HISTORY: purchased in spring 2010

Advertised on the Asheville area Craigslist, the pictures of this '74 914 were extremely low res and blurry. I emailed the seller asking for more info and clearer photos. He never responded with anything useful except for the VIN which fell in the range of Can Am production. Hard to tell any details but I could see it was a white car (more on that later) with no sail vinyl. Hmmm... could it be?

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I had a '75 2.0 with an interested buyer. Better than that, he procurred both a tow vehicle AND a trailer and volunteered to drive me the 3+ hours to view the '74. The deal was... if I bought the '74, he would buy my '75.

We headed to the northwest section of North Carolina and met the seller. At this point the 914 was stored in a metal outbuilding. After removing boxes and other stuff, we rolled the dusty, dirty car out into the lawn. I did a quick check and my suspicions were correct... a possible LE! I spied bits of orange hiding behind the white on the wheels and the bumpers. A quick check under the front end showed the air dam mounting tabs. OK, time to deal!

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The 914 had definitely seen better days. The engine had a mismatch of FI parts, the longs (and elsewhere) were rusty, the entire car had been painted white (bumpers, wheels, trim, etc). To top it off, a custom wing fabricated from a Trans Am unit had been mounted to the rear deck lid. All this had been done nearly 20 years earlier when the owner was 17 years old. He parked it when he and his friends realized it just wasn't big enough for everyone to cruise around in.

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My offer was his absolute minimum so the deal was made. The 914 was loaded up and we headed back to Tennessee. Once home, the '74 was unloaded and the '75 loaded onto the trailer. I actually made a little money on this deal but went from a running 914 to a non-runner in need of a lot of work. But... I now owned a Creamsicle!

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To be cont'd...



PS: found THIS THREAD from when I first bought it

FIVE YEARS LATER...

The past five years have seen work done on the suspension, brakes, and engine (see this thread) along with some shoddy bodywork.

YEAR ONE: Found out my interior was originally cinnamon but dyed black
Sorted out FI system and finally got the engine running in the fall 2010. Here is a THREAD discussing some of that. And another one.

YEAR TWO: After running almost exactly 1000 miles, the original engine spun a main bearing This was in spring 2011.
The search began for a replacement. During the summer, I located a short block with transaxle somewhere north of Knoxville. No history on the engine. Didn't even know if it would run. But the price was right and I bought it.
I installed the engine and actually drove it 1500+ miles roundtrip to MUSR12 in Hot Springs, AR in the fall 2011. Ran strong even if it smoked a little

YEARS THREE thru FIVE: Been a daily drive ever since though it now smokes quite a bit more and uses oil at an alarming rate
Aug 2012 - refurbed suspension, brakes, etc and cleaned up engine (see thread)
Won "Jack Stand Award" at Okteenerfest 2013 - OK, Ok... time to fix some things.
Some shoddy bodywork and paint was done (by a "professional") over winter 2013-14. It's a 20-footer for sure.
Added the "phoenix red" to bumpers, air dam, rockers in fall 2014 in time for Okteenerfest 2014.
Did almost nothing to it during 2015 and it shows

THE PLANS:
1. Got a Raby 2056 with dual 44s in the works. It's been a long time coming but I should have the RAT engine sometime this fall
2. Before I install the new engine, I need to do some rust/paint work in the engine bay. The hell hole needs attention for sure. Figure I might as well take care of the rear trunk area while I am at it.
3. Interior needs major attention. I plan on stripping the paint, treating the rust, metal repair as needed, and then install new carpet, etc
4. The front end... old accident damage that was improperly repaired needs to be done correctly. Not sure if I am ready to tackle that just yet
5. Wheels - need to be stripped and painted Phoenix Red

Steve- unless you do the wheels yourself plan on spending @ least $2K refinishing the wheels alone. If you are looking to save money remember this: phoenix red = Chevy hugger orange or Chevy engine block orange, color wise. Below is a pic of my unrestored, unmolested spare w/ an original OEM Dunlop SP for reference-

Thanks, Al.
Will do them myself. I have found Rustoleum Lobster Red is a perfect match as well

Very cool. How rare was / is the cinnamon internior?

The cinnamon interior is not easy to find in good condition nowadays and as far as I know, it is unavailable in the aftermarket. Not sure how rare it was during production. I have seen photos of several Creamsicles with the cinnamon interior.

When I did the wheels on my six, I used a rope for a nice, clean, round seam along the outside painted border w/ the polished lip. I also taped off the lug holes to prevent future flaking when you go about messing w/ the lugs. It's a boatload of prep work per wheel.


Rare. Only Creamsicles occasionally got the cinnamon interior, no Bumblebees. I'd GUESS @ the very most, 1 out of every 5 Creamsicles got "cinnamoned", but like I said that's just a guess. Most came w/ the black interior. I've personally seen 3, including my own.

Nice score, can't wait. Ha, its the only time you will ever be excited about having a Rat in your car is when the engine is from RAT. Enjoy because that will be one nice running engine.

