Hello everyone, my name is Duane and I love me a Porsche project. So much so that I've had five air cooled cars (mostly projects mind you) in the last few years. I've pared that down to a mere 2 911s (one massive RSR project and a pretty good little driver 75.) By fate, every single one of them was a 75, or a 77 model year.
I guess I love an underdog and a project! Any-who, here's me latest acquisition...

Click to view attachment

A 1975 Porsche 914 2.0 in Laguna Blue L50C. What a color!

Click to view attachment

It all started when I found a 76 2.7 911 motor on craigslist. I inquired and got a snappy text back from a known number. Turns out, it was a friend and the owner of the local Porsche specialty shop. I went over to check out the motor and ended up buying it. A pretty clean 2.7 core, missing a few parts, but had a set of Italian 40 IDTP carbs on it.

While there, I was shown the 914 which the 2.7 was actually destined to go into at one point but then the owner decided to go nuts and planned to put a 3.6 in it.

Click to view attachment

He had acquired thousands in parts but lost motivation in the project. He had flares, elephant suspension and all kinds of stuff. Sadly (or perhaps fortuitously,) he had sold a lot of the new parts to another 914 enthusiast, so what was left was just the original car.

Already having a big project in my 74 RSR tribute, I passed on the 914 and headed home with my new 2.7. My 75 911 has a similar motor and It's ready to rebuild. I thought I would take the best parts off both motors and make a 2.8 twin plug beast for my 75. Ya never know what condition the crank or heads are in, so I figured it was a good plan to have more parts at the ready for cheap, and then sell everything left over later.

One thing that struck me about the 914 on that first visit, was that the car was extremely dry. Here's the ....ahem... heck hole.

Click to view attachment

Though the car was taken apart, the previous owner seemed to have all the original parts (though many of them were in his storage facility and not with the car.) Another cool factoid was that the car was actually purchased in a nearby Audi/VW dealership right here in Las Vegas. Vegas in '74 was very, very small, so to have a survivor 914 in the same town that it was 46 years ago is pretty cool in my opinion.

Click to view attachment

The car was more or less stripped in preparation for a GT conversion. I remarked in my mind about how solid the car was and went home that day thinking it was a good deal but that I'm a snobby 911 guy who doesn't buy anything but 911s :-P The car was definitely marinating in the back of my mind...

Fast forward a few months later and a younger friend was talking to me about project cars, and it got me excited about the 914. On a whim I reached out to see if it was still there and bought it the next day. I think I just really liked it and I fell in love with the color. It feels like a mix between Gulf Blue and Miami Blue. I'm actually painting my RSR Gulf, so I absolutely love all the cool blue colors.

The shop had a bunch of waterpumper parts stored in the back:

Click to view attachment

PO had the original Fuchs 4 lug wheels, but no tires. the 914 was also on a pretty sweet dolly, but unfortunately that wasn't part of the sale.

Click to view attachment

I took the wheels to a discount tire and got the cheapest tires I could buy, just so I could make it a roller for the impending flatbed trailer pickup appointment.

Click to view attachment

I had to scrounge around and find some lugs to mount them. Luckily I had some open 911 lugs as well as some 996 studs to complete the temporary fix.

After getting it back to the shop I thought: "I've got a complete project build going already, wouldn't it be fun to try to build a total survivor driver with original paint, dings, dents, damage and all, but have a bit of a sleeper engine and nice interior. So mostly original, but everything works and is nice in terms of get in, turn the key, take it to the grocery and not worry about parking it. "



Stay tuned for the paint correction...

Here is a quick fix on the lugs. Click to open.

Thanks! I actually picked up that exact set, but in black. I don't like the fact that they have a 15mm socket drive instead of the stock 17mm right? Also I want to make the wheels look stock so I think I'm going to try to tape off the polished anodized pedal and use a wheeled abrasive on the black reliefs.

Another question: I have the Auto Atlanta vinyl sail kit on order, is that a good one?

Stock lugs were 19mm heads, ones shown are 17mm. Yes, AA is a good source for parts. 914Rubber is also good for lots too. Jeff B is putting together an extensive list of parts suppliers new and used. Check threads.

Thanks 914 Sixer.

Here are some additional pics of chassis and body condition.

Starting with the frame area around the battery tray drip zone. It looks pretty good imho.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Below the battery tray:

Click to view attachment

The battery tray:

Click to view attachment

A weird cut section in the engine area. I need to ask PO about this. May have been prep to install the 3.6 for clearance. I hope it's not structural. Also if anyone has a good guide to a 2.7 six conversion keeping the 901 and 4 lug, I'd appreciate it.

Click to view attachment

Poor patch panels in frunk:

Click to view attachment

2nd patch area that's only spot welded?

Click to view attachment

Both engine lid brackets have been booger welded up. I guess this might be a common break point?

Click to view attachment

Even though this is a fun driver, I'll probably patch in a trunk floor and look for some brackets, and see about fixing the battery tray and hole below in terms of wire wheeling it off, and maybe getting some 2k in a can to hit that area.

I'm guessing 156k miles if the speedo gear isn't broken.

Click to view attachment

The patch panels in the frunk are likely because the car once had dealer-installed a/c. You can buy a new panel from restoration-design if you want to replace it.

Pretty sure a 2.7 bolts right up to the 914 trans and there are plenty of conversion threads on here to help you. You don't have to change over to 5-lug.

Enjoy it! I've had a Laguna Blue '75 for 20 years.

Well sometimes pretty paint makes all the difference in motivation so I hired a friend of mine to buff the paint and polish the windows.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment


The doors are completely apart right now as I fix years of goobered up stuff. The glass looks amazing though.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

The detail job turned out pretty dang good. I can't tell if it's been repainted or not. The door sticker looks original and there's not really overspray, but some panels have some weird flaking going on.

