Hey all,

Today, June 10, 2014, I bought my first 914. It is a 1974 1.8, silver.

My first posts on 914 world were in a thread dedicated to my hunt for a 914. It can be found at the following link:

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...p;#entry2048714

Many, many people here provided a massive amount of fantastic information. I have studied, read, and (hopefully) learned the very basics of 914s.

Now that I own one, I will have a million more detailed questions, and I hope to keep things documented in this thread.

First, a few photos for you:

Welcome to the crowd!! And nice stable-mates too... we'll have a party for you over at Rennlist too...

With your name here and at Rennlist though, I half expect to see an old Barracuda in the background somewhere as well

Nothing wrong with an old muscle car too...

The history of this car:

It was originally purchased on July 12, 1974 from Mesa Porsche, La Mesa, CA by a couple from Carlsbad, CA, Frederik and Marilyn Grote. They traded in a 1968 Dodge Charger. Total price including tax: $6,400.69. [That is $32,287.32 in 2014 dollars]. Of this amount, they financed $1,000 at an interest rate of 13.62% (remember those Carter years of runaway inflation?)

(The radio was a $150 option they added but it has FM!!!) .

$150 in 1974 = $710.90 in 2014 dollars.

Accessories total was $736 = $3,488.15 in 2014 dollars.


They meticulously maintained it at Dieter's Porsche in San Diego. Every oil change was done like clockwork. Every service was fully documented.
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wow nice find!

cuda congrats! sweet ride look forward to your questions and doc thread

It still amazes me to see these great unknown gems pop up, nice find!

Then, one fateful day in September 1988, alas, they were hit in a front-end collision. The front end was damaged, including hood, bumper, and fenders.

The Allstate adjustor estimated required repairs at $3,974, and therefore declared it a total loss. Car condition on the 1988 insurance appraisal listed as "good". A Letter from Dieter's Porsche in San Diego stated that the car was regularly serviced there and in above average condition at the time of the accident. Receipts support this.

The original owners of the car bought it back from the insurance company for $450, however the car now was issued "salvage" title.

The Grote's owned a number of Porsches, including a 356. It is a bit unclear, but it appears that the Grote's then placed the car into storage until 1997. In 1997, the car was fully restored. The motor was pulled, sent to Mark Stephens High Performance of Tehachapi, CA. It was completely torn down, and rebuilt. A new clutch, shocks, and various other items were replaced.

The body work was conducted by European Auto Body, a Porsche body repair specialist in Escondido, CA. This company specializes in high-end cars including Porsche, Mercedes, Ferrari, Lamborghini, etc. There are receipts for body work totaling $4,655.12, dated 12/9/1997, which correspond to the work that was needed per the 1988 insurance estimate. Very odd to me that all of this was done so many years later.

Receipts for all of the engine work, body work, etc. are on file in the folder I have for the car.

Dude, I knew you would find one locally.

As Mr. and Mrs. Grote were getting on in years, eventually the car was again garaged at their house in Carlsbad, CA, until their three daughters (Mrs. Grote was remarried, so they were Mr. Grote's step daughters) held an estate sale in August of 2011.

A lady attending the estate sale purchased a large concrete mermaid. When she returned a day or two later with her husband to retrieve the mermaid, he saw the car in the garage and purchased it for $5,000.

Because the car had not been started for years, he had it flat-bedded to Konig Motorsport, a Porsche repair specialist in Oceanside, CA.

There, the car was thoroughly inspected, and many parts were replaced including: all brakes and rotors, master cylinder, front wheel bearings, plugs, points, filters, distributor cap, rotor, condensor, fan belt, tires, battery, shifter bushings, fuel injectors (cleaned and sealed), alignment, etc. Over $4,000 in receipts on file.


The new buyers own a number of classic VW's, including a VW bus, Karmann Ghia, etc. So, the 914 was only occasionally driven.

It was listed as an item in a three-family yard sale this past weekend. A friend saw the ad, emailed me, and I looked at the car yesterday and bought it today.

The only identifiable rust is a small amount inside of the rear of trunk. The Hell Hole is clean, the rockers are clean, the front end is clean, the floorboards are clean. There are no cracks in the dash. All electronics work. The driver side door lock mechanism needs to be repaired or replaced, since it won't lock with the key (but can be locked from inside the car).

The car drives, steers, and brakes perfectly.

