dps214 said:
Snowdoggie said:
Tyler H (Forum Supporter) said:
dps214 said:
Really nice ones are still big money but good driver condition ones can be found for ~$10k without too much effort. If I had to pick a budget air cooled car, it would be that.
Please forward me any running 912s you see for $10k. All day, every day. 
Any running 914s you find for less than $10K will need a LOT of work and probably have a lot of rust.
I admit I'm not really seeing any at the moment (or really any for sale at all). There were definitely a few around a few years ago, maybe they finally caught a ride on the air cooled bandwagon. The 912e is from 1976 and at least in theory has a galvanized chassis.
Mid-20's is the buy in for a 912 that isn't a total basketcase now. I really, really, wish I had bought any of a handful of mid-year 911s and early Carreras that I was seriously shopping 10 years ago....all priced in the teens.
914s are the same. Just don't buy a cheap one and put a bunch of money in it. Buy a good deal project and do the work that the top-$$$ buyers won't.
Thirty years ago, these were known to be subject to terminal rust, even in areas where cars didn't generally rust. Good luck finding one with decent structural integrity today.
I had one, not again. If the heat was ever used, the rocker boxes will rust from the inside, and that is the structure of the car. Of course that is also true of older 911's. At some point they did improve the rust proofing, after the 914 years.
The real problem, even after a lot of work, rather limited potential compared to many other options.
A 944 or a 924 for similar cost and similar work, would be a better car, and might even have working A/C.
A 914 is basically a German version of a MGB, a old car with rust, with rather limited potential.
There are to many other options.....
It's an old car. New cars are faster, handle better and are more comfortable.
Remember that a Boxster, for the most part, is a faster, cheaper 914.
I have been a 914 owner for more that 20 years and I have owned two of them. I love my current 914 and I am going to keep her. That said, if I were going to buy another one I would do one of three things.
1. Spend whatever I have to to find the best one I can find. Lock it away in a garage and take it out for Porsche Club tours, car shows and trips to Sonic to meet with other old car owners. This is where my 914 lives.
2. Find a ratty one and strip it down. Stick it on a rotisserie and take every single part off of it. Fix, replace or upgrade every single piece. Replace the 4 cylinder with a 911 motor and build it as a vintage race car with fender flairs to match a factory 914 GT, or replace the engine with a Subaru Turbo motor and go crazy making it an outlaw custom car. Start out with a big budget so you can complete it and do it right. Set aside a huge number of hours to work on it, every night and weekend for years. Count on paying people what they are worth to do anything on the car you can't do, paint, welding, rust repair, engine building, whatever.
3. Find a ratty one and a cheap small block chevy engine and build it to take to the Challenge. Budget $2,000 and endless hours in wrecking yards and on fleabay hunting for parts that will work. Set aside a huge number of hours to work on it, but if your welding and painting sucks as much as mine does, count on the car sucking as well, unless you have beer drinking buddies who weld and paint better than you do. Then you have add cases of beer and lots of pizza to the budget, and let them drive it too.
Remember that 914 that was for sale on here with an EJ swap?
Went to look at a cheap one 10 years ago. When it had rust holes half way up the door I ran as fast as I could. I don't even consider them to be worth going to see in my area.
I do have good memories of a wide body one with an LS6 at autocross the one time. Slightly envious of that, but now I have no desire to own one.
Are all 914s dogleg five speeds?
Rust is your main concern on a 914. There is rust, it is a question of where, how much and is it terminal.
Get the one with the nicest body you can find. That sounds kind of sexist.
I fixed the hell hole under the battery in mine. It was a lot of work, but you can buy all the metal you need. Then painted it with POR 15.
I could only imagine what one with major rust would be like. But again, you can buy new metal to fit. How much cutting and welding do you want to do?
I'm going to do it. The pick-up is planned for tomorrow afternoon. My original intention with this deal was to get one to take apart and never put back together - That's how I learn. Looking it over, I think it may be re-buildable.
Battery tray area:
I don't know what year it is yet or anything about the engine. The seller said that he got it from a closed junkyard and was told that it had "ran when parked", but was junked because the clutch was bad. After I get them home I'll start a build thread ...even if it turns out to be a disassembly and part out thread.
In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :
If you get tired of it, lemme know.
i have a 71 914 1.7 engine and a slightly newer 1.8 engine case, both with 914 engine codes, should you care to keep your porsche all "porsche" and not "vw" and find yourself needing an engine.
there was one a few months ago not terribly far for $300 with title, that i would have grabbed if i did not have, you know, like double digit car numbers already.
I made a walk around video - My next video was 'supposed to be' finishing up the Boxster quarter panel, so I cut to the 914s. They are *derelict*. I'm in for about $1000 for the pair.
Sweet! The style of these old cars is just so nice. Looking forward to the build thread.
Are we talking back to stock, or a Boxster engine/transmission swap?
The yellow car has at least one Fuchs alloys ( that's good). The black car has Pedrini alloys (good but not as desirable as Fuchs because they are soft).
Curious what the black car looks like under the battery tray. Looks hopeful since the tray is there. Ac vents in yellow car. Rare.
Thanks for all the info. I've started a thread here that hopefully will include a build: Learning about Porsche 914s
The yellow car will most likely be disassembled and used to make the black one roadworthy again. Both are 1973 1.7L 4 cyls and both had A/C.
For wheels, I have five Pedrini alloys, one Fuchs, and three steelies.
It wasn’t THAT long ago that derelict 911’s were Challenge money (nearly). Not anymore. Obviously.
