Some of you may have seen this thread last week:
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...=335176&hl=

Anyway, long story short, it was bought as a project car that may end up being more of a project than wanted.
1974 2.0
I'll start off with some pictures...

Untitled by Vance Braddock, on Flickr

Untitled by Vance Braddock, on Flickr

Untitled by Vance Braddock, on Flickr

Untitled by Vance Braddock, on Flickr

Untitled by Vance Braddock, on Flickr

Untitled by Vance Braddock, on Flickr

Untitled by Vance Braddock, on Flickr

Untitled by Vance Braddock, on Flickr

Untitled by Vance Braddock, on Flickr

Untitled by Vance Braddock, on Flickr

Untitled by Vance Braddock, on Flickr

Untitled by Vance Braddock, on Flickr

Untitled by Vance Braddock, on Flickr

Untitled by Vance Braddock, on Flickr

Untitled by Vance Braddock, on Flickr

So yeah...here it is...
As of right now it as at the shop to be looked over since these cars are new to me.
First impressions are not so great, and unfortunately I do not have high hopes for it.
I realize anything can be fixed with time and money, but not sure how much is willing to be invested on either of those.
I will post more info as I have it but for those of you who want to chime in please do so, it would be much appreciated.

The obvious (to me):
Carbureted.
Painted black over the original Zambezi Green.
Iffy work/repairs on motor and structure.
Car runs (drove it from house to house for a handful of miles for about 10-15 min), but not well.
Fires right up but after driving for a couple of min it wants to die when it is under 1500RPM.
Also, blue smoke between shifts.
Smells very heavily of fuel.
Definitely needs a clutch.
Sits higher on passenger side.

I had a couple of days to research as much as I could before I saw the car in person.
So I was pretty confident in knowing what to look for as far as structural rust issues (including "the "hell hole"), but then when I finally got it in front of me I was kind of like...

And that is where I'm at currently.

If you can do all of the work yourself, and consider it free, a decent project. However since it has a carb and color change, those are two big strikes against it. Of course we do not know how much you paid for it, but you would be much better off finding a 15 thousand car rather than starting on this one. (15 thousand dollar car will have the original color on it, be fuel injected and a 73-76 2.0)

Anything can be fixed with time and money. It’s going to be a project if you want a solid driver. The question I have is that spray foam l see in the picture?

Mechanical work? Yes. Anything relating to the body? No. hah.
Already stumbled across your website BTW, if the car stays you have yourself a new customer lol.


Which picture are we talking about here?
Keep in mind the car was bought pretty much sight unseen.
I only had about 15 min to check it all out before it went to the shop.
So unfortunately there are still a lot of 'unknowns" at the moment...

Good morning and welcome.

Let’s start here - what do you want from the car and your ownership experience?

I’d strongly suggest answering that before doing anything else.

Well, it is intended to be a project that maybe one day my daughter (currently 9 months old) will be able to drive and enjoy.
So, we've got plenty of time in that regard.
In the meantime, it would just be another weekend car that may see an occasional autoX (if it ever makes it that far).
So really just a weekend cruiser and occasional racer.
Like I said, we have plenty of time and would be in no hurry to get everything sorted.
Obviously, the things that need the most attention wold be made a priority and then just little things along the way.
Money is not necessarily a factor, but I'm not sure how much would really want to be invested into it at this point.

You bought a bad car. Sorry to be the barer of sad news. How much are you willing to spend bringing it back?

No worries!
But would you mind elaborating a little? Just for my information?
And as far as a budget to bring it back...still undecided.

On the east coast, that's just a bit rough around the edges. The body is always the most important part of a 914 purchase since you can't unbolt it and slide in a new part. You also can't count on a seller to take pics of all the bad spots. Unless you are buying a car for parts, I always recommend spending the time and money to see the car in person. At this point, you just have to decide if you want a rustoration or punt and get a better car.

Well let’s start with the good news - it looks pretty complete. Getting the car sorted out to deal with the low speed running issue probably isn’t that hard. The clutch isn’t that hard to do, paint looks driver quality and the starts and stops.

Smoke on shifting is classic valve guides / seals being worn but get 2nd opinions on that.

I think the big issue that has people responding is the rust repairs that can be seen on the area below the doors. That is a key area for the car, and the repairs that have been done there look kind of sketchy.

All fixable, but time and effort. Emphasis on the effort.

