Hey all - glad that everything is back and all of the original posts available - My tolerance for "office politics" are long gone and I was about to kiss the 914 community (online, anyhow) goodbye for the time being..

Anyhow, with the prevailing weather patterns this year in the Northeast, I decided to pull the '72 914 out of winter storage for one last go of it this season...

Last Monday I left Boston en route to Saint Augustine FL, and a few days later, left Florida for Atlanta, and yesterday, in the rain, drove from Atlanta to the Eastern Shore of Maryland for another family visit... and in a few days, back to Boston!

Car has been running GREAT, netting 30mpg on the flat southern stretches with an estimated average speed of 85mph, with a few 110mph bursts when the opportunity presents.

The current mileage tally is approximately 2500 miles, with another 500 for the last leg to Boston from the eastern shore...

Just wanted to share the tales of long-distance, as it's a treat any time of year to spend so much seat time in the 914.. let alone winter in the Northeast!

Welcom back and Happy Holidays, all.. Hope Santa was kind to you (and your cars)...

-greg-

I have family all over the eastern shore of MD.... Easton and Salisbury mostly. That was a pretty good amount of rain that you had to drive through. It's been soaked here in Charlotte.

Best wishes for a trouble-free return home.

Mike

...if you heading back to Boston via the Garden State Parkway, stop by for a cup of coffee. I'm only a couple miles from the last exit in Jersey.

Hi Ray

Hey Greg,

I am now located outside baltimore....wish you could have stopped by..

herb berwald

Way to go Greg.

what's happen' Eric.....good to see ya....and to be seen for that fact.

WOW! Thats majors miles. Great. Goota drive it. No problems at all? How many miles on the car? What did you do to prepare besides pulling the cover off? I must see proof. PICTURES!

thanks, Mike... I'm actually in Easton - at my sister's home... And yeah, it was a slick, rainy trip from Atlanta yesterday! I found out that it's time to replace the seals around my tail lights because of the 2" of standing water after 13 hours of driving through the stuff!

Send me a PM with your family's last name - they might know my folks!

-g

hey Herb.. Good to know - was wondering where you disappeared to!

What brought you to MD? How's your wife's pursuit in media production going?

Have a nice holiday?

-g

Rich... Scott... Others...

I have photos, however I don't have the cable to get said photos off my camera and into the laptop... So, they will have to wait until my return!

As far as car details: 125,000 on the chassis (had 41k or so back in '98 when I bought it). Two and a half years ago, I built up from scratch an all-new (case, too) 2.0 with mild cam, balancing and head work, and hydraulic lifters - aside from oil changes and some re-jetting to accomodate the new Ethanol coctail known as gasoline, I honestly haven't turned a screw to this motor. 28,000 truly trouble-free miles. (knocking on skull now for good luck)

I consumed just shy of 1/2 quart of oil thus far on this trip, which is decidedly un-porsche/vw-like.

-greg-

Greg: If you have any excuse to get West--to the nation's crapitol--before heading north, I'm only 15 min out of the city, well inside the beltway on the W. side. I can show you my "new" and not-yet-ready-for-primetime 9014. Just a thought. I'm "old" Boston VW stock--lived there for almost 30 years, had my first half-dozen hippie vans there--most notably a '66 called Mark Twain (rumors if its demise exaggerated), which I drove to Guatemala and 92%of the way back (threw a rod in St. College, PA, and had to have a friend bring me a spare motor, all within 30 hours!). Helped to found the NEATO van club, then the LiMBO club, too. Moved to this southern town in '90. Sadly, if I drive to Boston w/ the kids, it will have to be in my Westfalia, not the 914 (maybe I could put it on the roof?). So, if you come by here before turning N., drop a line, I'll warm up a pot of 50 weight oil for your travel mug. -Chris H.

Hey Chris - thanks for the kind offer - but I'm on a time budget to get back to Beantown tomorrow for a dinner party - so I likely won't be heading to DC en route... Would love to swing by though and hear tales of your travels and see the various projects. Guatemala, huh? now THAT is a road trip!

Where in Boston did you reside?

-greg-

A damp trunk is the Devil's playground. It may be the tail light gaskets, but likely more than that to get that kind of infiltration. Unless you have a new r. trunk seal, well installed, let me offer this: go to a dollar store and buy a 12 ft length of flat 4-wire telephone line--the flat flexy kind, not the coiled variant. Use an exacto knife or the like to slit open the side, end to end, and remove the four colored wires--to throw away or save for other uses. Now: carefully remove the trunk-lid seal, and clean the metal, and, to the extent possible, the inside groove of the rubber seal. Install the plastic phone-wire sheath on the upstand where the seal had been, maybe with an intermittent swipe of contact cement. Then replace the old rubber seal, over the newly installed phone-cord spacer. Takes a bit of pushing, but when its on it will add back-pressure to the final closure of the trunk--a very satisfying closure sound. It is about 1/64 inch up, but also spread a bit by its wider installation base, so seals much better. Cost: a buck plus tax. NEXT: From the top of the grooves from the engine lid down to the top of the tail light plastic, put a layer of black electric tape (the best quality you can find, so it won't come up after the first hot spell or rain storm)--laid in so as not to stretch it. Put a clear caulk anywhere you think water is getting in at the tail lights, then a layer of black electric tape horizontally over the whole top seam where the taillight top surface hides under the closed edge of the trunk lid. Cost: about 25 cents more worth of tape. This ought to clear up about 98% of your problem, in under an hour. When you get to it, let us know how well it worked. And if you have major rust in the lower corners, as my 2 cars do, do a proper blast or wire brush job, a good chemical bonding anti-rust agent, and maybe then add some bondo to hide the scars, and repaint the area. Another hour or so. -Chris H, D C 'burbs

Hey all..

Here are some Photos from the trip - didn't stop and take too many progress shots, or the torrential rain from Atlanta to Maryland on Xmas day... but I have proof of being in Florida and Maryland!

Got home safe & sound last night - car continued to run perfectly!

happy new year, everyone!

-greg-
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awesome roadtrip. I was reading in a classic car rag about this "barnstorming maine" weekend in june...

Its all a bunch of old rich guys with jags and such, and i was thinking a 914 gang would really shake things up.

I love the sound of that. The 914 gang crashes the party. I'm up for that.

i'm up for that one the more the merrier