Big thanks to Rudedude. Met up today and got to see his great collection, then bought a set of seats, went home, and pulled out all of my interior.



The new seats after I cleaned them up and conditioned. Will be recovering where needed but these are great.

I may have a kit for the driver seat laying around. Not real sure where I put it. If your ever in Duluth and want to help me hunt for it I'll make you a deal on it. Otherwise 914 rubber has what you need.

Awesome! I'll keep you in mind if I ever get up that way. I have a seat bottom from 914rubber on the way.

Currently hunting for a front bumper, and horn grills. Not in a hurry though, I'll still need to pull the engine out to refresh everything and get on top of the rust.

Current plan is to get it presentable and running. Drive it a bit over the summer, then tear into it more next winter to really get rid of all the rust.

welcome to the World...good score and will be looking forward to hearing and seeing the project come together. From the limited pictures so far it appears to be in WAY above condition for an $1,100 car. You appear to have scored. Good for you.

Tony "Uncle" Cracker

Great find...and heck you got almost $1100 in parts, okay maybe not quite that much...but what a buy. Your skills will take you far and 914's are fun and addictive.
Welcome to 914 World. The people here are great, helpful and honest. Have fun with your new 914.

Thanks for the warm welcome guys, everyone said to come to 914world and that the members formed a great community. From reading through old threads and the welcome you've given me, I can see this to be true.

Work continued Sunday morning, I pulled the tank and inspected. Sheet metal under the tank all looked good, just dirty. The tank had about a gallon of old old gas in it, and a lot of sludge. Fortunately the tank itself looked solid but I wont know the current state of the inside until I clean out all the sludge.

Currently debating sending it in, or using the POR15 gas tank kit. Only concern is figuring out where to legally get rid of all of the chemicals after I treat the inside.

The car will get all new lines and a new pump specifically for the carbs, so I might as well make the tank as clean as possible to ensure I don't have issues with the fuel system.

I have a friend that does paintless dent repair and he will be coming out to check out the dent in the drivers fender. From pictures he said he could definitely make an improvement.


I hope so, but I'm skeptical. Would be great if I didn't have to drill out all those spot welds and source a new fender anyway.

The garage is filling up with parts that I've been taking off. I will try to finish up the fuel system and get any rust repair done inside before the new carpet gets in, then once the interior and front are all together I'll pull the engine and trans. Current plan is to clean out anything that's accumulated, rebuild the carbs, make sure everything else is functioning, and slap it back in there. Would like to have it running at some point this summer, then tear back into it over next winter.

Also just saw the build off challenge thread. Would be cool if I could join in on the fun even though I have such a late entry. We will see.

Can't help with the chemicals (though I usually just let the solvents evaporate), but I would highly recommend using the Caswell Plating epoxy gas tank coating kit. Based on my experiences, it is far better than the POR or Kreem kits.

http://www.caswellplating.com/epoxy-gas-tank-sealer.html

BTW:

Thanks! I'll give them a look.

Also decided to pull out the 8-track player. I'll put a filler plate in there and replace the audio with this.



AUX-in with a volume knob. Feed it power and run speaker wires and it'll be set. Minimalist, and it'll save some weight. And at the same time allow me to play whatever music I want from my phone and be somewhat future proof.

Also grabbed this wheel off the bay. Leather is in good enough shape that I can cut it down with some emery cloth, treat it, then restitch it. Oddball bolt pattern to boot!

I used the washing soda and battery charger method. Tank was like new when I finished. No need to use a gas tank coating if you get it clean and it's not rusted through.

Hmm, good to hear. I'll have to do some more research I think.

Question for you guys, does 914rubber send tracking info when an order ships? Figured I'd just ask here, didn't want to call them because it's really not that big of deal.

