Hi everyone, my name is James. I've been lurking here for a few months, reading, thinking, planning. What a great site! So much info, great pics and helpful advice.
Here's the story,
My boss was looking for an old two seater to restore for his daughter. His father helped him build a 60s model T-bird and he wants to do the same. So we both looked at triumphs and mgs. I'm an aircooled guy from way back, well the early nineties. I've owned a few Vws. One evening I was surfing the Samba. I scrolled down the classifieds to Porsche's. After a couple of minutes I stumble upon a 914 local. I figured I would show him the ad, as a joke. I never figured he would go for it.
Next day at work I showed him. Michael (the boss) says get him on the phone and lets go look at it. OKAY!!
The car had been stored 10+ years. His uncle purchased the car new, locally and drove it 78k, before storing it in the mid eighties. The uncle kept it garaged and apparently had plans for the car until he passed away.
The nephew was a VW guy but had no interest in a Porsche .. sowe made him an offer. He declined and we decided to research a little more on the cars.
Few days later its decidd its a good deal. Off we go with trailer in tow and checkbook in hand.
So here is where OUR story begins.
Its a 73 2.0. The interior is like new. All. The seals are in unbelievable shape. Everything is there and very little rust. . The car is sitting on sport wheels. I will get some pics up in the next day or two. The wheel wells were cut for flares. It's been lowered and we found the front brakes have been rebuilt. It looks like the original owner had track plans for the car.
It might see some track time later, it will see some spirited mountain driving for sure. As it is, the plans are to go thru all the systems and get the car in working order. Brakes first, then drop engine and trans. Replace fuel lines, seals, vacuum hoses. You guys all know the routine
He bought a factory service manual and Haynes. I figure between those and the threads on this site we can get it back on the road. We look forward to sharing our story of Abby's AirCooled with everyone. We hope you enjoy and stay tuned!!!
James and Michael

Thanks guys. I was searching this morning for pics of dealer option a.c. specifically the dryer and condenser parts.
We worked half the day yesterday, pulling brakes and rotors. Michael ordered rebuild kits all around and new bearings. The bearings were factory pieces that were in great shape and had fresh grease. Took the rotors to the machinist and had them turned. The front calipers had already been rebuilt. The rears not. I researched the rears this morning and made notes. I hope to start them after work tomorrow.
We are also looking at wheels. I know its ahead of the game but if he decides to go 5 lug now is the time to do so. It's up in the air. 4lug we both like 2liter wheels. Polished. If it goes 5, my vote goes cups or twists. He likes Fuchs.
I think since its cut for flares and its getting flares, the wheels need to fill the holes. All 4/130 lug stuff is 5.5 Max.
How are the stock brakes gonna work with say a 17x7?

All the 5 lug/brake info you ever wanted, in one place, courtesy of Eric Shea. I think the consensus is unless you're increasing the power and/or weight of the car, stock brakes with good pads are plenty.

Also,


And

Hope the pics load. She ain't [attClick to view attachmentachmentid=349742]much right now Click to view attachment

Cool find! Those are some unusual fender flare cutouts. I wonder if the previous owner was planning to do Rabbit flares, or maybe 930 flares?

A few good links for you:

Flares 1

Flares 2

Flares 3

Thanks for the link. Those are all really good examples of different flares. I will show these to Michael today, he's been on the fence about the gt flares from day one.

You're welcome. The Rabbit flares would look cool.

Agreed. He thought so as well. Something else to research

I feel bad, work has been over the top this year and the Porsche has just sat collecting dust. I look at it every day, thinking about how cool its gonna be. Brakes are finished, but that's been all we have had time to do.
The debate over what to do about the fenders finally came to a head on a work trip outta state last week. We need a parts car. And as I type this we are bouncing up I75 with a 76 914 in the box trailer. Original, complete 2 liter car. Engines siezed and the underside is swiss cheese. The guy we got it from does restoration work and admitted it was more than he would fool with. Its really bad.
But it does have a lot of good parts. Some we will use, the rest we will sell. I will post pics tonight and see what everyone thinks.
James and Michael

Crusty, rusty and nasty

Well the blue car hid a lot of sins.
There is plenty of good parts left and we will be able to salvage some sheet metal. If there is something you want or need, pm me. There is way too much stuff to list.
Cool thing is I got all the hard parts to do a T4 conversion on the bug. Michael needed the wheel wells and lids plus he scored two sets of grill letters, which he really wanted. :-)

So your going to put the fenders back stock? If so, good decision. The stock brakes are ready to go. Why not?

Thanks Rick,
Yea, its going back stock. We looked at all the options and the factory set up is better for this car.
Its low mileage and very clean except for the cut outs. Seeing the blue car reminds me how lucky we were.
The po added adjustable shocks and a few other goodies that might make its way onto Abbey, just for sneaky points..

Whew! I got confused for a minute and thought you were restoring the blue car. It's toast. That thing has some strange rust areas typical of sitting outside or under a tarp that had some holes in it. Nice fenders though!

Sadly it's just too far gone. Major rust in the longs and hell hole. Even the firewall is badly rusted. Thankfully the white car has no rust at all. I wish we could have saved it tho, it was very complete.

I expect we should be seeing sparks flying soon? Grafting blue fenders on to white?

Good decision on the fenders. While you're at it, lose the warts, really makes a difference in appearance.

I hope so, my plan was to get the rears off last night, but that didn't happen. Yes, the white car was cut for flares and never finished. So now we are trying to get it back stock.

Thanks, flares were gonna kill the look of this one. If it were going to be raced they would have been ok. Agreed on the bumperettes, we didn't care for those either. Once the holes get filled I will polish the bumpers up.

The 'warts' are the side marker lights on the front fenders. IMO they are ugly and were put there only because of US govt. regs. European 914s don't have them.

Sorry, I misunderstood, lol. Those won't be going back on either.

Well, as I mentioned before part of my loot off the blue car is the 2.0 engine that I want to use in another project ( my GermanLook Beetle). The engine is seized and sat for a long time.
I have torn down T1 engines before, but never one that was locked up.. what is the best way to get the barrels off without damaging the case? I knew a guy that pulled the plugs and filled the cylinders with marvel mystery oil in hopes of breaking it all loose. What would you do/use to save the case and heads?

Today's carnage...Click to view attachment Click to view attachmentClick to view attachmentClick to view attachment

I got up this morning with hopes of a fruitful day at the Aircooled swap meet and some time cutting on the Porsche.
The show was a total wash, unless your a bus owner... Very limited beetle goodies and zero 914 stuff. I should have known.
The rest of the day went pretty well, Porsche wise. Got the driver side cut and Michael came by and stripped the interior. I broke my air chisel and snapped 3 saw blades cutting the front quarter loose. Gotta love harbor freight. I will say in their defense I have used the chisel for almost 5 yrs with no problem. Lol.
As fun as cutting one up can be, I'm really ready to get the white car sorted and ready to paint. There is some friction over the color tho. Everyone but Michael is voting for the Alaskan blue. The jambs need paint regardless, but he doesn't want to pull the trunks apart and paint around the tank and engine. I get keeping it original but, wow that's a nice blue. What's the consensus on color changes? Detracts from value or do what feels good?