So, I finally decided to create a build thread for my 2nd 914.

Quick Story: Last summer (6/2022), I found this car listed on FB Marketplace and it intrigued me. It was listed as a ’72 but some of the pictures were telling me that this thing was probably a ’74 and possibly an LE. Against my better judgement, I decided to call. The man who owned the car told me that it was, in fact, an LE and that the “72” was a misprint. I told him I’d come pick it up and pay him his asking price of $1000. So, I rented a U-Haul trailer for $68 (incl. insurance), and drove 4 hours from Austin to Leonard, TX, which is about an hour northwest of Dallas. Got the car home without issue and shoved it into a storage unit for a month while I got thing prepared at my house/garage. Unfortunately for me, I had promised my wife that I wouldn't restore another car "in our garage". So, I'm stuck in the backyard [for now] attempting to restore a very rusty, old car. It’s kind of a pain when it rains and have to cover everything up, but I prefer being outside.

Condition: Poor! To say that the floor pans were a little rough, was an understatement. The car had been sitting in a field with all the doors/hoods off for years. This is never a good thing. When I saw the car in person, it had about 5 inches of wet leaves in the bottom. The trunk replacement was a "hack" with no welds to the transmission support. I can’t imagine driving the thing with the backend loose like that. The hell hole was in horrible condition with about ¾ of the passenger side longitudinal ripped open with rust. The list goes on. However, it did have its original 2.0L (minus FI) + transmission, and the dealer installed A/C. To be honest, the condition didn't bother me at all. I love restoring and repairing these cars. Plus the COA (or whatever they call it now) came back as a CanAm package car. This thing needs to be saved! I’m going to do my best to bring back this bumblebee. I've got a lot of pictures to post but here are some of the initial pics.

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That looks like some work ahead of you! Look forward to watching it progress.

congrats

Some additional tear down photos. Love the pic of the engine with that lovely single carb. Yikes!

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I actually like the single carb for one reason.

If it's in generally reasonable shape it will make any T4 engine function.

No balance bullshit, not finicky at all. Just install for instant 914 intake system.

My 75 came with a brand new (2022) progressive that I will replace with IDFs (already have 3 sets now) but for initial run testing and getting the engine back up I will use the progressive as it's stupid simple.

Good carb set up to test engines with.

Almost mistake proof.

Don't toss it. That part might quickly make that car into something you no longer have to push around!

It's a luxury to "have it move under its own power"...


Tell your wife you're not crazy. I'd have bought that in a heartbeat as well for the 1K.
Maybe you are crazy, guess I am as well.
Big project but well bought IMO...

100% agree! When it's time, it'll be used on my test stand, for sure!

Paint Removal: My daughter and I spent many hours outside hand scraping the paint off this thing. Sometimes it came off easy, other times in was a real PITA! I had my last 914 blasted but thought I'd spend the time and save the money. Aside from a few places like the cowl, and air tubes in the door jams, the body was pretty rust free. It did have a few dings. The drivers front corner and the rear wheel area were hit as some point. But damn! Those rear quarters look good! Finally, I hit the fenders with black epoxy paint.

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Bracing: Based on what I saw of the tunnel and cross member I decided to level the car and bolt/weld in some steel bracing before I started doing any more of the restoration.

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You've already made serious progress. Some parts of it look kick ass!

Some look "ass kicked"...

I especially dislike the cowl (bitch to fix) and the racoon sized hole in the driver's floorboard.

How old is the daughter?

I'm a huge believer in starting them out early. I did so with my boys and my oldest is a Senior at Tarleton University. He's Mechanical engineering with a minor in Electrical.

He's a better fabricator than ANYONE at the school including the instructors...

He goes "Mark Rober" on all of the projects and sets the "Bar" so much higher than anyone has hit in the past.

He built a bridge from cardboard that spanned 3 feet. It went over 1000 lbs. without failure (1K with students jumping on it!). The instructor STOPPED the "Test to Failure" as they started to worry about safety.
His was the only bridge in the history of the class that was un-breakable and we HAD to use a chainsaw to put it in the dumpster after he was finished.
His closest competition hit 175lbs before failure...

In his Digital Printing Class he took over the instruction of the Instructor as she had NO IDEA what the school printers could do...

4 times his projects have been confiscated by the instructors as they have wanted his bits to show future classes what is actually possible if you put the effort in.

Most of Bryan's contemporaries have never operated a power tool!
They can all design things.
98% of them cannot build what they design...

Now, there is one BAD aspect to having your children help you with the cars.
When they get older, they will CLAIM the car for themselves...
As a parent, you are SCREWED.
You WILL give it to them!