How good are your metal work and MIG welding skills?

Yeah the car was originally from the Northeast.
Not sure exactly when it made its way down South.
The car seemed like a decent deal which is why it's here.
So even if a decent chunk of money was dropped into it I don't think it'd be a loss.

Yes, the car does seem pretty complete.
I could care less about the mechanics at this point, because like you said a lot of that can be fairly simple...hopefully.
My main concern is what you have stated above, the rust issues and repairs.
Metal working skills are non-existent, and I'm not looking to learn hah.
Parts I have found from just browsing Restoration Design don't seem to be crazy expensive assuming I am going to need some.
But I just don't know what sort of labor we're looking at here, but I do realize that is where a lot of the money would be in this project.

that this is a decent project car but for someone dedicated to a DIY project rather than something they can spruce up over a couple weekends and drive. "Sketchy" is exactly the word I would use for the rust repairs too. They might be solid but it's hard to say. The gusset under the jack tube bothers me because it suggests that tube wasn't welded in right. If that is wrong, what else did they get wrong? I'd want to do a lot of probing of those repairs and get a boroscope inside the longs to get a better assessment. Bottom line is the car is not terminal and lots of people, including myself, would enjoy a project like that. Only you can decide how much project you want and what you can live with.

Well, that is kind of the wrong answer on metal working IF you care about total financial outlay. The parts are, relatively speaking, cheap compared to the labor costs. It is hard to estimate the cost for a shop to repair because labor rates and standards etc all vary wildly, but let me just say that it will be cheap to find another better car. There are some people on here that do this professionally who might offer up numbers but they will be scary (but totally worth it) due to the sheer amount of time.

There is a decent red one for sale here for $6k asking as an FYI.

Labor (from a decent shop) is 5-10X or more the cost of the RD parts. If the longs are that rough, the rear suspension consoles and other parts of the car are usually in need of repair. Also, a critical look at the seems at the front and back trunks will often show evidence of prior hits. Very common on our 50 year old cars. you could easily put $10-15K into that car before you even talk about paint. Not trying to discourage you, that's just how these cars work.

I see a lot of rather sketchy looking rust "repair" on both longs.

My guess is the car still has its fair share of cancer and if you want it to be done right, you'll have to undo those "repairs" and redo them correctly.


If anything in this thread scares you, you're in over your head:
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=16748

On the West coast... We would ship that car to the East coast and find a better car.

Generally: when the rust hits the Drivers side long, the car has way more rust (unseen) than it's worth to fix up.

On the East coast, that's a project car. In the UK, that car is as close to perfect as you will find. On the West coast... I would pass and find a dozen better cars...

Fix the fuel problem drive it and have fun.
Beats the hell out of a 6 year jack stand slog.
My 2 cents

In this image. What is that expanding foam colored stuff?

Given your stated timeline, your daughter is <1year old, you are in the right ball park as that gives you about 15 years to get that car dialed in and correct.

Sadly, Mike is right- I would ship that car to east coast and let them deal with it. Buy a CA/New Mexico car and you will be a decade ahead with a lot less stress and anxiety.

Sorry, but that car needs a lot of chassis work before you even get to the cosmetic body work. For cars approaching the half-century mark, I don't think it wise to ever rush on the buying decision. You just have to invest the time and energy to weed out all of the bad ones.

A lot of backyard "mechanics" and "body men" have had decades to destroy these cars with extremely bad work (I am being kind here) all around. They polish a turd and 90 days later a completely rusted piece of crap emerges. Or when you look at the GVW and compare it your vehicle weight and find out your car weighs 300 pounds more than it should....you know there is a good 1/2" layer of bondo over the entire body which has been "sculpted" to resemble a 914.


Don't despair, we have all had major setbacks on the road to having the 914 we want- believe me . Cheers, Michael

If you have the space:

1) buy another roller from the west coast that has a solid body
2) pick the best parts from both cars and put them on the roller
3) sell the extra parts to recoup money

That's what I did - pretty sure I made all the money back from the west coast roller (including the transport fees) by selling the parts. Had a lot of fun with the dis-assembly / re-assembly on the new roller than I would have learning to weld.

That's a nice driver here..

I can tell you this much. Mine was at least that bad if not worse. Took me 3 years to get it on the ground after all the metal work.. That said your car would not scare me.. I would estimate 1k in metal and 6 or 7 k for a proper install.. I know that's what I would charge and I think that's a deal..

