have to send the 914 home on a truck. But.......

Is she the adventurous type? You could spin this in such a way as to anticipate an amazing adventure..... Sigh, only to find out the old 914 will get you there and back drama free.

I want to know how this turns out.

Just drove from San Ramon CA to Bend OR and back last week, 1000 miles round trip.
Get out there and drive that car, it's only getting older.

i've done two trips this year to the east side of washington state up and over 4800' mountain passes and been gone all day doing so. putting on some miles is good for these cars.... oh and i dont carry anything... not even a spare tire.... if you carry it you wont need it.... that's what i learned when 4x4 wheeling...

Yeah...did the trip in the ford suv (air)..but I will be doing a trip to San Diago soon in the 914... And I will go back to santa Barbra soon ..med Nov.

Every event we've been to,( and it's been many ) are never closer that 1000 miles one way. If I was worrying about having issues I would never get off the couch like all the hot rod guys around here. Drive it like ya stole it and fix it when it leaves you on the road. If you can't fix it call AAA.

Word! Rick and Sandy are an inspiration to all of us here...

No guts; no glory!!