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My 914 is finally here! The condition is not as bad as I feared, but is also not as good as I hoped. But as it was always going to be a project car, I’m not yet having much too buyers remorse.

Originally a yellow car, but has been painted red (horrible quality, even the side markers have not been removed, only taped up and the painted etc), but by the looks of it, the longs seem to be pretty solid and most body panels look good. I haven’t removed the rockers, but from my first view, only surface rust. Has travelled from California to the Netherlands and now in Estonia. There is something fishy with the front end though – the hood is not flush with the front wings and also the lights sit somewhat lower. Could be that the front has been crashed and then badly rebuilt, but I’ll tackle that much later – first must get it registered and get it running.
The engine runs, but I have no idea when the oil was last changed etc, so not trying too much at first – will replace the oil and see what’s what.

Of course as a new owner, I have multiple questions and hope you can shed some light for me:

1) Did 914s come with two separate/different keys for the doors and the ignition from the factory? I have 2 keys – one opens the driver door and one is for the ignition, but neither work for the trunk and the passenger door. Hoping that the locks can be somehow unified to work with one or two keys at some point.

2) As I’m located in Europe, can someone recommend a good source for parts? Especially interested in body parts (I know of 914rubber, but as they are in the States, I’d like to skip on paying too much for transport overseas).

3) According to Porsche’s own materials, the correct oil for a 914 should be 20W-50 (at least the Classic oil has those numbers). What’s your take on this? I will not be using the car in the winters of course and the summer here usually doesn’t go about 25C.

Estonia! Awesome.

I can't help with question number 2, but yes, 914's came with two keys. IIRC the red one, or valet key, only opens doors and starts car. It doesn't open trunk, frunk, or glove box. Did I get that correct?

You can rekey the locks if you want. There are threads here about how to buy key "wafers" and set things up so your key(s) will do what you want. I managed to do it, so it can't be too hard.

Also, yes, I believe 20W50 is the correct oil. The key, though, is to find oil with a zinc additive. That is supposed to be better for our engines. Something like this: Brad Penn

Good luck.

Damn that just like my '73. I had the same wheels

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Agree. Brad Penn is now Penn Grade 1. Don’t forget to use lead substitute additive for valve lubrication as new gas doesn’t have it. For suppliers, try VW parts folks as lots of shared parts.

The lights can be adjusted as well as the trim in front of it so that might not indicate an accident.

Forgive me for stating the obvious here, but the photo shows the front hood/trunk unlatched. Does it just need to be pushed fully shut?

Lead substitute is not necessary. Valve seats are hardened steel inserts in Aluminum heads for these VW Type 4 engines. Ran my first teener over 100k miles without any use of lead substitute.

Lead substitute is necessary for old school cast iron heads prior to introduction of hardened valve seats in the 1970's into cast iron heads.

Wow; I was advised on this maybe twenty years ago and now not true? Just got a few more bottles. Any harm in using them up?

Congrats They are Amazing Cars Enjoy !!!!

1.8s were designed to run on unleaded StarBear. thats the reason for the low compression ratio - to cope with low octane rating of early unleaded petrol. cali spec 73 1.7s were the same and had even less power! not certain but i think 1.8s are the first "officially" USA wide unleaded cars and the 1.7s for cali similarly are "officially" unleaded.

had not realised what Superhawk says regarding all type 4 engines - re earlier years.
could be correct, makes sense. though all the early 911 guys here run the additive in their cars as aus did not go to unleaded until mid 1980s and those engines are euro spec high compression. interesting!

you can keep pouring that stuff you have in the gas tank, won't be doing any harm i don't think, but it is unnecessary.

@devil - Estonia is part of the EU isn't it. Germany should be a good source of parts for you. There are a few on-line VW and Porsche parts retailers located in Germany. I wouldn't worry too much about shipping parts in from the USA. I do it from Aus - and I live in the country furthest from anywhere else - (get on a plane and fly across the pacific and you will see what i mean). Most of the parts you will be after can still be found in the USA from well established retailers who have been around for a long time, supporting the cars for decades. Basically the 914 survived because Americans refused to let it die. I'm not sure how exchange rates go for you with the euro dollar, but I have generally found its relatively less expernsive to source parts in the USA given exchange rates with AUD and other currencies. i've looked into euro/german/uk part suppliers from time to time, but its always more expensive for me. shipping seems to have settled down after being very disturbed by Covid disruptions last year. Good luck with the car - looks ok.

