Jack up one corner and check how the doors open and close. It's easy for 914s to rust so bad the door will strike the sill in this test.
My first race car was a modestly modified 914 2.0 (four cylinder). I had a lot of fun in it and scored my first race win.
PROS: -They are simple cars. Really, really simple. Easy to work on, even from underneath. -Most parts are inexpensive, especially if you get the VW part number interchange. -Lightweight: mine weighed about 1950 pounds with cage. -Interchangability with 911 stuff. Suspension, steering, brakes, wheels, transmission, engine, go crazy. -There is no substitute for a lightweight, mid-engine car. Awesome steering feel and turn-in, great balance. Out-trail-braking 911s in decreasing-radius turns is great fun. -Roomy interior. I was actually quite comfortable in mine on long highway drives. I even slept in it once. -Lots of support -Pelican Parts. They rock. -Smell of air-cooled VW and burned oil come at no extra cost. -LOTS of luggage space. -I would Megasquirt. -How many of you remember those super-cool flat metal turn signal stalks from the 70s VWs? 914 got them, too. -PCA is a great club. -Panorama is an awesome magazine (newsletter). -Porsche Owner's Club is supposed to very good; not sure if they're active up there. -Porsche Club Racing has very high-caliber drivers. -Ain't nothing else like a 914. -Top comes off, if you like that sort of thing.
CONS: -Rust. -Rust. -Rust. -Flexible chassis, even without rust. -Leaks. Even after you replace the roof seals. -The rear shifter (1970-1972) is possibly the worst-shifting manual ever. The side shifter (1973-1976) is only somewhat better. Upgrading from rear-shifter to side-shifter is supposed to be fairly easy. -First gear is a stump-puller which sometimes makes for extra 2-3 shifting when autocrossing. -Crappy seats. Easy to change. -Poor oil cooling. Hey, it's mid-engine. -Oil slosh issues. I wasn't able to fully address this. -Weak rear semi-trailing arms. Reinforce these. -Mediocre stock brakes. Easy to upgrade front discs and master cylinder; more expensive to upgrade the rears. But there was a rumored BMW 320i conversion that was supposed to be cheap and easy; look into that. -Not a lot of side-impact protection. But not different from other old sports cars, or even an early Miata. -Stock engines are mediocre but respond very well to hot-rodding. Very known quantity for tuning. -Automobile Atlanta. Run, don't walk, from those guys. -Adjusting the valves is a PITA, especially the two hidden by the semi-trailing arms. -VDO tach will bounce. Get it rebuilt at North Hollywood Speedometer. -Hinges on the engine lid and rear trunk tend to break and cause leaks. Not difficult to fix.
Bottom line, they have many of the excellent traits of the early 911s (simple, robust, light weight, classic feel) with the advantage of mid-engine weight distribution. But they have some of their own special issues. I always enjoyed autocrossing mine, even though it was never set up for that.
Black is somewhat unusual as it was a $300 option (which was a lot back then). I think "eurospec" usually refers to the higher european compression ratio; that was 8.0 versus 7.6 for the US 2.0 liter cars. Not sure on 1.8s. 1973 got the front bumper boxes, the rears started in 1974. Pay particular attention to rust on the right front of engine bay (hidden by battery) and also the corresponding corner of the passenger compartment, behind the passenger seat. Mine had rusted from the former into the latter. It's easier to address if you remove the interior and the battery, but those bottom corners of the engine bay are a tough reach [unless you pull the motor and do it seated in the engine bay 
].
I'm certainly no engine-builder, but I had a 2.0 liter 914 engine built for my race car (of long ago). Engine was mostly stock, balanced, with 8.0 compression pistons, very open exhaust, Weber 44mm carbs, and a 356C distributor. It never saw a dyno, but based on on-track comparison to another mostly stock 914-6, I would guess that mine had similar power. The 914-6 was rated at 110 horsepower, but given that we were all running open exhaust, call it another 10 horse, so maybe 120 at the crank. But that was not a muffler you'd run on the street. I'm sorry I can't give solid numbers but I don't have any. But at least it gives you a start. My engine was severely limited by the stock cam.
Personally I would: balance, 8.5 compression megasquirt for fuel injection and ignition, cam, Shift at 5600 RPM Have fun! Even 140 HP in a 2000 pound car will be fun.
I was told the number one way to blow up these motors was neglect the oil. Duh. But the number 2 way to blow them up was to overrev them. Factory rev limit was 5600 and (I was told) they blow up at 6000. This is not a 911 engine, don't try to rev it like one.
The roof seals leak. Period. No matter what. I spent about $400 in 1990s money to replace all of them, and it still leaked. And within two years the new seals starting falling apart and it leaked worse. When it lived outside it lived with a shower curtain over it to keep the water out. Of course, that abraded the paint. Fortunately, it is easy to pull the carpets to dry the interior, if ambient humidity is reasonable. Because it will get wet if it rains.
You will smell like burned oil. No, I didn't say you will smell burned oil, but YOU will smell of burned oil. I think it's just the way air-cooled Porsches and VWs are. Like it, live it, celebrate it, but learn to deal with the smell. It will permeate your clothes.
Do not rev past 5600 RPM, period. Ever. No, not even once. The bottom end can't handle higher revs.
They don't have the power to exploit the chassis.
Some people are confused by the heater controls.
There are no cupholders.
In fact, other than the glovebox there aren't many places to stash your stuff. So while you are compensating for your lack of power by pitching it hard into corners your stuff while be flying all over the interior.
They never came with 911 seats, which are my favoritist seats on the planet. Most 914s had vinyl seats, with all the stickiness and sweatiness that implies.
They run hot.
All engine work is done through the little engine lid or from underneath.
Most of them have a bouncy tach and it's >$100 to fix it. But you have plenty of time to interpolate your revs because, well, see above.
You have to open the front deck lid to fill the gas tank.
It's expensive to upgrade to five-lug hubs so you can run Fuchs. Because, well, you want to run Fuchs, right?
You like body lean, right? Lots of body lean?
Now, if you think I'm hating on 914s, I'm not. I loved mine for many reasons. But you asked to be un-enabled. :-)
On my 914 race car I replaced all the fuel lines with new rubber lines. If you can't find steel, it's an easy alternative and much better than thirty year old plastic.
914s are cool. They have true Porsche feel. They are simple cars and easy to work on. They have an oil slosh problem. Side shifters are not good, and rear shifters are terrible. That said, I raced mine with a rear shifter and only missed shifts occasionally... ;-) The cool thing is to upgrade to 911 brakes and 5-lugs, and it's easy in front but not in back. Solution in back used to be to use early 1970 hubs (cast for both 4- and 5-lug applications) but those were rare and expensive. Rear fender space is limited to about 205s, and that's with rolling the fenders. Oh, they run HOT on track. They really need a front-mounted oil cooler. I tried hard to make a rear-mounted cooler work and, well, it never did. Chassis can be flexible, and rust can fold them in two. Rust inspection is key: jack the car up, pull the wheels, and look up the fender wells into all the corners. Also, the front corners of the engine bay are a major trouble spot. The roof seals leak, are expensive to replace, and will leak again in two years. Just accept it: all targas leak. They have lots of trunk space and the stock seats aren't good. If the tach bounces send it to Hollywood Speedometer for a rebuild. The chassis is very popular for engine swaps but you still need to solve issues of cooling, shifter, rigidity/rust...
Bottom line, the 914 makes a fabulous basis for an all-conquering $150,000 race car. I built a $15,000 914 race car and it was very challenging. As a street car there is a ton of fun to be had with them. I'd really love to see a megasquirt conversion.
