Hello everyone

After spending a few days browsing this page, I'm convinced this is the most informative group of enthusiast online. Thank you in advance, and I hope to be a part of the community soon.


So a distant family friend has a 1976 914 that they now want to sell. It was their car that passed away suddenly in 1996, so it has been in the garage(along with a 944 Turbo) even since. Unlike the 944, the 914 had the battery removed and hasn't been touched for 18 years.

car appears all original and stock. Exterior is solid, didn't find any Bondo or rust. No rust in the trunks or under the carpet. Only the battery pan is rusted out. Interior is excellent with no rips or tears, factory steering wheel, shift knob, and gauges.

They decided to finally part with it a few days ago, and I was the first person they notified so nobody else has taken a look yet. They need it gone so they aren't looking to hold onto it very long. I am very interested, but want to know what I'm getting into.

Also, my background. Bought a 1985.5 944 back in 1996, owned it for 6 years and probably logged over 50 hours myself doing repairs. I'm familiar with German cars, had several BMW's over the years, own 2008 E90 right now. However I have never owned a CLASSIC vehicle before that needs to be restored. I eventually want to get it running as a weekend car, and it will always be garaged. Not looking to gut it for track or anything like that. Keep it to the original specs. My main concern is the engine (aside from the seals), what would it be like to attempt to revive a 38 year old engine that hasn't been touched in 18 years?


I don't know any aircooled, or classic VW/Porsche guys in my area. I'm a member of the BMW CCA but that's not helping! Thank you everyone

Will the motor spin by hand? If so, drain the gas, visually inspect the tank bottom for sludge. Clean as necessary. Change oil/filter and crank over in 20 sec intervals until oil pressure is achieved. Give it some gas and see if it starts. If it does, shut it off immediately, replace all the old rubber gas lines and vacuum lines, then restart and begin the quest.

You probably don't see rust under the carpet because you're looking at tarboard, not metal. Hopefully there is no rust, but it can be concealed by the tarboard. And the battery pan is a concern. Have you looked at the hell hole in depth?

My '72 1.7L sat idle for between 10 and 15 years and after some patience, TLC, and a lot of new parts (e.g., hoses, fuel pump, etc. etc.) it's running nice and strong. It can be done, assuming there's not something fundamentally wrong with it before it was left idle.

Oh, and

Dad's car sat forever and when it came time to roll it, I put oil in the cylinders and 5th gear push popped it. Fuel lines, injectors and a new distributor later.. It ran really well! Hope you have the same luck!

And

Follow the instruction to see if the engine turns over, CLEAN the gas tank unless it was drained, change oil too...
There is no doubt this car will be a driver and reliable soon.

Post pictures here of battery area, etc and the advice will be never ending, and

thank you everyone for the infomation!

Initially I was interested in the 944 Turbo so I didn't spend a lot of time with the 914, other than looking for rust and seeing if it was a 6 cylinder. Almost all my time was on the 944, didn't get to the 914 until after. Spent maybe 15 minutes giving it a lookover. I didn't realize it had been stored in a mostly climate controlled area, I was expecting a rust bucket. I will take pictures when I go back in a few days. So peering through the rear hatch I did notice the battery tray was very rusty, but didn't open the access to look directly down into the 'hole'. I assume I'm looking for rust everywhere, much like when inspecting an old Beetle.

I received the phone call the night seeing it, so I've only had 3 days to research the 914's. I'll be going back in a few days and I'll report back when I get pictures and more info.

Yeah, take a screw driver and poke around. Get the VIN # and post it here with info about it.

There is a post about BUYING a 914, someone will find it and tell you, but off the top of my head....
Go from underneath to check the floor pans.
around the pedal cluster,
If you can, push the seats up and check the lower firewall in the cockpit, then the in engine bay. There are pads on both sides, careful with the inside one.
Under the battery tray.
If you can, take the long covers off and poke around the jack point.
Look for paint bubbles above the outer door latch.
Rust in either trunk, and
the suspension console (where the trailing arm connects to the uni-body near the engine on both sides.

You might even ask some G'boro folks on here to go with you, if you were here, I sure would.

Good Luck and do post some pictures of the car and the rust.

Oh yeah, careful with the start up. These air cooled engines have cavities that mice will nest in. Cavities that are designed to push cooling air to the engine. The fan housing is big and empty.

Watch out for leaking fuel injector elbows when you start it. They should be replaced with all the other fuel lines.

As stated above, mice can be ANYWHERE... my '73 sat in my friend's garage untouched for 12-13 years. After much work on fuel lines, gas tank etc I did get it running but when taking all the engine sheet metal off, there were several "homes" and many dead mice especially on top of the oil cooler. If you were to keep running it that would have made for an interesting and smelly mess not to mention HIGH oil temps!!
Also found a dead family in the glove box and all the remains had ruined the owners manual
Those rodents don't respect our old cars!!