914/4 shop manual

[atramsay]

I am about ready to begin the reassembly of my 74' 914/4 2L that I have spent the past 3 months totally disassembling. Next week I am having the whole chassis "soda blasted" to remove all paint on, in and under. While I have tried to keep good track of how everything was, this is my first ever complete car restoration and I am apprehensive that I will forget and/or screw something up if I do not have a manual to guide me. What are my options?

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Factory workshop manual. Over $300 for an eight-volume set.

Haynes manual. Under $20 for a single volume. Guess what? It has about 85% or 90% of the info that is in the factory manual! Even has the same photos...

(Lash/Clymer is similar to the Haynes, but costs more and covers things a very little differently. Might be worth it for the different view.)

Neither one will help for a lot of "where did this dingus go?" questions, though they will certainly be a big help for some. A friend with a put-together 914 is a very valuable resource in that case. And I think you can find one or two of those around here...

--DD

[atramsay]

Dave,

Thanks for the guidance. I actually have another 73' 914/4 1.* totally assembled, in excellent condition, needing only some egine work to be on the road. It is sitting 15 feet from the one I am restoring. Yes, I will be using it for example and then later hoping to restore it for my wife ( his & her's 914's!!).

I still want something with 'exploded' diagrams and pictures that will help me see things that are not easily visible or that have critical impact if done wrong. Besides the "pain in the a--" of climbing over, under, around and through my 'extra', I know that there are things I need to know that even on the bench examples will not tell me.

Sounds like I should start with the Haynes and see what it doesn't have that I think I need. Given the amount of money that I am spending on this restoration and will spend on the next one, the $300 plus for a true shop manual may still be a good investment.

I will call Pelican now for the Haynes manual.

Alan

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

There isn't much in the way of exploded diagrams available in any of the manuals. You can take a look here for some approximations:
http://www.pelicanparts.com/914/914parts.htm
...those are the kind of thing you'll find in the manuals.

There are more drawings from the factory parts catalogs. They've been used in a few places, such as Brett Johnson's "914 Restorer's Guide", the print catalogs of one or two of our competitors, and the "PET" CD that you can find sometimes on e-bay. They're OK but not great...

--DD