Current Status:
Running great!

I picked up this car late 2012 with the intention of flipping it. But never got anything done on it until I tore apart my Marathon Blue Metallic 73 to prepare it for WCR 2013, which of course didn't happen. So now this Gold Metallic 71 is my new driver.

Starting off at the beginning. Trekkor found the car and had it for sale. I picked it up from him without the engine, front bumper, rocker panels or wheels pictured below. Otherwise this is how the car came to me.

I tried at sell the car a few times since it was just collecting leaves in my parking lot. But most people I showed it to found it a little too big of a project for them. So we pulled the rotten battery tray and patched a small section in the hell hole. We pulled the crazy sway bar setups off (see rear underside pic above) and ripped out the wood grain dash. I also swapped the lids to a better set. Both trunk lids had crazy scratching on them, and both were rusted in the usual places (under the lip). The rear reflector got the axe as well.

With WCR approaching and the Blue car still on the rotisserie, I realized I needed a new plan and settled upon getting the Gold car operational.

At first I was going to rebuild the suspension, brakes, etc. But my pragmatic employee, Tim, suggested it would be smarter to simply swap the suspension and brakes off of the Blue car instead, saving us hours of work. DUH! So we had a roller with good brakes in an afternoon. We also installed the gas tank and fuel pump off the Blue car as well because those parts were known good.

The engine was undecided at first. I had a known good 2.0 with stock FI ready to go in and that was the plan the whole time, but when the day came for the engine to go in, somehow the Turbo 1.7 project ended up there instead.

For those of you the haven't seen a gold metallic 914, here's a shot. I expect some day it will go back to original.




This is not my car!

I got the MicroSquirt FI setup up and running, and tuned the car without the turbo in place. I'm still working on tuning the turbo in. I've got a few more days yet before I have to drive 12h to WCR.

In between working on the engine I decided to color sand the paint. The yellow respray was one of the absolute worst paint jobs I've ever seen. There was so much texture in the paint that you almost couldn't call it 'orange peel'. I'm happy with how it turned out.

Long term plans are to install the 2.4 six I picked up awhile back and do a detailed six tribute.

Goldie Lock

I have never seen a rear Addco swaybar installed that way

Nice project car. I'm surprised you didn't get any bites on that one.

Yeah, me too. But I'm glad it worked out how it did because the couple times I did try to sell it, I was asking WAY too little.

That's a fact , if it doesn't sell in a week raise the price= sold

we're both racing the calendar mark. how are you going to keep the clutch and speedo cable from melting together?

Drive faster.

Gold.....that is what my red car was originally.
I just can't like that color...tried, kept thinking about it, but nahhh

Funny, all you pictures have a different shade...some look yellow orange, the first ones look butterscotch, which is actually kinda cool, but the interior shots have that gold paint...

It's rare, so keeping it gold will make it unique, but also most likely a tough sell

Yeah, the first post pics are from Trekkor's sale ad. Different camera, different colors. I think as a six 'replica' gold will sell.

Hi Mark

Boy that Gold is a super rare color...... It's rare because it was not very popular back then (IMHO). I just asked my wife about the gold and she slapped (figuratively) the shXX out of me and said, essentially, No.

Good luck with the car though; it is good to see one on the road in that color.

But I would totally own that car as a 4. Wife say's no more cars until I catch up with the ones I have now.

I think she's beautiful.

That gold metallic is stunning in the sunlight......my first 914 came to me with a crappy white respray...when I removed the rockers I was greeted with the gleam of the original and put it back to the gold metallic...loved it, like the song by Willie Nelson & Julio..."All the girls I've loved..."

Thanks for chiming in!

I have to agree! Here is a picture of your old car - I am still loving it..

That looks fantastic!

Click to view attachment

Since we are on the subject...GOLD! It really is a perfect period-correct color for these cars.
Besides its the color of beer, so whats not to like?

ps. Those rims are K.Trekors old wheels...

Thanks - I can't take any credit - Wndsrfr, who posted above, is the prior owner, did quite a job, all I've done is replace some rubber here and there and armor all her....she runs so well I don't even tinker with her, instead I tinker with the MG midget, although my wife hates the "steelies" but I like the car being all original, but I have to agree with previous posts, you either love the gold or hate it, seems there is nothing in between.

As the song goes "Take good care of my baby..........."

Got a bunch of little stuff taken care of today. It's dark now, so no pics. Those will come tomorrow.

