Hello Everyone, Just picked up a 1973 yellow 914 the other night. Short story, previous owner had bought it a couple years back, drove it on and off, and was working on restoring the car.







Outside looks very nice. Paint is in good condition. He had the targa top, rocker panels, bumpers, and rims all refinished. New weather stripping everywhere execpt the front targa seal. He had pulled the interior and started putting it back when he had to sell the car.







Interior has the seats (driver side is brand new), dashboard, and that's pretty much it. The gauges have been redone and look absolutely beautiful, however the speedo sticks at zero sometimes. If you tap it, it will move to where it should be. He said the person who redid the gauges put too much grease on it?





Engine, runs well, but he said a previous owner removed the cold start valve so it is rough at idle and starting when it is cold. After a minute or 2, it's good. Still running the original EFI, which was also cleaned about 2 years ago. New stainless steel fuel lines (no more plastic!). Transmission and clutch feel good. He checked linkage bushings in the last 2 years, and they all look good. Some oil/gunk buildup on the underside. Possibly a leaky oil cooler seal? No visible oil dripping from the underside, or puddles under the car, which is good. Very little rust as well. Small rust whole in the battery tray (top section), but no where else. Just put in new water drain lines this morning for the engine cover.

Lots of extra parts. The original driver seat. A second set of bumpers. Second set of suspension parts. Almost all new interior pieces and carpet just needing to be installed.

On to questions.

1. He gave me a part that he said was the cold start valve (see picture). Is that the correct part, and if so, where does it go?





2. Storing the targa top in the trunk. What way does it go? I'm having trouble getting it to fit and close the trunk all the way.

3. Speedometer gauge. Would too much grease cause the problem I described? How easy would that be to fix?


Those are the questions jumping to mind currently. Thanks everyone! Look forward to joining in conversations about these fun little cars.

Apologies for the super large photos. First post on the forum. Didn't realize there was no down sampling.

The top goes in the trunk the same way it is on the car. The two white cups are where the front latches fit. Make sure the little rubber holders on the rear are all the way forward otherwise they keep the trunk from closing.

That piece appears to be the thermostat for the air flaps in the fan ducting to the oil cooler.

Check to make sure the Speedo cable is tight at the trans and the back of the gauge. It should "click" on to the gauge

the top goes in the trunk like it goes on the car, the clamps for the windshield go into the cups in the trunk. should be white clips at one end and black rubber at the other that will lock the top in place.

oh, and

Welcome!

wow those pics are BIG ,that part you have is the thermostat for the aircooling,you must fit that,the cold start valve is a different part all together but not dissimilar in function,don't know why someone would remove that,must run pretty rough cold...right.
Its function is to provide more air on startup and from memory the one I tested didn't stay open for long...someone correct me if I'am wrong.
Go to the WTB /FS section and request a replacement,not really an expensive or rare part,plenty of great guys on here that sell quality parts.
Looks like you have a good car to start with,good luck

you are missing fender to cowl seals and wiper caps, but super clean car congratulations, so clean that I wonder why the carpet is missing?

you also need to reinstall that thermostat for quick warmups

Thanks everyone for the responses.

Managed to get the targa top to fit in the trunk. Very tight fit. Thanks for responses of how it sits in. I didn't have the back far enough down.

I'll double check the speedometer connections.



Haha. Yes. Very large photos. Where does the thermostat mount? Somewhere on the fan shroud, or on the engine? I didn't think it was the cold start valve. I google the cold start valve, and it looked nothing like what I've got. Thanks for the suggestion about the WTB/FS section. I'll definitely look through that, and make a post at some point.

It runs very rough at start up. Super low idle, close to stalling. If you don't catch it with the gas pedal and bring the RPM up, it does stall. After 2 minutes or so, it's good to go and runs really well. Starts well when the engine is warm.

Thanks. My wife and I are super excited. She's wanted one of thses since we took a trip down to Auto Atlanta last January.





Not sure what those parts are, so I'll do some googling. Carpet is missing because he didnt' get the chance to reinstall it before he had to sell it. It was an unplanned sell. Car came with both the original and all new carpet, as well as the lower part of the dash board and original radio. I've got all those sitting in the garage, and I'll probably start installing them soon.


Another interesting thing. The car had AC. He said the AC attachment was in terrible condition when he got it a couple years ago, and he pitched it. The rest of the AC components are still there and just disconnected.


Thanks everyone for all the input and help!

also your turn signal lenses are upside down!!!

