Hi Everyone,

Long time lurker, 1st time post-er. I purchased my first 914 in 1987. It was a sunflower yellow 1.7 that eventually succumbed to Michigan's harsh climate.

I have a 1974 914 that I am converting into a modified 914 GT tribute car. The car was originally from Oregon, and has good rockers, minor hell hole damage, and a rotten rear floor - A relatively clean 914.

This is the first time I have attempted a project like this. Started the restoration in January 2021, and it has been a long road. Setting up the garage, sourcing tools, learning to sand blast, weld-fabricate-paint (still learning all three), chasing down parts, receiving box after box.

Big thank you to Ian Megale, Jeff Robenolt, and Chris Baker for parts, assistance, and advice.

I am 18 months in, so apologies for the posting catch up.

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Fast forwarding, this is the car stripped down.

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Car was originally Marathon Blue. There is worse, but the floor was eaten pretty bad.

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Up on the rotisserie for sand blasting and body work. The Kobalt compressor did not last long. Not enough oomph.

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Sand blasting is not fun unless you have a dedicated set up, which I do not have.

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More Sand Blasting.

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Welded in new rear floor and inner reinforcements. Yep, I know the welds are not perfect. Learning as I go.

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Welded in the outer clamshell reinforcement.

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Welded in all the subframe reinforcements, patched the BBQ grill.

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All primed with 2K Epoxy.

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Fresh coat of Blue Turquoise J1.

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Digging the color. Ready to start the long process of putting back together.

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Excellent job

Modified the pedal assembly to attach to a hydraulic clutch. Reversed the clutch pedal spring to return after the pedal is pushed (opposite of how it normally works - it is counter acting the clutch cable).

Requires bending the spring in a vice to reverse it. And drilling a new hole near the bottom of the pedal assembly base.

This is a picture of the pedal assembly unmodified. I will see if I can find the picture with the modification.

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Rewired the entire car with a new fuse panel, upgraded LED relay. German car, Japanese engine and trans, American wiring kit designed for a Camaro or Mustang. Really difficult to figure out - kind of like doing this puzzle .

Prospero's Garage color wiring diagram helped a lot. Trial and error, and scouring the internet. I ended up having to use the GM headlight switch, with floor switch, to operate the high / low beams. I will modify to look mostly stock.

I wired in a separate, hidden, 3 way switch to operate the headlight motors. Not sure if others have done it, but I thought it was pretty ingenious.

I guess I have reached my limit of picture posting. Will add to this thread in the next few days.

Very cool project. But you skipped over a vital part...where are the pics of the flares being installed? I like the color.

Wow! All that looks really good. Great color, can't wait to come for a visit and see it in person.
On the picture limit, I always resize them down to 30-40%. That makes for more pics loaded and saves space on the 914 World servers.
And let's see some pics of that wiring, too!

95% of us learned the same way. You need to jump in with both feet, be your worst critic, admit & overcome your mistakes, be proud of your achievements and maintain motivation. Dedicated in short. Good job.

@76-914 , @tygaboy , @Cairo94507 . Thanks for the words of encouragement. Good advise on resizing the pictures, although not sure why the forum software keeps some pics in their correct orientation, and skews others 90 degrees (even though they were uploaded in the correct orientation).

Here are a few (many) pics of the flare installation. I included some detailed pictures of how the flares integrate with the existing body work. In my searches this was not very intuitive and took some digging. Hopefully will help someone visualize more easily in the future.

I have new respect (mind blowing amazement!!) for the folks that have enough talent to weld in flares with all metal and no filler.

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Network wiring pictures. Rewired the entire car including new fuse panel, upgraded LED relay. German car, Japanese engine and trans, American wiring kit designed for a Camaro or Mustang. Really difficult to figure out - kind of like doing this puzzle .

The steering column wiring was the most difficult, figuring out about 20 wires. Every year 914 is different and the configuration of the relays is convoluted and not logical, like they were trying to save money on materials over logic. This makes using the stock headlight switch impossible (I spend many hours and could not figure a way to make the headlights AND the motors work together), as the relays that it depends on are part of the architecture of the stock wiring harness, which is gone.

