After driving my 75' 2.0 for a little over a year it started making a funny noise when starting up and shutting off. I suspected that it was something serious like the starter, flywheel or possibly the engine(though the car only had 53,000 miles when purchased). So I took it in to the shop to have a closer inspection. After a little hunting, an engine oil filler cap was discovered in the fan/shroud. I can only guess the original owner lost it at some point and didn't worry about where it ended up. I was wondering what some of you others may have found in your engine bays that would make you scratch your head or laugh ?

I was recently working on a friends 914 and found that two of the fan blades had been broken. I was removing the heater plumbing from the fan house to the exchanger and found a chewed up hose clamp.
"Oh, that's where that went!" - sheesh....
-Mike D.

a flash light
that was on bernies car ...

Bernie: "Oh, that's where that went!" ...

Andy

Gas tank compartment: Cheesy 70's necklace.

In the battery tray, just in front of the battery: Alternator pivot bolt. Uh-oh... I guess now I know what that loud "whack" noise was, huh??

In the rocker panels: A rotary deburring bit.

In the engine tin: The "factory-specified" number of pine needles and mangled dried leaves.... Ugh.

--DD

I've been chasing filberts for the last 2 years. Thought I had them all but there's still one that breaks loose around corners and fast stopping. Still don't know where it can be hiding... but I hear it When it was stored, the squirrles hid their nuts all over in the car from the front trunk to the engine bay.
bruce

I have found the hose from the AAR valve in the fan, "how did that get there?"
I have found the heater hose from the booster fan in the fan, "Shit, how come my oil temps are waay up there!"
Found a extra key screwed to the muffler shield.
Some old condoms under the seats atleast they were unopened...
Geoff

Found a key in the jackhole at my first track event.
It was wrapped in aluminum foil. I guess thieves don't like aluminum foil.

I just recently took out the seats and
under the non-removable one, which
had probably never been removed
since new, was a bottle cap so old it
was the real twist off type, and said
'Adolph Coors'. Wasn't even tarnished
much. And a mouse nest that could
have raised eagles.
Mark S.
'70 914-6

I had my 73 stored at my parents ranch in Santa Cruz for a few years. One day I decided to get it running and take it for a drive. While driving from Salinas to Monterey (Hwy 68 right in front of Laguna) the radio went to static. I pulled over at the first gas station to try to get my tunes back and discovered the Antenna cable had been cut! Not broken but cut in the middle near the gas tank. I took a flashlight and looked down behind the gas tank to try and find what might have cut it and a HUGE Norwegen Rat hissed at me and jumped down under the tank!! I drove the car to the SPCA (back a few miles) and they took care of my problem!! Hawk food I guess!!

Norway Rats

Notice the Adult size range! This baby was at least 18" long

Jeff

Everything I have found is always dead. Scorpions in Texas cars are always fun. No matter how dead they look.. they still look alive. I found a ton of rat shit in a silver 75 car under the cowl area. They ate through most of the heater hoses.


B

In my AX car: Vote Ross Perot pin in the defroster vent.

In my Dad's car: 12 in freeze dried lizard and loads of black widows, after sitting 15 years.

And loads of change under the seats of course.

I found what appears to be a Barbie doll leg in the engine compartment.......I don't even want to KNOW how or why that got there.

Also found new tube of toothpaste behind the rocker panel.

I'm just hoping that the two "finds" were not in any way related.................

When the engine came out I found my inspection mirror. Can't wait to start removing the interior. Who knows what'll be found under that non-moveable passenger seat.

Geoff, your son pulled a spark plug attached top a vacuum hose from your engine compartment at the Ax on Sat. We both had no idea what it was for...?

I was recovering the visors, and when I opened one up, I found several Trojans, with the expiration date "1976" stamped on them.

I put them back inside the visor when I closed it up with new vinyl.

I found a mouse nest in the rear trunk dogbone. I was washing out the rear trunk, and water wouldn't drain. It took a plumbing snake to clean it all out, and some of the seeds left in there had sprouted.

-Rusty

In my 72 Ghia,
Under the back seat, there's an inspection plate to get at the shift rod linkage.
I found a plastic baggie filled with what looked like oregano. . . .

INSIDE the gas tank, I found a pickled earwig.

Chris, that was the AAR hose that I pulled off. I will shove a spark plug in it to disable it for the AX so it can't run the idle rpms up. I pulled it off after the last race and left it sitting in there.
Geoff

I kept finding little pieces of broken window glass under and behind the seats. Than I took out the pad behind the seats and found more broken safety glass. Than I figured out the rear window must have been broken sometime along the way.

Sorry this is sorta boring now that I read it.

(but I'm keeping that post count up)

Paul

well, i found the following:
A blank unsigned check from a MR. WONG
A bank statement from a MR WONG
A couple of taps and dies- metric (SWEET)
and holes through the firewall for race harnesses
holes through the floorpans for above

Aaron,

Is it a blue 75/76 with ford escort mirrors on it?

When I first took the seats out of my car I found $3.85 in change- mostly dimes and pennies, and a Chicago Transit Authority token. In the engine compartment, about 5 gallons of leaves, pine needles and dirt. In th fan shroud, the 4 missing fan blades.

I found four (4) bottle openers in the Green car while stripping it out. One was down in the defrost vents along with a couple dozen Miller Beer caps.

I found a 10 Pfenning piece behind the passenger side rear upholstery panel in a 1966 Beetle I once owned.

And a pair of Vicegrips clamped onto the clutch cable...

Mike T

Hey, my car came with visegrips on the clutch cable too! Is that a factory option?
Geoff

Whoa I need vise grips, I'm gonna look under mine now!
bruce