Well, as I posted at the end of my intro thread ( http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...=303932&hl= ), I bought my 914 over the weekend. We've all heard of barn and garage finds, this car was found in a large storage unit.

Details - '73 2.0, 4732924138, yellow. Appears to me to be Saturn or Chrome yellow, but I never looked at the paint plate to say for sure. Will confirm that and correct later. Confirmed, L13M, Saturn or Chrome Yellow. Odometer shows just over 72k miles, seller claims that is correct, but I haven't gone through the paper trail to verify. The car does look like that could be accurate. I am the fourth owner.

Rust seems limited to the battery tray, passenger floor and right sail panel (where water obviously got trapped behind the vinyl). The hell hole looks solid at this point. None of the rust appears to be holes yet. Definitely some work to do there.

The car was said to run when it was parked in the unit, other people not involved in the sale confirmed that it drove in under its own power. Been sitting for 6 years or so. After it got in, the seller began very rudimentary prep for restoring it, but life got in the way. So about all that was done was to pull all the lenses off.

I'm waiting for a flatbed to gather it up now, should have it in my garage later today. Here are a couple of pictures to show the beginning.

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Good Luck!
Looks like a good place to start from.....
Much better looking than my car!

Congratulations! Looks like an Appearance Group car.

A '73 2.0 is the" Holy Grail" of the /4's these days

It's home, and the exploration is beginning.

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Nice plate!

Nice base. Good luck with your explorations!

A few initial finds. The rear euro lenses and front US lenses are all Hella, not repro. I think they will clean up nicely. The spare tire is the original Continental TT714 on the matching Fuchs, has never hit the ground, no scuffs even in the lug seats. In the rear trunk were a few miscellaneous parts, including a brand new set of 4 original wheel center caps, still in the Porsche boxes.

Nice rescue !

+1 on the plate. I just got the Pacific Wonderland.

That sure seems like a terrific buy. The plate alone makes it work twice what you paid. Keep the pics coming.

Great score, lucky YOU!!!!!!

If - as the seller claimed to me - the plate has been kept current and is still reserved for this car, it is a great addition. I do have the Pacific Wonderland plates on my 911.

If the '73 914' plates have expired and someone else has claimed it, I do have a pair of period blue plates I've been hoarding for a potential future use, same ones I had on my 240Z, pictured here. They would also look good on a 914. But I'd rather keep the ones that came with the car, if I can.

Due to other prior commitments, I haven't begun in earnest yet, and probably won't until next Monday. But I have found a few more interesting tidbits:

• Rear shocks appear to be Konis. Obviously can't tell about the fronts yet.
• At least two of the brake calipers are toast, one on each end. No surprise there, I budgeted for a complete overhaul as I always do on projects like this. But it turns out the hoses are already braided stainless, which will save me a little cash and the time and effort to install new hoses, especially the rears.
• Took a good look at the radio the previous owner had in the trunk, it's much cooler than I counted on, a mid-70s vintage Blaupunkt. Will look quite good in the dash.

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Nice!

Yay! Transferred the title today, DMV confirmed that the custom plates are still valid for this car, registration has not lapsed. Great news!

Spent some time with the car today. Charged a battery and began going through bits. After some prep (oil in cylinders, pull fuel pump relay, ect.), it spins freely, has oil pressure, and also has spark (after replacing the badly corroded points).

Then started checking over the fuel delivery. Total cr@p. The nylon/HDPE lines seem quite brittle and inflexible to me, the hoses appear to be 44 years old, the hose clamps are nasty worm gear type, and the fuel pump in stock location is leaking. Looks like I will need it all. Will probably upgrade pump to a later 2 port style and relocate to the front, since I'm going to have to pull the tank anyway. Trying to make sense of Tangerine's order page now, figuring out what kit I need.

"Original German Air"!

Looks like you are on the right path. Fuel lines should all be replaced, and might as well relocate while you are there. You will probably need to replace much of the rubber, but soaking in glycerin can help some of it if it's not too far gone.
Enjoy the find!!

The replacement parts for the fuel delivery are now ordered. New Bosch 2 port pump, and the full package from Chris at Tangerine. Work on the engine is on hold until that stuff all arrives. I will drain the tank in the next few days, but that will be all on that front until the stuff arrives.

