I am kind of tossed up. I want to run sticky tires, a nasty motor and race....


But the more I tear into my 914 I am finding true clean compared to all the cars I looked at and I lot of cars I see on here.

For instance, I am peeling off undercoating by hand and finding 100% perfect shiny paint on the trailing arm ears, suspension consoles etc.

It is kind of depressing thinking of grinding this off, welding and etc. On the other hand it's a 75 and will never be concours I do not think, or 100% numbers matching original although hte trans/motor/body are all original.... Another plastic bumper Anacona blue metallic car.

The car has 50k miles with a working odometer and speedo.....


I am sort of I already have some watercooled high power cars, but I want a nasty 914 as well..... I am just not sure about sacrificing this car and what not.

I suppose if I do brace, and add an engman kit, and other bracing I can waxoyl inside and respray it.......


What do you folks think?

I keep reading sticky tire + power = ripped sheetmetal and I have even broken older unibody cars in the past with excessive power and traction when I assumed things like rabbits and sciroccos would be around all over forever... now I kick myself.

I do not want to ruin a nice 914.

I am not even driving the car around in this baltimore area until it has proper insurance........

Indecisive.

To give an idea of how this is going, I am literally using my fingernails and bare fingers to pull undercoating off to find the clean paint.

The more I think of removing this paint the more it is making me semi queezy.

If you have a completely original car, KEEP it ORIGINAL!!! The reasoning goes something like this: Enjoy the car for what it is, an original type, etc. Once you start changing it takes something away from it. I believe value starts and stops with originality. Who cares is it is not concourse. It is originallity where everything starts.

With the foregoing said, the next set of questions involve what you see the car being. If you see yourself doing the stress mods and other changes then evaluate the car as original vs. any additions may take from/increase value.

It is one thing to own and drive an original car with low mileage. They are hard to find. If you seriously want to make the changes, then possibility clean up the car and keep it original (or sell it); get another car to make the changes; and then use it as you see it.

I am very serious about retaining complete original cars. I have modified two 914s (V-8 and 3.2 power). Since both of these cars were shells (rolling chassis') and were essentially in the junkyard, I did all the mods that you are talking about and then some. Originality did not have any consideration---they were junkers which needed to be saved and returned to driving/enjoyment conditions.

The 914 is a tough car without needing any modifications such as stressing unless it is being used in alot of Auto-Xs, racing, fast road driving, heavy cornering, etc. Just watch the critical parts for fatigue, cracking, etc. and enjoy the car in originality. You have something unique which other owners may want - originality. Originality DOES NOT MEAN CONCOURSE!!!! That is a whole different issue which I personally do not want to get involved with.

These are my thoughts. Whatever, enjoy the car and take good care of the "old girl".

Steve Hurt

Sounds like you need another 914 to turn into the nasty beast, and keep this one nice. How about sharing some photos?

I posted some in another thread, but I will go take some more today or tomorrow of the areas underneath the undercoating. It is like a timewarp peeling this undercoating off and seeing this paint.

Here are some photos from the other thread.

This was the hell hole after some cleaning and the opposite side.

I'll skip to the end... it's your car, do what you want...
I truly believe that..

BUT... the shortage of nice cars would lead me, if I were in your exact position... to find another car to race, and clean this one up to be a stocker... if you don't want a clean stocker, find someone who does, and get you a race car roller that's being saved from the junkyard.

the fact you are unsure about doing this should tell you all you need to know.

as far as the engman kit, or the brad mayeur kit too... even on a stock car these are great products.

I'd fix what appears to be pretty typical minor rot and keep the car in a mostly original state.

If you are going to go with a nasty 914, get a roller and a parts car and make like Frankenstein.

The 914 prices are *still* on the up! and clean original cars that are mostly original and lower mileage are getting scarce. Preserve it and either keep it, or sell it to make your nasty car.

BTW, was the car ever hit (is it obvious)? If not, preserve it, definitely.

This is just my opinion, but seeing an original 914 is a rare and great thing for me.

Please note the shaved door handles are leaving, the PO riced it like that. I have a nice set of door handles with a few pits and new plastic bits + they are all cleaned and lubed up with cleaned/lubed locks ready to go once I finish moving, get time to take it to the body guy, find the right guy etc.

