I'm popping my cherry on this post! After lurking on this forum and watching many used car sites, I finally found and purchased my first 914. I must say that that the information and help found on this, and related sites, gave me the confidence at least to think I'll be able to keep a 36 year old car running. Like many of you, I hope to perform most of the maintenance and repairs myself ... short of engine/transaxle re-builds and significant body work.
As I've come to realize, most of you are interested in the car itself. It's a 1971 1.7L, Canary Yellow. I've registered it on this site. Purchased for $4,000 and I already have an additional $500.00 in it for spares, tools, trim, etc. The car spent most of its life in Florida (til 1989) moved to Michigan, PA, MD, and is now in PA. Yeah, I know ... no pics today.
The good: fairly complete w/fuel injection, only surface rust from what I can tell except for two holes in the hell hole, 50 cent piece size. Pulled the original steel rockers and I was amazed ... hardly any surface rust, let alone any through holes. Runs strong and drives well compared to others I drove (I'm sure I have not driven the best).
The bad: not the best cosmetics, paint, interior, wheels (original chrome steel with some surface rust). Needs rear springs (rear sag) and probably rear rotors and caliper rebuilds. Oil leaks! I leave my mark where I stop!
My goal is to have a reliable weekend car. Budget is limitted. Does not have to be the prettiest, but must run and drive well.
So here's the help I need today.
I had a rubber fuel line split on me, luckily it was when I started the car to check something. Scary! I replaced the one that split and now I want to tackle the others. What's the deal with the the clear fuel lines? Can I just replace them with rubber lines? I have clear lines going into rubber lines with clamps. Are these clamped line to line, or is there some sort of metal sleeve in there?
I have a brown wire and a green wire with spade connectors in the engine compartment that go no where. They come off of the wiring harness for the distributer. I don't have a heater fan. I think the green fed the heater fan ... correct? How about the brown one?
Finally, the rubber sheath on a section of the steering wheel has delaminated from the steel rim. Anyone ever restore this? I'm thinking of using a syringe to inject an adhesive in there. Anyone ever do this? Suggested adhesive? Any other suggestions for repairing this.