Side note - I sent Chris a PM asking if I could call him to ask a question or two, instead he called me within 3 minutes! Great pre-sale support!

Other work continues. I've been reassembling all the bits that the prior owner took apart while the car was in storage, primarily lights at this point. I now have all rear lights other than the back-up lights, and all front except high beams and fogs. The high beams are a bit odd, the bulbs are good as they would flash briefly sometimes when I pulled the stalk, but now they don't even do that. More digging....

Fixed high beams, fog lights and horn today.

The high beam problem was interesting, the ratcheting relay was working, but not sending current to the high beams. I took it apart, cleaned the contacts and re-tensioned the copper arm, now it works as it should again.

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Welcome to 914 World!
I always love the "it ran great when I stored it" comment.
Me: "well then why did you store it?" Ha!
Keep us posted.

Fantastic find! I read thru your original post and your moving from the silver ghost to your "ran when parked" barn (storage bin) find and I must say it's tempting me to keep looking for that next fix. As I read your advancement it reminds me of all the trials and tribulations from my own 7 year reclaim on my wife's '73 2.0L (original owner BTW) with the short story thread here Please keep us informed with LOTS of pictures (we love pictures)

I had a similar issue with the lights, Fuses looked good but must not have been making a good contact. took them all out and polished up the fuses and fuse box connectors and everything works fine now.

Check the easy stuff first.

Actually, there was no claim made on how well it ran, just that it did run. I found two manifold pressure sensors under the hood. The original was still bolted to the bracket, but not hooked up at all. Another one was laying loose but was all connected, as if it had been temporarily installed for testing. Best guess is that someone tracked a poor running problem to a possible manifold pressure sensor problem, and installed the new one to see if it fixed it.

I'm guessing not. I decided to mount the new one correctly and keep the original just in case. During the process, I found what was likely the true cause, the hose that connects the sensor to the intake plenum was rotted at the manifold end and obviously causing a huge vacuum leak. I corrected that, and then reviewed all the rest of the vacuum hoses as well. Still awaiting the new fuel lines and pump before I can try to start it.

Pulled one of the wheels off today to see how it would respond to a bit of cleaning. Oh my!

I'm not a stranger to Fuchs, I've owned my 911 for more than 5 years, and even had its black centered Fuchs re-anodized so that I could paint them like the early wheels. So I know how durable these wheels can be.

But after just a bit of mild cleaning, I was floored. This 44 year old wheel looks fantastic, no stains, abrasions or even tire machine damage. The other three look like they should clean up the same, they have no scratches, scuffs or rash. What I thought might have been mild staining looks like it is just dirt. I'm impressed.

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Congrats on the find Arne. I'll have to make a point to stop by & see it in person. Look like a great starting point. It's all about the rust but hopefully it's just surface stuff & not into the longitude. Be great to see you bring this back to life & restore it. I will be watching this thread closely

Yes, it is all about rust, which is why I paid more for this yellow car than I would have paid for the silver one. There is some rust, but it appears to be manageable on this car.

I hope to have it drivable by the end of May. If you want to see it before that you'll need to come to my place. Which you are certainly welcome to do, just drop me a line.

One of my local PCA buddies saw the post with the wheel picture and texted me saying it would look even better with a center cap. I told him, no worries, I've got that covered too. But since they are so easily damaged when removed, I don't plan to install them until the car is done.

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Very hard to find nos. congrats.

True. Since my goal is a clean driver, I don't really need NOS, a set of repros from Mark at 914rubber would have been fine. But since I found these in the trunk of thei car...

(Center cap envy) Trade ya and throw in $$$

Hmmm. I guess I might consider that, if someone made me a great offer. But I'll happily use them once the car is complete if not.

Cleaned up a second wheel this afternoon, same result as the first. Best parts of the car, so far.

The lugs still have the green goop.
Great find.

My wife and I went on a PCA drive in the 911 today, so no progress on the '14. The new fuel pump is here, but the fuel line kit from Tangerine isn't due to arrive until next Friday.

I've received several offers to buy my NOS center caps. I knew they were a nice find, but didn't know just how much in demand they were. I've decided I'm going to keep them for now, not make a decision to sell until farther along in the project. If the car turns out as nice as I think it might, I may go ahead and use them myself. So for now, not for sale.