Bryan has already claimed one of my Zs and the ONLY MR2 turbo (91) that I own.

It ALL starts with "You wanna help me with the car?"...

Trunk Restoration (part 1): What a pain! The P.O. decided to cut the trunk to fit the repair panel instead of the other way around. This type of repair is extremely difficult due to the shape of the upper trunk pan above the trans support. Maybe it was all rusted out but I doubt it. After removing the beat-up, old rear panel, I decided to use the existing trunk repair panel but cut it in two pieces. That way I could focus on the top section first and then fit and weld in the lower pan after that. The following photos show the pan replacement. Note the use of frame rail paint and marine wax inside the trans support.

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LOL! Very impressive. Yeah, I refuse to teach my son how to drive a stick just for that reason. I want my 914 to STAY in the garage when I'm not there. I'll teach him later when he can make better decisions My daughter is only 15 but has an eye for the details.

Nicely done Sir!

Even re-used the patch and the finished product looks GREAT!

Car went to the right guy...

Trunk Restoration (part 2): With the pan in place, I started on the other details. First I had to add a transmission grounding bolt, which the PO forgot to transfer over Note the bolt head in the first photo, this will be rounded later to make it look more original. Next came the stock holes in the transmission support, the support brace, and the rear swaybar tabs. After that I cut the holes for the rear plates (lids). These were a little tricky but I used a template that I cut out of front floor pan. It worked like a charm! After a little bit of filler, I hit the whole trunk will epoxy. Not too bad.

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I'm an even bigger believer in teaching my children clutch/shifting.

None of their friends have that ability early on.

Found the trick to EASY instruction is a smooth-running Z car on a hill.
At the moment they can "hold" the car, on the hill, with the clutch alone you are DONE!

Zs also are one of EASIEST cars to change a clutch on as well so if they smoke it, it's not a big thing.

There is a guy on YouTube with the "CT" channel who is restoring a 1975 Porsche 914 with rust many times worse than your CanAm Limited Edition. Yours will be worth all the effort; his not worth it at all, at least in my opinion. The YouTuber's car was submerged in a salt water flood in Florida. At least your CanAm was rusting away in fresh water, instead of being in a salt water flood. As I said before, your car will definitely be worth all your efforts because it is the most desirable version of a 914 four cylinder powered car.

What CT is doing to that '75 is just hard to watch! He welds in 2 door support bars and then cuts the entire longitudinal out. Jesus! Lord help me! He needs to put down the sawzall and pick up the drill and remove the spot welds. It's so much better removing the panels out that way. And having the proper amount of support is necessary. If he gets that thing back together halfway straight, it'll be a miracle!

We are currently in the market for a used car for him. The only requirement is the standard transmission.

Your patience and foresight are resulting in excellent results Fred. Amazing to see your skill level, and it is inspiring to see your passion for these cars. Will check in on this thread from time to time. Thanks for this eye candy.

My opinion is you've got a great car as an investment. This was the one to do. Putting it together so far it looks Like you're doing it the right way. Like the treatment in the rear trunk .

A lot of people don't go to the detail of putting back. Those round things, whatever the hell they call them, that perhaps held the car during assembly. Yea you will not have the date of the karman body but maybe you could find out that date and stamp it. Its not a vin so you should be good.

Keep up the great work and please keep up with the photos of your work.

Great for us and great for the day way down the road if you want to sell it.

Best Bob B

Thanks Bob! I actually have a punch set for this but haven't stamped the body number in the replacement pan yet. I should probably do that before I forget and it gets painted.

My first car was a 1969 Z-28. They all had Muncie M22 4-speed transmissions. After looking for several months for one of these cars, I found one in the Pittsburgh Press want-ads about an hour away from my parent's house. After taking a friend to look it over, (he had one), I bought it for $2000. That was a lot of money in 1972, especially when I only made $1.65/hour.

I had to return the next day with the money and was driven there by my Mom in the family 1967 Olds Cutlass. After a stop at a nearby notary, I then had to drive it home. The problem was that I hadn't learned how to drive an actual standard transmission vehicle and had to figure it out pretty fast.

In preparation for when I would eventually find one of these cars, I would sit with two pillows to simulate the gas and clutch pedals and a 12 inch ruler to be the shifter. I hoped that if I could somehow commit the proper sequential motions to muscle memory, it would be good enough, (yeah, I know... I just turned 18 and wasn't very bright!).