Electrolysis method worked really well for me too. Gas tank was sludgy and after emptying and drying I dumped out about a 1/2 gallon of rust flakes. Figured the tank was a goner. Ran a few sessions with the battery charger and here's the before and after:
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?s=&...t&p=2312315

hile I'm waiting for parts I thought I would start on the steering wheel. It's a vintage Cisa wheel I got off eBay. Leather was faded and stitches torn.




Started out by pulling the leather off, removing all the bits of thread, and sanding down the leather to give the dye something to hold onto.



Next I dyed the leather using Kiwi black. Worked well I think.



Fired up the sewing machine. The adjustments on my machine wouldn't give me a long enough stitch, so I had to manually run the stitches through all of the existing holes. Very time consuming and required a bit of focus. I'm using a heavy duty outdoor thread.



Once all 6 stitches were run, I went to work on the lacing. I stopped after the first stretch because it was late.



This morning I finished it off. Turned out just like I wanted. Still worn and not perfect, but useable and has some character.

I wish I knew how to do upholstery work....good stuff you did on that wheel!

I have some cool ideas for interior on my car, just don't know how to do them myself and they'd be $$ to pay someone else to do.

Are you planning on painting the spokes or keeping that retro-rough? Just curious.

I plan on keeping them kinda rustic and used, won't be painting them. A bit of wear gives it some character I think.

Some good and some bad news for the project.

Good news. Heard back from the previous owner about the cam and distributor. Turns out the car did get a cam and distributor change when the 2.0 bore/stroke kit was installed with the carburetors. The exact details of what was installed will have to wait until I tear it down, but that's a good sign.

The bad news. Tearing the interior down further, found some rust under the tar. Solid metal underneath the rust fortunately. Used a rust converter for now but may revisit it next winter. Also found a rusted through hole on the drivers side sill under the aluminum sill plate. Which means the rockers under that spot are probably no good too. Plan there is to see exactly how bad it is, then patch that hole. Again, I'll dig further into it next winter

Started cleaning up the gas tank and it's coming along nicely, the copper (or brass?) filter sock came free of the fitting.

Also pictures of all of the FI stuff that came off the car.


High res http://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1647/25809659...c14cf39db_o.jpg


High Res: http://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1674/25809662...0f079025e_o.jpg

Recieved my new carpet set, I got the plush black 10-piece from the place on eBay. Very pleased with the quality, but of course haven't had a chance to put it in.

Also ordered the Coverall black dash cap. Reviews and pictures seem to all be positive.

Obviously it depends on the extent of the rust. Have you pulled the rockers off yet to get a look at the longs? If there is significant rust, you're better off fixing that now than later no matter how badly you want to get it on the road for the spring/summer.

I pulled the passenger side already because it looked the worst from the outside. Pictures are further back in my thread. Haven't had a chance to pul lthe drivers side yet but it'll be happening.

Based of the results of the functional test I gave it, I'm pretty confident that a temporary patch will be fine to drive on a bit over the summer. I know that once I start cutting metal to replace stuff, it'll snowball. And once it snowballs it might be a year or two (or more) before I can actually drive it again. If I don't have some sort of reference point for the driving/handling/experience of the car it'll drive me nuts. Never even driven a 914 yet, the closest thing I've driven is a '78 VW Rabbit and I'm sure that's in another ballpark.

You won't sit over there much anyway.... Neither seat has moved in my 75 since I put it all back together. Kinda wish they had left the early passenger seat design for us late model owners.

Since the seat did not move, Porsche included a box in the footwell to help the passenger get their legs comfy. See if you can find or make a box. It had a strap and some snaps I believe.

Great car, have fun.

I know what you mean. I bought mine in 2011 and did not drive 'til late 2013. In the mean time, I watched craigslist and found 3 that I could drive. So I pretended to be a buyer and went to test drive them.

Another difference on early vs. late is the tranny shift console. Being a mid engine turned backwards from the VW bus, the shift rod had to go to the rear. Lots of adjustments. Not sure when but Porsche designed a console in the middle of the tranny and that works great with less adjusting. Some folks upgrade, some just deal with it.

