Hi all,

I've been looking for a fun car/project car for a while now and fell in love with a 1972 914.

Some background on the car:

It's currently running and driving well with the original 1.7 that's been converted from fuel injected to a Weber Carb setup. The person who owned the car before the person I bought it from had apparently restored the engine. He also did a fair amount of decent quality body work and had it repainted. It has been stored in a heated garage for the past 10 years, but it looks like the rust had gotten to it already which leads me to the big problem, which I'm finding is fairly common: the hell hole. There is substantial rust in there, and I haven't dug into it completely yet. It appears to still be pretty structurally sound, and looks like someone tried to repair parts of it with fiberglass, or some other compound, but I won't know for sure until I can pull everything out of it, which I plan to do after I enjoy it for a few months this summer.

There are a couple issues that I hope to sort out this summer before I really dig into it this winter:

The drivers seat mounts are pretty rusted out and the seat is currently not adjustable. It looks like I'm going to have grind out the old mounts and have new ones welded in. I also don't know how bad the seat rails are because I haven't tried pulling the seat all the way out yet.

The wipers aren't currently working, and I haven't had time yet to look into it at all. I'm guessing either the wiring is bad, or the motors are shot.

The targa top is missing the rear right mount that the clips attach to.

The radio has been updated with a Pioneer cassette player, but there are no speakers. Not a huge concern, I'd rather listen to the engine, but I'm sure at some point my wife would like me to address this.

The headlights are currently operational, but I'm wondering if there is any preventative maintenance that should be done to keep them this way.

The front passenger turn signal isn't working, but I'm sure it just a fuse or a bulb.

I've been glued to the forum ever since I fell in love with the car and it looks like you guys have put together a wealth of information. I'm sure you will be hearing plenty from me as I try to get this car into better condition so I can enjoy it as it was meant to be.

Here are a few pics of the car:

Welcome to 914 world. Enjoy your car for the summer and deal with the hellhole when you can. It can be a pit of hell down in there or you may be lucky and just need a little but your door gaps look OK from the limited pictures that you have up here.

The drivers seat and the metal under there may be more than a small problem but you will not know what you are dealing with their till you complete remove the seat and take pictures so the guys can put you in the right direction.

Anything can be fixed but no welding on rusted metal or fiberglass.

These really are fun little cars and handle with the best of the Porsche’s

Bob B

Great Project!

Thanks for the reply! The doors are aligned pretty well and open and close without issue.

You're definitely right about the seat not being a small problem. It looks like the original owner repaired some of the rust floor pan with fiberglass:


The outer mount is completely gone:


The inner mount is there, but broken off:



The current solution provide is a bolt through the floor pan with the seat sitting on a thick rubber bushing. At least it holds one side of the seat down..

The good news is that the floor pan looks good in front of the front seat bracket:

Beautiful car. Obviously you need to get your seats safely secured, but I agree with Bob. Enjoy your car for the summer and dig into the rust when the weather turns cold. Finding PO fiberglass repairs is no fun but what you've seen so far looks doable. Post pics of the fiberglass you're seeing in the hell hole when you get a chance. Have ou pulled the rocker covers off to have a look yet?

It looks like the floor in front of the cross member still has the factory tar on it. You'll need to remove that as part of your inspection as it can hide additional rust. I encourage anyone starting major repair/restoration to start a build thread. I can't say how many mistakes I've avoided thanks to all the generous feedback on my thread, and it has also made fixing my mistakes I slipped by the goalies much less painful.

Yes! another one of us from MN! What part of town are you in?

I agree with enjoying it for the summer, I didn't have that option when I pulled mine out of the previous owners garage where it had been sitting for nearly 30 years.

If you're free, the Overcrest podcast throws a get-together every other Wednesday night where a bunch of us hang out and chat about cars. Would love to check yours out in person. Saw it on Craigslist way back, the paint job is unmistakable.

Thank you for the reply! I haven't pulled the rocker covers yet, I'll probably dig into that this weekend. I did try to get a couple quick shots of the fiberglass in the hell hole, but most of the damage seems to be along the sides of the frame rails that's hard to get a good picture of.



Thanks for the tip on the build thread! I'll be sure to start one when I really start digging into things.

