Learning about Porsche 914s

I have too many cars and too many projects. Mostly Porsche and a few VWs. Porsche... VW.... Buried deep in projects. Wait a minute, this makes total sense now: Buy some 914s!

My driveway is full. The area by my parts shed behind the garage is full. Time to shuffle things around and cut the weeds. My poor neighbors, they probably think I'm finally clearing out the yard-junk.

I only *saw* one snake. I'm fine with having a few rat snakes around to keep rodents from chewing up the wire harnesses.

Soon I hope to pick up the 914s. Here's where they are coming from:

I'm pretty sure that one is a '73 and that they both have 1.7 non-fuel injection engines. I know nothing about Porsche 914s yet. Over the next year, I hope to learn a lot more.

Good luck!  Let's all chip in to send you some Evaporust and POR-15  

914world.com the best forum for these great cars!

Rust is the big killer on these. the "hell hole" is under the battery (pass side of engine comp up by firewall. Acid makes the hole then the rust and it will go through the suspension console and kill the aft part of the "long" ( the longitudinal part of the unibody). The longs are very very structural and rust quite well.

That said, almost every piece of sheet metal can be purchased. Most new from restoration design or sierra somethingorother. The ones you cannot get can be bought off of some of the rabid lovers of this model. Lots of folk buy dead cars and cut the good parts off of them.

I currently have a '72 1.7 and a '74 1.8.

That yellow one has 2.0l Fuch wheels or repops.

Oh, and please put the put the VINs in the database.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=94572

AAZCD (Forum Supporter) said:

 

I'm pretty sure that one is a '73 and that they both have 1.7 non-fuel injection engines. I know nothing about Porsche 914s yet. Over the next year, I hope to learn a lot more.

 

FYI: all 914s came with fuel injection. Carbs were a popular substitution with varied results.

In reply to rustybugkiller :

I haven't had a really good look yet, but the seller said that they were both "not fuel injected." He knows even less about them in general than I do though. He bought them to use one of the engines in a '60s VW bus, but changed his mind. I still need to pull the engine covers and get a good look, but I think they both have single carbs.

The wiring of these cars is "unusual".  The head light switch seems to be a focal point.

I've rebuilt maybe 50 VW engines, yet I still found this CD informative when i switched to Type 4 powerplants.  Little nuances here and there it points out.

Hopefully tonight at work, I'll have time to post some of the story so far. Last night was crazy busy, so I slept all morning and now family is coming over soon.

How little I know... How do you open the latch for the engine compartment?

Black one: little ants climbing all over it. Killed them and hit the calipers and some latches with penetrating oil. Engine compartment is stuck closed, but there's definitely a single carb on this one.

Yellow one: No ants, but some very big mouse poop in the trunk. Rust looks pretty scary in some areas. No key and steering wheel is loacked as well as the frunk.

Knowing how you score with Boxsters, you probably picked up this pair for $200 bucks :-)

I found the '73 owner's manual on 914World:  914 1.7 / 2.0 Owners Manual Model '73

That will help with a lot of my current questions.

Engine lid release is on the lower drivers door jamb ( b pillar, just inside the jamb). You may have to apply downward pressure to the lid while pulling release.

Check out Tech Tips 700 for Porsche 914 by Dr 914 Book Edition https://ebay.us/nC5pNN

This book of tech tips is a good read.

Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) said:

I've rebuilt maybe 50 VW engines, yet I still found this CD informative when i switched to Type 4 powerplants.  Little nuances here and there it points out.

I saw this and got my hopes up thinking they would have something for rebuilding 901 tranny..  No such luck.

Sorry for getting off track!

I just bought the book that Rustybugkiller posted and I'm probably going to get that DVD after I get a look at the engines.

_______________________________________________

Buying the cars:

I had seen the ad on Craigslist for quite a while when I was looking for various Porsche things. It was local and I kept telling myself that I don't want ANY more cars right now. After visiting Hack and seeing his 356s, I started wondering if it would be fun to call about the 914s. ...Just to take a look and talk, not to buy. (I don't have a problem, I can quit any time...)