There are also some pretty good dents. A tough to get to one in the passenger A pillar, and this guy on the passenger rear quarter.

Click to view attachment

The drivers rear quarter is the worst. Something hit pretty good here.

Click to view attachment

Part of me wants to fix everything 100% and part of me is like "you don't have time to do this car like that right now"

I thought maybe I would keep the 4 lug if they were Fuchs, unfortunately I discovered this...

Click to view attachment

American Eagle replicas... No wonder they felt much heavier than expected.

Well now I have a set of rollers for paint or something, but I really think this is going to push me to 5 lug conversion now. Can't stand fake Fuchs.

It also has these white coilovers in back that look pretty worn. Sorry not a great shot as I was framing up the bolt for the shock.

Click to view attachment

I removed the brake caliper, and was going to remove all three when I discovered the fake Fuchs. Rather than buy real wheels, I think I might invest in 5 lug hub conversion. I have 3 sets of narrow body 911 wheels, so I think one particular set of Group 4 wheels would be perfect for the car.

I also want to upgrade my 75 911S to an aluminum crossmember which I already have. I have the Boge 3" front 5 lug 911 struts with new Bilsteins, I think I take those off, put that front end on the 914 and then buy the PMB rear 5 lug hub conversion.

I have 911R offset rear 7" wheels, though they are currently wrapped in 225/50 tires which probably wont fit under these narrow flares. Maybe...

Wow Duane! Nice paint correction.

For those of you that don't know Duane, he has some awesome build threads on the bird forum. He also has a YouTube channel of him doing work on 911s. Maybe he will do some video on the 914.

Thanks Chris!



Thanks so much for that comment. If anyone wants to read through a long thread on my 911S it is here. And my 77 widebody project is here.


Here's the caliper off:
Click to view attachment

In good shape, just needs a rebuild. Question: for a 2.7 will the rear stock caliper be OK? I plan to run Alfa Milano Brembo 3" spacing aluminum brakes up front on my 3" 911 Boge struts. I fell that should do well for a 2k lb car with a about 190 hp.

Here's the donor 2.7.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

In talking with PO he said treat it like a core and that he wouldn't try to clean it and oil it up and try to run it. Which means at least 10k, a full case split, trip to ollies and slippery slope etc.

hmmm...

Good call re the motor. Better safe than sorry when you put it all together and try to start it.

Looking good!

Well a lot has transpired in the last few weeks. Mainly parts acquisition and some door work.

I bought the door rubber kits from 914Rubber as well as the full trunk kits. I figured I wanted everything that opens and closes to work and seal properly.

Click to view attachment

I made this little wood tool by cutting off the end of a brass wire welding brush:

Click to view attachment

The doors were all goofed up, but I've got them opening and closing much better now.

I've also been struggling with the passenger quarter window. I've had it in and out maybe 7 or 8 times. When the door is closed it doesn't want to fit as good as I want. The glass seems to slip and move around in the seal a bit. I tried Ian's packing wrap trick and that helped a bit. I was getting frustrated with this little corner too:

Click to view attachment

Though I think I have it better now. 14th times the charm.

There's still a pretty good gap at the top where cap piece reaches the A frame. I also have the car on a lift, that might be part of my problem.

Moving on, over the Labor day weekend, I saw that Maddogsmotorsports was having a labor day sale, so I bought the engine mount system he has:

Click to view attachment

Now I'm wondering if I need the swing arm reinforcement kit and the frame reinforcements like the 6 apparently had.


I also purchased a 6 tank kit from Ben Mcfarland:

Click to view attachment

I did a little more de-boogering of the ignition system. PO had put a push start ignition setup in as the original ignition switch died. Since the ignition was all boogered up and the keys missing, I decided I would take out all the locks and send them Curt for a re-key.

I don't have the original keys, though the owner says he has them somewhere. The PO is a local friend who has a lot of the parts in a container and as part of the deal of buying the car I promised to be patient in getting the rest of the parts since they were not in the same spot as the car when I bought it. I'd rather have a new set of keys anyway as my expectations for the originals is that they are all worn out.

Last week I went over to the local Porsche shop here in town "Carl's place, the 900 series" to have them blast my register guides. The originals were completely rusty and crusty, though everything else in the door was in really good shape.

Click to view attachment

I had also bought reproduction interior door handles and the drivers latch was an epic piece of trash.

Click to view attachment

The housing was squeezed tight making the latch bind up. I tried fixing it but the overall quality is really poor from the entire construction to the terrible paint the covered it in.

Click to view attachment

While at Carl's place I asked the owner Tony if he had any door parts. Tony found a drivers door with a good latch and pulled it out for me. Tony also had a pile of original back bumpers. So I found the straightest one for the bumper backdate. If anyone has a core front bumper let me know. I'll probably ship it to Ben to do the cooler opening mod.

Click to view attachment

Since the door job is now stalled (waiting for the exterior handles to be re-keyed) I started to dive into the ignition so I could pull that for Curt as well. I found that the steering shaft has play and that will need to be rebuilt. I also have a Mitch Leeland bushing that I bought years ago and never needed it for my 911. I wonder if they are the same shaft as a 911.

Lastly I picked up a better Yoke. I had a flat 5 arm, but this one fits with the oil cooler on:

Ebay China special. I asked for the Red one and got the white one....

Click to view attachment

Yesterday I was able to squeeze a few hours into the 914.

I thought it would be best to completely remove the wiring harness and either A, pare down the existing and replace the cut ignition wires, or B, buy a Kroon or other harness for the 6 conversion.

The 6 conversion wont actually require anything more as I'll be going weber or PMO carbs on it. The existing wires, though filthy are not too bad, save for the engine bay section which feels a little hard, presumably from the engine heat.

