New owner of 914

orange914jeff · 01-30-2005, 01:18 PM

Very excited. Just bought a 1974 2.0, Signal orange. One owner, 52K miles. Has original window sticker, brochure, salesmans card, no body damage, most receipts, owners manual, plastic owners card. Needs rear brakes as PO parked car with park brake on. I have dissembled rear calipers. Looks like a general cleaning and new seals is all that is required.
Where is best place to get caliper/Master cylinder kits.

I've worked on many other cars and am fairly handy with tools. Any thing significant to look out for with 914?

Any suggestions for car?

Alfred1 · 01-30-2005, 02:05 PM

Wow! Sounds like a great car. Got any pictures? As for the rear caliper rebuild kits - I think the ones Pelican sells are supposed to be complete and if not, I think German Parts and Restoration has the complete kits. Eric Shea also rebuilds rear calipers for $190/pair. If your car still has the d-jet fuel injection, you need to check out Brad Anders' Web site.

Jim Chambers · 01-30-2005, 04:41 PM

Give us the rest of the story. How did you come to find such a low mile original car? Were you searching or is there a story of good fortune to make us all jealous? Come on, we can take it.

orange914jeff · 06:09 PM

It was an estate auction with an ad in the local paper. All original, including cocoa mats (very faded), d-jet, mahle wheels (spare never mounted, tire has nubs, no bolt marks on rim, Dumlop SP-57)/ I just got lucky. Originally sold in Chicago May 31, 1974 at Porsche-Audi O'Hare (salesman Al Larsen) to a Chicagoland resident. Based on records, he drove it a lot at first including a trip to SOCal where Masterson Motors - Ventura installed dealer air on 7-8-1974, also had 5K service then.
Story just continues, the owner died, the estate auctioned it off to me last week.
I've bought the authenticity book and this car could have been used for the photos. Everything matches.
A couple of problems, a mouse ate some of the wiring behind the heater blower in the front trunk, the heat exchangers are rusted, but no battery tray rust, no rot, some minor surface rust and two minor door dings. Paint stilll shiny, and reasonably smooth. Interior smells musty. Starts and runs well with D-jet. It was 34 Deg F and rainy this morning. Started right up.
Tonight, I've got it up in the air, wheels off and cleaned some sand and other debris from under the wheel wells, no significant damage just stone chips. Interior has no splits or cracks, just some adhesive has come loose at the glovebox door and behind the seats. All the lights work, horn, wipers, gages in center but nnot clock.
I've had a 911 before, so the Porsche thing is not new to me, and I've had 2 bug-eyes, a Tr-250, and my brother has a second owner MG-TD. Old cars and hard to locate parts are not a new concept either. Just trying to learn 914 speak. Tried to load a picture, did not work.

Bleyseng · Bleyseng's Garage

Change the fuel lines and fuel filter! 30 yr old fuel lines crack and will spray high pressure gas all over the hot engine. The result is another 914 burned to the ground. Use only the Porsche FI fuel line as its made for the high heat and fuel pressure in the engine compartment.

Geoff

Alfred1 · 01-30-2005, 06:09 PM

One upgrade you might consider is installing a Rennshifter. Poor shifting was one of the 914's weak points.

Bleyseng · Bleyseng's Garage

New shift bushings even a 52k car will work wonders.

smooth_eddy · smooth_eddy's Garage

We are all waiting for some photos. Lucky guy!

Jim Chambers · 01-30-2005, 09:22 PM

Yes, keep trying with a photo or two. Also, give 914club.com a try as well. What you don't find here you will find there. Many of us frequent both. Sounds like you really scored a nice one.

calbrat · 01-31-2005, 07:18 AM

Don't ignore that fuel line thing that was mentioned earlier. I got my 914 in a similar fashion, (under the tarp, in the garage for 10 years)
My fuel lines were split and I didn't notice until the car started and I still had jumper cables on!!!!

My brake lines were hammered as well. The master cylinder could be near the end as well.

Sounds like a super deal though for a car with that low of mileage.

HMeeder · HMeeder's Garage

HMeeder · HMeeder's Garage

HMeeder · HMeeder's Garage

sean_V8_914 · sean_V8_914's Garage

Hey Herb, what are you trying to say?

orange914jeff · 02-01-2005, 09:27 AM

Funny thing, all this mention of leaky hoses. I was under the front removing the pan under the front suspension to look at the Master Cyl, and reached up and lightly touched the fuel hose inside the access hole at the bottom of the tank. Hose was not leaking before, now has broken away in almost a full sever. Finger over the open end at the tank, yell for wife for catch pan.
I'll assure you, all fuel hoses to be replaced NOW.
I appreciate the repsonses. I still cannot get this forum to load any pictures regardless of how small I make it.
Removing the tank turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I found the broken green wire I was looking for (remember my mice comment above). This is the feed to close the headlights. It now appears all electrical stuff except clock works as new.

Alfred1 · 02-01-2005, 10:01 AM

When you make a post, you can click on the purple "Click here to Upload a Photo..." link to browse your hard drive and select a photo and then hit the "upload now" button to upload it. Or, you can host it somewhere else and link to it in your post. If that doesn't work, you can email me the pics as email attachments and I can post them for you ...

orange914jeff · 02-01-2005, 11:13 AM

I've tried the upload with this thread 3 or 4 times. I keep getting a too large for server comment. I went to email and PM for you alfred1, but I do not see a way to attach, nor do I see your email address. I can't get into members. So, I'm still stuck. I'm not the most computer literate, but usually can find a way to add pictures. I've turned off my forewall and shutdown Norton too, still with no luck. I will try this forum upload one more time, before I declare insanity.

Alfred1 · 02-02-2005, 11:04 PM

Wow, they were some big pictures. I resized them with Irfanview.

Alfred1 · 02-02-2005, 11:11 PM

I have a '73 2.0 that was originally signal orange and I'm going to repaint it to that color and put some Fuchs back on the car. Your car looks great - where's the driver's side view mirror?

orange914jeff · 04:33 AM

Thanks for you efforts on picture reduction and posting.

Mirror is on my workbench, trying to loosen it up so it can be adjusted. I've loosened the nut underneath, but the split in the vertical part of the arm will still not rotate. The mirror head rotates. Afraid to put too much pressure on it.
Pass side wiper arm is in my garage too.

I went to my photo editor and resized to smallest possible and they were still too big for this forum.