I drove one early car that the shifting was very sloppy.

Two brothers run the business. I believe both have "real" jobs. So sometimes you get tracking sometimes you don't. I have always gotten my stuff. If there has ever been a product issue, they have always helped me out. Just be patient, they will take care of you.

More than happy to check on your order. The website is supposed to automatically send tracking when processed. A known issue is that its a Hotmail account and the automatic response is from Godaddy servers so your internet provider may filter it out as spam. Anything that we have in stock usually ships in a day or two depending on what time the order comes in. Drop me a PM with your name and I'm more that willing to look it up.
Thanks,
Mark

Thanks! I should have updated the thread, the day I posted about 914Rubber I received an email. Most of my order was already shipped and arrived already (really pleased with the parts) The other part of the order, a drivers seat bottom cover, is back ordered but it sounds like you should be able to ship one out to me later this week.

Did some more work on peeling off the old floor tar on the drivers side. Cleaned up a little rust there too but overall it's solid.

New carpet kit is in, new drivers seat bottom upholstery from 914rubber was delivered today, I have a new strip of the basketweve material for the dash face, and the dash cap I got has been staring at me for a week or so. I really need more time to work on this right now, I'm itching to get the interior back together. Once the interior and gas tank are ready to go I'll drop the engine and start on my favorite part of car building.

I met a member, Ben, from here who had some miscellaneous 914 parts that he was looking to get rid of. Scooped those up because you never know what a new project is going to need. Thanks Ben!

Today I was able to jump on a chrome front bumper for my car, bought it off eBay then saw that the seller was literally 10 minutes from me. Drove there over lunch and picked it up, as well as a rubber bumper trim top piece (is that the official name?) Overall price was around $100, so it was an awesome deal. Phil if you're on here, thanks again!

In somewhat unrelated news, I surprised my wife with another car on Easter.

Rewind a bit for a backstory. Before we were married, my wife bought a 1991 Volkswagen Cabriolet in an effort to "woo" me because I was a VW guy. She learned to drive a manual in it. She was dedicated. Later we were married but didn't have a lot of money. We had her Cabriolet, a $900 Lincoln Towncar, and a VW Rabbit project that wasn't running/driving. She drove the Lincoln because it was more comfortable, didn't leak water all over your arm, and had working heat. I drove the Cabby that had none of those things. She loved the car though, especially in the summer with the top down. Eventually we were able to get better daily driving cars but it meant having to sell the Cabriolet.

She often talks about missing that car.

Ok, back to the present day. On Easter day she was inside relaxing, I scheduled a few people to come look at a pickup that I'm selling. She had no idea I also scheduled the seller of the Cabriolet to come drop it off in our driveway. Then I went in and got her, made her come outside, and she was absolutely speechless.

It needs a little work, but nothing crazy. I'll replace the top, and the seats, and fiddle with the fueling to get it running but otherwise it's solid. Just in time for the beautiful Minnesota spring too.





She walked out to the garage 3-4 times over the course of the evening to just look at it. And joked about how our cars were having conversations in German while we weren't in there.

So currently we're up to 5 cars, but the 1965 F100 sold on eBay yesterday, and the buyer will be picking it up at the end of the week (which means more 914 goodies)

Got the new seat cover in and on.

Wow, you work FAST...I wish I had that drive and confidence/skill to do all that quickly.

Great price on the bumper!

Even greater story on the cabrio!!

off topic but in your first post you mention an r90 café bike you put together. I have a 73 r75 would love to see a pic of yours. Good luck with your car!

For sure, here's the motorcycle.




And a shot of the motorcycle with the 914. Also have my 2-up seat on the motorcycle here, for when my wife wants to come along.



With these two together, I have a flat 6.

Started looking at the wiring over the weekend, the harness shown below had some rodent chew marks and I wanted to see how far it went.


