Hey guys,

If you're on Facebook, you might have seen my thread in one of the groups. Here's a quick run-down.

About 5 or 6 years ago, I sold off an Oval VW to buy a 914. It was supposed to show up turn-key, but the brakes were sticking and it had an oil leak, plus an open title. I took the car anyway. Despite this, the car is beautiful...it had a new paint job and the interior was redone. Unfortunately, at that point, it languished in my garage. I didn't have a jack to get it off the ground and didn't have time (or much money) to work on it. Days turned into weeks, and weeks to months...you know how it goes. During that time, a mouse chewed on my gas line, so I had to cut it and drain it. I would start the car here and there, but then the carb sprung a leak, making that dangerous to do in my garage. Finally the sticking brake was bad enough that I had to cut the brake line to roll it out of my garage and my family slowly buried the car under layers of storage stuff. A couple of years ago, I found the inspiration to get the title transferred to my name.

I toyed with the idea of trading it for an early VW bug. Mostly just to buy something I felt more confident in working on. I think the Type IV engine threw off my confidence a little. I went back and forth over what to do.

Although I've watched tons of 914 videos on youtube and old VW videos, I couldn't make up my mind on how to proceed (at least not enough to get off of dead center).

Until, I saw this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsA5CggpUSA

It's my car's twin, a green '75, driven kind of hard. It rekindled my spirit.

So I'm back. And lately I've been watching restoration videos. Those really helped me, because I saw that there's nothing mysterious under that sheet metal that I haven't encounted before in the old days working on beetles. Most imporantly I want to do the work...for the sake of the work itself.

So I've purchased a pair of metal ramps on FB marketplace and ordered a decent racing jack on Amazon. I should get it on Father's day. But then I actually did something. I took off the horn button to figure out how to put on a smaller steering wheel that I bought 5 years ago. I also need to reglue the vinyl onto the sail (I have questions about that procedure).

Since this post is super long and nobody reads this far anyway, I'll tell you my ultimate goal. I'm in my very late 50's. I want to get the 914 on the road, and start doing club events and turn it into a reliable gem. My amazing wife, sympathetic to my plight of trying to decide between a beetle and a finshed 914, told me that if we rip down a horrible nightmare of a tree in the backyard, I can use that space to keep an old beetle...maybe like a 36 hp ragtop project car that I can take my time doing a pan off restoration before, or just after, I retire. So I'll ride off into the sunset with two minty air cooled german cars...that's my dream.

So I'll keep you guys updated as I go along. Thanks for reading.

First of all, you have a keeper. The wife that is, not necessarily the cars... Get rid of the tree so you can have a workplace and go from there.

Fortunately we run specials here on questions all the time. As many as you can ask for one low, low price (usually free...)

Welcome. And while you wife is feeling accommodating, maybe you could suggest a "small" workshop where the tree was.

Welcome back! Type 4 has a seal on the front of the crankshaft, an oil filter and it lays flat. But i used a book for specific things to watch for and torque spec's, otherwise it is a type 1 on steroids. I started with bugs and they are fun. Not 914 fun though, it's a whole different worm

Welcome to the menagerie!

In the vid the car is being driven "properly", not hard...

Tell us more about your car please.

What was the previous owners story?

"Turn Key" has a HUGE range of probabilities from "yes, the ignition switch can be operated by the key" all the way to concours perfection.

What's the back story if you know it.

First bit of advice from me, look to PMB for your brake stuff.
The front calipers are pretty normal and can be serviced by an enthusiast.
The rears are another story.
I have the abilities to properly rebuild them but even I smacked the "easy" button and bought a pair that were fresh from PMB.

Thanks for the welcome back, guys!

Question #1 is probably an easy one. The vinyl sail came off during transport years ago. I still have it. I guess I need to glue it on. Do I need to take the trim off all around it? Even the trim near the door because that has a rubber seal over the top of it.

Thanks. Here's a couple of pictures. It's a '75 with the original 1.8. It has a leaky Weber Progressive which I'll probably fix just to get it around the neighborhood unless I can buy a working one for a decent price. The carpets aren't glued down and the trunk, frunk and door jams weren't resprayed so I'll try my hand at repainting them. I have a replacement steering wheel that I'll put on to give me more leg room.


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Welcome back and great looking car. Yes, to get the sail-panel vinyl back on the trim needs to come off. There are a bunch of threads with DIY videos to help with this project. Really it is all about getting the surface nice and clean before you put down the new vinyl. Take your time and measure and fit with some take on the paint with reference marks for locating the vinyl exactly where you want it.

Per your question, yes you need to remove some trim pieces before replacing the vinyl. When you remove the CP bar that spans side to side you will find a few clips that hold it in place. Inadvertently, one of them shoots off into a black hole but IIRC 914rubber sells them. More importantly, those two thin CP trim strips at the bottom are "dead soft" aluminum and bend extremely easily. There are 4 clips that hold each piece in place. DO NOT try to pry these pieces away from the body or you will bend the piece. If you remove the tire you can reach up into the wheel well and push those clips through easily thus removing those small pieces. The long swept vertical piece is held in place with an 8mm nut which is also accessed from the wheel well. Eric Shea has a tutorial on his website. There are 2 more small trim pieces on the top part that are remove as well as the trim pieces that hold the vertical rubber window seal.

Wow...more involved than I suspected. Thanks for the info and tips.

An 8mm nut in a recess that has been exposed to wheel well grime for 50+ years. You may not see it at first and need to go digging a bit. If you are able to get it off cleanly you should feel lucky. In many cases the nut will round off, break the stud, or seize and spin the backing plate that holds the trim down. Of the 3 options breaking off the stud is probably the best case scenario.

Buy at least 1 can of Aero-Kroil penetrant.