I started by removing the dash harness which was not too bad. I took photos of the gauges to assist with the reassemble.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

I've removed a harness from a 77 911 in the past and I'd say the job was about the same. The frunk took longer than expected as there were the parking lights, horns, and popup light motors to contend with.


I just cut off the boots to the side marker lights as they wouldn't have fit through the bulkhead anyway and were pretty much wasted. I think I'm going to delete the side markers anyway.

I had to remove the housing to the fuel level sender end to squeeze it through the hole in the firewall:

Click to view attachment

The only wires going to the front will be the Fogs, Fuel, the popup headlight motors, the headlights, the parking lights, the horns, and probably an automatic fan for the front cooler. I'm probably forgetting something else.

The rear was pretty easy too. PO had already removed the harness up to the rear lights and it was laying in the trunk.
The trunk is full of parts atm:

Click to view attachment

Back to the frunk, I'm at the point where 90% of the front is pulled into the cockpit and I need to research the best way to remove the rest. The 911 pulls out the back, so I'm thinking the 914 is the same way.

Click to view attachment

I received my 6 motor mount. I took advantage a labor day sale and received the part yesterday:

Click to view attachment

It still needs a lot of work to be welded to the bulkhead, and once it's smoothed over, seam sealed and painted it will be great.

The yoke is heavy duty and well done: I'll probably powder coat this black.

Click to view attachment

I also removed all the locks and reached out to our own Curt Curtis. Curt and I discussed some of the issues (such as having no keys and also having the 75 ignition which is very difficult to get the tumbler out.) We came up with a plan and I packed everything up and shipped it out to him.

The drivers door handle has a broken lifter arm, but luckily Curt had a replacement. I sent him mine for spare parts as I think he can combine parts to make one good one in the future for someone else.

I think once I get the harness removed, I'll move the 914 out of the shop and pull my 75 911 in. There I will remove the front suspension which will become the 914's for the 5 lug conversion. I've always wanted to upgrade my 911 from 3" boge front struts to Bilstein 3.5" caliper spacing. I have a set of aluminum S brakes that are ready to go on that car and I have a sweet set of Alfa Milano brembo aluminum 3" spacing calipers for the boge that I'll mount on the 914. Again, I'm wondering what brake combo I should pair in the back with this setup? I'll have a 911 vented rotor in back so maybe I can convert the 914 rear pad to fit that? More research is required...

Lastly, I have to take the window out yet again. I think I'll go ahead and patch the mirror holes while it's out, and then try to get this top fit better.

Click to view attachment

It just really fits poorly at the moment. I can't get the cap to sit flush, I think it requires internal trimming or something, I should also put new rubber on the A pillar as well.

Whelp, pulled the harness, rolled it up and stuck it in a box anticipating that I might ship it to Jeff Bowlsby. I need to reach out to him and see what my options are.

Click to view attachment

Rather than show you all the damage, here's a pic of one spot.

Click to view attachment

There are quite a few cuts , mainly in the middle of the tunnel where the PO added his own push start ignition setup in the center console. As a result there are some strange things happening in the dash, and engine bay.

The best part is probably the front section of the harness, though even that has been changed to accommodate an aftermarket fuel pump.

I guess my options on the harness are:

-Rebuild my own using existing as a core. Strip out unnecessary wires, re-do the ends where needed back to factory spec.

-Send to Bowlsby for fixin'

-Buy a Kroon $$$$

Lemme know if I missed anything.

More progress:
I removed the pedal cluster and shipped it to Bruce Stone for a refresh. While I've refreshed two 911 clusters, I just felt like farming it out this time. With all the work of plating, powdercoating etc it's a lot of time to do it by yourself. I even made a video of me doing my 911 cluster if anyone is interested in the process

Click to view attachment

I think mentally, I just didn't want to do it again. Plus Bruce replaces the aluminum nut with his own part if I recall so he makes it OEM +

I like reaching out to others in the 914 world to get to know the community. So often I learn something when I talk to people who've been doing this for years.


Click to view attachment


Removed the EGR counter, sourcing a single speedo cable instead of the two piece setup used for the EGR counter.

Click to view attachment

I may replace the gauge surround plastic face with a non EGR/CAT version as I don't really want or need those lights in my dash now.

Click to view attachment
Photo by Dr. B Johnson from his excellent book (restorers guide to authenticity III)

I was also thinking of adding brighter turn signals in those spots as the gauge turn signals are notoriously hard to see.

More inspection on the wiring harness is revealing a lot of funkery. Many cuts all over the place as well as melt damage, outright wrong wire replacements, and copious amounts of electrical tape. As I mentioned the ignition harness was cut and then hastily wired back together. Every. Single. Wire. While ultimately whomever did it, only needed to cut two or three of the 6 wires. Ugh. Here's the harness after I cut out the offending wire nuts, electrical tape, and odd soldering.

Click to view attachment

I believe I've found a full harness out of a 76 with only very mild differences. I'm swapping out the 914 Tach with a 911 2.7 midyear tach, and I'll need to choose a wire for oil pressure and maybe AFR. I run a dual AFR gauge made by John Bell in my 911 and it's pretty badass. :-D

This week I'm going to break down the 2.7 and get it off to Ollies. They will do the heads, crank, case, rocker re-bush and cam towers. I'll put new JE pistons in for 40 webers and new cams. Not looking to reinvent the wheel or go nuts with twin plug. Just a higher compression simple carb 2.7 will be plenty for 2k lbs.

Yall might find this interesting; Carl's place had an original 914-6 tank. I took some photos for reference. Note the holiness:

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

As I mentioned previously, I did buy Ben's setup as it's a hugely important piece of the 6 swap and it did not disappoint.

