This is my 74' 2.0. I took the gas tank out in preparation for installing an anti-sway bar (among other things), and this is what I found:


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The passenger side is fine, all ready for a mounting plate. But then:


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On the driver's side, there is a stock plate spot-welded in, but neither the bolt holes or the hole for the bar are punched through. What the hell? Now I guess I have to drill out the spot welds, take the "stock" plate off, and install a proper reinforcement on both sides?

I also thought of trying to thread a bolt into the existing nuts and maybe snap them off by hitting it with a hammer. Then I could leave the existing plate in place, and just drill through it to mount my new plate on the inner (gas tank) side of the sheet metal - but what about the nut that's down below the existing crosspiece?

Oddly enough, the A-arms also have the stock U-tabs on them, even though the car didn't come with a front bar.

I'm thinking maybe the schnitzel truck pulled into the Karmann factory early, and Gunter and Helmut didn't want to be last in line, so they just left the assembly line with the car halfway prepared for a sway bar.

Anyone seen anything like this, or have any advice on the best way to proceed?

Thanks,

Thats F'n weird.
Never seen that one. Although it looks like that rail flange has been chewed on?

Just by looking at the quality of the welds, i highly doubt this was done at the factory ...

The passenger side seems to have seam sealer sprayed on the rear seam (behind the wire harness) and the driver side does not.

Any odd seams where a section may have been grafted on?

Jim

It was for the mid level 914-5 that was never put into production.

Half a 4 and the half a 6.

looks like a plate was spot welded on the inside of the fenderwell. Got a pic from that side. PO probably realized it was crap work and maybe stopped himself with his good hand.

Factory nut plates were welded on from the outside.

My first suspicion is that your car has a large section welded on from another car.

Is your car black or just the trunk. Black trunks on a different color car are usually a tell that something went wrong in the past

I agree, those welds don't look factory. Looks like an inner wheel well was grafted on. To me, it looks like the old inner wheel was pulled/pried off. See the wave in the metal next to the bottom sway bar mount is? Then when the new wheel well was butted up, they drilled holes in it and welded them from inside the wheel well. I'd check for welds in the wheel well area. But that doesn't help to explain why a sway bar mount was welded to the outside of the wheel well, when it obviously wasn't needed.

Unfortunately, it looks factory to me.

Stay tuned folks, for the continuing saga of Helmut and Gunther and the distracting schnitzel.

Could be a parts bin mix up, could be a sinister schnitzel scheme.

Perhaps there is another '74 rolling around out there with the opposite pair of fender wells.




To be completely honest, I have, from time to time, been accused of wearing one brown sock and one black sock in my sandals, of course leaving an identical pair at home in the drawer for later use.

It was for NASCAR "down under", where they only make right turns.

I had no idea that a sardonic sense of humor was so closely tied to 914 ownership.

I've looked carefully at the area, and can't find any seams, cuts, or welds that would make me think there was a large graft from another car. The seam sealer on the driver's side is just out of the frame of the photo I took, and it looks stock as well. This is the fenderwell with the [matching] VIN stamped on it, so again, I think it's all stock. The holes for the bolts and the bar are very cleanly "punched", not drilled, as far as I can tell. I've owned the car since 1983 (the whole car has always been black), so PO damage is possibly less likely.

I guess my next move is to clean off the wheel well side, take a look, and possibly start drilling out spot welds to take this thing off. In keeping with "balljoint's" comment, I've begun referring to this thing as the "schnitzel plate" (as opposed to a "taco plate").

Any other ideas?

Looks factory to me as well...

you taint seen nuthin yet buddy

look both wheel wells over VERY closely for sand scratches, or grinder marks under the paint

Looks like sprayed on seam sealer on one side and not t'other

I agree, It looks spot welded, which few people would have the means to do, especially right there.

Yes I agree. But the other side could be the replacement.

German workers union rules allow for two liters of beer during the lunch break ( no kidding)

Let's guess what time yr car was built
then then then

Ed and I thought of a possible scenario which may explain this, depending on how the factory assemblyline was organized.
Helmut inadverdently set a fenderwell with prestamped holes in the assembly fixture during a run of non sway-bar equipped chassis'.
The simplest solution for Gunter, working at the next station, was to cover it up with an unfinished mounting plate.

There are many non sway-bar cars which came with the u-tabs on the a-arms.

For a narrow body street car I would use it if I was able to drill out the bolt holes without destroying the threads.
I would add a perimeter weld at the edge of the plate.

To elaborate.

Helmet had a rack of inner fenders that became empty right BEFORE lunch.
Helmet and Gunter went to lunch with Hans.

when walking back from lunch, with a slight buzz going, Helmet asked Hans to refill the rack of inner fenders! no one cared enough to ask which type of part was needed because it was AFTER lunch ( and two liters of beer)

And work went forward as it normally does....no problem.
Legally allowed to have not one, but TWO of these at lunch...
It was in the workers contract at Siemens when I worked and lived there.

I just went and looked it up.
33.4 ounces to a liter.
So two liters is almost a six pack of beer when using cans.
In under one hour....

Maybe. But ABV can change that exchange factor greatly.

Wow. The "beer allowance" actually explains a lot. Now I'm not even going start the thread asking about the water pump bolted to the front of the engine . . .

You're catchin' on.