Hi everyone,

I'm new here so please take it easy on me.

Let me start off by saying this is my buddies car. It is a 74 914 with a body kit done by Beachboy's Racing. I'm not sure what year the kit was installed but it has some major wear and tear. With all that said, this car has been a dream of his since he saw a picture of one in a magazine when he was in high school. He picked the car up about two years ago and has been planning the rebuild from day one. Recently he asked me to help him with the project and I said yes. Here are some pictures of the car when it arrived at my house.
Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment

Oh dear lord... My skin is itching already

Yes there will be A LOT of fiberglass work once all of the rust and structural damage is repaired.

Well they have their place in 914 (abuse) history. Whats with the GT3 front , planning on grafting that on? Ok, should be interesting. Good luck and

PS I do like the colour !

First thing we did was to strip what was left of the car.

Click to view attachment

Yes, he wants to update the look and thanks we are going to need it.

What is left of the front end. Who does this?
Click to view attachment

OMG You think that was on purpose?

Ba ba ba ba ba ba ran

Unfortunately yes it had a V8 conversion. The radiator was mounted there and poorly done at that. I was wondering how the trunk stayed closed going down the road, all the support was gone.

And if you thought the front was bad............
Click to view attachment

I think whoever removed the V8 used a chainsaw.

That must have been one helleva flexi-flyer!
Did the conversion peeps re-enforce those longs anywhere?
Scary.

Surprisingly no and they are the only thing on the car that isn't bent or rusted. They will be reinforced heavily when we are done though.

A little bit of dry ice and a few minutes of work and the sound deadener is all gone.
Click to view attachment

Not a lot of rust but enough to require some new metal.

I wonder if this is the light gold BBR car on the cover of VW&Porsche magazine? Had set of 17-inch Ruf wheels at that time, and I wouldn't be surprised if those had been sold off. Have not seen the car in a long, long time.

I' have no idea but it would cool if it was.

As alarming as those photos are, I respect this is your friends life long dream and you are helping him realize that. Whom ever butchered that chassis the way they did has no business even driving a car let alone working on one. Good luck as you make her sound and put her together for him. I look forward to watching.

Wow. You made me run out and hug my 914... Welcome aboard... plenty of work for sure.

If you don't have a donor car for metal, I recommend... https://www.restoration-design.com

Lots of chassis stampings.

There was another beachboys conversion on ebay that just ended. It had a cool look to it, but I wonder if this is how all the conversions were done...

Agreed 100%

Thank you I will keep that in mind.

Dont mean to muddy your thread, but this is the one I was referring to.

Is it safe to say that this wasnt a kit sold, but conversions that they did themselves?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/175307787139

Were they all V8 conversions also? or was the the other hacking they did?

Hard to say this car has been touched by many hands over the years. I will say that most of the carnage was done by others after they did their work. The only thing that appears to be untouched by anyone after BBC is the windshield chop and rake, and that was done nicely.

Started the rust repair on the drivers side floor pan.
Click to view attachment

Rust all cut out. For this section anyway.
Click to view attachment

Because Nothing on this car is factory I decided to make my own panel. I an a little rusty with the bead roller but.........
Click to view attachment

It will have Berliner, sound deadener, insulation and carpet over it.

I do believe they installed all of the kits themselves.

The V8 conversion? I couldn't tell you. I called them today and left a message asking them to call me back so I could ask a few questions about the history of this car.

I do believe most of the horable cutting was done by a previous owner who wanted to put a straight 6 in it. Probably a 2JZ.

Had a chance to work on the car today and got the motor and trans mocked into place. Next Saturday Ill work on getting the mounts completed and yes it is a Honda K24, the trans is a boxer 6 speed.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

OMG that poor firewall...
I hope part of the restoration will be replacing the firewall and regaining all the chassis strength someone hacked away.

The nose - i've seen worse. All I can guess is that they were trying to fit a radiator poorly and either did not know or did not care how to make a shroud to fit it properly.

How are the longitudinals under all the fiberglass? Are they sound?

Zach

@GASHOLES GARAGE
Why not use the real thing? New floor pans are cheap enough.
https://www.restoration-design.com/store/category/914

Yes the firewall is a high priority we just wanted to get the motor in first and make sure we did not have to modify something we just fixed.

The nose- that is the case and yes very poorly.

The longs surprisingly look good and I was wrong in an earlier post there is reinforcement on them. They are straight and true with no rust except a small spot at the hell hole that has been repaired.

Pat

True and that is a good option we thought about going this route but nothing on this car is factory.

Pat

If you've seen my build you know that "I know a guy who can help you with that firewall..."
Seriously though, post a WTB for that area from a parts car. So much easier...

Your build is amazing! I might have to borrow some of your ideas. After looking through it I realized it is going to keep me up at at night looking at the great fab work.

As for a parts car we have one I just hate to cut it up. It is in better shape than this one.

Unfortunately the firewall is going to be a lot of work. The owner is 6'2" and with the windshield being cut and raked back when he sits on the floor his eyes are looking at the top bar of the window. Fortunately for us the motor we are using is much smaller than what you are going with.

Pat

If the owner is tall, your best bet is to drop the floor maybe 1.5". @Cracker Tony is 6'5" and while his car isn't chopped/raked, with the dropped floor, he fits nicely in his car - with a helmet. And he's running a stock firewall.
If you google or search here for "914 dropped floor", you'll find pics of what gets done. I've attached one, just to get you thinking. I'd HIGHLY recommend you incorporate this approach, particularly since the floor is being corrected anyway.

That was my first idea especially since the floor is in bad shape but the owner is dead set against it. He is worried about it bottoming out. I think its because the original floor is pushed in in a few spots but the ride hight was about 1". It will be a few inches higher when I am done.

Pat

The more photos I see, the more it seems like this is likely the Monterey that was on the cover of European Car magazine. Have never seen the car again, whether in photos or at an event, and how many Montereys were made? How many would have been painted light gold, an awfully mature/elegant choice for someone turning a 914 into a Slantnose 911 speedster/spyder? 1? 2?

Fwiw, I kinda dug the car as it was presented when it was in the magazine. The Ruf wheels, the taillight lenses and G50 center reflector, etc. Things I can't believe I am saying, especially as I look at that patch of the original color on the firewall…but I dig this project. There are plenty of stock 914s out there…and this one reminds me of a youth spent reading car magazines. I am guessing it will be a lot of fun to drive if built back up well, and there's no need to go overboard to make it "concours" or BaT-worthy. Sounds like fun to me...

Thanks, and the more I look at it the less I think it could be the car from the magazine. This one appears to have been maroon when it left BBR. As for the number of cars done by them, I have tried to call them and see if they could answer some of these questions and it goes to a machine. I did leave a message but have not heard back.

Pat

Got some time to work on the car this weekend and got the motor all mounted in its new home.
Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Also while working on the motor mounts Jeremy took apart the front end.

Click to view attachment

Once it was all apart we realized none of the parts that he bought matched with what was taken off. It was at that point we realized it had been converted to a 911/912 frontend. Good thing he has a parts car.

While I am not an expert on Honda engines, I do know that at least some of them spin backwards from "normal" engines. And I know you are using a Boxster transmission. Are you sure you are not going to end up with 6 reverse gears and one forward one?




Clay

The K-Series spins clockwise luckily. Man that thing looks tall in the chassis.

I'm no expert on Honda motors either but I'm pretty sure it is not counter rotating. Though I have been wrong before according to my wife. That would make for an interesting first drive.

Pat