Porsche 914..to be properly fixed!

[Antoine_P]

Hi all,

After some years of dreaming about it, I bought myself a porsche 914.. Light, low, fun on curvy roads, love it..

So the car: originally from the US (sadly I know nothing about its history there), it is a 1974 1,8l 914 originally phoenix red. It was sometimes repainted, before 1991 when it was imported to the UK. It ran there until 2009, where it found its way back to Germany. And since october with me!

It looked like a good driver, which was my goal, as I want to enjoy it on the road during the restoration of my karmann ghia

my plan was:
-drive drive drive drive (made 1000miles the first month with it )
-in the future: paint it original color back, improve the handling (it still has no sway bars, shocks are quite old, frame stiffener will be ordered,..), some interior modification,.. goal is to keep it usable on the street, while lightening it where possible and putting some more power (I am in love with the sound of a 6 but might keep it a big 4 for weight and legal reasons..).

Some pictures from the start:






I made some changes, mostly removing all sound deadening material, changing old bushes, mounting a short shifter,.. A pleasure on the roads!
The short shifter:




And well.. The previous owner used is for less than 1000 miles in 10 years, only on sunny warm days..and as I did differently and drove it a lot and hard, some old "hack fixes" came on the surface.. I don't want it to become dangerous or too bad to be fixed..

So decision has been made, a few months break from the ghia and I fix it correctly to have a safe and reliable car. Start has been made yesterday:
First checking.. Under the long.. Well fiberglass was well hidden:




And on the inside under the belt fixation was also nicely fiberglassed


So.. The 914 is in my shop


And I made some more disassembly, and checked the B-pillar behind the sail panel where I expected a lot of work..
Passenger side is quite a good surprise, except this hole that could be foreseen:


And is real:


The rest is good


Driver side had developped some.. Let's say waves..




And here there are a bit more damages..




Well, I know the condition now, and nothing that really scares me

Then I built the necessary door braces, made to be able to keep the doors, in order to always be able to check the gaps


And mounted:


I made them in order to be able to keep the doors to always be able to check the gaps:




And I check further the inner firewall.. Holes on driver's side, bad repair on passenger's side..






Well, all in all I know more about the work to come, it has been a good first evening

Cheers

Antoine

[Pehr]

Nice ride with not to much rust.
Congratulations
I will be following with interest

[Antoine_P]

Thanks Pehr! This ride will be fun, but first let's make it solid!

So, I removed more of the undercoating and it appeared to have some "fix" from the past on the long.. Well, let's see after cutting:








But before I go further there after engine removal, I started to remove the tank to be able to weld safely. I will also mount the sway bar in the same time, as well as change all fuel lines.
Here we are :


And because it's always good for the motivation, I made a first repair on my driver's sail panel, all TIG-welded






















Cheers

Antoine

[bill m]

The Porsche 914 is in good hands. I will enjoy watching your progress.
Bill.

[dwmh]

Sad to see what looks a good car on top has been bodged so poorly underneath. I'm pleased you are up for the challenge.

[Antoine_P]

Thanks a lot for the Support! I am motivated and this car will turn great!

So, already a lot happened to the 914 this week!

I started upfront by pulling out the frunk seal to check the condition under it..


And I found holes after holes. I cut each of them and replaced with metal, I won't bore you with every single picture but here are a couple of examples, like here :








Or here:








Or here :








One last example:






Afterward I put some primer and some paint for complete protection:






As I was already working on the front, I removed the side markers and the antenna (no radio on a lightweight project !) :








And started the first part for my B-Pillar:






The next update comes as soon as I have some time to post it!

Cheers

Antoine