Here are a few photos showing the body condition:

Funny how things work out when you put yourself out there shooting for the moon.

Congratulations...that's a fine car.

Thanks guys. Here are my first questions, basic though they are:

1. Driver's side door needs new lock cylinder, or current one fixed. Do I see a lock smith or a car restoration guy?

2. The radio antenna is black. Is that original? I prefer chrome if it should be chrome.

3. It has what appears to me to be a 1973 front bumper, from the repairs conducted in 1998. But, it doesn't have the chrome from the appearance group. Is the chrome a metal overlay piece I can buy? Or did they just chrome that metal portion of the bumper? Also, I really like the fog lights of the 1973 appearance group. Can they be added to the bumper that I currently have?

4. That bit of rust inside the trunk... should I spray it with Rustoleum to stop it from spreading? Should I sand it down first? Or should I take it to a body shop?

5. What is that grommet for in the middle of the carpet in the rear trunk?

The locks are not hard to remove yourself--just be careful, especially with the nut on the flap sticking out of the rear of the door handle. I'm sure there are illustrated guides on the BBS about this job. There's a write-up in the 914 Tech Articles section of the Pelican website, as well. Locks can be re-keyed without too much hassle if there are a decent number of parts on hand.

The radio is not original. It was dealer-installed, as most of them were. The antenna is whatever the dealer wanted to put in--and wherever the dealer wanted to install it! Some are on the right, some on the left. If you want a chrome antenna, get one.

The chrome bumpers are metal bumpers with chrome plating. Your current bumper can be done, but it is probably easier to get a bumper that is already chrome. Adding the foglights can be done relatively easily; the weld-nuts may very well be in place already and the wiring should also be there as well. You'll need fog light grilles, but those are still available.

The rust in the trunk should probably be hit with something like Naval Jelly to stop it from spreading. If you want to completely get rid of it, that will require grinding (at a minimum) or cutting and welding. Body-shop time unless you can weld or are trying to learn.


BTW, I'd check harder under and in front of the battery. I thought I saw some surface corrosion hiding behind the FI "brain" in your other photos.

--DD

Thanks for all the info, Dave!

That's very interesting about the antenna... for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why I was seeing some on the left and some on the right.

Seems like there were a lot of dealer-installed items that were put on various 914s, including the passenger side-view mirror, and Porsche crest on hood. Any other dealer-installed items I should be aware of?

It was just getting to be dusk when I gout the car home, so I'll inspect around at that battery tray a bit more tomorrow. Maybe some naval jelly there, too.

The rust in the trunk area looks worse in the photos than in person. The naval jelly is a good suggestion (why the heck do they call it naval jelly anyways, what a strange name).

More questions:

1. What do 914 folks think of those "steelie" wheels? None of the other cars I have looked at had them. I get the impression it was at the low end of the various wheel options?

2. I love the "PORSCHE" stickers that many 914s have along the lower door panel. Where would I get those? Were those dealer-installed? I have seen quite a variety of styles. Is there an "official" one?

It's for the spare tire hold down bolt, which you can use if you remove the foam rubber pad and (if you still have it) the plastic cap that covers the threaded hole in the trunk floor.



Air conditioning was also a dealer only installation. Check out Jeff Bowlsby's list of accessories ... it's very thorough:

https://bowlsby.net/914/Classic/Accessories.htm



The wheel was made by Lemmerz and is called the Sport wheel. I believe the wheel was first seen on the VW Super Beetle, and then in '74 became the stock wheel for the 914. I prefer an aluminum wheel myself ... Mahles were a popular choice for the '74 model year ... but obviously you should choose whatever you like. If you go with an aftermarket wheel, offset or backspacing will be a factor. A stock 15x5.5 wheel will always fit a 195 width tire and usually a 205 will fit as well. Not necessarily so with an aftermarket wheel.



The one that immediately comes to mind is the Limited Edition side stripe seen on the Bumblebee and the Creamsicle but you can get them in other colors, too. There is also a positive stripe that comes in several colors. Back in the day both were available from the P+A dealer. Jeff Bowlsby used to have a stash of original negative stripes, and repro negative and positive stripes are always available on ebay.

Yours would look good in black:


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i think you did really well with this car. The lock is easy to fix yourself or find "tweet' on this site and have him fix it.

This is a terrific car and I am glad you did not let the salvage title scare you off. You will love this car.

