Have you ever got to a place with a car build where you wonder what the heck you were thinking? Building a hot motor & transmission, 911 five lug suspension and Fuchs on a 914, but you still have to do some pretty serious rust repair? And, when one considers the money drain, plus 914s aren't worth all that much apart? Anyone throw in the towel?

Please talk me back off of the ledge.

I've been throwing in the towel for 15 years now... and the car keeps getting better and better each time we go back to it!

You are not the first...you will not be the last....and I can surely tell you that NO sane person would EVER spend as much as we have on a 914....I would bet you will never even come close...if I could get 1/10 of what we've spent on Papa Smurf back....

Take a deep breath, forget about the value in $$$...think about the value in smiles!! That's what keeps us going!!

Yes...we are all a bit nuts....welcome to the club!!

Same here. Bought my car (barely running) in 2000. Went in for a "slipping clutch" in 2003 which turned into a 3 year restoration.
About half way through that restoration, i was ready to throw in the towel.
The car was completely disassembled and i had no confidence it would ever be together again.


I'm glad i stuck with it, it's been a blast to drive ever since i got it back on the road!

Heck no.... all of the hard stuff is behind us now (I hope)

^^I'm feeling better that I'm not alone in my madness…^^^

Only thing that saved me is that I have 5 or more projects, mostly car related, that I rotate my time on. When I hit the wall with one I walk away and work on one of the others. Usually runs an adverage of six months between each skipping around from one or another.

Two managed to get to the finish, actually they are never finished, but in a much better shape then ever before.

So, suggest that you take a break and have some fun for a while. You'll know when you will want to get back to it eventually but don't ever feel pressured to set a dead line.

"GOLDEN RULE IS THE SLOWER YOU GO THE FASTER IT GETS DONE"

It helps not to get overwhelmed by too many other projects. If you get a bunch of things going its easy just to discard the project that in one's mind has lost it's attraction.

Ask me...how...I..know

I try to make sure the repair projects are only done ONE item at a time. I am well aware of how big the snow ball can get. ONLY do overlapping repairs if necessary. Stick to one area and finish it before moving on.

I think it's crucial to stop and relax in the midst of the car chaos....take a step back and perhaps do another project or hobby for a bit. It helps put things in perspective and eases the stress. I jump back and forth between my 914 and building/modifying guitars. If one drives me too crazy, I try the other.
Or just stop and have some more beer ! I don't like to have too many things going at once but it's great to have an alternative.

Just like women... take em one at a time.

Had mine up for sale at one time and found out 914 buyers are a bunch of cheap skates. Decided to keep it, jumped back in with both feet and discovered I'm one of those A-holes that doesn't want to pay asking price. It's the perfect car for me.

STEP AWAY FROM THE LEDGE!!!

Yes, the same thing happened to me multiple times on my four year journey. The advice previously posted about "taking a break" and finishing one area or project at a time are top shelf.

I went had long periods of inactivity on my car, which normally came after a large setback such as realizing that the drivers side long was rusted as badly as the passenger side.

You will probably gain some needed perspective in your time off.

Finish something - its nice to see at least a small area of completed work the next time you roll out to the shop.

It is worth it!

Not seriously. I've had the car too long and way too much elbow grease in it to let it go.

Still a lot to go before it's calender pretty. Some of the work will be improvements that I'll feel good about. Some is repairs that I'm at fault for that I'll dislike having make myself do. Lastly is paint and body which I'm not looking forward to but I can't pay someone 3x what I make to handle it, plus it will make me feel proud that I've done it all.

Step one is to pace myself so I can do fun runs and not miss WCR15.

The trick is to get too far into the project financially. So much so that your wife will kill you if you don't finish it.

I've had mine for 32 years. What's a couple more to make it perfect.

Don't give up. Never, never give up.

The memory of how much fun it was to drive keeps me going, I'm into my 4th year. Maybe next year.

You spent time and money on one of, if not the, most fun car of the 1970s.
You didn't smoke that money, or shoot it into your veins, or drink it.

Ok, so you don't get it all back. So what?

Get it on the road. Go for rides with a significant other. Let your buddies drive it.
Live life and count your blessings.

Then leave it in your will to someone younger. (My grand daughter will love it.)

I forcing myself to draw the line. After mostly finishing my /6 conversion of constant 6 months of hard work - I'm just finishing up odds and ends without diving into heavy new projects. Yeah I'd love wider tires, flares, bigger brakes...and all that fun stuff - but I don't NEED any of it. And it would all be more of a time/money pit. I want to drive my car too...I could never imagine my car sitting for years.

So....Imagine if you will what it takes to turn this:

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into this:

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Or This:

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Into this:

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so quit your worrying, get back to it... and we expect a full progress report with pictures and details!!

Naro, show the pic of the flipped car, then it's fixed again....that is never giving up.

I know, when I bought my car it was not drivable. So I kept thinking, what if I don't fit in this car, what if I hate driving it.

So I went out and test drove a few. Believe me there were only a few that drove. I pretended to be a buyer and found all cars that I could.