The car is much simpler to shoot compared to the wheels. Remove the bumpers, rockers, spoiler & rear valence & shoot them phoenix red. Shoot the whole car in ivory white- done.
The wheels have to have all the holes blocked off from behind, lug holes perfectly taped off, center cap hole painted silver & round, the outside rim painted silver & round. This has to be done to all 5 rims. I have 2 complete sets of rims, one w/ skinny tires for show & one w/ fat tires for driving; this is how I know so damned much about creamsicle wheels

Well, then... I know who to call when I am ready to redo my wheels

If I can, I'll help.

Curious, How did you find out , COA?
As it relates to the motor, if you did get the COA was the motor original to the car?

The case to the original motor that was in the car when I bought it is no longer usable so COA proof is moot at this point. Jake described the damage as a "collapsed main" and said it could not be used for the rebuild. I found a good 1.8 case to be used for the build.

No COA yet to verify but no reason to think the interior had been swapped. The dye job was amateur, to say the least...
If anyone knows of a way to remove the dye without harming the vinyl, let me know The original seats are actually in pretty decent shape.

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Interesting. I've never seen that. Maybe Jeff knows the number of cars with that option.

Nothing major has happened with my project until today... my Raby 2056 has arrived!

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Whoooo, the primo engine!

You will have fun driving with that!

John

That engine looks like pure fun!

Awesome! I can't wait to see/hear it.
Congrats Steve!

Gathering up the items needed to install my 2056.
Carter Fuel Pump (ebay purchase) arrived today.

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Engine install to take place Saturday, March 5 if you would like to join the fun
PM me for more info.

Looks like "Extreme Budget" became "EXTREME BUDGET"

It has taken six years plus a lot of bartering, deal making, and waiting for the right part at the right price to get to this point on a very limited budget. An EXTREME BUDGET will definitely be needed for the rust & body work and paint.

FRIDAY: out with the old...

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SATURDAY: in with the new...

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SUNDAY: need to attach exhaust system and hook up fuel lines, accelerator cable, and a few other minor things then time to fire it up!

After a week of working all day and then wrenching on the 914, the Raby 2056 is installed and running

Tuesday evening I had the proprietary accelerator cable connected, fuel lines hooked up, and ignition harness in place. Everything was back together and it was time to start her up. Crank, crank, crank. Can smell fuel but no spark whatsoever. Conversation with Jake leads to a couple tests and conclusion that the unilite module popped or I have a bad coil. I didn't have a multimeter with me so couldn't do any tests.

Returned Wednesday after work to test the coil plus brought a spare coil just in case. Both showed 3.5 ohm so they are good. Tested the unilite module and... it's blown. That was a super short night. Back at home, found a replacement on Amazon and ordered it.
The replacement module arrived Friday but since it was "family night" I did not work on the 914.

Today I installed the new module after I double checked the wiring to be sure all was connected correctly. Didn't want to blow another module
Rolled the car out of the garage and turned the key. It roared to life. And roared. And roared. Idling at 3000+ RPM, I figured I had the accelerator cable too tight. A text to Jake verified my suspicions. I readjusted the cable and tried again. The engine roared to life and idled at just under 1000 RPM

My bro-in-law and I then took it for a drive. Seemed rough at times but I later found a faulty connection to the fuel pump. With that taken care of, this engine is sm-o-o-o-o-oth
I want to thank Clark (malcolm2) for his assistance last Saturday.
Ended up having to pull a rear axle to replace a CV joint. He had a box of parts to make the repair super easy. That and his transmission jack made installing the engine much easier than it could have been.

Is this Cinnamon? If so, I have a complete, very close to perfect interior for you, only two states away. The seats were pretty disgusting when I got it, but as you can see from the one on the left, they cleaned up pretty nicely.
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Looks like it. If the coloring is slightly mottled, then, yes

Definitely interested in them.

This interior came out of a green 74. It was definitely repainted, but I think that it was originally green. I don't want to jack your thread, so you can PM me if you want to discuss.

Looking forward to see your progress.

I agree- sure as sh*t looks like 74 cinnamon to me too. Go for it Steve

So... I'm not so good at "blogging" the work I do on my 914.

Since I last posted, I have replaced the rear pads and swapped out one of the rear calipers that was locked up - couldn't get the cylinder to move. Luckily, a neighbor had a set of new, rebuilt calipers that he wasn't using
Got the system bled and brakes working again. I purchased new disks and rear soft lines that I plan to install sometime in July if I can find the time.

At the beginning of June we were hit with a torrential downpour. On the way home, my car died about a block from the house. Coasted in to the garage and began the diagnosis. I thought for sure it was the unilite module gone bad due to wiring getting wet and causing a short. I ordered a new module and waited the two days for it to arrive. Ended up being a bad coil So I swapped it out and it's been running great ever since!

Did the first oil/filter change on my 2056 in preparation for a trip to the north Georgia mountains over the 4th of July weekend.
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Driving every day