Starting a 1973 restoration, Restoring a left for dead $500 914... Options

[FourBlades]

Hello 914 World Members!

I am starting on restoring a $500 914 that was left in a field for several years with no windshield. The car belonged to the POs older brother and thus has sentimental value. The sold it to me on the condition that I not part it out. I was looking for a project so this was fine with me. This is my first restoration project so I figured I would learn a lot (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

The car is a mixture of really good sections, appears to have suffered no major accidents, is straight, never been repainted--but it has totally rusted out floors and hell hole. All the suspension mounting points are not rusted. The door gaps are all even and good. If I can replace the floors, I think it will be a good straight car. Many small parts were stolen while it was "stored" and the wiring loom is a complete loss.

Thanks for any comments...John

[FourBlades]

Took me a while to figure out what tubes and cables came out where in
the engine bay. This is what I came up with.



The bottom of my outer fire wall was rusted to nothing adding to the
confusion. After test fitting the tunnel plus clutch, accelerator and
shift rod, it looked like this.



Then I checked to make sure the shift rod did not contact the tubes in
any of the gear positions. I also did not fit the heater tubes at this time
because I am using a tangerine header system without heat exchangers.

This is a view up the tunnel from the engine bay. The shift rod is in the
upper left and the tubes for the clutch and accelerator curve across
the bottom.



When I was convinced it all fit right, I mostly welded the tunnel in. This
feels like a big milestone for some reason, many more to go.



John