Anyways, after it was transferred into my Mom's name, (in Pennsylvania then, one couldn't own a car until age 21), I jumped in, started it up with Mom right behind and promptly put it in reverse and almost backed into her. Getting it finally into first gear, and stalling it a couple times, I started driving it back home. By the time I pulled up to the house, I could drive it (kinda).

I still can visualize approaching the house where my Dad was cutting grass. He heard the car, looked in my direction and just shook his head. When I parked it, he came over and said, "Standard transmission and no power steering... You'll have it a month."

I still have it.

I think in today's world, it's a good idea to know how to drive a car with a clutch, but don't do it the way I did!

I have Datsun Z cars...
Not Chevrolet Z cars...

One of the coolest stories I've read yet on this forum.

Sounds like you have a real DZ302 Z28!!!

And you bought it way back when!!!

My Zs have finally gotten valuable but NOTHING like a real Z/28.

A Datsun Z is user friendly for both clutch training and replacement.

A real Z/28 not so much...

My dad didn't keep two of his early cars. A real "Sebring Special" 57 fueli 4 speed Corvette and after the Vette a 59 convertible D Porsche...

I salute your Z/28 and your 52 year care of the car.

Has it been restored or is it a survivor?

Edit: I too, sort of have a Z/28...
I have a 31K 2002 SS Camaro slick top 6MT, special ordered that way.
It was a friend's car until it took a Dodge truck in the left rear quarter at 55+
It's a totaled complete car and is an "organ doner" for me.
I was going to use the drive train in a 98 BMW M3.
It started life as a Z/28 before SLP turned it into a SS.

That car was my daily driver all through my years as a US Steel maintenance guy and through college when I decided I wanted to be a mechanical engineer. US Steel hired me back on the spot when I popped into the Duquesne Works employment office just after graduation.

US Steel had a wonderful management trainee program back then. At that time, the Duquesne Plant and McKeesport's National Tube Plants were combined into the National Duquesne Plant so the processes went from 'basic steel' to 'oil country' finished goods.

Us trainees spent a couple of weeks in each department, from the Blast Furnaces (making iron), through the Basic Oxygen Furnaces (converting iron to steel & casting ingots), to the Rolling Mills (rolling ingots into billets, blooms & a few other shapes), to the Seamless Hot Mill (piercing billets to make Oil Country Casing & Drill Pipe) to the Finishing Mills (Cropping the pipe ends & threading the casing and prepping the drill pipe ends for the couplings they used) and the many ancillary & support departments. It took about two years to complete and left one with a comprehensive understanding of how all of the parts fit together. Steel mills are Hot, Loud & Dirty but an Awesome environment for anyone that tends toward the 'Hands-On'. The knowledge contained in American steel production is astounding!

Anyways, my Z-28 (an original car) was in and out of the mill and it showed. I bought my first VW bus (my introduction to air cooled power) to drive while I disassembled the Z-28 down to the bare sub frame. This piece I took to a local tomb stone business because they had a sand blaster. After getting it back, I painted it with an epoxy coating that US Steel painted the inside of certain pipe that was used for carrying abrasive slurries and other nasty stuff. This coating had a 50 year warranty, so I thought it would be more than adequate. Then began the reassembly. OEM parts were cheap and available then and I replaced what was needed, painted it its original Daytona Yellow w/Tuxedo Black stripes and the car was like new.

Again though, the years took their toll and this car needs some serious freshening up. It's been sitting in a garage for years awaiting its turn. I used to say these vehicles, (the Z-28, my 1966 VW camper and more recently my 1974 914) were 'retirement' projects, but more and more I'm beginning to think I'll retire when I expire...

From what I gather through lurking on 914World.com, many of you have similar stories with cars owned through your lives. The victories, set backs and disappointments we go through all contribute to who we are and, as can be seen in the many threads here, have created quite a bond. We, as a society would do well to emulate that what exists here...

Upper Firewall: I decided to start here with this large piece to see how bad things were with the rust and the paint. The following images show my work to try and save/restore the metal. I found that by scraping, wire-wheeling, and using rust remover I could slowly begin to expose the metal. I soon came to realize that sand blasting or rust encapsulation would be the solution with this panel. Regardless of my decision, new metal would be needed to repair the holes and areas of really heavy pitting. In the end, I decided to scale back the size of the patches (see marks vs. actual patch size) and went with a brush-on, high temp rust encapsulator after properly preparing the surface. Here are the photos that show the progression with an ultra-rare cameo by yours truly.

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Awesome story and post!

You're real...

Let's not thread jack Fred's LE thread. I type too much anyway.
I've already taken my BS private with Fred to not clutter up this excellent thread.