You are in the mecca of 914s. If you haven't driven one, or it's been a long time, maybe someone out there in Cali will hand you the keys or take you on a curvy road.

Maybe none of that fits you, but hey, it helped me and made me work harder to get mine drivable. "love the hair!"

Hang in.

I think bob actually flipped or rolled each of them. Good recovery.

My solution for the time and money I'm dropping on my gt conversion was to buy 2 more!

Thought about could-haves and should-haves, WTF am I thinking moments...you name it. Haven't and won't throw in the towel for sone reason. I'd probably sell the 356 before giving up on the everlasting 914 project.

The key is focus. If you go out to work on your car. Give yourself a realistic goal of something to do. If you don't go out with a specific plan. You won't get much done. If you jump from one thing to another with your car. You will become overwhelmed & not do anything. Or you might do a fair amount but it won't look like it. In which case it feels like you didn't accomplish anything. IF you have serious rust. Never hurts to buy a good roller. Put all your good parts on the solid roller. Unless you are proficient welder. I'd stay away from the rust

You are correct....don't have the damage pics of Papa Smurf, but for Huey:

Early days

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What I brought home to Nadine:
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What he became for Targa:

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What happened:


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Rebuilt:

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Engines have gone from 2.0 to 2.2 to 2.5 to 2.7 to current 3.2 All 6 cyl

Yes...its a sickness...

Take your time, enjoy it...and never look back.

Unless you encounter Rich...that wine and cheese guy constantly reminds you of all the F' ups you've done in your life.

Let's just say that orangecrate is an alias for the cruel mistress and leave it at that. When she's good -- oh yea When she's not, well I keep remembering how good she is when she's good. That has kept me going these past 5 years. I've washed this damn car more and driven it less than anything I have ever owned. (I've owned more than a few rigs) And I can't bring myself to part with it. YOu are not alone.

Step back from the ledge!! If you don't save this car, who will?

Having owned many cars, I still have to say that 914s are my favorites. I don't really know why. It's almost like a secret club, where we have "discovered" this wonderful little car that so few outsiders really know much about.

I own two now, and still troll eBay and Craig's list nearly every day for yet another.

Fixed it for ya Mark!

Just hang in there. I'm in year seven. I take a break and work on somthing small that will give me some short term gratification when I'm in the middle of some large and dirty part of the resto. It all has to get done, so do something to give yourself a break. If you just do one thing a day , you'll have 365 items done in a year.

I'm finally over the hump. Finish body work , paint and assembly this winter. When I look at all the finished assemblies ready to be reinstalled, I'm excited and glad I spent all the time I did. No regrets.

Remember, if you're doing the car yourself.
"All great cars are a ten year overnight success"

Took my first 914 in for a malfunctioning tail shifter in 1987. Somehow it turned into /6 conversion. Lots of rust repair, lots of $$$, years of good times with the shop, bad times with the shop, changing shops, losing the car, finding the car. After some 15 years on the same car and more money than I had, I had to scrap that car! Bought another one that ran, went through state inspection ok and never ran again. Talking about wanting to give up . Then I would always remember the ride around Summit Point in the real #5 Sunoco GT. The sounds, the cornering the experience.....and it kept me going. So bought some more 914's, I think I had 5 total at one time and none of them ran so more years and finally this.

Before
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After
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Was it financially sensible? No. Was it worth it? Absolutely! The feeling of accomplishment and more importantly the feeling I get as I slide into the seat and start the engine, put it in gear and ease off of the clutch is, for me is pure heaven.

I parked my car in 1988 and didn't do anything but push it out of my way
until some time in 2008 .. Stripped it down and sent it to a shop for battery tray and hell hole work .
Guy turned out to be an asshole and I had to pull the car out of there.

It sat again until last month when I pulled more stuff off it and went to a Body Shop
to get striped and painted.
Haven't heard anything since the owner of that shop and I talked a few days after it
got there. Out of sight, out of mind... Funny thing, I'm OK with that..

I have been able to park my truck in the garage since the 914 has been gone and I could get used to that.

I'm still not convinced it will ever be back together and registered, I see the reassembly as a major undertaking.....
A very long road..

I would never sell it though.... 41 years and counting...

Hopefully seeing it back from paint will help build some enthusiasm ??

Otherwise it could sit in the back of the garage for some more years.

Gint?

BTDT - I figure if most of these nut heads can fix a car, I can too. You can't fail in trying. You can only fail in giving up.

go get a couple,there's a swell in, you'll be fine after that.you know exactly where I coming from right?( I saw your quiver)

My observations:

The sense of being overwhelmed by the enormity of the task is, IMHO, the biggest "project killer". I have found that it helps to a) try to work on it a little every day, even for 15 minutes and b) finish smaller tasks (e.g. rebuild brake calipers or clean and repaint suspension), even if the rest of the car is a long way from completion. That feeling of accomplishment keeps your enthusiasm up.