Here's the text from the ad:

Please read the ad twice before you call me. I keep having people ask me questions that are answered in the ad. I have 2 914 parts cars. I bought these to use the engine in my 65 vw bus but went back with a vw engine. Both have engine ,transmission and most other parts. They are not fuel injected. Both have ac, one has aluminum wheels. They do not run. I don’t know anything about them. I do not have a title. I am selling just for parts. Do not call me asking questions about them because I don’t know anything. I want $800 each or $1400 for the pair. Make an offer. If you want to look at them call me between 9am and 8pm at **********.  Do not text or email I will not respond. If you have a problem and can’t talk on a phone have a friend call me. I am not hard to deal with but must hold firm on calls only because I drive all the time and can’t text or email.

I didn't realize it at the time, but I know the seller's brother and had met him before. He is quite a character and has an extensive collection of many cool things. The kind of guy who is embedded in the town's history and has long been known as a 'handyman'.

Don with his '47 COE. "It turns over, but it's going to need some work. There's another engine for it in the back room...."

After looking over the 914s, I mentioned the price in the ad. He said, "Yeah, I said $1,400, but I also said something else: Make me an offer." By then, I had to get to work soon (night shift). I told him I'd give him a call tomorrow to work out a deal and pick them up.

What to offer? I was actually considering the $1,400, but a full price offer would be insulting to the man. On the other hand he had also been asking $800 each.

"Hi Don, how about I pay you $1,100 to haul those two junk cars off for you?"

"I see how you are... You're hurtin' me, but yes. Yes, I'll take 11."

It was 97 degrees and humid when I went to pick them up. The old battery I had for my winch was too weak to break the cars loose to pull them on the trailer. Don Jump started the old Case backhoe with his old truck and dragged them to my trailer to get the job done. Awesomeness of Don.

They are now both back at my home snuggled in among the other Porsches and projects.

For now the plan is to do a little each day; Investigate, probe and prod, clean them up and pull them apart.

  The rust that you can see in these pictures, isn't a problem.  It's the rust that is a little harder to see, if the heat was ever used, the bottom of the rocker boxes will rust from the inside.   They can rust in interesting ways, that will affect the structure of the car, patch parts are available, but you will have to somehow hold the car in alignment while doing the repair, so that is a little more complicated.

     The biggest flaw, the transmission, check to see if you have the tail shifter or the side shifter.  The tail shifter is terrible, side shifter is much better, easy to check.  If the shifter actually goes all the way to the back, then you have the tail shifter.

      They all came with fuel injection, would be simpler and better to switch to twin carbs, many options.  Mild cam and twin carbs, can be fun.  The engine cover is tiny, but half the maintenance is done from under, valve adjustment, all done from under the car.

       The rusty or missing bumpers can be replaced with fiberglass parts, also the rusty front hood. 

This thread and me having a couple 914 engines is not helping me not want a 914

The 914 is sort of the German equivalent to the Europa.  Awkward looking and disdained by many. And I kinda want one anyway. Perhaps for those reasons.

At the very least, you have a few desirable wheels there.

The black car, which looks like a 1973, had desirable Mahle Gas Burner wheels and should have the side shifter transmission. With vinyl on the sides of the B pillar, which I think all of the 2.0 cars had, you may have a 2.0, though the vinyl was also on some of the smaller engined cars. The 1973 2.0 is the best four cylinder 914 you could get.

The yellow car has at least one desirable Fuchs 2.0 wheel, though it clearly says 1.7 on the back (no later than 1974) and has no vinyl on the side of the B pillar, so it was probably a base model. It may have the side shifter though.

No matter what, it would be fun to tear into these cars. I'd love to use a 914 2.0 as the basis for a tube framed track car.

Woody good eye. Those are Mahle wheels. Much better than Pedrinis. 

In reply to Woody :

As I was reading this I was thinking I’d loves 914 without the rust. Skin one and build a tube chassis would be the way to that end. 

911 style front fenders and headlights might go a long way in improving the looks of these from the front.  Something not so slabby with the B-pillar would be nice as well, like little quarter windows.  Not my kind of German rust bucket though so I will leave that for someone else to try.  This does make me wish to get into another real project car after cough cough years without one.

In 2015 this guy listed this car on CL.

I bought the engine and gearbox.

After a few weeks he got tired of no takers and had a metal collector haul it off.   

Rabbit hole:

https://engineswapdepot.com/?p=21935:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/908623-wow-914-boxster.html

0204 by Wicked Garage, on Flickr

No... It's not going to happen. And it's not hoping to figure a way to use the air cooled engine turbocharged in the 986 Chassis. There goes the next two years or so....

Patrick (Forum Supporter) said:

This thread and me having a couple 914 engines is not helping me not want a 914

Drive one and your mind will be made up.