Great to hear there's a few more in the cities! I'm right over in St.Paul, by the fairgrounds. I'd love to check out that meet sometime. Hopefully I can keep her running long enough to make it. Do you know where the next is gonna be held?

Yeah, I definitely fell in love with it when I saw it in person. It's a little rough around the edges, but it's already been a great time to drive. It had been on craigslist for a while, and is obviously in need of some attention, so I was able to knock quite a bit off the asking price. I'm glad I did, it leaves a bit more of a budget for what looks to be a pretty big project.

That part doesn't look bad at all. Probably just clean out the PO repair and get some proper rust treatment in there. Is that rivet head or washer just laying loose or is something pop riveted down there? Not even close to some of the horror stories that have been restored.

So far it does not look that bad. Look at the area under the car under and behind the passenger’s seat. I have seen some fiberglass repairs on these cars that where a huge mess.

The driver’s seat should be an easy quick temp fix. Used parts from someone here and new seat hinges are available. I looks like you can just drive out the pin and just use part of the new hinge

Metal is right, you know that. You may be lucky.

Bob B

Next one is Jun 19th, they are always going to be near the studio where they record, as luck would have it it's in St.Paul too.

688 Minnehaha Ave E, Saint Paul, Minnesota 55106

Not sure if you use Facebook, but here's their page.
http://www.facebook.com/overcrestpodcast/

I'm glad to hear that worse have been restored.. I'll have to check out the rivet/washer tomorrow. I just held my phone in there to get the best picture i could, haha.

I know it's a bit far off, but I've come across Restoration Design and it looks like they make a ton of parts that can be fit in to replace the rusted out areas around the car. Is there a general consensus on how well these parts are made, or if they're a good option?

Their parts are superb. Half my car is from RD now

Good to hear. The seat hinge on the inside looks workable, but I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do with the outer one. The temporary fix of a bolt through the rubber bushing actually holds decently well, so I could just hold off on getting into it at all until I try to get the fiberglass out and more metal back it.

Also, how is the front of the seat supposed to attach? Does the underside of the seat just kind of clip into the bracket?

Haha, good to know. It looks like a substantial portion of mine might end up that way, as well.

Awesome, I'll check out their facebook and see if I can make my way over there.

I guess it's in decent shape for a MN car. Those usually look like a Fred Flintstone special.

Yikes.. At least it doesn't look like I'll have to pull that much out, haha. That's unreal.

I'm in chaska and have plenty of parts if you ever are in need after parting out a few of that vintage.

Thanks for the tip. I'm trying to come up with a bit of a list at the moment. Once I do, maybe I can swing out your way, and see if we can make a couple things work.

Lots of great people here - all willing to help. Cheers, Michael

The most important question appears to be "how well can you weld?"

Thanks for the warm welcome! That does indeed appear to be the question, and the answer is currently, not as well as I will need to. I've got a few buddies who are much better than me. It looks like I'll be stocking up on beer as a payment method.

That's a good start. A lot of us have started our lost cause restorations with pretty sketchy welding skills and wound up with nice results.

BTW, I have the seat hinges I cut out of my car when I did a complete floor replacement. They are seized but I think with a good soak in penetrating oil and maybe some heat they might work as a free stop gap to prevent your seat from becoming the ejection variety while you enjoy your summer. Happy to pop them in an envelope to you. PM if interested.

Oh, didn't see an answer to your question about front seat attachment. There is a toothed ratchet gear/rack bolted to the floor cross member at the center of each seat (maybe just the drivers because I don't remember when the movable passenger seat was introduced). A pawl that is actuated by the seat height adjuster engages in those teeth and that is the front seat attachment.

Awesome! Thanks for the info. That's kind of what I figured for the front of the seat, but since it's a bit out of alignment, it was hard to tell. PM sent regarding seat hinges.

Isn't this the same car on the Minneapolis CL right now?

Just a little east of you in Madison
Done one welding session with a 914, looking forward to a second with my ‘76.
Let me know if i can help.

Yeah, it looks like the previous owner just hasn't pulled the listing. Also, was able to get a much better deal than that due to the amount of attention the car currently needs.

Awesome, thanks for the offer! I will probably need all the help I can get when I start stripping it down. Who knows what I'll find..