I would certainly reinstall the air conditioning as well as the original carpet. If the original is dirty you can get it dry cleaned. Car is too nice to modify, return to its original factory configuration!!!!

the windshield top seal is an easy replacement, and someone has fitted a new dash from the later production as the grain is not the same as the original, but this car is so nice that it deserves careful attention, looking at the car I would believe the miles as well

That's because you didn't upload them here, you linked them from imgur.

Can't resize what's hosted on another site ...

George...I think maybe it's a "DashTop"plastic dash cap... isn't it??

Very nice color Scott...looks good

good comment. but does not look it to me, first, one can usually tell around the ashtray immediately, and then I know for a fact that for awhile Porsche offered a new dash for the 914 but in a dissimilar grain that they were using on the Carrera series in the late 80s. Plus it is not pillowed looking like the reskins. Hence I think it a Porsche replacement dash

Which shade of yellow is that? Looks great. Would love to see those pics re-posted at a better sizing.

Nice pick up. I agree don’t modify it that’s excellent! ... Paul

The thermostat installs on the side of the engine, near the bottom left. If you click on the link in my signature, you'll find a video of the thermostat in action.

Enjoy the car! And now would be a great time to get new targa seals from 914 rubber. Their black friday sale is always amazing.

I am in Hurst if you want some help/advise on the car. I have been around these cars for 33 years now.


We have a lot of 914 owners in the area too.

Nice car and welcome to the World.

Nice looking car

When I first got my 914 I had the same problem of getting the trunk to close properly with the targa in it. I finally realized that my latch cups had been installed upside down. Makes a big difference in how deep and forward the roof sits in the trunk and thereby provides the clearance needed to close the lid. Check your cups!

Ansbacher

Previous owner said a new upper dash was installed.



Not sure about the exact shade. I know there are paint codes. On my 944 it's on the tag in the hatch. Are the 914 color codes located on the driver's side door vin area?




Awesome video, and thanks for letting me know where the thermostat is supposed to be. Got under the car, and turns out there is one already there and hooked up. Perhaps the previous owner bought the wrong part (thermostat instead of cold start valve?)

I'll definitely look into that. I know there are some heater hoses that I need to buy. I saw Auto Atlanta was having a sale as well.



Awesome! I'm in the mid-cities area as well!


Fixed the front lenses. Thanks to the many people who pointed out they were upside down.

I haven't decided yet about the carpet. I'm leaning towards installing the new carpet because I've already got it. I'll probably then keep the original stored nicely that if someone ever decides to install the original carpet back into the car, that can be done.

My wife pointed out to me today that the windows aren't quite sealing properly with the targa top. There's a slight gap. The top is locked in place and seems to be right. I'll have to figure out what's going on with that.

Second issue I noticed. Front and rear indicator lights work fine when the headlights are off (although the rear lights are quite dim - already cleaned the lenses and reflectors). When the headlights are turned on, all of the rear lights blink at the same time (on both sides) when you turn on the indicator in either direction. Front lights work as they should. Thoughts? I know the previous owner installed a new headlight switch. Maybe the wires aren't connected back as they should be?

The 914 has a riveted-on plate on the front of the driver's door jamb that is often called the "Karmann plate". There's a spot for the paint code on that, it will usually be something like "L 56 M".

Here is one example, courtesy of Jeff Bowlsby's amazing "Classic" resource page.



You can Google the paint code or ask here to find out the name of the original color.


The door windows can be adjusted. There are a couple of screws or bolts that can be used to change how the window lift sits in the door shell. It is also possible that the roof seals are the wrong version. There were two versions, one for the "early" windows (70-72) and one for the "late" windows (73+). Using the wrong one for your windows can cause sealing problems.

--DD

Thanks for the info. I know exactly what plate you are talking about. Color code is L13K, Sunflower Yellow.

I'll look into the window adjustments. It looks like the windows are raising all the way, but the roof sits just slightly too high. Is there a way to tell between the early and late window seals, and a way to adjust the latches on the roof?

First, and nice car!

When you were looking at the thermostat that is already on the car, did you notice if it was pulled in tight like the new one you have? It should be shrunken down tight when cold and then expands when it gets warm to open the cooling flaps. When they fail, they don't contract when cold anymore. Just wondering if the one on the car failed and the PO didn't get around to swapping it out. Either way, hang on to that NOS thermostat, they are expensive.

Thanks! Great question. I think it looked contracted. Easy enough to double check. Thanks for the heads up of how to spot a failed one.