If it were me, before I did anything else I would inspect every inch of the car to ID any rust and then find a shop that knows these cars, hopefully in your area, and get all the rust addressed so that you don't have any future issues or worries about it.

Seriously nice find and buy.

Awesome find.
Pull the rocker covers as it is a maintenance item

WOW!!! Looks great! Original silver with no color change. My absolute fav color on a 914. The salvage title is a nonstarter for me with this car. Should have bumper 'tits' f & r. Many owners switch to smooth bumpers. Have fun, enjoy your new car.

K

Awesome find...from what the pics show it was fixed very professionally. That's as close to a "survivor" car as you can get. Original owner even! The bumper is probably from a '72 or earlier, but as Kevin said many people choose to remove the bumper "tits", so you can either add them back to the front to make it totally stock or remove the ones on the back and weld up the holes (or neither, it looks fine).

You CAN'T remove that big cassette player though !!!!

Good buy.

Re:

Thanks, Dave. I just now ordered from FleaBay a set of the black ones that are the style in your second image.

The Rennlist guys recommend POR15 to deal with the minor rust in trunk. I need to find where I can buy that, and also order some OEM spray paint somewhere so I can repaint it. Hmmm... now I gotta find that paint code. Anyone have it handy?

I just now insured it through American Collector's Insurance. Not bad rates at all. The policy doesn't start until 1:00 am tomorrow. I also have to go to AAA today to get the DMV paperwork filed.

Mepstein, thanks, I will check out "tweet" and see if I can find him.

Brant, for some reason, the rockers are pop-riveted on. I need to drill out the rivets and replace with screws. I'll get to that soon.

Re bumpers: I am really glad it came with that earlier front bumper, I hate those tits on the original '74s. I'll leave the rear ones alone for now. But, eventually I'd like to get rid of those, too.

Re: "You CAN'T remove that big cassette player though!!!"

You are right, look what I found in the side door pocket!!! And, the first tune on it is "My Way".... rather ironic don't you think?
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the paint code should be on a tag on the front drivers side door jam. L96D is on my original silver 73's tag. i've found a auto body supply that will color match and load the paint in cans. when treating the rust consider removing the seam sealer. with a heat gun and a small putty knife the sealer comes out easy. it's the rust that may be, and prob is, under the sealant that complicates the fix. Mar-hyde is a very effective rust conversion/treatment product that is sand able. a little goes a long way and the bottles seem to last forever.

Don't ... Tried it several times, never worked as advertised.

For now, clean the area with a wire brush and use naval jelly (or similar product) to convert the rest and seal the surface.
Eventually, you'll probably want to weld in a patch, but for now, that should stop the rust from spreading.


As far as rust goes, you really need to get a better look at:

- The hell hole under the FI brain/battery tray

- The rockers. Take off the covers and poke around the back with a screwdriver near the jack posts.

- The floorboard. Move the seats forward and remove the carpet behind them. Then do the "crunch" test on the tar on the floor. If the tar moves and you hear the crunch, you have rust underneath. They painted over the tar, so it will look OK even with rust underneath.

remove the pedal board and have a peek there too. improperly prepped the eastwood product peels off.

I've used POR with no problems, but you do need to Top Coat.

Eastwood makes a good product.

I know that you can buy POR on Amazon, I'm not sure about Eastwood

The factory used nylon rivets. I think white ones. Metal rivets are a good sign that someone has had them off before. That's a good thing as they pack with rust killing mud if they have never been off. They need to come off periodically as maintenance

Por15 is advertised as being able to stop rust without any additional steps by simply brushing it over the rusted area.

That simply does *not* work, it will not stop the rust. It will only hide it for a while.

Very nice.

All it needs now is a 6 and some flares.

The tops were riveted on. The bottom of the rocker cover should be held on by screws. If you remove those, you can pull the bottom out far enough to get a screwdriver up and knock out all the dirt stuck to the inner rocker.

--DD

The steelies were not an option, they were standard equipment. IMO they look really good if you paint the centers satin black and leave the rims silver.

The dash on that car is gorgeous. Don't often see an original dash without cracks, especially in SoCal.

I heard you mention in Mahles in your other thread. If you're interested in putting those on shoot me a PM. I've got a set I might sell.

(I'm not very good with the "multi-quote thing)

I pulled up the carpeting everywhere, and don't see any sign of rust anywhere on the floorboards. Battery tray has minor surface rust on a very small area. I'll hit that with some naval jelly, wire brush, and Rustoleum in the very near future.