Click to view attachment

Finally, when removing the EGR counter I found a weird blob of sealant just to the right of the tunnel on the passenger side:

After popping it out I discovered a bullet hole:

Click to view attachment

This is wild to me because here's the story of my 911 that has a bullet hole in the passenger floorboard.

A closeup of the bullet hole. I reached out to the PO, and he more or less confirmed what it was.

Click to view attachment

Finding a bullet hole in my 914, which is the same model year (1975) as my 911, which ALSO has a bullet hole in the passenger floorboard (and made just one month early in 8/74) is a little freaky. To top it off I was born in June of 75, meaning myself, the 914, and the 911 were all started in the 'factory' approximately the same time.

While no bullet holes in my body (yet) I did shoot myself in the face one time with a BB gun. Does that count?

It endears me to the cars as I refresh them because I'm reminded of my own aging body as I'm exactly as old as this 914.

The bullet hole thing is wild though. To be fair I also own a 77 911S (and previously another 77S and a 67 912) and none of those had bullet holes anywhere!

Man, when you see stuff like that in a harness it is no wonder some of these cars burn up. So glad you are tackling this and addressing all of the usual issues during your build. You are going to have a great car.

You aren't kidding! Fuel and wires should be everyone's top priority. These cars are pushing half a century old.

People fret about both of those, in terms of DIY. If you think of wires in a simple way, such as it's just a hallway from one door to another, (and it's color coded!) it becomes so much easier to manage in your mind.

Making a bit more progress on the 914.

Removed the dash completely.

Click to view attachment

I noticed the top vinyl pad is tucked under the metal dash, so I decided to remove it entirely in order to put the new pad on since I'm leaving the windshield in. Not too bad of a job, just hard to get to some of those nuts that are in the frunk.

Click to view attachment

I also removed the remaining crusty rubber seals. These rubber seals were left in the sun for a few years and they are hard as a rock. I can literally snap them in half like a piece of spaghetti.

I removed everything off the targa top in prep for paint. I picked up some SEM trim and the plan is to just rattle can it.

Click to view attachment

I'm also missing one of the small passenger side aluminum trim strip. If anyone has one for sale please let me know, driver quality is fine.

Click to view attachment

The rear latches are pretty beat up. I might replace entirely.

I removed the vinyl across the targa bar and the pads and side pieces.

Click to view attachment

Sourced an entirely new harness from a 76.

Click to view attachment

If anyone needs bits and pieces from a 75/76 harness, reach out with your request. There are a lot of good parts left on my harness, especially in the frunk and dash.

Lastly I got word from Curt regarding my locks. He's waiting for the drivers handle to be finished at the chrome place and will send out. It will be nice have brand new keys and everything working.

Click to view attachment

More to come...

A friend of mine is headed to Ollies this coming week so I decided to get after it and tear the 2.7 down so he could take the major components along.

Click to view attachment

I think the big thing is to align bore, RR piston squirters, hot tank, vapor blast, and do the case savers. Ollies will also do the crank, the heads including bigger bore, clean the cam tower and RR the oil tube, and rebush the rockers.

I'll go with a nice set of JE P's and C's probably 9.8:1 compression.

MSD ignition, or 123 dizzy.

I have a set of Weber 40's I'll probably move over to this engine.

But first I have to tear it down. First was dragging it out from under another project and trying unsuccessfully to remove the early heat exchanger rear cross over pipe.

Click to view attachment

My yoke wouldn't fit on the engine due to the relief not lining up with the crossover pipe flange on the rear of the motor. Swine 'discount off brand yoke'

After an hour of twisting off a few bolts I said "f' it" and just sawzalled through the right side heat exchanger and the crossover pipe.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

These original heat exchangers were rusty and had holes in the bottom. Typically, because of the size and weight, It doesn't make sense to sell them as they are only worth about $100 bucks and way more hassle to pack and ship.

Click to view attachment

Once I got the Yoke mounted, I rallied my neighbors to help me lift it onto the engine stand.

Click to view attachment

Luckily the nuts holding the exhaust onto the motor were put on recently and came off with little persuasion.

Click to view attachment

Next up, full tear down and inspection.

Engine tear down is nearly complete. Cams are like new in the motor! I'll sell to my friend who wants to rebuild his CIS 2.7. Thecase has time serts in for the head studs which I'm now removing to make way for case savers. A friend was selling brand new Mahle jugs and CP 10.3:1 jugs for a great price so I scored those.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

I was almost done tearing down the motor when Luft8 happened. My 911 made it as a featured car in the show, but I hit a rock on Angeles Crest hwy the Friday before, and I think knocked some rust loose in the tank clogging up the 911 fuel system. Unfortunately, though I tried my best to get the car in the show, I couldn't get it done. I did attend without the car and the show was great, snapped a few pics like this GT:

Click to view attachment

And the row of 914s

Click to view attachment

and of course a 916

Click to view attachment

Despite working on the car in makeshift situations in LA, I couldn't get it running reliably and had to have it towed back home to Vegas.

Click to view attachment

I decided to go ahead and pull the front end off (as it was going to be the new 914 front end) and fix my fuel issue. So that's delayed me a bit but also will help ultimately with the 5 lug conversion on the 914.

Click to view attachment

The boge 3" spacing struts have new Bilstein inserts and refreshed A calipers from PMB, but I'll probably throw on my Alfa Milano Brembo aluminum calipers that I sourced a few years back.

Click to view attachment

The 911 also had a steel crossmember, so I may source another aluminum one for the 914. If anyone has a good clean one let me know.

I got my brake pedal cluster back from Bruce stone, it looks amazing.

Sorry can't find the pic but his work is top notch. Very happy with it.

I also got my new key set back from Curt Curtis, and all the locks, ignition, and outer door handles are ready to go back on the car.

Once I get the 911 back up and running, the 914 will get the new front end!

Great progress Duane; thanks for sharing.

Cheers!