Cautionary tale: I've never given up and sold a basket case. However, my first 914 which I bought when I lived in CA and brought back to TX was a close call. On returning to TX, I got a "real job" and was making decent money and bought a 911. The 914 was all apart and in primer at my folks house because I could not work on it at my apartment. Long story short, the only reason I finished the car was grim determination not to sell it as a basket case. I grew to dread going to work on it and ended up hating the car itself. It was really a nice car when finished but to me it had become a lodestone and I sold it after driving it less than 500 miles.

The point of this - it's supposed to be fun. Don't let it turn into something else.

HTH

Don't give up unless there is some reason you absolutely can't continue. Over the last twelve years, I have dragged my 914 through many of life's adventures, and most of the time it's been in a non-running condition. I have been divorced and remarried, returned to college and had two more wonderful kids. We have moved three times, twice across state lines, and had to tow the car along.

I have probably driven the car only 3,000 miles, and the last time was six or seven years ago. I won't give up, though. I recently started working on troubleshooting the problems and buying parts to get the car running again. It's simple stuff, but time consuming for someone who has so many other domestic projects (me!).

What would you work on if you didn't have your 914? Another car? Something else entirely?

Don't give up! The journey is half the point.

Not trying to remind you of any f-ups.
Trying to show what I believe is a total crazy dedication to a car/make/model.
Most of us would have junked the car after the rally...
You are so dedicated, you fixed it....again.

didnt you drive it the next day after some custom body work?
That was not dedication, that is pure balls...

Bravo.

rich

It's like football.
The game is a matter of inches. Just take what you can and focus on the problem at hand. If you always return and work on a little at a time, you will get there. Every once and awhile you can look up and see the goal line getting closer, that's where it starts feeling good.

I know...just bustin' on ya....keeping it lite...

Yes..we did drive it at the end of the week. Our crew guy Bill Dunster (here on World a Wdunster) luckily owned a body shop. He pulled, pushed, beat on it, replaced parts, strapped the transmission up with a chain, welded, etc. it enough to allow us to drive it across the finish line at the end of the week.

It's not pure balls...it's pure stupidity. But we had to reward Bill for all the hard work he did all week...no way we could just give up. (That's Bill in the red jacket in the second picture)

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If you want to read stories of pure craziness and I guess dedication on both cars, go to our website below...lots of progress pictures...

I am recovering mine, now get off the ledge young man

The nice thing at this point is that all we HAVE to do now is maintenance. We have a handful of minor upgrades we want to do on each, but nothing big (OK, we're putting a 915 trans in Papa, but other than that...)

We are at the point that all we want to do is enjoy the cars.

....Until the next project comes along

I think many of us have gone thru this same senario. i know the longs need work and this will get done next year- if i had the room and a shop i would do it myself like i have every thing else, but sometimes its better left to the experts.
So you know you are not alone, you are in fact i think in the majority here. Weve all hat that moment of frustration, or feeling of futility, but then you get past that point and get it driving and thats what its all about.
My car was not running when i bought it- id never owned a 914 and was looking for a project to work on with my son.(well thats what i told my wife). it was not running but would start with the carb cleaner sprayed into the t.b. . car looked sold and no rust in floor pan or body that was easily visible. for of $2k i put it on the trailer and broght it home. - next is the bodyt work that i should have done right atway but i wanted to enjoy driving it for a hile. this year i made it to Octeenerfest-thant was the goal.
at some point in the process i bought a Boxster because i wanted a fun car to drive that was less project, that made it a lot easier to get thu the 6 month periods on jack stands! - some thing to consider. .

Generally speaking, the only thing I've found @ the bottom of a ledge is regret. Best to avoid that & "baby step" your way to a sweet ride.

so...Larmo63: where are you in your project? what are you plans? Pictures???

As you can see, everyone on here has been there/done that. There is a wealth of information and experience. It makes it much easier - yes, misery loves company. This forum is a support group like AA....except AA is for quitters!

It's a baby step thing. We're just about to put the floor pans back on. That's a big milestone for me.

The other thing that I hope to do is to start primering sections when I finish them.
That would help show progress. (Jeff Hail).

Big boast to motivation is going for a ride in one. Being down there you shouldn't have any trouble getting to an event and going for a spirited ride.

Go to Naro's web site and watch a few laps of racing on Y- tube.... if that doesn't get your blood running sell the car!

I find that 914World is a good enough reason to continue with my project, even though I am at the early stages. The restore threads keep me motivated!
It has been several months since I did anything to my car that I cant wait to get back at it.
Now, if I can only finish a few of the other projects I got going on around my house I would be in great shape!

I've needed to change my clutch and fix oil leaks in the /6 conversion for about 3 - 4 years. Can't get the gumption to actually do it.

One of these days ...........................

Saville is a mad man.

That is all.

pete

I really dont think your car is that bad. you need a rear suspension console repair and some long work.
the front trunk is Fuched a bit but that gives you no problems with putting a oil cooler up there if you ever need to.
You dont have the body work needed you think you do.
Once you ride in/drive my car it should solve your problem.
I cant tell you how mad ive been at my car after sitting there cleaning parts for days but now that its running, i feel a little bit better about it.
Next is new wheels and a complete suspension but i know i just have to get though each part of it little by little.
just like i did on my mini. and like i am doing on the bmw.