For now I am just fixing all the gremlins and rust. Hilariously I can not drive the car anywhere but around or roll the windows up since you know, you can not get in or out.

The PO apparently forgot that 1975 cars have no wiring inbetween the doors and never finished the "shaved" look with the hardware to operate it.










There is a lot of thick good metal left, unfortunately I had to put it back under self detching and seal the hell hole area for a while since I am busy moving and fixing my daiyl driver, family, kids, work etc for a bit.

The jackboxes are mostly cut off, I have been meditating on getting the upper halves off, and just sliced it up like a loaf of bread, then I am using a chisel/screwdriver or whatever random flat stiff object fits to knock the tabs(slices) up and off the spot welds. Some of the jackbox stuff penetrated 1 layer into the long that I believe is 3 layers there?


Anyways. I do think I will not be putting jackboxes back onto it, with aluminum low profile racing jacks being so inexpensive, and small these days.

The car has some bondo in the drivers rear 1/4 below the tail light. The tailight bolt points, and trunk etc are very clean however. It was superficial. To do it right, a dremel of that area on a clean car could be welded on easily.

So technically it was hit, but it looks like someone just may have backed into that area at low speed.

It also looks like something hit the front trunk and disturbed the front control arm bushing cover, but the suspension mounting point is still flat and perfect on both sides.



More pics:

The body work I would say is a 6.5 out of 10 maybe a 7 on a kind day.

There was some bodge, the guy doing it did not shave the handles right but he did prep the metal and wetsand it well it shows but then the welding and filler for the front fender holes on side is stupid. The other side was done perfect....

They totally overlooked and painted/tried to hide the fender to cowl rot starting as well. I semi bodged that for now to avoid it getting worse, but I will have to fix that eventually.

I could fix all that as well. For now I want to get the floors done. It looks like some surface is starting in the tunnel, so I am probably going to have to drill a ton of spotwelds and remove that to gain access and do it right otherwise it will eventually not be a clean car.

Try to get over to my parents where I am storing it today and snag a camera while my wife took ours on vacation with the kids.

I was in the same boat as you when I first started to work on mine... it's in pretty darn good condition so what direction do I go.

So I decided this: I respect, admire, and REALLY appreciate what the concourse guys do. Later generations will be looking at their cars and have the chance to see what an original 914 looked like... way cool.. but not really my thing. I like to drive and am interested in getting a track car together but chopping into a really nice car is not my thing either. Thus I am upgrading/replacing things that can be set back to stock specs in the future if need be. No crazy radical body kit or cutting of the sheetmetal. Keeping the T4.... I've always liked 'em anyways... and tweak the motor for a bit more power but not not enough to overpower the integrity of the suspension and body.

When/if my driving skills improve and I want to go big... I'll get another 914 more suited for that purpose.

But... that's just my angle.

Do what makes you happy and make sure you will still be happy about 1, 3, 15 years from now.

Do you have the money to do both?

I have always had a street car, AND a race car. My first AX car was streetable and was far enough along competion wise that it was almost too much for the street. The main street inhibitors (which is a nice way of saying the wife won't get in it) are a roll bar / cage and hard suspension. That can happen very quickly.

My AX car was a 73 2.0 that was on its 3rd paint job, minor HH and Jack issues and generally thin metal and bondo throughout. Great car in the end though...

OK, I'll be odd ball. From what I've seen of the pictures, I would have now problem slicing and dicing that car into what you want. Now if your'e back east then, it probably does look like the holy grail of 914 tubs. Sure you can fix all the repairs, keep the car original but it will always be just that.

If you want a car that should be kept original with no rust, just buy a CA tub...there's plenty laying around.

Either way, enjoy your car and the project to come.

This car came from california funny enough. I am also out east, so it is indeed super clean for a car out here.

I am going to have to just think about it for a while during the routine old car maintenance and troubleshooting.

I agree with computer4kids -- that car is not a concourse car, and I would not have a problem modifying that car to fit your needs/desires. Keep the pics coming!

yea, I'll reverse (sorta) my opinion after seeing pics.. it's nice, but I was picturing a car near pristine... I'm back to simply, "it's your car, do what you want.. "

it would be an easy fix to get it to a nice stocker, but it's not blasphemy to cut and race it tho...