Below a pic of the 914 'with my name on it'. Safely tucked away in a workshop. There's simply too much salt on the roads right now for a decent spin (and better pics).





As I've written, this is a fully original, 2.0 Euro spec 1973 single owner vehicle, left stored - professionally, that is- for 17 years.

As you can see, the ride height is original as well, most 914s I've seen IRL and on pics of this forum, are lowered. I don't want to change a lot to the car, but lowering the ride height gives adds to the car's 'attitude' so to speak! What's your comment on the ideal ride height!?

Currently, the car has the original wheels and hubs. I'm considering an 'upgrade' to this: a VW's...



I amd after the 5,5Js. Is there a preferable ET offset for the 914? No center caps is no problem, I can make these on a lathe from a ptfe billet (or similar material that can be painted black)

Thanks in advance!

Menno

Is it me, or do 4 of those wheels appear to be "deep dish" as compared to the one all the way to the left? Maybe it's just the angle the picture was taken at....

you are snow blind

No snow on the ground here (only white specks of road salt ), so no snow blindness here. I suppose you're right. I only posted them as an example of the type of wheels I'm looking for: the Beetle fraternity overhere in Holland call them 'Kronprinz' wheels or 'Star wheels'. Dunno with the correct term is for these under a 914.

Menno

I probably have some of those, but all rusty.

Look on the west coast, you may find a really clean set.
They are not to expensive, shipping will cost you more than the wheels.

rich

where is this shop? that green 14 looks like it is sitting on the Jig Hontec built?

Is Randel the shop owner?

I have a fairly decent set I'll sell cheap since shipping will cost as much as the value of the wheel. PM me for info.

Most folks on this side of the Atlantic would consider your chrome caps and wheels the 'upgrade' over the styled steel wheels. Make sure you get the 914 versions with the correct backspacing.

Thanks guys. I will try to get them locally, making sure that transport costs will be as low as possible.

The shop is this one: Arno Wienands' 914 Emporium
The site is in Dutch, but I'm sure you'll get the drift. His FB page is filled with nice pics of several 914s as well: Arno Wienands FB page

In fact, a 911 home restorer in Wisconsin who's into Triumph TR3s like me, pointed me towards Arno Wienands. Funny how ones name and fame can cross the ocean!

About the ride hight: do you have ideas about the perfect hight?

Menno

I think that you will find many people keep the stock ride height in the rear and then lower the front so that the car sits level or slightly nose low. This can usually be done simply by adjusting the front torsion bar adjusters. It may be necessary to then have a front alignment done.

This sets a very nice attitude to these cars without a lot of effort and with minimal affect on suspension performance. Much lower than that and it will require more extensive work to maintain correct suspension geometry/performance. IMHO.

Nice shop!!!!

The 914 wheels should be a 40ET offset.



^ These were the base wheels on the 73 MY 1.7 & later in the `73 MY after about March 73 for the down-spec or de-contented 914-2.0's without the Appearance (Comfort) & Performance (Sport) Groups' options (AG+PG) included in the base price of the 2.0.

And - yes they do look deeper dish on the 4 at the right - & no snow blindness involved in sunny SoCal 79 degrees outside!

They did that in the US/North America in order to offset the rising base 2.0 price, as the DM escalated against the $, so that they could continue to advertise the 914-2.0 at about $5000+/- & later $5200+/- ~ but without the AG & PG included on the less expensive versions.

Initially all of the 914-2.0's sold in the USA/North America included the AG+PG, & were marketed here as the "914S" - a trim spec or trim package, with a bunch of the AG & PG options included in the base price, in order to kick off sales of the 4 cyl. 2.0 replacing the now gone 70-72 914-6 2.0L 6 cyl. model.

So all or most of the early USA/NA 2.0's & most/many of the later post 3/73 1973 MY 914-2.0's would have had these Fuchs forged aluminum wheels (although not this shiny as the polished ones in my pic below, but more subdued in anodized form originally). -----v

Click to view attachment

I don't know what they offered in Europe/ROW as optional wheels, but I think it was both these styled steel wheels ("Mag Look 'Star' Wheels" at the top), these 2Liter Fuchs, or the Pedrini & Mahle 4-lug cast alloy wheels.

The steel wheels are special option Beetle wheels. They are the same wheel as the 914 Sport Wheel with the offset moved the other direction for the Beetle. They are 15x5 1/2 wheels where the stock Beetle version was 15x4 1/2. I have a friend in San Antonio that has a set on his Ghia convertible.