Wes was nice enough to hook Taylor up with a roller project. He drove down to Mendocino to get it about 3 weeks ago. We finally have it in a place we can work on it and started the clean up.

The backstory is that Wes got it in Oakland where it had sat behind a rib joint for some time. Apparently, some rodents made a home in the air box. They also acquired a taste for ribs. It appears the brought a few back with them. They were there for some time, and urinated eating the bulkhead out. The hell hole and floorboards look good. The pan is intact and looks good.

He has a bunch of work ahead of him, but it will get restored back to stock ivory white.

I'm very happy to see she's in good hands and up for a new life. Som that's my wife is more than happy to finally have her garage back. So have fun I'm pretty sure you've got a good lead on Parts and the eng. is still waiting for you.

Looks like the heater hose hole and the trunk pull mounting pocket have gone to 914 heaven?

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Yes pretty much gone. Need to buy / build a rotisserie so we can media blast it. Looks like it's the bulkhead only. We need to blast the area under the tank to make sure there's not more down there.

Either way Taylor will be getting ahold of you (Cary) to see what and how to cut.

mouse/rat nest area...,,, hope fully they didn't get into the tunnel or longs..pee uuu.... I hate mouses.. I had a six that was really smelling ,,

Looks like we didn't get any other than the bulkhead, possibly part of a fender well.
We need to blast the seams to assess the welds.

Does he know about that ratchet jackstand in the box on the floor?

Yes, He bought ceremonial jack stands. Trying to save them from being used. Need to get it blasted 1st so we can assess and repair.

Since the pictures were taken i have gotten a little more done. I have pulled the wiring harness , taken out the dash frame and have the inside fully stripped. Just scrapped the tar off the floor pans and was plesantly supprised at how little rust was found.Click to view attachmentClick to view attachment

Congratulations! That looks like a decent car to start with.

This was a fairly nice car that someone let set for sometime and apparently made a perfect home to a family of rats, at any rate eating through wiring and pissed on the cowling bulkhead rusting it away to a point where you could literally stick your finger easily through the rusted out bulkhead and gas tank. Other wise fairly clean and rust free. I used it as a parts car and found it good to compare wile resembling my yellow car. I at one point thought I might build a little truck out of it but just getting to a point that I don't need any new projects. I'm very happy that Taylor has decided to bring this little 73 back to life.

That's a great color. I know a guy, who knows a guy who can get you a lot of the rubber parts for a 914. PM me if you need a hook-up!

Yes Rob. I know him well too.
I'm actually excited to see Taylor making headway. I took the mounts for the rotisserie to Cary to have them made to easily bolt up. As soon as he's done we will put up and blast all the rust and known problem areas to take back to metal. These all look really solid so should be little drama there. Cary is getting a section for Taylor to cut out and I'll be helping him as much as I can to get this to primer as soon as we can.
Still will be a drawn out process, but he's got the patience to do it right.

Super In Law should get them finished up tomorrow.......................

We had a few issues. Looks like the 75 -76 stub tubes were welded on kind of free hand. They aren't equal lengths from the center. So the 75-76 mounts will have to wait.

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Thanks Cary,
Not too concerned about the 75+ ones now.
I'll call tomorrow

Just got back from california to pick up the motor (Thanks again Wes) and had sometime to work on the beast. Got it up on the stands and the front dropped. I did notice that on the engine tins there seemed to be a white stamp. Anyone know if thats from the factory or what it means? Click to view attachment Click to view attachment

Yes, that is a factory stamped control number.

Might be the HP stamp!

There is also an I.O. stamped in the front of the passenger side tin. I've never seen this any idea what it means?

Just a taste more pic later. finished the blasting and looking good. Click to view attachment Click to view attachmentClick to view attachment

Lookn good ..........................
Hope to cut out your gas tank/firewall portion this weekend.

A few more

more

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Still need to pull the steering column and windshield frame.

Here is the up date. Had a bit of a sawzall party and made some custom turn signal lenses.Click to view attachment Click to view attachment

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Wow clean looking tub,dam those rats that's a hard area to repair,but I know you guys will get there with a bit of and a keep up the good work .

Looking good really glad to see her coming back to life, looks like this will be a good one in the end.

