moerdogg wrote: No welding skills at the moment. We have some serious pros at work, and I'd love to learn. Nothing teaches like need
You might want to find something with a little less intricate body structure to practise on IMHO. But that's just MO 
.
I had one, I believe it was the same year, same engine, not a spec of rust, 911 suspension parts, lowering springs, blah, blah, blah, put on by the previous owner.
The car seemed to attract big SUV's... One night when visiting the parents in Pittsburgh, a drunk guy in Ford Expedition was tailgating me even though I was in the right lane. When he finally went around I did the natural thing and flipped him off. At the next light, I left plenty of space between us. The guy got out and used the distance between us to his advantage. He ran at me at full speed. I had no where to go since there were cars behind me so I just sat and watched. When he got about 10 feet away from my car, he jumped, flew through the air like superfly snuka and did a karate kick to my windshield. Glass flew everywhere...when I opened my eyes there was a size 11 pro ked shoe about an inch from my face. With his foot stuck through the windshield and the guy laying on the car, my foot slipped off the brake. I turned off the road to get out of the way as this time the light turned green and it was on a busy road. I hit a curb which ripped off the air dam off the front of the car. The police showed up and arrested the guy. Funny thing, his passengers, you guessed it, his parents...
The car got towed to a local garage for evidence. I picked it up the next day. I got a new windshield and vice clamped the air damn in place and drove hundreds of miles home.
About a week later the car was totaled when some dude ran a redlight and creamed me.
I originally bought the car for $4,000. I argued with the insurance company of the guy who totaled it and got them to fork over 8 grand. I explained it was an 8 grand car but I originally got a great deal and I shouldn't be penalized for being a smart car buyer. I went back to court a couple weeks later for super fly snuka. His attorney wanted to make a deal and asked how much I wanted for the damage his now sober client caused. I forgot to tell him the car was already totaled and told him I wanted no less than $2,500 which he paid right away without question as long as I didn't press charges. I went back to the insurance company of the car who totaled it and bought it back for $200 and ended up giving the car away to a local garage.
The car was a great investment. I wish I still had it.
"We dont destroy now we restore"
Run away. Not worth 500, unless you need an excuse to spend a lot of time and money. Motor is worth about 100, if the trans is a rear shift it is worth nothing. Tan interior it the most valuble thing in the car and that is under 200. For giggles put a jack under the door and lift the car, watching the door gap grow. I bet it will change by 1/8", which means the car is rusting from the inside out. These cars are way too flexible, just autocrossing with sticky tires will twist the chassis to the point you need alignments. One more fun fact. The fuel injection wiring harness is ALL WHITE WIRES! Good luck finding problems there.
You can strip all that wiring out when you put the Subaru engine in it anyway
You know that That Other Magazine Mr. Suddard Owns (Classic Motorsports) did a 914 project several years ago, right? They managed to fix a bunch of issues, including shift quality.
Stealthtercel wrote: You know that That Other Magazine Mr. Suddard Owns (Classic Motorsports) did a 914 project several years ago, right? They managed to fix a bunch of issues, including shift quality.
Did not know that, I'll have to dig through back issues and see what I can unearth. Thanks for the tip!
^^^ Yes and they ended up spending like $25K.
moerdogg wrote:Stealthtercel wrote: You know that That Other Magazine Mr. Suddard Owns (Classic Motorsports) did a 914 project several years ago, right? They managed to fix a bunch of issues, including shift quality.Did not know that, I'll have to dig through back issues and see what I can unearth. Thanks for the tip!
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/project-cars/1973-porsche-914/
moerdogg wrote: Which trim panel would I need to remove to check for rust? I think any rust under the battery would be somewhat obvious, given how far disassembled the car is.
You'd need to remove the big panel behind the seats. It might be possible to just pull the bottom of it forward and look but that's a bit of a PITA. If you go that route, an inspection mirror and a small flashlight would be a big help.
moerdogg wrote: The Miata has spoiled me: are there any ways to make the shifter a bit better in the 914? My level of spoiled-ness is such that I routinely get into other peoples' cars and stall after starting because the shifter slop in gear is about as much as the Miata has in neutral.
Heh.
Let's face it, no way is the shifter ever going to approach Miata-ness. You can probably get it to Yugo levels, though. 
On mine, the big help was replacing the four nylon bushings: the one over the side shift 'ball', the one in the housing for the shifter on the side of the transmission, the one in the 'firewall' at the front of the engine compartment and the one at the bottom of the shifter inside. There are some short shift kits out there that basically raise the shifter pivot point inside, those help but will require more effort to work the shifter.