Attempted to drain the fuel tank today in preparation for the arrival of the new fuel lines later this week. Failed.

Disconnected the supply line from the old pump. Got nothing but a dribble. Reconnected to pump, disconnected the output line and ran the pump. Still only a trickle. Tried to blow back through the supply line with air to see if I could clear the line. Nope, the line actually holds pressure.

Not sure where the blockage might be, but in the tank itself is a high possibility. I guess I'm going to need to hoist the tank out half full and see what I can do from there. Either that, or I need to go buy a siphon hose and suck it out from the filler.

Spent a good part of the day yesterday with the car. I did siphon the tank from the top. Didn't get it completely empty, but close enough to get it light enough to lift out.

While disconnecting the lines below, the return line flowed freely - all down my arm, of course. The supply line, not so much. Which I expected given my failure to drain the tank using that line.

After getting the tank out and on its side, I pulled the supply nipple to replace the sock with the new one from Tangerine. Here is what I found (top one is new, obviously, bottom is the one out of the tank):

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That explains a few things.

At this point, my exploration tends to lead me to believe the car was parked due to poor running, both clogged fuel supply and a big vacuum leak at the hose to the manifold pressure sensor. Hoping that addressing these two items will get the engine running decently once the fuel lines are completed.

Took out the driver's seat and both consoles so that I can see inside the tunnel, will attempt to pull and replace the tunnel lines either today or tomorrow.

Wow! Mystery Solved.

Possibly the worst tank sock I've ever seen. How bad is the tank interior rust?

Amazingly clean. I don't understand why, but the inside is actually really nice. The old sock was not clogged with rust, but simply brown crud.

Arne,
McMark and jcd914 and I discovered during a tuning of Jims (jcd914) Dwight Mitchell motor that you cannot let the MPS sit on top of the motor. Ran like crap until we put it in its proper place. Not sure if it was grounding or EMI, but it cleaned up after we put it where it belongs.

Interesting, Rob. I did go ahead and mount the MPS properly, just because I didn't like the thought of it lying loose in there. So that shouldn't be a problem for me now.

In the garage right now, back to work replacing lines and hoses.

Injector seals...

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Wow. I think those are spent. Cheap fix tho.

Spent is probably a good description. Or perhaps, as Edd China would say, "Perished."

Picked up new injector seals from a local shop who specializes in busses and Vanagons. All of 50¢ each. Have all the hoses under the hood done now, will probably crawl under the car to relocate pump and start pulling lines tomorrow afternoon. Hoping to finish and attempt to start it over the weekend.

Got the new stainless fuel lines installed in the tunnel today. Would have been easier with a second person, but not too bad as it was.

Also installed the new fuel pump, relocated to the rear firewall. Found that a PO had a different take on vapor lock prevention - he/she pulled the cap off of the right side heat flapper and ducted the outlet to the center of the car, using really tacky foil hose and lots of zip ties.

After adding today's work to the work over the past week (all the fuel rail hoses and new injector seals), all that's left in my fuel delivery refurbishment is to reinstall and connect the fuel tank. Once that is done, I will attempt to start it up. Maybe tomorrow, or Monday for certain.

Woohoo, it runs! First time for at least 6 years, more likely close to 8 years. Started pretty rough, was only hitting on two cylinders at first. Fiddled with plug wires, saw some extraneous sparks, got it running OK for now. New wires on my short list.

Drove the Audi down to the FLAPS, got a decent set of wires, definite improvement, no more miss.

Of course, if not one thing it's another. During my fiddling with the wires, the auxiliary air regulator has now stuck wide open. Idles at ~2300, but if I pull the AAR hose and plug it, drops to ~950. Will need to see if I can clean that up, have some time to look at it tomorrow.

Going to start on the brakes soon, all 4 calipers need attention. Will Contact PMB to see if they have any of the DIY kits available, if not will need to bite the bullet anyway. May just do the fronts myself for now, don't want to get in too deep into my budget until farther down the line.

Congrats! Maybe it's just that the AAR wire came loose with the fiddling. That happened on mine.

Possible, as I could have dislodged it while fishing the new plug wires in. Will check that possibility first when I get to it tomorrow.