OK, someone please talk me out of this!

I have a 74 2.0 that I bought on eBay as a "father-son" project. It was not running and had sat for 30 years after being wrecked and sort of half-a$$ed repaired. It's straight and pretty much rust free very solid in the right rear trouble spots, but does need new left front fender and front cross panel. I have the parts. We got the bad boy running, unfroze the clutch and then my son discovered girls and progress stopped. Another spring is almost here and I am not a bodyman, so it's gotta go to a restorer. I'm sure I will spend 2x or 3x what it will be worth, but after spending many GREAT hours in the barn with my heir, I just can't bring myself to do anything but write the checks necessary to put this little orange critter into fully functional condition. Help me. I've fallen and I can't get up.....

to late your done ... your infected and there is no hope of cure.

just wait till you drive it.,,, then your really sunk

timofly,
That is a great project and I will be doing the same thing soon.... You have a bunch of great resources all around you. There are lots of NJ guys you could gather to assess and help you. Your son will have more interest when the project starts to take a little more driveable shape...

Declare a BBQ and see what happens!

I'm really sorry, but this is the wrong place if you're looking for sanity. We own 914's, that went by the wayside a long time ago.
It sounds like you know what you need to do, so find some others in your area & do it. Yeah, I realize I'm in Ca, where we're all over the place, and the nearest fanatic is probably a good distance away, but offer a roof, & you get

Oh yeah

beer and bbq will bring know how , labor and some times free parts

Finish it but don't let him drive. They always crash a car or two before they figure it out. You will really enjoy it.

It's your patriotic duty to save the 914 through economic stimulus!

Just think, while you are working to earn money for the project, buy food, pay the mortgage, staying up late and giving up weekends to fix his car.

He is having sex with beautiful young women.

Sounds fair to me... Wait!

Now I understand why dad was pissed off all the time...

Time to learn?

Fix her and enjoy the drive. Post some pics for us

And

Take it from me. I am no bodyman. But I took all the paint off the car to the metal, pounded out the dents and applied filler. Since I don't have paint hardware/experience, I went to a scratch and spray paint shop.

What I got back is absolutely beautiful! (except for the passenger side door, which looks like a person of my experience worked on). But what the hell! For a few hundred dollars I got a generally passable body and paint job. Any now I have a new project for next summer. Working on the passenger side door!

Enjoy and learn!

timofly, may I suggest you go to the post by "fourblades" saving a '73. Remember this is a young guy that had never done anybody work and went and bought a welder some tools and dug in. Al.

Turn off the damn TV and go out and work on the car. If you run into a problerm, ask for help here. There is a bunch of people here with a lot of knowledge about your car and are more than willing to help.

Cheers, Elliot

If you have any interest in restoring a car yourself, you picked the right model to learn on. The parts can all be purchased and there's a great support group to give you a hand. If your not intersted in the project, sell it to someone who is.

Weld or get off the pot.

Here is a sanity check! I spent over $16K on a restoration body shop at $45/hour and that didn't even include paint! More of an INSANITY check!

LMAO

After laughing, I'd recommend that you sit him down and very clearly state that the project was originally started as a "father / son" thing, but if he has no interest in doing anything on it, the status is changing. The intent isn't to force him out to the garage, but to give him options.

At that point if he doesn't want to dedicate time to working on it, the car is yours do as you want and he doesn't stand to get any rewards. If you want to finish it for your self, then do so.

Wes

Take alook at my thread and see if it better or worse, if worse join yourson otherwise doit...

First time I've ever been able to say that.

Yeah, I am sure it is something that will cause you hours of work, sleepless nights....... and be totally worth it.

For what you'd spend to have someone else do it, you could do it yourself, realize that you fuched it up, buy a new tub, and do it again right.

I am not a bodyman either, but I bought a welder, hammers and dollies, and some scrap metal to practice on.

On the other hand, if you have more $$$ than time, pay someone.

Wow, I didn't expect such enthusiastic response.

The problem is a lack of time to do it. Son has provided a lot of labor and will still do so but logistics are tough due to baseball, SATs, band, dates, etc, etc.

A QUESTION FOR THE ASSEMBLED GURUS:

When replacing fender and front cross panel, how hard is it to maintain proper alignment? Is there a secret method? Along the way, some PO cut front half of the fender off (it is undamaged from about the axle aft). Would it be better to just remove the whole fender, or cut the extra fender I have to match and weld it on to the back half?

Anyone in Northern NJ have experience with local restorers/shops that do bodywork?

Thank you all for the encouragement.

Tim

Check this thread out. I built a jig to maintain alignment.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...amp;hl=progress

I would butt weld the fender. It's easier. My damage goes back farther so I'm replacing the entire thing.

i agree. i just recently wrecked my teener and me and my dad knew nothing about bodywork, so we learned.
check out my thread. which i will be posting more progress pics in a moment


http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...ect+resurection

Nice work. How is it going now?

The winter has me on hold. My garage isn't heated. It's 16 degrees today. I'll dig back into it in the spring. I'm seriously looking forward to it.

I bought a 914 when my Son was 14 so we could do the project together. That was 20 years ago and I don't regret it at all. We still have that car, although it is now completely converted into an SCCA GT lights tube frame racer now. I went to an air show once and two brothers were doing the flying as their father was announcing. People wanted to know why he allowed his two sons to fly at each other at 200MPH and he said that both boys rebuilt every nut and bolt on their respective airplane and they knew every creek or vibration . he said "if you teach a kid to build something up you woun't see him tearing it appart". Good Advise. Worked in our case, 1998 SCCA Southeast region Champ in a 914 and has been building racecars and engines ever since.

Click to view attachment

Al,
Thanks for that. My passion has been aviation for almost 60 years, so I get it. Dan and I have spent great time together on this car. He learned some new skills and a few new words. Getting gas sprayed in his face while we flushed fuel lines as an example ("Dad! You told me to watch for anything coming out of the lines") Great stuff.

I'll see if I can attach a picture of the car as it sat last summer.

Any good welders out there who want to make some extra dough? Car is better than this picture shows. Northern NJ, heated barn.