In Europe metal repair panels, etc.
https://www.restoration-design.eu/

All VW heads work on unleaded gas, unless some cheap ass machinist used cast iron seats during a repair. Rare and these cheap seats have not been available in the last 30+ years now.

Oil, just use a good diesel truck oil, 15W40 should be good enough. This oil works good in an aircooled, but will kill the catalytic converter in a new car.

If you have a friend in the USA see if he'll collect the parts for you, then ship them to you as one package.

Ack, my AUS buddy! Onward!

good to have you on board, more in the EU the better!

Agree with above on body parts, restoration design eu ship out of Netherlands, and I'm finding Heritage parts center good on engine stuff, ship out of Germany, Parts works also good out of Germany. that said it often still better to get from 914 rubber / pelican even with paid the crazy duty, vat and shipping.

One black key for everything. One red valet key for ignition and doors. Welcome

Unless someone changed one of the lock cylinders. That would be the only explanation for the ignition key not working any of the other locks (door, glovebox, trunk).

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on the car.

I thought the same thing. May just need to adjust the latch but make sure the cable is working correctly or may wind up having to pull the bumper to get back in.

kicking myself, 30 years later, coulda bought a 73 1.7 with 4 more horsepower if i knew what superhawk and mark henry are telling us now.

just as well i've fallen in luv with L jet.

Thanks for the tips @wonkipop . Yes, Estonia is part of EU, but for some reason we are mostly treated as some backwater Eastern-European hellhole where werewolves and vampires live

For example: 30$ for a part at the shop, 30$ for shipping and when it arrives in Estonia a 20% VAT (for both part and shipping) and the a seamingly random customs fee equals in about 90$ in total. And the shipping times are measured in weeks, not days (this mostly being a problem with local postal service - the part crosses the Atlantic in 2 days, but takes 2 weeks to make it across town.

But not complaining, there are a good shops in EU too, just that the selection is not so wide – not too many 914’s on this side of the Atlantic unfortunately I guess. Fun fact in Estonia there are only two 914’s. This means we have 17 times more 911 GT3 and 911 GT3 RS cars compared to 914s. But to me, it means the 914 is actually more special than a 911 GT3 (RS)

Ah yes, on the photo the hood wasn’t latched correctly – it seems that the hood latch cable is too short and it runs across the front trunk. I’ve ordered a new one already. But the problems are when the hood is closed.

Here are the close-up shots from the hood. Maybe some of it can be adjusted, but the fenders, lamps and hood just don’t line up nicely. And the bumper rubber top is totally shot as well.

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I’ve removed the left turn signal light fixture and it seems that part of the left fender is made of bondo. Not ideal, but I’ve see the fenders available on the web, so if push comes to shove, I can have it redone.

Yeah, it does kind of have that Ellen Barkin look to it. You may be able to adjust some of that out.

I have to admit that I needed to look on the net to see where you lived

That hood looks like it's too big for the trunk. The passenger side is a reasonable fit but something is really up on the drivers side. I would look into whatever was done to that fender, first measure and see if it is the same length as the right side, also look for ripples in the left inside wall of the front trunk. Looks to me like maybe the headlight bucket was either pushed back or replaced badly.

estonia sounds like aus mate. i can sympathise and also take delight in sharing misery. shop around but don't be put off by shipping. our american colleagues would no doubt be only to happy to assist with help in a country where there are only 2 914s. good on you. thats australia circa 1971.

you got to realise the panel fit around the front bonnet, head lamps etc was a bit sh%t straight from factory, to put it politely, or alternatively conformed to french standards of assembly. but yours is a bit squeezed up. just adjust it as much as you can and get out and drive it. its 50 years old. if its just a corner whack, its not going to have mucked up suspension with a bit of luck and ......all the fun is in the driving. get out and carve up estonia. you will know if its the least bit screwed up when you drive it and give it plenty. you should be holding the most delicious steering wheel connected to the best feeling steering rack you have ever experienced. fingers crossed thats what you got.

Thanks. Yeah, meaning to get it out on the streets as soon as humanly possible – unfortunately I need to get the technical inspection first sorted (means I have to fix all the lights, now waiting for the parts form different parts of the world) – I cannot even get it registered before everything is in order.