Between the steering column
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The headlight switch
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And the hazard light switch, I almost had a nervous breakdown.
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Prospero's Garage color wiring diagram helped A LOT and was about 90% correct - Best $25 I have spent in my life! Trial and error, and scouring the internet. I ended up having to use the GM headlight switch, with floor switch, to operate the high / low beams. I will modify to look mostly stock.

I wired in a separate, hidden, 3 way switch to operate the headlight motors, similar to a home 3 way switch. Most switches are a two stage switch. This one is a right circuit #1, Center Off, left circuit #2. The switch interacts with relays in the headlights, and the #1 raises the headlights, and #2 brings them down, and then they reverse. Works like a dream. Not sure if others have done it, but I thought it was pretty ingenious. 3-way toggle switch on the right in the picture below.

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The power feed to the switch comes in from the fuse panel, and then out again to the headlights (red wires) below. Then your white (circuit #1) and yellow (circuit #2) completes the circuit to raise or lower the headlights. Either can be on either outside connector.

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Wired up fuel pump.

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DynaBat Battery holder and dedicated fan relay in front trunk.

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Fuse panel tucks up under dash on passenger side, behind the glove box.

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Encased everything in wire loom. Note the picture below, the blade connectors were shrink wrapped after the picture was taken.

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Awesome gauge cluster custom made for speedhut gauges. Thank you @tygaboy !!

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Installed Horns and fogs.

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Engine and transmission is 95% ready for installation. Not sure if the air cleaner is going to clear, but I will figure that out during installation.

Would appreciate any solutions that does not involve cutting trunk metal.

Now if I can just figure out what kind of driveshafts I need, and how long. I think 19 3/4" but still checking on that.

If anyone knows what is needed between the 914 trailing arm, and a Subaru 5spd transmission I would greatly appreciate your thoughts!

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This is my second JDM engine. The first one was a disaster - burnt valves and oil black as coal sludge. The new engine is a peach - practically new condition on inside with caramel color oil.

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The car sits like this today. Next is rear suspension, brakes, and fitting hood, trunk and doors for a final coat of paint.

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beautiful car and work

Love the color and all the artsy cam chain pictures! Who was your reference for the frunk and trunk reinforcements?

Thanks! Its been a long road, but starting to take shape.

Hi, thanks for the complement. My reference was Patrick Motorsports. I wanted to keep the stock look as much as possible and not get into roll bars, but still stiffen things up. Between the rocker reinforcements and tube reinforcements it should be plenty stiff.

That looks like a 30D but that intake plenum looks different. If it is a D series then Jeff Robenolt makes a R series manifold with a D series TB that allows you to use the throttle cable. You can flip it so you won't need to cut the trunk. If that is a 30R just flip the intake.

Wow! I saw the copper color when I entered the thread and thought that's a rare color. Then the color change. Still like the blue though. Really dig the copper

This project is shaping up nicely.

@rick 918-S I believe that Color is a custom color and not a Porsche color. Seeing it in the flesh, I would not interpret as copper, but more of a metallic mauve.

@76-914 yes, the engine is a EZ30D, with an EZ30R intake and full Jeff R reconfigured wiring harness and intake conversion plate.

I was going to flip the intake but then it does not appear that it would clear the alternator or the wiring harness would align the connectors.

I am open to suggestions! Thanks.

Are you keeping the AC compressor and power steering pump in place??? Post pic's of the harness dilemma. I thought that kit was made so that you can flip the intake and not cut the trunk???

@76-914 Sorry for the slow reply. I will not be using the AC compressor or the power steering pump. I might be able to leave the wiring harness. But, if I reverse the intake to face forward, I do not see how I will clear the alternator, and if the fuel rails/piping will clear the transmission housing. But the alternator seems like the real blocker.

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Cool build and fast progress! Keep the pics and updates coming, love that color!

would it be possible to rotate the alternator down in the bracket and get a smaller belt.