I want it to be as much DIY as possible, but like I said most of the body work would have to be done by someone else.
Finding any and all structural issues is definitely the number one priority before any other work.


Like I said, money is not necessarily a factor but obviously need it to make sense. What wouldn't make sense is spending a bunch of money to fix something when another more sensible route could be taken
I wouldn't mind learning metal work but I don't think this is the time to do it hah.


Yeah once it's known how much structural work this car will need, then decisions will have to be make about how much money is willing to be spent in getting it fixed.




I'm more afraid of the "repairs" being repaired than just having the rust repaired right from the beginning.


Hah, I like your style.
But I also don't want this thing to fold in half on my while im driving it!


Hmmm, good question.


That could possibly be an option. And not a bad one in my opinion.


If your estimate is in the ballpark of what I could expect, then that may not be too crazy...

Just to be perfectly clear this car is not intended to be a pristine example by any means of the word.
First things first, it needs to be safe and (mostly) mechanically sound.
Cosmetics are way down on the list of things that needs to be addressed.
Sure it should look good, but there is time for that once the other things have been sorted out.
It will be a driver. Not a show car.

That will help focus how we can help you.

Not sure I’d go hammer it doing autocrosses at this point, but for running around as you get to know the car the body is probably fine to use.

It sounds like you were mixture is off on the weber-have you ever tune the one before? It’s not that hard and that would be a good place to start.

How bad is the clutch? Slipping or hard to shift?

Yeah any sort of "hard" driving will not be happening any time soon.
And honestly would probably be not to often at all because there are other cars for that task!
And no, I honestly do not know much about carburetors so I figured now would be my time to learn a little!
However I have yet to research anything, mainly because I want to make sure this thing stays around before I start investing time into it.
Clutch slips. Not familiar with a finely tuned 901 so I'm not sure if it is how it is supposed to feel or not.

Well, we know those structural repairs are ugly but it is harder to assess whether they are solid and how much rust is still inside from pics. Ugly and solid is okay. Poking around with a screw driver and running a boroscope inside could help answer those questions. You could get lucky and just need some internal frame coating to at least slow the tin worms to an acceptable pace. I'm with Ben, this may well be a good driver as it sits, just hard to say with confidence from pics.

I never had much luck with those single progressive carbs on Type 4 engines. Had one on a 914, and another on a bus. Both sucked. The intake tubes are so long that fuel likes to condense out before it reaches the heads. They would even freeze up and kill the engine in cold weather. I've heard others say they did okay with them but it seems rare.

Yeah this is a drivers car not a show car.
Sure I want it to look pretty but that will be down the road.
I doubt it will go back to FI.
If the rest of the car checks out enough for it to be a keeper the motor would be coming out for a re-build.
At that point, FI VS. dual carbs would be figured out.
Not sure it would stay single...

I do believe that it could be done for that.. A couple names would be 914limited (Ltd)
@mcmark

Maybe even auto Atlanta..

I would suggest you just get the metal work done 1st then worry about everything else..

Last resort ping me.. I maybe willing..

Let’s work with what you got at this point.

The first thing to check, as I learned through others here, is to make sure that the clutch itself is actually slipping versus just being poorly adjusted. If you lay down on the ground on the passenger side just ahead of the rear wheel you should be able to put your hand on the clutch cable to see how tight it is.

The clutch cable mounts on a white/yellow Road plastic wheel and there should be a little bit of give it it when you take a single finger and pull the top of the cable that comes off the wheel towards the ground.

If you were close to the car wanted to check that and then report back

It’s a shame that went black because Zambezi is an outstanding 914 color. Worse thing I see is the carb. looks a bit rusty in all the wrong places.

Hah ok thanks for the offer.
All metal work would definitely be addressed first before anything else.


Good info, thank you!
Unfortunately the car has been at the shop since Tuesday evening so I have not been around it.
Not even sure when it will be back in the garage, but like I've said, not in a hurry.
I'm hoping to hear something soon though because I feel like the car is in limbo right now.
Hopefully I will have a good idea of everything that needs to be addressed and go from there.
If it ends up needing to just go then it needs to be gone and on to the next!



My thoughts exactly on the OEM color.
I would have LOVED if it had still been green, or just anything other than black as it is one of my least favorite car colors.