Was able to finish tearing the engine down. timeserts galore, a little over half of the timeserts came out with the head studs. I heat the stud with a MAP torch, then used my trusty snapon collete stud remover. It's one of my favorite tools. It just works awesome and trying to do it any other way would be nearly impossible. Double nuts? maybe. But this thing is quick and easy.

I split the case which was easy. I made absolutely sure all nuts were removed, then just gently tapped with a mallet.

Click to view attachment

Then I removed the crank. Bearings are in good condition actually, but will obviously replace.

Click to view attachment

I looked through my storage and found a flywheel (wasn't one on the engine when I bought it) Dug it out only to find it was a 3.2 flywheel from my widebody project and wont fit the early 6 bolt crank. I'll have to remove the rods on the bench horizontally.

The oil pump came out and looked good as well. I have a fresh Glen Yee Pump from years ago when I was planning a more mild rebuild on my 3.2 engine. I've since gone nuts on that one with a gt3 pump, so I'll probably put the 4 rib carrera pump in this engine.

Click to view attachment

The IMS gears are good, no chips in the aluminum gear that I see yet. Chains have been replaced previously, but will get new ones obviously.

Click to view attachment

My buddy is heading to Ollies tomorrow to drop off some other stuff so I'll get it all packed up today for the journey.

Progress on the 914, mostly in parts acquisition.

Ollies called, crank had scoring and grooves. (I definitely felt a fingernail groove on one of the mains before sending it) So it's a 10/10. That means oversized bearings for mains and rods. I think they are like 3X more expensive, but I haven't looked lately. The trouble is that I CAN find a 2.7 crank, sure, but then I gotta send it to ollies and hope it doesn't need a regrind. I'll be 500+ into it for a guess. Unless someone has a 2.7 crank that has already been to Ollies that is STD/STD and they want to sell, I'm interested.

Case needs typical 2.7 stuff, case savers etc.

In the mean time I got 6 engine tin from Ben, really nice stuff, very well made.

I also received my locks back from Curt, and my pedal assembly from Bruce Stone. All that looks and works great.

I bought a full replacement wire harness out of a 76. And, extra switches and the gauge cluster from the same guy. My guage cluster has the EGR holes in it, so now I have an option for a smoothie.

I also dug out a oil temp/ press gauge from a 77 i parted out and sent it along with the fuel gauge to John Bell to make a 3 gauge cluster for the 6 conversion.

My idea is to keep this sort of a sleeper. Narrow body, 914 looking dash etc.

I bought a new dash, it was arrived damaged with white drip staining all over it, and a manufacturers defect right in the middle of the dash. It was also maybe 3x heavier than the original dash. Not that big of a deal in terms of the weight, but the between the weight, the defect right smack in the middle and the horrible drip stains all over it, obviously it had to go back.

Click to view attachment

I had to move the car out of the shop to swap the 911 front end. That project is taking much longer than anticipated with a bad case of "while you're in there" Follow me on IG for weekday stories on that.

I'm not sure if I mentioned I picked up the 901 side shift trans as well. I'm still waiting on the PO to get me the rest of the parts. Seats, gas tank, lights. Those are some of the big things. Oh yeah, title and keys would be nice too.

I also took advantage of Maddogs black Friday sale and have boxed reinforcements for the trailing arms incoming as well as the side frame reinforcement plates.

Lastly I acquired a set of Italian Weber 40 IDAP 3c carbs. I'm well versed in these as I run them on my 75 911. The seller advertised 34 main venturi (chokes) but it actually came with 32mm chokes. In the market for 34mm if you have some.

Click to view attachment

The carbs were serviced back in 2017 by Paul at Performance Oriented. Paul did the butterflies and shafts and some basic JB weld fixing from pitting.

They came with PMO tall manifolds, Sheridan amber rain hats, Jerry Woods throttle cable setup (Very cool!), and PMO fuel rails. Seller also threw in a fuel pump, and fuel filter.

Click to view attachment

If working on my 911 webers have taught me anything it's that you absolutely have to completely tear down any carbs you get used. All the way. I found so many issues, so of course I'm glad I did. Gaskets missing, o rings missing, wrong chokes, old fuel residue etc.

While they were packed pretty good, they failed to reinforce points that stick out with cardboard. Guys it's a must. They just poke through bubble wrap. Just take 2 minutes to make a little cardboard brace around stuff that sticks out. All the rain hat stands were bent from ping ponging off the sides of the box through the bubble wrap. Just assume the carriers are going to THROW your box. Base your packing on that.

Click to view attachment

Now I need a new shaft. I've pressed this one out already, but still, costs me so much time and energy to fix something that the seller could have easily prevented.

Also if you ship something that had gas in it at some point, either hide it with sealed plastic bags or take them apart partially and completely clear the gas out and let them dry.

My fed ex driver was livid. His whole truck was saturated in gas smell.

When I broke them down, there was probably 3-5 ounces of fuel in the fuel pump and carbs. :-/ Not to mention the danger of shipping this. I can't believe it made it to my house at all and didn't get flagged by the carrier.

Anyway, rant done. Pack stuff nicely, we all know each other. Actually, i would say go out of your way and overpack everything. And be 100% transparent in your For Sale ad. We're going to see each other at Luft, or a rally, or something right? It's a small community.

More progress on the 914. Currently it's sitting under a tarp outside my shop as I complete work on the 911.

Haven't had as much time in busy December to get to the shop and a lot of unforeseen supplier issues with the 911 parts I needed have slowed work, but I continue to source parts for the build.

Anywho, I did spot a front bumper on Facebook marketplace for a decent price (I already scored a clean rear bumper for the backdate locally.) The front bumper met a few requirements, mainly that it was not chromed and not severely rusted. Seller sent me a pic of his kitchen sink too! :-D

Click to view attachment

It looked pretty clean so I made a deal to have it shipped from NC to WI where I asked Ben Mcfarland to apply his metal skillz to customize it for the GT opening.