Taylor's project arrived at MiddleMotors this am. It came in style, on a flatbed tow truck. Here's some close ups of the areas that will need some work. It's a shame this really is a pretty good tub. It will need a right suspension ear (early battery acid). It will need a patch in the right engine firewall right behind the passenger (soggy engine sound mat). Doesn't seem to be any cosmetic body damage. But the rat damage is pretty severe.

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This is going to be a tag team effort with Taylor and I. By the time we get this thing ready for paint he'll an accomplished welder and spot weld remover.

Project starts tomorrow at 10am. I plan to arrive around 9am and get the center field section of the front firewall and dash marked out so Taylor can saw away.
Super In Law is going to take and mark down all the X Y Z measurements that might come into play. We discussed welding in a brace between the longs. I'm thinking maybe one between the front shock towers.

Here's right suspension ear. SOP.

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It is on a rotisserie so that makes things a little easier.
I can hear the nay sayers already. Crush It.
I'm up for the challenge. Taylor's eager to learn. Lets see how things look after we get the majority on the field sawed out tomorrow. What does it look like behind the spot welds?

Keep at it, that looks like a good body/chassis from the outside (at least)

Back at it cutting out the rust and drilling spot welds. Also took some time to clean up the engine and replaced the leaky oil cooler seals with new ones from 914 Rubber.Click to view attachment Click to view attachment

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A couple more shots from yesterday. Taylor had a great day. Got him lined out and and away he went. Gave him a couple coaching sessions on using Rick's grind and peeling spot weld removal technique. He's getting a good feel on what the metal is telling him.

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Taylor,

Welcome to the path that leads to the road of 914 freedom, and the day of its first drive.

Good looking project, and Light Ivory is a great color!

Back to work on Taylor's project.
1st. Cut off the nose ................

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Pretty much junk ............. You can see the wrinkle on the right side.
When time allows we'll trim some other pieces off. The seal channels are nice.

#2. Off came the needed section. As Taylor is drilling out spot welds on the car tomorrow. I'll ponder how much we're going to use.

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#3. Drilled out the center tunnel so it can be saved in it entirety.

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I have never seen rust in half those places.

Today I'll get Taylor set up removing the trimmed off spot weld flanges inside the project car. Slow tedious work .......................
Looking at it again yesterday it looks like we'll replace the lower 1/2 of the fuel tank/strut support wall.

Still pondering the upper inner fender portion. Will the remaining portion of the dash have to come out to get it in ?

Rats made a nest in the air box and over time the urine ate the metal. Fortunately, as you mentioned most cars do not have rust here so lots of options for donor parts.
Way to go Taylor keep plugging away!

I know you'll have 150 hours + into this, but I hope we can paint it this late summer so you can assemble this winter. Who knows WCR next year???

Taylor had a very productive day. He got most of the spot welds cut out side to side under the dash on the project car.

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Very impressed. He has a good handle on the Rotabroach spot weld cutter.

Weekend update. Finished drilling the welds and removing metal on my car for now. Moved in to scraping the seam sealer cleaning the meatal and began to drill away on the donor.Click to view attachment Click to view attachment

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Making some more progress. Got the front end of the donor separated into pieces and now time to figure out what im going to use. Its been a a long process but i can see the end in sight. Hopefully a few more months and she will be ready for paint.Click to view attachment Click to view attachment

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Taylor - Those of us who have dissected these cars know how much work (very careful work ) you did to get that panel out... Nice job, good on you.
Keep on posting and know we're out here rooting for you!

And chris is particularly talented at drilling spot welds.. Thanks again.

And looks good..

He's got some skills. Great work Taylor

Today's the day Taylor's harvested parts start paying rewards.

Super In Law is going to get Taylor set up on the small welder and have him weld up the spot weld cutter holes on the braces he removed.

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My contribution for today will be the inner fender patch. Should be interesting, lots of curves. Haven't decided how big a piece patch its going to be.

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Time to switch from coach to hired gun.

Cut out the destroyed section.
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It takes quite a bit of nip, tuck and cuts to get the patch piece fitted. You what it tight enough for a nice weld. But you need enough room to take it in out 100 times to get it trimmed up.

In went the new section. After sending Super In Law home head down and back to work. I was bound and determined to get the replacement portion tack in.

From inside the fender.
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Topside shot. Seam along the wall was a bit tough to fit. Back corner cut out was a little over-sized, but the copper backer took care of that. Looks like I cut it back far enough to get good weldable metal. I do have a few impurities coming out from between the layers on the shock mount.
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