… and oh boy do I have some work to do!
I’ll be honest, driving it is everything I remembered and hoped it would be. But man I did not expect so many age and neglect issues.
Once warmed up, I get high idle around 1800rpm, the motor mounts are shot and give a nice sharp thunk on up changes, the heater doesn’t work, the “driver’s standard” paint is actually a “tape line and orange peel special”, the brakes somehow drag and also don’t stop (literally impossible to lockup the brakes), oh and the right rear turn signal bulb is out lol!

There are of course dozens of other issues I’ve noticed in my first 24hrs of ownership, but I expected most of those items. On the whole, I have to say that I’m thankful to have found a 100% rust-free and mechanically solid 1974 1.8L.

I’ll don’t ever plan on selling the car so, I’m in no hurry to get everything done. But I definitely think I need to find a mechanic near me so I can shorten up my learning curve on these older design engines.

Anyway thanks to everyone who makes this forum happen and thanks for having me. It will be a resource going forward!

-Van

The building paint reflections are a good sign. Looks well kept.

Congratulations, and welcome to the world. Sounds like you've got some work to do!

What city in Maryland?

Also, you'll find some rust, somewhere at some point. Ya' just gotta know where to look. But it sounds like it's solid, and that's a great place to start.

welcome to our mid-engine madness family!!

Thanks all! I’m in Waldorf, MD. I’m sure I’ll find some more surprises:D
I just ordered the intake boot as I saw some cracks on it. I doubt that will cure the fast idle, but I gotta start somewhere I suppose.

You might not need to find a mechanic. If you are willing to learn just post your questions here, lots of help for free!
Congratulations on what looks like a nice car.

I'm across the bay from you. There are a couple of other 914 owners nearby to you. I'm sure you'll get to know them at some point. My rather shallow skill set includes D-Jet experience, and some Microsquirt, but not L-Jet (assuming it's still got the stock FI). There are a number of people here who are L-Jet gurus, including Mr. Clay Perrine.

Good luck, and let us know what you need

You've come to the right place.

That’s good to know. And yeah, it’s got the L-jet on it. Engine runs smooth and showed ~120psi on all cylinders during the PPI. But clearly they didn’t run it long enough to ever get the engine warm. I put about 50mi on it today. Just a nice change of pace from the 996. This thing is just some good old school motoring fun!

Nice looking car... I just picked up my yellow 74 today also. Enjoy!

Found some rust lol! It’s down below the heater blower against the firewall. I also found out that the blower two wire connector is unplugged. Anyone know why that would be? Looks like it has been unplugged for a long time judging by the dust on the wires.

Welcome amd congratulations!

Heater blower could be unplugged due to it not working, won’t harm anything to leave it as-is for now.

Check for vacuum leaks everywhere, that could cause the high idle.

Congrats!

Yay! More Marylanders picking up 914's.

Great looking Chrome Yellow (Saturn Yellow) 914.
Did you get the tool kit and jack??
Tom

Welcome aboard, she is a nice looking example. What was the problem with the brakes and yes, a far cry from a 996

Nice looking car. I see you got a set of Gurney wheels. Depending on how much it has sat you may have some projects ahead of you. Lots of knowledge here that has helped me greatly. Have fun!

Is that what those wheels are called? I knew they were aftermarket, but I couldn’t find the name. I have the original invoice from 74 and it annotates where the original buyer specifically requested that the original alloy wheels were removed just to save a few bucks over steel wheels… really makes you think about the long term impact of trying to cheap out.

And yeah, now that I’m driving the car, it’s starting to have many problems. I’ve been trouble shooting the high idle and the heater blower, but no answers yet. I have at least confirmed that the aux air regulator was replaced in 96 (date stamp on part) and is still working fine. I’ll have a replacement intake boot this week and hopefully that will solve my high idle issues.
Next, I’ll put 12v to the heater blower motor and see if it’s still alive. I found the motor was unplugged for what looks like a long time. But plugging it in and swapping around relays failed to bring a result.

I challenge this!

All joking aside, welcome to the community!

We’ll, Rob called it first lol. I found a section under the heater blower lol… so current estimate is now 95% rust free!