Click to view attachment

He sent me a few pics of his progress already and I'm excited to get it mounted up.

Click to view attachment

I also asked him to delete the license plate holes. That's something I did on my 911 valance and I really like the smoothie look.

I really dig this car.

Click to view attachment

Definitely the direction I'm heading. Clean, narrowbody with GT front, and I think that's the Patrick Motorsports "Limited Edition" valance, but not 100% sure. Anyone know who owns this car? More pics!

I also picked up a new manifold bell crank stud from Larry over at youroil.net. He's been a great source for PMO parts. If you recall from earlier, the Webers got a bit banged up in transit to me from the seller and the bell crank stud arrived snapped in half. I'll get the new one pressed in and it will be good as new.

Click to view attachment

I like dealing with Larry, I get an old school vibe from him, though I've never met him in person. He's pleasant to deal with and always delivers. I was curious how hard it would be to get PMO parts given that Richard Parr had sold out to Empi. Not sure how Larry got the part, but it happened.

PO of the 914 called me out of the blue and said he had the remaining parts from the car. I dropped everything and went to his place of business where he had piled the parts he found into a big shipping crate. I loaded it all in my SUV and headed home.

Parts included : Gas tank, seats, seat rails, seat backer pad, engine sound pad, door sills, door cards, front headlight assemblies (with sylvania halogen - looking for Hella set), antenna, original front turn signals - (Those were Hella), rocker panels, washer reservoir, engine crossmember (2.0), and one of the missing engine grille side pieces (still missing one).

The only bummer is that both rear tailights are missing. The entire assemblies. Maybe they'll show up yet.

Click to view attachment

I guess that's the AC cover for the frunk sitting on top of the seats?

The backer pad is a bit warped from storage, and not quite sure if I can steam it to straighten it out or what. I might not even have to reupholster it.

Click to view attachment

Door panels are in OK condition but I already took advantage of 914rubber's recent group buy deal for new ones. Plus I'm deleting the door pockets and handles and running an RS style panel (Need all the interior space I can get!)

Click to view attachment

Finally, I also got a spare AWC cast Fuchs Replica. So now I have 5 of these.

Click to view attachment

I'll probably run my cookies that I had powdercoated bronze. I have 6 cookies, 4 15X6 and 2 15X7. The 7 might squeeze in back as it has a 205/50 on it.

Click to view attachment

Next up is to ship the seats and dash to my Upholster and to buy a carpet kit. Heard the ebay kit from Germany is solid.

Great thread thanks for sharing. Your bumper will be done this weekend.

Wanted to add a pic of the 901:

Click to view attachment

And also forgot to mention that I sent the onboard oil cooler of the 76 911 motor to Pacific Oil coolers in CA. I've had multiple coolers done there, and they've always turned out excellent.

I hadn't heard from them in a while so I called up and was surprised to find out that my core was flagged as unrepairable!

Click to view attachment

Never had that happen. They asked if I wanted to scrap it. That's a pretty expensive blow. :-/

Also interested in the Patrick Motorsports rear side shift kit. Looks like a nice kit that I'll need for the 6 conversion. Any feedback from yall on this kit?

I have no experience with that kit. I offer a much cheaper alternative that I have done one multiple conversions and they all shift really well.

@Graydingo

Loving your updates and super jealous of your bravery, skill, and available time to tackle all of your projects.

Can you share a link to the carpet kit referenced above, pls?

Thank you! I don't remember where I spotted this, maybe it was here, but they are about $100.00 more than one of the big US suppliers, but A couple of reviews from those that installed it were very happy with the fit, finish and quality.

Black carpet kit for Porsche 914 LHD Made in Germany Loop carpet

Since I'm bumping the thread again, I got another pic from Ben now with the license plate holes filled and some additional finish work. I'm just learning how to weld but for something like the bumper that is quite prominent, I thought I would trust someone with a few more hours on the welder! :-)

Click to view attachment

I did receive my box control arm reinforcements and rear frame reinforcement plates, so my goal is to weld those on by myself.

Someone on FB marketplace had a set of fog grilles from AA. I picked those up for a great price and hope they survive the shipping process. I'd like to use old school lights.

Click to view attachment

I personally don't care for halogens, or LED headlights on vintage cars. I do 90% of my driving during the day anyway.

It's fun to parts hunt like this and pull the trigger on low risk items, because in a few weeks when the project is maybe in a lull, I'll get a random box in the mail and my brain will say "Oh yeah, here's that part I found." That will motivate me to move forward on the project and it helps keep up momentum in these long term projects.

Here are the steel rocker panels. Likely roll those though I do like the aluminum ones offered by a member here on 914World.

Click to view attachment

You can also kinda make out the beat up fiberglass front and rear valance. Obviously can't use the front anyway, but maybe the rear if I fix the cracks...

Here's the 2.0 crossmember. I'll list some of these items on the WTB eventually.

Click to view attachment

I'll have the cookies, but I also have Group4wheels Torque Thrusts that I think will look awesome on the 914. That's the beauty of having a narrow-body midyear 911 is that the wheels should be interchangeable when I want to switch it up.

Click to view attachment

The TT have a 32 ET which allows for a wider tire to be run in back. Haven't test fit it on the 914 yet, but I'm anxious to see if I can squeeze it under there with a 225/50 like I can on my 911. The 911 front donor suspension has 65mm steel studs. So I'll match the back with the same.

Those longer studs are nice for a 911R replica Fuchs back there if I want, which will give me the ability to run more tire on the inside to clear the stock flares. Who knows until I start stuffing tires and wheels under there. I know of at least one gentleman who's running 911R wheel in back, I think he modified the control arm to be skinnier though.