High res: http://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1718/25573849...cc689af11_k.jpg

Eyeballed all of the wires in that spot and followed the harness all over everything forward of the engine firewall and it looks like those 5 wires are all that's chewed. Since it's only those 5 I think I'll solder in new sections and shrinkwrap instead of replacing the whole harness.

Also picked up a set of 4 of these to ease moving the car around the garage.

I have been looking to buy an R 90 or 100 for a while now! great looking bike..!

Thanks! It's been fun, had it for about 6 years now. Owned the bike longer than any other vehicle I've ever had, and I've had a lot of cars over the years.

Got the new wheels some new rubber. Went with 205/60-15. Fit is great, I'll be rolling the rear fender lips for more clearance.

On a side note, those car dollies work great on such a light car!

Sent in another 914rubber.com order today, this time for the door card material and the drivers seat adjuster handle. The guys at 914Rubber are rad, lots of great quality parts for fair prices, I love that I can buy just the material from them and do it myself.

I'll be making my door cards like this.


My drivers armrest was crumbling and just looked ratty, so I think I'll be leaving it off and just have a flat panel with the door latch handle and a pull handle. The passenger side I'll probably install, to give my wife something to hold onto.

Then if I ever come across a solid drivers armrest I can always add it later, or leave it off permanently if I decide.

Always liked those wheels! Great progress.

Thanks!

Today I made a completely random purchase. Picked up a pair of Heuer stopwatches like this one. I'll get them serviced and get a mounting plaque machined up. I'll be the first to say that it'll be purely aesthetic, since I don't do any timed racing, but I think they will suit the dash nicely.



These use the Heuer 7700 movement, all mechanical for the uninitiated. Nothing special really, you can usually find one or two on eBay for pretty cheap if you're ok with some wear.

Since I wont have a radio, I'll mount them there. I will have the small AUX-IN port and a volume knob, but those don't take up much space.

Rear suspension bushings came in yesterday, along with a slide hammer and the two stopwatches.

The face of one looks yellow, but I believe it's just the crystal. Both work, but really need a teardown and cleaning/oiling. I've dabbled in mechanical watch disassembly before, so I can handle it especially since it's manual wind and doesn't have a lot of functions, but waiting to hear back on a few quotes before I do anything. Most likely the charge to have one serviced will be several times more than what these sell for, so this may become a DIY later on.






As you all remember, the front drivers side fender was bashed in a bit.


This will get fixed properly once I reach the bodywork phase of the project, for now I wanted to be able to mount a bumper and a new turn signal, so I ordered a slide hammer with a various selection of hooks to get this part of the fender a bit more in-line. Far from perfect, but for now it's functional. As a reminder, I am hoping to have this running and driving at some point this summer, possibly fall. And then next winter I'll replace some metal and do any other body work that's needed.



You can also see the newer bumper. This one has some smaller dents I'll need to smooth out, but overall it's in great shape. One item that I'm debating about now is bumper finish/color. Both front and rear bumpers were factory painted on this car. The rear bumper is in good shape. So what I'm debating:

A: Buy another rear bumper, but get a chrome one to match.


B: Sand/prime/paint the front bumper orange, to mimic the original.


C: Sand/prime/paint both bumpers satin black.

(I'll update with a pic of a standard 914 with black bumpers as soon as I can find one)

Leaning towards B, because it's unique and original to the car. I like the look as well.

"A" would be cool, and safe because just about all 914's you see are chrome bumpered and they pull it off well. This means spending a lot of cash though, and re-chroming the rear would make it stand out against the patina of the front chrome.

C is an option I was considering, but the more I look at it the more I think it makes the car look like the later models with the big rubber bumpers, and I don't like that look. A good example could sway my mind though.


In other news, I pulled out the fresh air box and blower, emptied it of all of it's leaves and mouse stuff, and just deep cleaned the whole area. It was like a mouse diarrhea factory on the sheet metal around the airbox. They must have had an external food source because further rubber/wire examination found no chew marks.