The POR15 can NOT be used to just brush over rust.

Here's a great You Tube video that shows how to use it properly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuDcvwEIkPI

Great info on the rockers. I will check for the bottom screws.

Attached is a pic of the door tag.... is that the one you mean? If so, the part with the paint code is missing.

Kelty, I'll PM you on the Mahles. Probably I should wait a bit though, since I want to get this car into a shop right away and have a good inspection and replace anything that looks like it needs it. There is a minor transmission fluid leak at a rear seal that needs to be fixed. The steel wheel rim rings are a bit rusty on my car. I may get them rechromed.

Today I cleaned up the car and waxed it. Amazing... not even one single scratch or door ding anywhere! I thought there were some scratches, but they were minor scuffs that polished right out.

I just got back from my first drive... I took off the targa top and went about 40 miles or so on the back-country twisty roads... I LOVE this car!!! It is an absolute blast to drive. In my other Porsches, when I am going 90 it feels like 40 mph. In the 914, when I am going 40 it feels like 90!

Another question for you guys: Does this car like to be driven at lower or higher RPMs? I like to drive more in the "power band", so my tendency is to keep the RPMs up in the 3500 to 4000 range rather than upshift. But, different cars have different characteristics. If I should be keeping the RPMs down, I will get myself accustomed to using a higher gear more frequently. Do these cars like to get up to 5k rpm between shifts? I admit, I drive my cars hard, but I do want to be reasonable.

When I was shopping for a 914, I was afraid that the 1.8 would seem to "weak", and really wanted the extra 19 HP of the 2.0. Honestly, though, the 1.8 seems MUCH better than I had hoped. Of course, I still wouldn't mind more HP, but I am plenty satisfied.

If you guys recall, a "colorful" 914 was one of my "must-haves". But, after owning this car for all of one day, the silver color is sure growing on me!!

As you all can probably tell, I am super pleased with this car!!!

the floorboards have a thick tar over them. hard to tell if rust is underneath.
Pulling the rocker covers will tell a lot about the rust condition of the car.
The engine seems to do best at 3-5K.
The car is a bit lighter with the early bumpers.
The door tag is on the passenger side door
Street legal go cart is often used to describe these cars. They are fun to drive.
Congrats.

Por15 is just a rust cover up, not a repair. I would suggest a proper repair for this car.

Nice find.

Great to see it is still in California.

Do you still have the front plate? I was lucky enough to have found my car with both original plates. A rarity.

I think the steelies are cool, and also came with the car.

As for POR 15...I have had success with it for 5 years no issues. There is a dealer for it in Orange CA, sort of out your way.

I would keep everything as is...IMHO.


Nice Cayman tooBTW...great garage mate for your new joy. That'll be my next car.

Mepstein, I looked on passenger door too... no tag of any sort. I'll check out those floorboards and rockers some more.

I was just telling a friend today that it felt like driving a go-cart!

914teener... hmmm... you are right! I didn't even realize that I don't have a front plate!!!!

Crap... I want to keep the rear one because it is the original 1974 blue/yellow. But, there is no way DMV will re-issue one plate.

Ah well... I guess I will be getting a "no front plate" ticket someday soon. You will enjoy the Cayman... a blast to drive!!! It's the modern version of the 914. I would recommend a Cayman S over the base.

I've been driving around for the past 5 years in my car with no front plate.. and I have a white rear plate. I have the second plate on my tool box, and choose not to install it. I think LEO's tend to not care as much about the front plate thing on classic cars..

I don't think you're going to have much issue in North County.

^^^ Maybe so. I bet this car hasn't had a front plate since 1987 when the front bumper was hit.

I "thought" I found a solution, but no go..... there's a company in Irvine, CA that has a web site for plastic reproduction plates. I went though all of the ordering process, and when I got to the end to pay, Pay-Pal rejected it. I called the listed phone number and it's disconnected. I think it was an illegal business and they got shut down.

Maybe you are right about the classic car thing... I do know that recently they've been handing out more no-front-plate tickets. Revenue generation I guess.

I bought a car in 1988 and sold it in 1994, and never put on EITHER the front or the back plate in all that time, and never once got a ticket.

