Hi All...

I have been given a '73 914 project car (yes, it was free). The car had an original 65,000+ miles on it. Currently the car has been off the road (and in a few pieces) about 10 years. Engine is out of car and to the best of my knowledge was rebuilt about 7 years ago with a 2.2L big bore kit, hydraulic lifters and Webcam cam. The engine has never been fired up or run in any way. There is no trans with the car. Body is good. CV joints look (to my untrained eye) together but boots are shot. Interior is generally good. Only seen rust so far is in trunk floor/rear panel intersection and at the bottom of front trunk. Area around/below battery location looks good. The car came with a load of new parts in the box: Springs, shocks, new dashboard, extra guages... all never used.

Here is my question(s)... What should I tackle first? Since the engine has literally been sitting rebuilt on a garage floor for about 7 years should I have it opened up and looked at? How difficult will it be to find a tranny? Are the ununsed boxed Koni shocks still good?

Bottom line: What would you guys do or figure out first?

(I will be building a site for this project to keep everyone abreast as to it's planned rebirth soon)

Many thanks!!!

I recently installed and started a fresh engine that had been sitting on the floor for 19 years. Everything seems fine except the rear main seal is leaking. I will soon pull the tranny and replace it. Based on my experience, I would not tear the engine down. Install it and see what happens. My engine had never had oil installed and I understand that is good. If yours has oil in it you may not be so lucky. I would still try it rather than take it apart. I pulled plugs, put a few squirts of Marvel Mystery Oil in cyl. tops, turned engine over, reinstalled the plugs and fired it up.

Welcome to the BBS Coyote !!

How did you find us ??

Jim (post above) is the most qualified to asnwer this question for you.

I would say your going to have a problem with several different seals.. but you wont know until you fire it up.

B

I agree with Jim also. I've nursed a few old motors back onto the road. Try it first. What have you got to lose? Most of the time you'll find leaky seals. But there are worse things.

...and then go find a tranny. Get it mobile. It will make everything else much easier.

Wouldn't it be easier to fire up the engine if he found a tranny first? The starter has to mount somewhere.

Engine has been dry (sans oil) except for whatever seal lube or gasket sealer was added at time of rebuild. I am in process now of obtaining a transaxle.

Can I in fact fire-up the engine out of the car (never seriously considered that given FI + electrical connections).

Thanks for the tip on Marvel Mystery Oil!! Boy, the old man used to swear by that stuff! I was thinking of shooting a little WD-40 down the spark plug holes and then turning the engine by hand a few revolutions - I think I'll just wait on that for now...

I put the MMO in, then turned by hand a few times, then spun it with the starter (plugs out). That also starts the oil moving. I used non-detergent for the first 200 miles. I was told it allows rings to seat better than detergent. I also followed a break in procedure recommended by Wayne Dempsey in his 911 rebuild book. Ran engine 20 minutes at about 2000 rpm in the garage. As I understand that breaks in the cam. After that I took 5, 10 and 50 mile drives shifting a lot and varying the engine speed frequently. Returned home after the first two short trips to check for leaks, etc.

I left out an obvious (to me anyway) detail. My apologies.