Suggestions for tools (air nibbler) and cars for kids did not need to be included IMO.

I'm looking forward to further conversations with Both Fred and Arkady.

"From what I gather through lurking on 914World.com, many of you have similar stories with cars owned through your lives. The victories, set backs and disappointments we go through all contribute to who we are and, as can be seen in the many threads here, have created quite a bond. We, as a society would do well to emulate that what exists here..."

Well said...

Edit: Fred posted firewall pictures while I was typing.
Look at that work! Better than 95% of the "body shops" out there!

I think Fred is "sand bagging" us...
He sounds like a beginner but his work SCREAMS MASTER!
Nicely done Sir!
Really NICE!

Thanks but I develop software for a living. That's a far-cry from being a metal-worker/fab guy. I'm not that good at doing anything actually, just willing to "try" - I guess. I've learned a lot off of YouTube, 914World, and hands-on with my prior 914. I'm actually trying to post my progress over the next few days to get y'all caught up with where I am at the moment. More to come...

You LIE!
"Not that good at doing anything" is NOT a part of your lexicon!
You're close enough to me to be of assistance and vice-versus.
We're going to be friends...

From someone who has been doing shit like this for decades the level of work you can deliver is "Finished/Master".

DO NOT sell yourself short!

Own it...

Funny thing... My wife wants to retire in a few years to Weatherford. We might be neighbors! Regardless, I'd like to plan a little roadtrip early next year up your way to get my [other] 914's A/C looked at.

Agreed! Sorry for getting off subject.

I too am following this thread to learn from others that are traveling this road ahead of me!

Awesome work! Thanks for sharing the journey and inspiring others to get greasy…

Outstanding work and attitude. And you seem to be violating the axiom about speed ro quality. Gonna have this done in time for Christmas?

I am in awe!

Totally agree with all of the above, it is a real pleasure to watch someone committed to doing it right.

A casual trim around YouTube to look at ‘bodywork’ video is enough to make one swear off ever buying anything with a coat of paint on it.

Thanks Ian!

Your videos helped me on my last 914. Had to revisit a few lately before disassembly of the LE's front/rear suspension. Hope to meet you in person someday.

~Fred

@bkrantz - I violate no axioms! I wish I could. You are seeing work performed over several weeks in the later part of 2022. I'll have to date my work on this thread. Next up is the tunnel and cross member and then the venerable passenger side longitudinal and hell hole.

Inner Firewall / Transverse (12/2022): Before I could mount the car on a rotisserie, I had to first replace the unsalvageable crossbar and tunnel. The metal here was so weak from rust, you could move the structure with your hand about 6 inches in either direction. These photos show the reinforcement followed by removal of the "floors" and support metal. Notice the rust tear along the passenger side longitudinal.

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Next, I removed the welds on the traverse. I wanted to leave the lower firewall (behind it) for strength. With the part removed, I was able to take measurements and transfer the speed nuts (?) over to the new panel and weld the piece in place. The welds into the lower firewall will wait till that piece is replaced later.

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Tunnel and Crossbar (12/2022): After purchasing a used tunnel from 914Werks (Thanks Rich!), I prep'd and installed the tunnel followed by the a new crossbar from Restoration Design. At the end, additional bracing was added prior to mounting on the rotisserie. Some of the lower bracing will be removed once the passenger side longitudinal is repaired.

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Awesome work! At first glance, I thought you were installing diamond plate in the floors.

LOL! Yeah, I didn't want to be down on the dirt so I ordered a cool looking rubber mat.

The wildest thing is he's doing this in the DIRT!

No climate-controlled shop...

Teenagers helping him...

Work that will require CLOSE inspection to determine it's been replaced.

One of my rules is "leave no marks" if possible. He's getting close on a "complete loss of pan" car...

I wouldn't have thought a novice could produce that level of work in the best of environments.

Doing it "in the dirt" makes it all the more impressive IMO.

Are you planning on painting it in the dirt as well?

That would make you MAGICAL!

Well, I don't mind painting primer out there in the dirt. For the final paint job, I might be forced to throw up a few walls and make a temporary paint booth or something. I painted my other 914 a few years ago. I rented a paint booth located at a local airport. It had been previously used to paint helicopters. It was my first experience painting a car. A little nervous thinking about painting black but I'll cross that bridge later, I guess

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Looks like you kicked ass on the first paint job as well!

I was kidding about painting in the dirt...

Using a proper paint booth is mandatory in my book.

That one you used for the first car looks fine IMO.

I'll shoot primer in bad conditions.

The primer that is on the outside surfaces that show needs the booth IMO...