That should look really nice. Here's another image (for inspiration)




The paint code *should* be L96D. That's the paint code for silver for the '74 model year. BTW, the paint code will be listed on the Karmann plate, under "KUNSTHARZLACK" ... the plate itself is located on the driver's side, where the door hinges are located. There's a chart you can reference here:

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?act=colors

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I don't think I'd worry about it too much, but one solution might be to take your rear plate down to a FedEx Kinko's, make a color photocopy of it on good card stock, trim it to the right size and then simply slide it into the front license plate holder.

Ahhh... THAT tag.... yep.... L96D. I didn't realize that was a paint code.

[I took German for 6 years, but they never taught us that word. I looked it up: Kunstharzlack = kunst/artifical, harz/enamel-resin, lack/paint or varnish.]

I'll get some paint ordered right away.

Yeah, I thought of that plate idea too... just using my color printer and some photo paper. I imagine that will fade pretty quick though.

You could probably go to a digital sign shop and get the same thing done in plastic that would hold up to weather better.

Take it easy until you get it all checked out. I too was very eager to drive my first 914 and did so several times on some local roads. Once I got it up on the jack stands and began replacing the brakes and fuel lines I quickly realized how stupid that was. The fuel lines literally crumbled in my hands and covered me in fuel as I started moving them around and the brakes were shot and I'm still not sure how I didn't drive off a cliff.

Nice find!

The stock 914 engines have really flat torque curves, especially for naturally-aspirated engines. They make within a handful of lb-ft of peak torque from about 2500-4500 RPM. They make max power at about 4800 RPM, and by 5200 or so they're completely done.

They like at least moderate revs to make sure they've got cooling air flowing--especially at high loads, like going uphill.

I personally like the steel wheels, but only with the "baby-moon" style hubcaps. I'm not so fond of them without the caps. Mahles are a good choice, as are Fuchs. The later-style Pedrini wheels (part number ending in ".01", not ".00") will also fit but are not really appropriate for a 74 or later car. Don't use the early wheels, they will not fit the front hubs correctly.

Aftermarket wheels are also a possibility. The silver car with the stripes in Dave Kawashima's pic has ATS wheels, which are uncommon but have a neat look. Riviera wheels are more common but don't look bad. And so on.

--DD

Nice choice

See, now wasn't that easy?


Now the real fun begins.

I hate to come back to this point, please don't take it personally!

A visual inspection under the carpets is *useless* since the floorboards are covered with a thick layer of tar and the factory painted OVER the tar.
The floors will look rust free and perfect until the day the seats fall through.

You really need to take the time and do the crunch test and poke around with a screwdriver, especially behind the seats.

Many a 914 has had a leaking rear window at some point in its life, and that's where the water goes.

Matt, Yeah, I agree, I need to get the car into a shop right away, to do a good inspection for any safety items, etc.

Sir Andy, I will follow your advice and inspect the floor boards better.

Dave, OK, so it sounds like my driving style seems ok for the car. Regarding the "baby-moon" style hubcaps.... do you have any photos or know where I can get them and for how much $$$. I can envision roughly what they look like, and agree.... they would go well with the trim rings. I am getting an estimate from a locate plating company to get them re-chromed.

Porschef: "Now the real fun begins." I assume that means "Keep your wallet handy, now the real spending begins."

Agreed. This is what usually happens due to a leaky rear window seal. This was a fairly rust free car. With the seats removed, it looked fine...until the tar was removed.

Yes and pull the rockers for the same reason.
I always tell people not to buy a car without pulling the rockers first.

Looks better than my car...

Here are a couple of pics of the style(s) of hubcap that I'm talking about. Note that they may or may not fit on the "styled steel wheels" that you have; I'm not sure.










Not sure where you would get them but I'd bet the Bug guys know. Places like aircooled.net or CB Performance. Or heck, Summit Racing!

--DD

Nope, they wont fit his wheels ...

Dave, I like the wheels on that yellow one a lot.

Today I went over to a plating facility that specializes in automotive parts plating, polishing, etc.

To re-chrome the metal bands on my wheels is $80 each. Doesn't seem worth it to me, when that $$ could go towards some nicer wheels (since I would still need to find those moons like on the yellow one). JC Whitney has the band and moons, but all of their stuff is such crap.

One of the guys here PM'd me that he has some Mahles for sale. His price is good... but I wonder if shipping will be prohibitive. Anyone know what it costs to send a set of wheels across the country?