I rarely get to dig this out but it's appropriate to your questions of 914 vs. Miata.

My Miata was run hard . . . daily. It was also autocrossed and did track days with it. Over dinner a friend bet me a case of Corona that it wouldn't make it to 100K miles without me having to open up the engine.

I won that bet easily. Being a sore loser, my buddy wanted to go double or nothing but shifted the goal post to 220K miles. I took his bet.

This video was posted to claim my prize.

Due to the engineering advancements between 1970 (1st year 914) and 1990 (1st year Miata) a 914 will probably never be able to pull this off.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-m2IT4Xojo

@Nickanator8

Ok, so here's a question. As I've been diving down YouTube 914 playlists almost everyone starts their project by not just dropping the engine but doing a complete tear-down/rebuild as soon as they begin the process. Are these old engines really in need of a total tear down right away in most cases?

Short answer: Yes if you want a reliable 50 year old vehicle.

Nuance:

Depending on what you start with your mileage will vary. If you start with a $25k car with a reasonable maintenance history, you'll be fine as a hobby car. If you start with a $4k Craigslist special, you'll need to tear that sucker down. See my build thread in my signature block why this is so. Yes, I got it to run after 1st buying it but it would never have been reliable. The engine had massive rust in the sump from sitting, from having the cooling flaps pulled and not warming up properly, and from lack of due care by God knows how many prior owners before me. I could have probably driven it for a bit before it self destructed but it would have eventually. I even have a little snippet in my thread to show it driving under it's own power.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ5_EblRToE


What you need to understand is that 914's were largely perceived as VW's and generally maintained by folks that calling them a cheap SOB would have been a compliment. I'm partly exaggerating, but not too much.

I bought my first 914 when I was receiving a reliable monthly check from USAF. Even then, things were tight. Later on when I was in college, I had zero money and my 914 suffered for it. So . . . I've been that guy and I fully understand how hard it is to maintain a 914 when you're broke.

Even excluding the shoddy nature of how many 914's were maintained, most of the parts on them are used up. Design life for your average auto ranges from 10 years 100k miles to 15 years, 150k miles. After that, stuff has lived it's life and is generally on the downhill side of life.

Expect all suspension bushings to be worn out. Expect torsion bars to be rusted pitted, and prone to unexpected breakage at any moment. Expect wiring to have been hacked by a maniac with nothing more than electrical tape and twisted "splice" connections with wire nuts. Engine harness wiring will be brittle and will crack and short at the worst possible moment. Expect the transmission to need a rebuild of 1st and 2nd gear synchro's. On and on.

Obviously there are guys on this site that have done far better. But if you've been paying attention for long, there are also guys on here with terribly unreliable hobby cars that have suffered all sorts of gremlins as they try to milk them along from one unexpected failure to the next.

Not trying to slam anyone that has had better luck and/or that bought a well maintained car. They are out there. But they are not at the bottom of the Craigslist barrel w.r.t price.

I have experience with a variety of engines and old cars and old fuel injection systems. I have to say, the problems I have run into with my 914 have not been bad at all (the car barely ran when I bought it). In fact the 914 and it's foibles have been far less frustrating than even my 302 Ford. Rust is an issue, but if you are looking for a driver and not a perfect example, if it isn't too bad (Structural) you can drive it and fix it at the same time. I would never fear the engine though. Just make sure it is running well before you drive it much.

That looks like it would be your new career! Or at least a dependent. I'd suggest finding one that doesn't need a top to bottom refresh

Ok 914 hive mind, I have a new question for you all. This car is still nagging at the back of my mind as a possibility for a fun weekend project car and eventual weekend cruiser. Obviously there are a lot of unknowns right now but assuming there isn't an egregious amount of rust how much would you theoretically pay for such a *fine* example? Personally I'm leaning as close to $1k as possible due to so many obviously missing parts.

I don't have an answer for you on the value but the good news is- for a foreign vintage car this is one of the cheaper and easier cars to find parts for (other than main stream vw stuff). Parts are getting harder to come by, but this site really helps a lot. Also as you do improvements the value will increase. A lot of the value is dependent on how severe the rust repair will be. There are a lot of good member vendors here too.

Yeah, that is the right neighborhood for a parts car. If the tub turns out to be largely solid you're ahead of the game.

I personally think you should pay double ($2k). Most of us overpay for our 1st one. Then you'll be able to finally live the dream and/or nightmare. Then you'll become a full fledged member of the cult.

You only live once.

Come on in . . . the waters fine.

On a more serious note: Get someone local to come along with you to do an inspection with you to assess the rust.

For $1K I don't think you could find much of anything to work on. Maybe a bag full of rust flakes? Even things at $4K are major MAJOR projects.

The days of finding a good running, good tub for under 8k have been gone for more than 10 years.

Good running stock examples of 914's start at 20k now.


I'm not a car collector, I'm an enthusiast...I do my own work and sub what I can't do or want to do or can't because I'm too old now or BTDT.

The price of new cars is INSANE now.


Drink the Cool-Aid and do it.......or get a Miata.


Do or not to do is the question. It's the journey not the destination.

Couple of comments on this. First of all, I have or had all the cars you talked about except for the Boxster (that one is on the list). NA Miata's are solid modern cars (I drive mine daily) and are reliable, simple to work on and have few issues. 50 year sports cars are projects and take time and money to build. So since you are not an accomplished mechanic, buying one like this CL car is likely to just end up as a bunch of disassembled parts that sit in your garage. I say this as I just bought one this summer. Car was disassembled in 1994, he ordered a new rebuilt 2.0 engine, has parts from two other parts cars and it all sat in the garage until 2021. The good news is that while it needs lots of work, it is as rust free as they come, so a great basis for my project. What I have learned about these cars is that the hidden rust can really be a problem, as the 2nd car I bought supposedly had the hell hole fixed properly, but that meant it was stuff full of fiberglass. Fortunately I can weld so I jumped in and cut it all out and the rest of the car was solid. But it is pretty easy to miss. If you bought this car, would you think it was pretty nice right? Well overall it is, but I ended up striping it and painting it after fixing the hell hole. This car cost me 3 times what the other car above cost. So be careful, you are best off to get someone knowledgeable about these cars to help you with the inspection.


Car now

I bought my 914, a complete 73 2.0 with the full appearance group package, in 1987 for $500.00. It was running and driving but had a dropped valve seat when I bough it. It was mostly rust free, the hell hole was rusted but the rest of the car was solid.

The roller I bought from Perry to fix Betty's car was way more expensive than that. It had no deck lids, no engine lid, no doors, no interior and no drivetrain. It did have suspension and steering, but that was about all. And I got a good deal on it.

The days of the cheap 914 are over. But I would still say buy the best chassis you can afford, unless you are into body work and rust repair.

Clay

To see what work has been required on some of our cars, Search "Build off Challenge"

or > http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?act...d+off+challenge

Pick any one and start looking through what others have done,

Then determine if you are up for that.

Agree with many others here, buy a car you can drive, right away.

Then as you decide to fix things you will know what you are working for.

To buy a project without knowing what the end result will even be like, will not give you the drive / ambition to finish it.