Another picture showing all the colors.

Still trying to get the 914 prepped for body work and paint.

Put on new shoes over the weekend. 16x6's all around. This is the 914's configuration, no flares or anything.

Was the first time I've had a chance to stick my head behind the wheels. Factory front and rear sway bars = kinda cool. Given this 914 was a dealer AC car, it also had a center console at one time. This was one option loaded 914 in 1975 for sure.

Want to lower it about an inch.

I continue to be impressed by the lack of rust on this 914. Everywhere I look, it's just solid.

After almost exactly one year after driving the 980 miles close to home, the 914 is home.

I now have more time to actually work on it.

Today was about fixing wiring.

Installed a 911 Combo gauge, fuel gauge you can see by the cig lighter. This allowed me to remove the 4 gauges hanging below the dash.

Wiring is a little hacked up here and there. I'm making it better, but not show quality. Just ensuring everything is grounded, wire colors are mostly correct etc.

One of the more impressive things he did was install an MK1 column. Electric washers and wiper delay are part of the conversion. No complaints there!

For the moment, what a mess:

Forgot:

Swapped out the plastic 3-pod gauge face for a nice metal unit. No more ECR or CAT lights. Also installed 914-Rubber speaker pods.

This 914 needs a lot of attention.

I like the work you are doing to that car.

Got around to welding in the trunk floor to patch up the old dealer installed AC system.

Not my cleanest welding, but doesn't need to be. Must have welded up a dozen little holes from screws used to hold in hoses and other AC related parts. Still have a few holes to plug:

Little nervous about pulling off the passenger side cover. Gotta keep removing AC stuff and check for rust. Was very surprised to see nice clean paint! Everything is really solid. Worst rust is only a bit of surface where the AC lines pass into the front wheel well.

Gotta love a life long CA 914.

Check out how much dirt still came out.

That's amazingly clean, even for a CA car. The only reason my Six was not rusted through was it looked like the Exon Valdez inside and underneath. As bad as that was to see, it kept it from being a rust bucket.

Little similar with this 914. The whole area where you normally find rust had an oily coating on it mixed in with the dirt. It probably helped protect it! Even took a piece of weed whacker plastic string and knocked out as much as I could from the jack point drain hole. Sheese, cleaned right up!

Have you nailed down a paint guy or doing it at home?

THAT is my challenge as of late.

No, I don't want to paint. Don't have the inclination, skill or shop for it. I have a body/paint guy who did my 356 projects, but he's way over the top for this driver quality job.

If you (or anyone) knows a local place I can tow the 914 to, please let me know! I know it'll cost a few pennies and willing to invest.

It's a project, color change back to factory blue. Meaning doors and lids come off etc.

Bad pic, but better now. 944 steering wheel, wires cleaned up....better.

Hard to explain what it takes to undo an AC install. Example is making plugs to weld into AC line holes. So many holes to weld. Got done today which was nice.

Two new eyebrows, drivers side was welded on. Ugh. Looks like a light hit/damage a long time ago. Wasn't really fixed correctly. Much better now, not perfect but a least can adjust eyebrows again.

The welded brow that had to be cut out.

Note the blob welds, yuck.

Almost ready for the body/paint shop. Side markers welded up, all holes welded up that would need to be for paint.

Going back to Anacona Blue.

Pulled the fresh airbox out along with wiper assembly. Still need to gut the doors and remove rear taillights, easy stuff.

Fired it up and drove it up the street a bit. Trying to run it every couple of weeks even while it's taken apart like this.

Here's another bad picture of the interior with the gauges all done, steering wheel all done and wiring finished and cleaned up. It'll get new door panels, carpet, all seals of course and probably a different or new backpad.

Was going to replace seats and dash, not now, not for a long time. They are good enough.

So you've found/decided on a paint shop?

Still waiting for anyone to return a call or email. Got feelers out to 3....no 4 guys right now.

Going to correct this with a proper welded 90 turn and fitting.

I see you have a Luscombe. Very nice!

Charlie

Yup! Learned to fly in it, took me 14 months to pay it off and 9 years later, still flying it. Great airplane.

Well, the "Good Cooler" is going bye-bye. Getting an unmolested unit and having Ben weld up a proper 914-6 fitting.

I'll get oil lines sorted, factory 914-6 HE's on before it get's sent for paint.

Didn't want to build a 914-6, just wanted to drive one.

I might have missed it but are you going to chrome bumpers? Now would be the time before pain to get that all handled if so

Was going to keep the BUB's on. I'm a rare 914 owner in the sense I like the look of the BUB's. Plus with everyone backdating 914 bumpers, BUB's are getting rare.

I'm sure I'll get for my choice.

My Grandpa had one when I was a kid. I loved flying in that plane.

Still have a couple of weeks until I tow my 914 to the body/paint guy.

Ben's working on an oil cooler and shift rod for me. Correct oil lines on the way.

AND

Bought the Koni's that were for sale. Wound up being adjustable oil filled Special D's which I was hoping for. They work perfectly, can adjust and feel a nice smooth resistance change with each adjustment. Cleaned them up a bit.

Gotta figure out what springs to use now. Stock, but cut 1 1/2 coils off or something slightly higher rate? Street car, don't want to bounce around but know I have a bit more weight with the six.

