Can someone tell me how bad this rust is?

[exc911ence]

I'm looking at a 74 914 1.8 for sale to compliment my 911T and need some expert help. The car is about 1000 miles from me so I'm relying on the owner sending me pics at this point but he's being really good and taking pics of whatever I want to see. The car looks quite good except for the homemade battery tray and this one area that I can't identify (rear suspension pick-up?) sort of scares me. Is that peninsula of rust supposed to be attached to the main body?





Can you suggest any other areas that I should request pictures of? I appreciate any help you guys/gals can give me.

[exc911ence]

Some more pics:














How's it look?

[mede8er]

Is the second pic the rear jacking donut? Not an uncommon rust point but will require welding in a new one with reinforcement if you wish to use this area for jack support.....

[exc911ence]

That's what it looks like from pictures I've been looking at of good 914's... should I run away yet?

More:

[Slick914]

That's the rear driver side donut jacking point. They are available for replacement but it all depends on how solid the metal is it gets welded to. The donut triangle welds to the rear floor pan lip and the bottom of the long. You really need to see what the passenger side looks like in the same area. As you probably know, battery acid would get washed down from above and rust out this area. He also has stuff covering the "hell hole" area under the battery. You need a good view of that area as well. I'm not positive, but it looks like the long behind the rocker cover was worked on or something. Would be nice if he would pull the rocker covers and take detailed pics for you.

What would your plans be for the car? Would you be buying to drive as is or plan to restore it?

[exc911ence]

It would be a driver at first and probably a project over the long term. My T needs very little at this stage so I wouldn't be Porsche-less if the 914 needed to be pulled off the road for a resto. I've been a big fan of the teener since my first drive and subsequent wheel time has only reinforced my enthusiasm for these cars... I just don't want to buy a car that's about to break in half.

[Slick914]

Well, from the pictures I would say this car will probably need quite a bit of rust repair in the near future. Unless it's dirt cheap, I'd probably look for something else, especially since it's so far from you.

[exc911ence]

I'm not sure what dirt cheap is these days for a 914. The asking price on this car is $4500 (firm, he's come down from an initial price of $6500) Canadian which to me sounded reasonable assuming it was a decent car. The pic in the ad is what drew me in:



It's a similar colour to my 911 (914 = Olympic Blue, 911 = Gulf Blue) and thought they'd look great together in the driveway. Yeah, I know.

[Slick914]

I wouldn't pay that much, but that's just my opinion. From the few pictures shown you can see a couple rust issues. I would suspect the passenger side to be worse than the driver side rust from the looks of the battery tray and hell hole area.

Hopefully some others will chime in and give you some advice. If not, post this over at one of the other 914 forums.

[racer]

At first glance the exterior looks nice.. then you notice its a repaint, so whats under the repaint? How are the bottoms of the trunks? Looks to me like the hell hole will need replacement. How are the floors behind the seats? Looks like maybe surface rust in the front trunk by the brake fluid resevoir. Is that a nail holding the new battery tray on the upper right? Whats it nailed into?

[exc911ence]

You mean that nail isn't factory? I agree it seems to have some possibly major issues that have been dressed up with bondo and a trowel some where along the line... I've asked for some pictures of the longs behind the rocker covers and the seller said he'd get these to me after the weekend. Stay tuned!

[carr914]

I guarantee that if the drivers side is bad and that crappy battery tray patch is done so poorly that the hell-hole is big enough that Cassius Clay could put his fist through it and not scratch a knuckle.

Also if you look at that door jam picture, you have a very bad re-spray. The door latch should not be painted nor the circular vent at the top. Also you can see rust oozing out from behind the backpad and the engine lid pull-knob.

It's not worth a 1/4 of the asking price.

Run, Forrest, Run

T.C.

[exc911ence]

I'll post the pics I requested when I get them but I'm starting to open my eyes to the fact that this might not be the 914 for me.

[bandjoey]

My first 914 was just like this...looks great...and now $7000 and a year later, it's yet to see paint, and I'm doing all the work. The passenger long and hell hole will probably need total replacement. Open up the fog light cover and see what color the car was, or get the paint code off the plate on the drivers door frame, and post it here. If possible, pull out one of the seats and with flashlight and mirror, look behind the firewall pad for rust. Check the seat belt bolts at the floor for rust. Look under the gas pedal and at the pedal assembly for rust. The floor tar is hiding the rust. This is normal...HA! I'm not an expert, but all of this happened ot my car. Also, look closely at the rust coming through the paint. Could be a cheap coverup paint job with surface rust starting to pop thorugh. Just don't pay too much like I did. Also, Rubber gaskets on doors and roof are mega bucks, so check their quality. Post here and on 914 world for someone local to the car to do an inspection...many will do it for free or for gas. Lastly, look around. There are many drivers like this that will run and you can get into for a couple or few thousand us$'s. Welcome to the madness of 914's! Bill
ps. How does it run and shift?

[panelbilly]

Run away

[Ericv]

That jacking donut and battery tray are just the beginning. Have the owner pull off the rockers and expose the long and suspension console about to fall off. I wouldn't even pat $1,500 as a parts car. Be patient, and do your research. You can get a nice daily driver for the $4,500 price tag. Eric

[exc911ence]

No worries guys, I've passed on the blue car. It's just more of a project than I'm looking for. Thanks to this forum though, I'm in contact with the owner of what seems like a pretty nice 70 1.7 car. Stay tuned.

[Conrad W Peden]

Hi Dave

[exc911ence]

3:22 am Conrad? You're not sleeping these days?

Hey I appreciate being able to pick your brain on these cars, nice to have an expert on staff!

[Conrad W Peden]

On my end of the country its says you replied at 4 am.

I was helping Hope get the kids Valentines ready. An hour picking out the non gender specific 'Love Hearts' out of a box of two hundred, so Mac could give them to the boys in his class.