Little update today. I knew I'd want to keep an eye on the temperature and oil pressure for the flat 6 conversion, but I'm not interested in running a center console for moving the gas gauge or other gauges down in the middle.

Enter John Bell who agreed to make me a custom combo gauge out of my 914 gas gauge and a 77 donor oil temp gauge out of a 911. Here are the donor gauges:

Click to view attachment

And a close up of the 914 stock 75 gauge. I love the simplicity of these VDO gauges.

Click to view attachment

I sent the donor gauges off around 2 weeks ago and today received this pic -and should have this beautiful example in my hands tomorrow.

Click to view attachment

John has laser cut faces for the triple combo style already made up. For a moment I considered a quad gauge, but they are too busy, and it was going to be quite a bit more. I want VOLT meter so maybe I'll update the speedo at some point to have a subtle volt meter in the bottom.

I'll need two wires and I think the EGR wires may work as they will already be in the harness running up to the cluster from the engine bay. I actually removed the entire EGR harness from the harness of my 75 full harness. If I remember there's a blue and a blue/white stripped, and maybe a third that was emissions related that I can commandeer for my purposes. I have a 76 harness going in that should have that same sub harness, but if not, there are myriad wires I can snag for the pared down flat 6 conversion as I'll be running carbs. So anything that had to do with the 75 2.0 motor can now be a donor line.

Minor updates to keep the project in motion.

Mainly it's research and planning stuff, so not much in the way of fun build photos to look at.

I was able to get my interior bits down to Autos International in SoCal. Initially, I had my buddy take just the seats, the dash upper and lower, and the rear pad behind the seats.

Click to view attachment

My friend John had some extra interior bits that he brought down to give to our interior guy and without me knowing. John offered to let me have them, and after thinking a bit more about it, I decided to use the targa pieces he brought down. There were two front targa pieces, the back and the two back side pieces.

Click to view attachment

While the originals are still here in Vegas, I had only planned to reuse the side pieces as they were serviceable as is. I already purchased new front and back pieces from 914 rubber, so I thought I was done with those pieces.

After looking at the 914 bits, they are OK, but I thought it would be better to have all the interior bits recovered with the same material from the same place.

That's going to be a nuts bill when it comes up, but the Targa interior pieces are so important. They need to look great and feel great and they are high visibility for the project. I want it all to match too. It would have been a shame to put nice seats and dash in and have it not match.

Speaking of rubber, I picked up AA new front and back bumper tops.

Click to view attachment

They teased a sale a few weeks ago and I jumped on it. I haven't unwrapped them, but they hyped them as being great quality reproductions.

Click to view attachment

Now my backdate parts list is complete. I have the front valance lower which I will modify for the GT cooler opening to match the bumper.
Click to view attachment

Engine is still at Ollies. I expect that it will be done here in a month or so.

Here's the 10.3:1 CP Pistons and Mahle jugs I got for a song.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

I'll have about 17K in the motor in parts including the Webers I picked up. That's not too bad knowing the astronomical cost of air cooled Porsche flat 6 motors. It will take another couple thousand to get it finished up, but I think I'll have a fresh 2.7 for about 25k in the end. That's very very reasonable these days. Of course this is me doing the full teardown, rebuild, and tune.

I still need some big parts like a 901 clutch/flywheel/pressure plate, on board oil cooler and heat exchangers. That's about 6k right there.

I think it's worth it. I love the flat 6 motors. Thanks to Nathan's Design for the visualizer!

Click to view attachment

Coming along nicely Duane.

Some updates on the Laguna Blue Project.

I've taken on a friends 911 project so the 914 will be delayed a bit, but I'm still working toward getting big things done, like the engine rebuild and now the 901.

I'm pretty sure this is the cars original transaxle, and after opening it up, it definitely looked like a 156k miles had been run through it.

Click to view attachment

Notably, the pinion gear is trash. Check out the valleys of pitting!

Click to view attachment

So I'm in the market for a new R&P for this 75 if anyone has a good set.

The gear (don't know what it's called) that drives the reverse gear is also chipped. Not sure if it's savable.

I thought it would be cool to give the case the black mag treatment from Childsmotorsport. I called and talked to Chris Childs over there and got a price to do the case. He bead blasts and then applies the same old school factory (Chromate?) coating like some of the early race boxes had.

Here's some of his work:

Click to view attachment

Removing the studs was pretty easy and fun. I love my snap-on stud remover. It's one of those tools that I got from my late dad and so I associate it with him and using it gives me nostalgia and joy.

A little MAP torch to loosen things up and out they come.

Click to view attachment

Next up is removing the races, which I've never done. Any tips? Then I can clean the case and send off to Chris for his coating.

In other news, my interior guy Dorian from autos international reached out. There were definitely some hurdles namely the rear piece behind the seats was in pretty bad shape. He doesn't have a correct panel on hand so his trimmer was worried it wouldn't fit right because the backing was water damaged and warped.

Luckily Scott over at 914 rubber came to the rescue and supplied me with an old backer pad. I can fit that in my car, then send to Dorian to get the German vinyl applied.

Speaking of interior the dash is done. Though it was more expensive, I wasn't happy with the aftermarket rubber dash, so I decided to rescue the original. The original always fits perfectly and it's way way lighter.

Here it is in the sun, getting that vinyl to tighten up. Or is it leather? Can't remember what I opted for for the Dash. I think I went all German Vinyl. Dorian uses the real stuff. That shop is amazing.

Click to view attachment

I went bold on the seats and I can't wait to show them off, but I'm going to keep it a surprise for now until I get a picture. So excited!

Lastly, I haven't received the case, heads, crank back from Ollies yet. Word to the wise, if you get a project, send the case right away. It takes time.

