I'm a mechanic at a do-everything independent garage. My boss comes up to me one day and asks if I'd like to rebuild a 1970 914-6. The car has no motor or transmission and has been sitting in our back lot for over a year. It is in surprisingly good condition with only minimal rust and decay, and everything (minus the powertrain) seems to be pretty much in-tact. For reference material, I have a (very old) "how-to" shop manual and the internet. I have never worked on a Porsche before, let alone one this old and incomplete.

I am awaiting a freshly rebuilt motor and am going about my preliminary system checks (braking, electrical, etc.). The first thing I noticed is the absence of any relays or fuses on the relay board in the engine compartment. I assume that these were removed along with the original motor. From observation I gather that the body harness plugs into one side of this board and the engine harness into the other. However, I do not know which circuits these relays/fuses complete and the only material I have been able to excavate was a very cryptic and aged (not to mention German-language) schematic on the internet which is too large to properly print out.

My question (the first of many): does anyone have or know where I can find a map of this relay board? I'm not even sure which relays/fuses to order at this point. I can get some things (wipers, dash lights, cigarette lighter, marker lights) to work by simply hooking up a battery, but I need to know if the other things don't work due to a lack of fuses and relays or (infinitely frustrating) wiring issues.

If you can help, that'd be fantastic. I will reward you all with interesting photos of the build accompanied by my delightful color commentary.

In eager anticipation,
Jacob.

commonly available new or used in the aftermarket. If you have a genuine six then it is required. If you have a six conversion do not waste your time and just install a four board. The six tach conversion needs extra ballast added to make up for the ballest resistor in the six relay board as it is nla but other than that the four works just fine.

I don't think you understand; the relay board is installed in the car, it just doesn't have any relays in it. I need to know which relays control what and which ones to purchase to make the board work. Therefore, if there's a map or legend or key floating around out there that tells me which relays do what when installed on this board I need it. It's somewhat crucial, because right now I have no idea.

And yes, this is an actual, honest-to-God, real, for sure 1970 Porsche 914-6. It is not a clone.

Thanks for the reply, though.

first, get a haynes manual. readily available.
you might want to shop for the factory shop manuals as well, much more expensive thought.

is this a original /6? if so, the VIN number should start with "914", otherwise, it'll start with "470".
the relay board as well as some other details of the car will be different for the two versions ...

Andy


PS: oh, and the obligatory

here's a color scan from my (very used) shop manuals.

this is a early /4 relay board, so yours will be a bit different, but this should give you at least an idea about what you're looking at ...

Andy

Ok Jacob .... I have the map & legend. I'm going to scan it and post it here or I can send it to your email if you send me a PM with it.

Ron

Thanks for the help; The manual I have doesn't have electrical schematics of any kind. You've answered the question currently on the table. More will be forthcoming.

Here are some pics of the car, btw:

it's got the later style rear bumper ...
Andy

PS: also, do NOT remove those decals on the engine lid! in fact, please do not remove any decals you may find on the car! those will greatly add to the appeal of the car ...

See if this helps a bit. Wiring diagram can't be read on this small of scale

Later

If you don't mind me asking what shop in Orlando do you work at?

[EDIT] Probably shouldn't say; you know how it is. I trust anyone who saw the original post will keep their silence...

Thanks Slits for the pics, very very helpful. This thing has stickers all over the place, it seems. It looks like someone tried to paint it at one point, and there's matte black spraypaint in some interesting areas (and silver spraypaint in the front turn signal housings). The bumper may have been a half-assed replacement at some point; I'm not 100% on the history of this thing.

Not to sound like an idiot, but I still haven't found a VIN plate on the car. There's one under the hood that's all in German and has the numbers "9140430429" stamped on it. Anyone know?

Nevermind, got the VIN now, heh.

FYI... the onlyfactory wiring diagram for the 914/6 was the crappy German black and white one.

But you can get in touch with Art Zapft. He drew a full color diagram for the 914/6 with English labels.


I have a better copy of the /6 B&W diagram at home if it will help. To assist with rewiring my 914 to make it a six, I printed out the B&W one on a plotter at work so it was about 3 feet by 6 feet, and spent a good day or two carefully labeling all the wire colors and translating the part names.

Apparently the library at my shop was more extensive than I at first thought, because I found a huge Mitchell electrical manual with a complete English-language schematic in it. However, none of the wires are color-coded, so I may need some help with that in the future if you wouldn't mind . The tailights, for example: someone unplugged all the spade connectors and now I don't know which ones go where without a lot of multimeter-related hoobajoo. If you could save me some time, I'd sure appreciate it.

I like your sig, btw. "Vould ze doktor care for a brandy, before retiring?"

Right front fender top of the wheel well under the front trunk lid and on the windscreen drivers side and a few more

Since this teener has been sitting out for a significant time, I would advise that you do the multimeter hoobooajoo anyway. I would consider the existing wiring to be suspect at best.