I purchased my 914 in 2005 with 26,000 miles on it. I am the third owner.

I know the second owner very well. As I understand the guy I purchased it from saw it many many years ago when the original owner had purchased it new and drove it to his house. The guy I bought it from made the mention that if he ever wanted to sell it, he wanted to buy it. Many years past and the guy called and said it was for sale. A price was agreed upon and when the car was delivered he didn't realize the car was a 914 and he didn't really care for it. Being the kind of guy that he is he went ahead and purchased it because he said he would. He never drove it. His son put about 1000 miles on it while in high school and blew the clutch out.

I purchased it, put in a new clutch, cleaned the fuel system and put about 20,000 miles on it in about 3 years. It was leaking a little oil so I pulled the engine out to reseal/rebuild about 2 1/2 years ago. Didn't have to do really anything to the bottom end. Bearings were perfect. Installed an upgraded cam and new lifter's along with a new set of rings.

I then started wacking on the heads and relied on some bad knowledge I learned from a Porsche mechanic that I used to work for and ended up trashing a good set of 3 bolt 2.0 heads.....

Well thanks to this forum I should have a set of good rebuildable heads this week and will start to work on them so I can get my engine back together.

As I hear a lot of people say...I will never sell this car. When I say it I mean it! That is unless my family is in need and in that case, I would sell it, but only then!

My plan is to get the engine back together and decide on the color that I will paint it. It is currently and originally black. It may stay black or it may change. I run a business in which we have a full body shop and we do some restoration work. I know that as long as I do it correctly it doesn't matter what color I paint it! My hope is to get the engine ready to go back in and then pull the car apart to paint it!

It has had one repaint due to a small fender bender. Looks like they sprayed it with lacquer paint, so it was a long time ago! It ended up having hail damage to it around 2007 so it needs something fixed on every panel.

Will post up some pictures this week. Oh, the main reason for stoping driving it is that I have 5 year old twins and it just wasn't getting driven. Now that they are getting a little older and things are a little less crazy I can work driving it into my schedule a little easier!

Black was an optional color, extra money. Keep it black!

Paul

It is good to hear of another 914 owner in the midwest.

There is a get together in Portage coming soon

Garolds BBQ

Keep it the original black. Post some pictures.

I would consider keeping the original color as black was a rare and great looking color on these cars.

Black was an option and rare.

Yes, definitely post some photos of your car!

is it so rare with 914 in black ?

Funny, I have been looking for photo's for the last couple of days and I can't find any. I did go open the doors on it tonight and look over things. I even found the pallet rack full of parts. I hope to move it home from my shop this weekend. It does have an L 041 paint code. Looked up the paint code tonight and I can mix it on my paint machine.

I'll get some pictures up this weekend!

Got the car home today and in the garage. Will get some pics up by the end of the weekend!

http://s1006.photobucket.com/user/rrdomeck...7136e.jpeg.html

http://s1006.photobucket.com/user/rrdomeck...6e2a7.jpeg.html

http://s1006.photobucket.com/user/rrdomeck...fb444.jpeg.html

http://s1006.photobucket.com/user/rrdomeck...f4225.jpeg.html

More pictures to come once I get me garage set back up....I started a business about 4 years ago and my tools have been at the shop since then. Finally got them home, just need to organize them all!

Do you live in Indy? Bob

Bob, I do live in Indy. I see your car is for sale on CL. Good luck with the sale!

Do u know anyone looking for a fast beast? Bob

Per chance, what would the VIN of this L041 1974 914 be? Could this car be a...an...LE?

http://bowlsby.net/914/CanAm/

After looking at that website I don't think mine is an LE. The wheels have the original silver paint and the spare looks brand new and it is also silver. The car had the original Michelin tires on it when I purchased it. So I doubt they have been repainted.

I guess I will know more when I remove the paint from the bumpers. If I dee yellow that will change things a little....

I would keep it black. Painting a car a different color involves too much door jams, trunk, hood, engine bay painting which drives up the cost of the paint job. You have Mahles which is definitely a plus!

Mahles are the best looking 914 alloy wheel and I agree to keep it Black!!!
Could you put some pictures of the car in the thread instead of linking to a site. I am forbidden (work policy) from hitting any site like photobucket but will wait until I get home if I have to.

It looks like you've got an interesting fab shop there.....will be cool to see some resto progress
photos! Jon

I will post some pictures of the car on this sight when I can figure out how to.

I am very aware of how much work it takes to do a color change.... My business does this kind of work all the time! I will more than likely have the car dipped to eliminate any future rust issues. I have had a few cars done this way and although labor intensive, it does produce a great quality product.

I also have confirmed that my car is not an LE. It was one of the last cars produced in 74.

Oh and thanks for the kind words about the shop... We do a lot of very interesting stuff. Every once in a while we even make some money at it, but not very often.

Almost a year and no progress.... I have another set of heads and will try to get them to the machine shop this week. Would like to bump up the compression some. Maybe 9.0:1... I might even drop of the tin to be powder coated.

I took the week off work, but it looks like that's not going to happen!

I have made a lot of progress this month. Got the heads to the machine shop. I have completely dismantled the car and all of its parts and it will be getting painted this summer... Maybe even this spring!

I did find some rust. The car had A/C installed when I purchased it and the hack job that was done caused about 2"X2" square were the fuel pump mounts. The most solid 914 I have ever worked on.....

More soon,

I also vote for keeping it black. Keep it original. I like the Mahle wheels too, you can get them polished and they look great with the right size tires. Good luck on your project, keep us updated...

To an owner of one of the last of the '74 models made with a 2.0 L , from an owner of one of the first ( # 0089 ), which was built in August of '73, I wish you well with your endeavor.

Wonderful cars are they not ?

I encourage you to also do the paint in black, as it is quite unique and fairly rare on these cars.
Mine is a sunflower yellow and I do sometimes wish, even tho I love the brilliant yellow, to have a very unique and rare color on my teener.

But, so be it. They are all good , and glad you are preserving another to join the ranks of survivors. The BEST to you in a long but rewarding process.

To an owner of one of the last of the '74 models made with a 2.0 L , from an owner of one of the first ( # 0089 ), which was built in August of '73, I wish you well with your endeavor.

Wonderful cars are they not ?

I encourage you to also do the paint in black, as it is quite unique and fairly rare on these cars.
Mine is a sunflower yellow and I do sometimes wish, even tho I love the brilliant yellow, to have a very unique and rare color on my teener.

But, so be it. They are all good , and glad you are preserving another to join the ranks of survivors. The BEST to you in a long but rewarding process.

I will be keeping it black..... And mostly original with only bolt on modifications.

I will also more than likely have the tube dipped to remove any and all paint as well as any rust that I can't see. I do see this as a forever car and I'm not to far away from having every nut and bolt off of it. I have found a little surface rust under the sound deadening on the floor as well as a little in the tunnel. Now would be the time to do this!

Sorry for the slightly off topic - I thought I read in another thread that you used to build engines and wrench on Porsches in Indianapolis....what shop?
Just curious and if I'm off base here, well it wouldn't be the first time today that my mind went missing!

I did used to wrench at a Porsche shop east of Indy. For about 3 years. I learned a lot of what to do AND what not to do!