When it rains, it pours. I got a call from Ollies Engineering AND Autos International telling me my engine machine work and interior was complete. I was hoping to space those two bills out a little more, but you never know with items that take long lead times.

I haven't been able to swing on down to ollies yet, but I did have a friend pick up the interior this weekend and bring it back to Las Vegas.

Here are some pics from Autos International:

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

The backer pad turned out beautiful, I want to thank Matt Whitesell, and Scott from 914 Rubber for the assist on that.

I thought it would be really fun to do the interior in Pascha. The material is a beautiful authentic Pascha Cloth that I think was sourced from Germany.

I've always loved that pattern and I think it will look great inside. I know the 914 never had Pascha as an option, but since this is an outlaw build anyway, I'm just having fun.

What do you all think?

Details, details, details. Autos International nailed it and just earned a future customer!

Yeah, I've had a several sets of seats and two Porsche dashboards done there. Autos International is the best Porsche interior shop that I know of. They completed the project in a timely manner too. Highly recommend those guys and tell Dorian hello for me.

So did AI supply the Pasha or did you source it & provide it to them?

Autos International sourced it. They didn't have it in stock, but they did have sample Pascha in the 3 colors (Blue/Black) (White/Black) (ivory/black). It was tough to choose as all three had their merits. Blue was a close second for me, as the car is blue, but in the end I just love the black/white Pascha and it's really bold which I think is fun. I was afraid the ivory/black would just look like dirty white Pascha.

It took a few weeks to get it in once I agreed, it was $500 upcharge for seats and door panels to cover the material. I think it runs about $140/yard typically if you source it yourself.

When I uses a vendor like that I don't try to goof around and supply parts. Some of the profit from the job comes from material upcharge. It's not easy running a small business so I don't try to mess with saving a few dollars and causing a bunch of headaches for the shop. I'll be saving a lot of money doing the engine build and building the car on my own, but interior and paint is probably the one area I'll pay out for.

In other news, I found an original 914-6 oil cooler. If you recall, the original 2.7 cooler was flagged as scrap metal by pacific Oil coolers.

Click to view attachment

This one's coming from Europe, I paid the guy a little more to pack it carefully and should arrive in the next few weeks.

Click to view attachment

The 6 cooler is pretty unique as it has the 90 degree turn for the oil tube. I think it will be much easier to run the oil line this way as the original 914-6 are setup this way.

Click to view attachment

I read a little from Ben M. about this issue so I'm happy to find a cooler that will hopefully help with oil line fitment.

Hi yall. Some small updates here and there as I finish up an 85 carrera project for my friend.

Regarding the previously mentioned cooler that I purchased out of Austria, I had it sent over to Pacific Oil Coolers and they red tagged it. Making it the second red tagged cooler in a row that I've sent them. This one had multiple core leaks unfortunately. These old coolers are aging out now at a high rate it seems.

I reached out to the seller on Pelican and he said it wasn't his problem. Imagine selling a $700 item that is completely useless and then saying "tough luck, not my problem"

I disagreed and luckily had buyer protection via paypal. Long story short, it took 6 months to get my money back and I was out about $150 in shipping costs and testing from Pacific on this bum cooler.

Seller was completely unreasonable, but I'm glad he had to (mostly) make me whole even though he drug it out as long as he could. Initially I offered to take a loss and offered for him to pay me a fraction of what I paid. He hardened his heart and said it wasn't his problem, so I went for the full purchase price with shipping and that's what he had to pay me back. Just a shame he wasted both of our times and soiled his reputation in the process. Steer clear of this seller is my recommendation.

So watch out for a used 914-6 cooler out of Austria. My experience is that this unethical seller will try to resell this bad cooler as I had to ship it back to Austria to do the paypal refund. It'll probably show up here in the classifieds or Pelican again. It looks brand new because Pacific cleaned up the outside when they tested it. He also hid damage to the outside in his pics and didn't mention any of that damage in his sales ad.

It's such a small community, I don't know why you wouldn't just say, "my bad, the cooler is trash, lemme refund you."

I sold many parts on Pelican and other Porsche sites. One time a guy reached out to me a year later with an issue. I offered a full refund on the spot. It wasn't even anything my fault, but my reputation is way more important than that.

In a case where a part is bad from the start and then verified faulty by a reputable third party company, why this individual would try to keep my money is beyond me.

Anyway, rant over, the silver lining is that CSF just introduced a really nice 914-6 cooler to the market so I'll be buying one of these babies! Pic courtesy CSF:

Click to view attachment

In other news, I reached out to Chris over at Childs Motorsports near Redding CA and inquired about using his chromate process to treat my recently torn down 901 side shift for the project.

I've been following him on IG for a while and like what I saw so i sent my 901 and some other parts off to him.

Chris was awesome to work with. Good communication and reasonable prices. His process is a chemical conversion coating. The parts get dipped into a bath that reacts with the magnesium to convert the surface layer. The bonus is a nice black sheen like early Porsche race boxes. I guess it's similar to the Dow 7 process and provides a corrosion resistant layer. He then sprays some wd40 to further help with corrosion resistance.

Click to view attachment

I also sent off for George Hussey's "How to convert a 914/4 to a 914/6 manual. All the info can be found here on the forum of course, but it's nice to have a little guide book and I discovered a few things about the process I didn't know before.

Click to view attachment

Lastly, I came across this cool build by FP Martinez, pics are his too.

I like it because he retained the narrow body, but he pulled the rear quarters out and "pie cut" them. I hope he doesn't mind, but I'm sharing his pics here, heck he might even already have them somewhere on here.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Car looks really good. He's opting for 16" X 8 wheels in back which I think I'll stick to 15X7"

Click to view attachment

I'm mostly set on running 15X7 in back with a 225/50 so it may not require much cutting, just some careful pulling and rolling.