1. Rocker covers installed.
2. Front bumper installed.
3. Gas gauge hooked up.
4. Battery mounted.
5. Intercooler fans wired up.
6. Amp and speakers installed so I don't go crazy.
7. Front trunk cleaned up and spare tire tucked away.
8. Alignment sorted out.
9. Swapped the broken DS door handle for a good one.
10. DS door pocket installed.
11. Painted the dash face, since I don't have time to do new vinyl.
12. Installed the switches into the dash.
13. Moved the oil pressure gauge from the ashtray area to the dash (existing hole).
14. Installed the kneepad.
15. Routed the oil pressure gauge wiring more appropriately.

Getting close to ready for the trip north.

Fun project. Goldielocks. From the pics, its hard to see the relationship between the speedo and clutch cables to the exhaust you fabricated up.

IF its close AT ALL, heat wrap the crap out of everything down there, or you'll have a melted clutch cable in no time at all.

Hope that draining the turbo oil, which is not pressurized, will flow OK to the lowest point in the oil system, (tuna can) and not just back up in the line and into the turbo bearing. Personally I'd be more comfortable with the oil draining back in to the engine at a higher point, although that may involve a lift pump, or a drain to a valve cover. I can't imagine there is ever much of a time when the tuna can is not filled with oil even before draining the turbo into it.

Dave

Mark,
Obviously I will not be back from the Philippines before you leave for WCR but I have a new dash vinyl I don't need...

Thanks Rob. I've got about 5yds of the stuff, but no time to put in on in a way that will make me happy. Plus this build (at this point) is all about sprucing up old stuff, not installing new. So pitted paint, pitted wheels, cracking interior, and all that stuff is part of the 'look' I'm going for. Painted dash goes right in with that.

Finished polishing the paint. I can't capture in pictures how smooth it is. Really happy with that.

Installed a front valence and cleaned the wheels.
Put the turn signals and side markers back on.

good work. that's why your the man!

This is cool!


KT

Looks toight like a toiger!

Good job Mark!

Here's a project, its original color was gold, not sure what color to call it now.

Green914, available?

Hey Mark you need to swing by my place on the way through. You can pick out another set of seats if you'd like. I may even just have a seat bottom that will match those. I've got a black courdaroy set that screams McMark

Guess what this is.

laptopsupporttdevice

getto fab

1) Lunchroom tray holder
2) Tea set holder
3) Space junk
4) Beer cooler tray
5) record player holder
6) picture frame
7) road hazard
8) Passenger repellent
9) Podium
10) pulpit

Am I close?

Video game holder/computer shelf for bored passenger.

I saw you cruise by this evening, BTW...


KT

I looked for you but you were hiding, woulda stopped.

It's looks about the right size for my Atari 2600

I'm thinking it is for the Porta potty . You just take the top off & let it rip

I was behind the car trailer pulling a the transmission from the LeMon...




https://www.facebook.com/pages/Team-Filthy-...151108818319783


KT

Well, 600 miles under my belt and no major issues to report. The laptop stand was PERFECT! I didn't have to do much tuning, but my CHT sensor took a dump and started reading all over the place, which caused the Warmup Enrichment to come in at random times. This would cause the engine to miss as it went rich for a millisecond. The TPS was also popping Accel Enrichment periodically, but I solved that by changing the TPS Lag Factor to 40 (was 50). This let the ECU ignore the periodic spikes that are occurring for whatever reason.

Overall I'm REALLY happy. I still have a little pinging when I try to go WOT, so I just kept throttle movement to 50%, which wasn't an issue because I just wanted to make sure 'normal driving' was working well. I'm only getting about 5psi of boost, but I'm pretty sure that's how I have the wastegate set. Boost comes on between 2500 and 3000 rpm (can't really test that without WOT runs). But in this 'normal driving' scenario there is pretty much boost whenever I want it.

Power feels a little higher than a 2056, and I suspect that once I can dial up the boost to 9psi or so, I should be in 2270 territory or beyond. Pretty good for a 1.7. Driving impressions are fantastic. Most of the 600 miles was between 70 and 80 mph and even at those speeds I could ease on the throttle to pass or climb hills. Under day-to-day driving conditions, I'm completely happy.

Hit stop and go traffic coming into Portland (and rain ) and the engine didn't miss a beat.

Now to go hang out in Portland.

like!!!

Nicely done!!


KT

I would like a ride.


KT

Well then, post some pics here that are not upside down ...

Congrats!

Pull some timing, or try colder plugs, and drop the hammer!

Will be interesting to see how it all works out for you.

Discovered the pinging issue that has so far been plaguing this installation. Turns out that the coils I'm using will discharge/spark as soon as they have charged up. So if you start charging them too early, they will fire early. So with one small change in one box, a huge problem has disappeared.

I only wish I had found this bit of info a week ago. Oh well. Now to convince myself that I shouldn't try to increase the boost.