I'm getting discouraged, and I need to vent. I know everyone has made bad decisions when it comes to cars and woman and money and the list goes on. I won't get in to any details as to how I attained my 914, but basically it was a bad deal. I have an ok shell to work with, no major rot, but still in need of quite a bit of straightening and some welding. I have about half the parts to put it together . I'm being real generous saying half! Out of all those parts, most are Crap. I have a bad transmission, and an engine that appears to have been rebuilt by a drunk ape who is missing a chromosome. The last straw was pulling the heads apart to crack test them and not even needing to get up close to see the cracks that originated from the huge , deep holes that the moron pounded in around the spark plug thread inserts. You don't have to pound half way through the head to stake them in! I'm a big boy and I know the risks of buying 40+ year old cars, and I'm not Pissed at the seller, I'm just at the end of my rope here. I think my best bet is to try and find a rotten old parts car in the spring and see if I can get on track with this build. I was budgeting an engine rebuild for this winter, but I'm second guessing myself now, it could be a hell of a long time before I'm even ready to stuff the mill into this thing. This is a great community of people and you all seem to really help each other out. I've got a pretty solid idea as to what I want this car to be, it's just a matter of staying sane long enough to get it done. Thank you for allowing me to vent.

Let us share in your misery.

Hang in there buddy!

You can ser the crack radiating out from the stake Mark .Click to view attachment

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Could use just a bit more orange, doesn't quite look pumpkiny enough yet.

The picture doesn't do it justice, I had orange silicone all over the place. In fact no pictures can really capture poor work. I've got all sorts of strange wear on valve stems, gouged out bearings etc, just garbage work. Glad I tore it right down though.

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Crap parts, Crap build.


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Another sweet "RUST FREE" shell.........right.....

Buy a running engine from someone doing a 6 or subie conversion. For $500-1k you should be able to get a running engine.

Imho, don't buy (read spend) any more parts until you fix all the rust and have a rolling car.

Take a guess how I know.

I agree with just getting a new replacement engine. I picked one up when my original 2.0 bombed out. $1000 plus shipping. Hang on to the old one for parts and get it running again. It's worth persevering with and the rust doesn't look so bad and the result will be worth it.
I get more fun out of my 914 than I do the Boxster.

That rocker arm modification for the swivel foot adjusters is pretty common now.
Whoever ground those down were a little rough on them, and they didnt clean up the grind marks to relieve the crack tendency, but otherwise thats nothing to be worried about.

The cheap empi swivel feet adjusters were what I was pointing out. Also, looking at the wear on the valve stems, I'd say they didn't get the geometry even close. That is only an assumption though. The engine isn't the only issue, it's the fact that this was supposed to be a near complete car, and it's not even close.

I would pause the build to collect your thoughts. If it were me, I would address the chassis first to make sure it was sound and worthy of a build-up. Deal with all damage and rust so you have a good chassis that you can then build on. Once you know the chassis is where it needs to be for your build/use, then begin with the next major project -maybe engine/transaxle. Work the build that way and continue to source parts as you make progress. Good luck with the build and keep your chin up.

I though we were talking about someone's wife again, or ex wife.

It's shocking how often we confuse car trouble with women trouble. How do you figure that could happen......? Both out to put us in the poor house, break our hearts, crush our souls, try to kill us......etc, etc......I kid, but really, what's wrong with us!?!

Like many phrases in our life, this one is shorted from:

"RUST is included for FREE"

Got any pics of the entire chassis?

Also do you have a welder? If not, look into buying one. You'll find many uses for it around the house and on your cars. I'm currently fabricating a warm air guide for my 911 right now with some sheet steel and my welder.

Try to focus on one job at a time to minimize the overall job.

Yes, I have a welder. I've started patching up a few small spots. The body is pretty decent. i need to knock out some dents and fix up the doors a bit. I was going to put it aside for the winter and move on to the engine and transmission. I'm going to take the advice to get the body finished and rolling and then go from there. Focusing on one thing at a time is something I REALLY need to start doing.