One other thing about the shifter: Porsche made the shift forks and rods inside the transmission so there is no positive location for the shift forks, i.e. there's no hole, slot etc to line stuff up with. The shift forks clamp to the shift rods. That means it's possible for a shift fork to move on the shift rod, it most commonly happens with first/reverse. That shows up as popping out of first gear. If it does this and you catch it quick you won't have to replace the 1st gear hub. Luckily it can be done without removing the transmission, there's a few online tutorials for that. If this happens with any other gears the transmission needs to come out.
http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/101_Projects_Porsche_911/38-901_1st_Gear_Rebuild/38-901_1st_Gear_Rebuild.htm
The article says the transmission needs to come out, actually it doesn't if you are only working with 1st gear. Pic of the gears n' stuff:
Oh, and about the motor: the 1.7 has a smaller spacing between the cylinder studs than the 1.8 or 2.0. This limits the bore size. But the good thing is the 1.8 and 2.0 cases are the same as a Bus or Type IV. Using those cases means you can hog the thing out to (IIRC) as much as 2.6 liters.
The 2.0 Porsche heads are prone to cracking and are pricey. Never done this myself, but as I understand it 2.0 Bus/TypeIV heads can be used if you use the 1.7/1.8 exhaust heat exchangers.
Thanks for all the input, guys! I'm going to check out the car after work today and assess whether I have the stones to handle the work required.
Thinkkker wrote:yamaha wrote: Recover your purchase price with the engine/trans.....and I'll sell you a SHO drivetrain to put in the back for cheap.Do this! geez, thats like 2-3 times the power!yes it will fit, and be one hell of a challenge car.
He could probably even get an adaptor plate and other things he needs from this guy........
I would not leave it stock.
cutter67 wrote:
They didn't live by that philosophy with Eleanor.
bravenrace wrote: I would not leave it stock.
Holy box flares! That looks like a barrel of fun.
bravenrace wrote: I would not leave it stock.
now if you did all that body work and left it street legal ........i think i will have to step up my looking for one
Based on your location, I think this one has been on Craigslist for a while now. Someone even mentioned it in the For Sale forum a few weeks back. Just be sure you know what you are getting into.
EDIT: I bet it's this one.
SilverFleet wrote: Based on your location, I think this one has been on Craigslist for a while now. Someone even mentioned it in the For Sale forum a few weeks back. Just be sure you know what you are getting into. EDIT: I bet it's this one. Cheap Project 914 in MA
The one I'm looking at is '71. Otherwise sounds very similar. This one is up in NH near the border.
Edit: I suspect even my wildest estimate of how much work it will take would be woefully low. Short of diving in, I doubt I'll be sure of what I'm getting into. If that were the case for most of us, I suspect this forum would be substantially less active.
You can waste $500 on worse things. I say go for it!
Curmudgeon has it right, but if you want to have a blast fix the rust and do the 3.2 swap with 911 suspension brakes and all. That car will kick ass and not even bother asking questions. Plus, Porsche guys will still let you play with them... ;)
I went and checked it out last night, and it's pretty much a pile of rust. I couldn't really get over to the right side to check the "hell hole" because it was parked against the garage wall, but both doors were hanging crooked, and there were holes in the driver's-side U-channel. The seller was clearly emotionally attached and said things like "I haven't decided whether I'm ready to sell" while his wife stood there giving him baleful looks. Super nice people, and pretty knowledgeable about the car, but it has been sitting way too long.
If anyone is interested I can pass their info to the seller, but it's too much for me. If someone wanted to buy it and part it, that would probably be the most sensible choice. A full resto could never (IMO) recoup the investment.
moerdogg wrote: Yesterday, one of my co-workers approached me and mentioned that an acquaintance from church had an old project 914 that he was looking to unload. I have been kinda-sorta wanting a project car to play with. I have the Miata, which is great for driving and light wrenching. It's in good shape and I'm not planning any major projects on it. Having a serious project would be fun for me and teach me about undertaking a long-term restoration. The 914 has never really been on my radar, but the number that was bandied about was $500 for the whole thing. . .....," the best 914-4 in the world seems to be worth about $10k. And most decent examples are $4-6k. The wife has bought in, as long as the spending doesn't get out of control. . So, should I do this??
The good news is that you seem to have your eyes open. The reality is that this is going to cost you more than the best 914 on the market. Since you used the "restoration" word, here is what you can expect in broad terms and applicable to just about any popular mass produced car:
Shell/rust rehab 5k
body and paint to a good standard 5k
rolling stock (wheels tires suspension brake systems et all) 2k
engine transmission 4k
interior 2k
stuff you never thought about 2k
So, plan on spending 20k to build a car you would be proud of. Of course you can undercut this by up to 50% if you are frugal and patient and do absolutely everything yourself using used bits and at home paint, but that still puts you at 10k.
So, the question to ask is if you want to build a car or drive a car? If you want to drive, go buy the 10k car and make payments; pretend the payments are "parts purchases" and it all works out.
To me, restoring is a hobby that can be compaered favorably to playing golf. You have an initiation fee for joining the club (car purchase) and ongoing club membership and green fees comparable to buying parts. The clubs that you lust after are tools. The good news is that with cars, you will get something back when you leave, while nobody is going to buy your scorecard collection no matter how good you get.
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