I'd vote for "B". Body colored bumpers look great and are true to the minimalist spirit of the 914. You can get some clear 3M covering that will prevent rock chips and be invisible.

Radio delete panel complete

.

Great news! I got the title in the mail.

On my last project, a 1965 Ford F100 that I bought for $1000, 2 months after i transferred the title I received a letter from the state saying that they thought it should have been worth $9,600. They said I needed to pay sales tax on $9600, or submit an estimate from a legitimate repair shop showing that the truck needed repairs that would offset that price. It was a huge pain, but I put together a parts list with prices and retailers on a spreadsheet, found a shop that would actually do an estimate even though there was zero chance I would be having them do any work, and submitted it all with some pictures of the purchased state. There was about 11-12k worth of parts/labor quoted. 2 months after that I finally received the title in the mail, I guess it was sufficient proof for them.

With the Porsche I was sure it would happen again since the price was so low but I guess $1100 seemed fair to them. haha

Nice bike! How did you find those clips for the stopwatches I have been looking for a while. Separately, I bought a radio delete panel like that to attach them to but I can install. Could you give some pics when you install?

Thanks! The clips are from http://xks.com/

Once I get the interior together I'll post some pics.

I was curious so I looked it up on the xks site, here's the direct link to the clips.

http://xks.com/i-10072333-17-7500-clock-ho...ash-holder.html

just bought two thanks

Good deal, thanks iwanta914-6.

I did some work for Scott over at RenownUSA and scored a killer deal on a new wheel. This is the Monaco Dark, super nice quality.

The Cisa wheel I refurbished is nice, a hair bigger in both diameter and grip girth (snicker) but I thought since the rest of the interior will be essentially brand new, the patina of the Cisa might look a bit out of place. At any rate, I have both, and the Momo hub I have is drilled for both, so I can swap if I ever want to.

Chrome bumpers look best.

Decided to skip C&C with the motorcycle and instead stay home and work on the 914 interior. Installed the carpets, seats, dash cap, and new dash face material. Put my audio/timing panel in place. And cleaned it up a little to take some pics. Really happy how this is coming together.







Door cards still need a lot of love. A while back I did the large sections but tried to reuse the foam, bad move... all the indentations from the arm rests show through. Then I messed up the seam between the upper sections and the lower sections so it just doesn't look good. So those will be torn apart again and redone properly.

Little update time.

Went to the MN C&C this past weekend. Lots of great cars but this 914-6 really stood out. Pretty sure this one belongs to the guy I got a lot of parts from, but couldn't find him anywhere.


Seeing it (and another 914 with a 930 swap) made me want to work on mine, so I went home and started on the door cards again. Previously I had covered them with the materials kit from 914rubber. The kit was missing the foam, i found out later. I was doing it in a dim garage and I was a bit rushed, that paired with trying to re-use the old foam made it so they didn't turn out well. Anyway, I bought some thin padding to go under the material, purchased new material for the upper (smooth) portion, and tore into them.

Final product.




Something was flying through the scene as I snapped the pic, that little dash above the window winder isn't on the door card.


Eventually I think I'd like to start over completely, with the new materials kit, or even just buy new cards from 914Rubber. But for now these will work fine.

I also ordered a set of the Heuer stickers, these are 2/3rds the size of the previous ones. Old ones were too big, but I thought the suggestion of 1/3 or 1/2 size would be too small.


You can also see the crude dent banging, I used a big slide hammer with various hooks to get the rough shape, I'd still like to pick up a nice set of hammers and dollies to fine tune it a bit more.

Last but not least, I've decided to bite the bullet and just bring the gastank in. I cleaned it enough that it would probably be fine, just have to keep a spare fuel filter or 3, but since the entire rest of the fuel system will be brand new, I thought it best to get the tank as good as absolutely possible. A friend of mine had good results from a place about 45min away, so I'll be dropping it off there later today.