Any suggestions?

Removed the rear window, it was silly-coned in from both sides. Took about 45 minutes to get out. Another hour of clean up to do. Oye.

Noted the Dynamat on the firewall, kinda neat.

I was pretty certain I'd have to replace the backpad based on general condition of the vinyl and quality of installation until I noticed it was a fiberglass unit!

I'll want to recover it or at least re-stretch the vinyl. Something to make it look better, but still very cool!

Dan, good evening. Glad to see that you are still around. I lost track of you for a while. Let me know if you are coming down to Portland anytime soon, I would love to get together.
Craig at Camp

Will do Craig, looking forward to making some fun road trips once this 914 is back on the road.

Nice score on the Koni rears. Have a pair waiting for a rebuild.

Highly recommend 140lb springs for a street car you'll drive hard from time to time. Installed 140s back in the 1990s, and never looked back. Car rode beautifully, and handled great too. Wondered about a need to move to 160s with a six conversion, but the 140s are still great.

Exactly the feedback I was hoping someone would provide, thanks! Was debating on getting 100lb springs, but worried they'd be a little soft. I prefer a slightly higher spring rate and lower dampening rate for street use.

Pulled the engine to redo some things and replace some pieces. Have the time, might as well.

For those interested, check out the homemade mount. It's a modified 911 crossbar. The system relies on sheet metal shelf to support not just the engine. I'll remove all this and install a bulkhead mount.

Engine and cross bar:

Inside the engine bay, you can see the mount plates. Everything added looks like 3/16" plate steel.

There are so many holes drilled in the 914 everywhere.

Had to Dremel, cold chisel and grind for a bit of time. Tried hard not to damage any original metal, but still wound up tearing good metal off the firewall (no, that's not a rusted area).

Lots of holes to weld up:

The pieces from the constructed mount:

Maddogs mount welded in place, sorry for the fuzzy picture:

Another fuzzy picture, dang, gotta figure out what's up with my phone.

Found rust and will take care of that while I'm here.

Looks like a long term window leak in combo with plugged drain hole. It's very localized which is good. But still sucks I gotta cut it out and patch it.

Done enough with the engine bay. Lots and lots of welding, grinding, cleaning etc.

I'm not fixing the oversized 914-6 oil tank holes. They are what they are.

Found a color in spray can that was sort of close to the Anacona Blue. This isn't that type of 914 that it matters if the color is a bit off. Going to drench it all again with a third coat and call it good.

Found fiberglass patching which had to cut out and replace with metal. Also had to put rear trunk springs back in and remove the shock trunk kit along with welding up holes.

This was a former AC car, there was was a lot of patch work already done. It was so-so, tried to clean it up a bit.

Hoping I can get the engine back in with all the correct 914-6 conversion, cleaned up wiring, oil lines, factory heater boxes and much more before it goes off to paint.

We'll see, I have about another week or so.

Moved the Brake Pressure Regulator, new lines from PMB made that pretty easy. Worked on cleaning up wiring, it was pretty messy. Around the engine still is.

You can see a patch on the engine shelf to the right were the dealer AC once was. I left most of that stuff alone. It's not perfect, but it's solid and just fine.

Getting closer to installing the engine. Waiting on SS fuel lines.

Started installing MD's inner long stiffening kit. Totally forgot how much work it is. Note the little RV jacks to keep door gaps as perfect as possible:

Hardest part is keeping metal tight against long. Lots of clamping, clean and weld a few holes, move to next etc. Takes a long time.

Can you provide more pics of your regulator relocation and PMB lines?

I am now on my second set of PMB lines. They sent me a plug and T fitting to use with the early style location. The center line they provided is not long enough to get to the new location unless I add another coupler to the line coming out of the firewall. Looks like you mounted yours vertically and have no T fitting.

PMB sent me an early "kit" which had all hard lines. I wound up using a line that was probably intended for something else.

I started by installing the L & R caliper hardlines. Figured they would determine where the regulator would sit. Then I sorted through the remaining hard lines until I found one that was long enough to bend to meet the mounted regulator.

It was a PITA pulling whatever line I used in and out of the tunnel making small bends until it fit nicely.

Also had to rotate the mounting bracket on the regulator 180. Wound up making a little jig from wood, putting the regulator in a vise so I wouldn't have to worry about breaking a good seal on the halves.

Finished up the inner longitudinal stiffening kit installation last night. This is the 3rd or 4th one of these installed and I've learned a bit each time. Still took me 6-7 hours to do, but it's totally worth it. The reduction in body flex is dramatic when doing the "but test".

I also remember how much less cowl shake there would be when going over bumps or RR track crossings. Very excited to have this done.

914 goes off to paint on the 26th. I think I'll be ready with time to spare.

Quick shot of the new Hi-Torque starter, ground cable, correctly modified cooler from Ben and part of actual repo 914-6 engine tin. Whole engine needs re-wired. The wiring is correct, but messy, really messy. Maybe I can clean it up? On this, starting from scratch might be easier. I'll have time once the 914 goes in for paint.

Nice progress, Dan. Looking forward to seeing the car after the paint job!