Stopped by the body shop today. We have Paint!

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In May of 2014, I was hit by a mailman. He hit me square in the passenger rear quarter panel. That was completely replaced from a parts car. While the body guy was working on that, I had him cut out all rust that we could find on the body. Sails, rear hood, on both doors, both front quarter panels and around the door frame. Alot of it he had to cut the rust and weld in new metal. No rust underneath or in the hell hole.

Also had a mechanic with 40 years experience with 914's pull the engine. He replaced all seals, did a valve adjustment, replaced shift rod bushings and front brakes. He also sealed up all the freeze plugs.

I have new tires waiting to be put on as well. Cant wait to drive it! It's going to be like a new car.



Finally got the car back. It looks really good. I'll take/post more detailed pics shortly. I put new tires on but need to find a place that can do an alignment. NTB said they couldnt for this car. Gotta replace the clutch cable as well.


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Looking Great! Who did the body work and paint?

Looks familiar. I also have a 74 with a yellow exterior.

Unless I am wrong, your mechanic shouldn't have found any freeze plugs on an air-cooled engine.

Kenny's Autobody in Nicholasville KY. He has lots of experience with 914s. The only reason I took it to him.

Is there a difference between a freeze plug and a galley plug? Kenny had to move the car, when he went to move it back a galley plug blew leaving all the oil on the ground. Thank goodness it didnt happen doing 55 down the road. Thus the reason I had Dan pull the engine to fix and while he was in there.....

They're basically the same thing, but slightly different applications. Usually the freeze plugs are in the water cooling galleries--which stock (-ish) 914s don't have. The oil gallery plugs are there to cover up the holes that are made when the oil passages (galleries) are drilled into the metal of the crankcase.

They very rarely blow out on the freeway; usually it's on the first cold-cold start of the day. If you catch it quickly, you can shut down before any noticeable damage is done. They can be replaced with sealant, or with slightly oversized plugs, or you can tap the holes and thread in pipe plugs. (The latter is a lot harder if the engine is not apart, because it's easy to get metal shavings into the oil. Not good.)

Long-time practice was to goop epoxy over the plugs any time they were visible--usually when the engine was out for some reason. That usually kept them in place; even when they got loose they'd mostly just weep oil.

--DD

I thought the location of the picture looked familiar, Kenny did my car too. His shop was the only place that would touch a 914. Mine was painted almost 15 years ago. Is your mechanic Dan Puchalski? He rebuilt my engine.

Kenny is doing a great job on the car. He certainly knows what he is doing.

Thats Dan. He sold Stuttgart Motors a year or two ago. I cant wait to drive it. Dan is a good guy. Very knowledgeable.

There are quite a few 914s in Lexington.

Thanks for the explanation. Obviously I'm not a mechanic. Just a lowly Unix systems administrator who loves 914s!

Finally got the car back. It looks really good. I'll take/post more detailed pics shortly. I put new tires on but need to find a place that can do an alignment. NTB said they couldnt for this car. Gotta replace the clutch cable as well.

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