As for shooting black, it is the easiest by far...

You can really determine how "wet" you are easily with good lighting.

Prepping for black is by FAR the hardest prep out there. It HAS to be perfect as black shows imperfections down to ten thousands of an inch!

All of my dad's bucks for fiberglass products were intentionally painted black for that reason. You can see your mistakes (highs/lows) SO much better in black.

Wanna go "all the way"?
This is how we make molds for fiberglass projects...

Paint and polish your project black then take a small penlight and lay it on one side of your project. Extreme darkness and the tiny penlight will show flaws down to the .0001 range. Fix issues, lather rinse repeat until you cannot find anymore.
Then you "super wax" it followed by PVA mold release.
This is the point you cover it with gelcoat then resin and glass to make a mold to re-create this "prefect" shape.

After you're done with your mold you DESTROY the buck (that you've just spent 2 weeks making perfect!) with sledge hammers...

That part is far more fun than you might imagine!
By the end of the "make it perfect" phase the HATE is strong.

Black cars are my nemesis. Harder to keep clean, magnifies bodywork issues, a LOT harder to cool in our 100+ summers. Nothing good IMO about black.

You have a bumblebee, you're screwed!
Has to stay black...

Still impressive, sir.

Rear Fender Removal (1/2023): The following photos highlight the work required to completely remove both quarter panels and sill plates. I'm going to need full access to the inner structure to make sure all problem areas are addressed.

Removal of Drivers side:

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Exposed Passenger side: Note the metal just behind the jack point in the "hell hole". It's a facade! There is nothing behind it. Completely gone!

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Passenger Side Longitudinal - Part 1 (1/2023): It was pretty easy exposing the longitudinal on this car. With the hell hole a mess and most of it rusted away, a few cuts, a few drilled-out spot welds, and I was finished. Note the jack point - it practically fell off in my hands. The inner rocker panel and door support panel were cut back in a step-wise fashion to facilitate welding it all back up at the end. I also had to completely clean (soak) the heater tube. I guess the mice had made it their home at one point. Yuck!

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Nasty!

Now I'm worried about my heater tubes...

Can you imagine ALL of your heat is going through a rodent cesspool...

We all use a borescope to check the "longs". I'm going to put it down the tubes as well.

Fred, very impressed by your level of competence.

I see lots of crap in HVAC systems. The worst are rodent carcasses. Get one that's been in the car a week and you cannot breathe anywhere close to it.
Get one stuck in a blower fan and the inside of the blower housing is evenly coated with rodent "juices".
Makes me retch!

I CHARGE extra in those instances!
More if I actually vomit...

It is hard to understand how such a small carcass can produce such large amount of stink! Don't ever use Decon poison if you don't want dead mice behind the drywall where you can't easily remove them!

Wow! Yes, I'd charge extra for that, too. After cleaning the tube with a large pipe brush, I soaked it for about 3 days in a mild detergent. I let it dry out for about a week. It smelled fine so I repainted the outside and installed it back in the car. You'll see that in Part 2 and Part 3 coming soon.

Had a cat that CLEARED a 2500 sq foot attic of roof rats; BIG roof rats over a 3-week period. We were worried she'd kill one and leave it up there.

All of them got dropped through the access hole and then the fat assed Siamese would howl at the opening till I provided a shoulder to allow easy egress from the attic.

She could go UP the vertical ladder OK, coming back down was her problem.

No blood ever, couldn't tell HOW she killed them. Some were 1/2 her size!
She never "left one behind" thank God.

Worst car for me was a family of mice, nesting on the top of the cabin air filter.
They had chewed a hole in it and when the owner turned on the blower, sucked them in and distributed them in the blower housing (adults) and evaporator core (babies).
2 adults, six babies, beyond NASTY!

Made me ask myself "why am I doing this shit?"

Back to your original programming...

Passenger Side Longitudinal - Part 2 (1/2023): Ok, here are the photos of my repair of the passenger longitudinal. I used the repair piece made by Restoration Design and their replacement seat belt mount (bolt). Like with my last 914, I'm using just the bottom half of the new longitudinal and I prefer to cut this in 1/2, as well. Last time, I used the top half of the passenger side longitudinal repair piece for the driver side and it worked out well. I saved some money in the process, too.

IMO, the key here on doing this repair is using the new rocker panel (also an RD replacement) to set the correct distance. Once this is set, I draw a line and cut the piece. The new crossbar kind of got in the way but it wasn't too bad. You may noticed that I mis-cut the back piece a little and then added additional metal at the interface with the crossbar. It all worked out in the end.


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