Suby-engined rustoration, 21-Sep-2024 update: more racing-related carnage! Options

[strawman]

Hi All --

This is my second post, but I've been lurking on this fine website for a while now. I've wanted a 914 since I was in high school, but always seemed to stumble upon other projects... until recently.

My neighbor gave me this 1973 Porsche 914 about a month ago. He told me he blew a head gasket and parked it in his parents' driveway in 1992. When his parents finally told him to move it or they were calling a local junkyard, he offered it to me since he knows I'm a gearhead. In for a penny, in for a pound...

I hauled it home, knowing that it has some rust issues in the battery area and rear trunk. But it appears to have never been in a wreck and it is complete. It turns out that an exhaust stud pulled, so he coulda fixed it for a couple hundred and probably kept another 914 from languishing but I guess all things happen for a reason (namely, so I would undertake this project!).

I sold the engine to a local Craigslister for use in his Meyers Manx dune buggy, and bought a wrecked but running 1993 Subaru Legacy turbo wagon. This is the closed-deck 2.2 liter engine, and 250 hp is easy with boost control and an open exhaust. I've already done a Subaru into a VW Vanagon and my daily driver is a 1992 Suby Legacy, so this won't be too much of a stretch for me. I plan to use the Suby 5-speed transmission (out of a 1998 Suby Forester) with the Aussie-sourced RWD elimination coupler and custom-mated 914/Suby axles.

I've got a suburban home with a crowded two-car garage (my 125 shifter kart and my daughter's FJA kart will likely get lonely!), a MIG welder, and a wide assortment of air/power/hand tools -- so the adventure begins! This project will likely take a year to finish, so please be patient.

I've attached some pics of the car as found in the driveway, some rust areas and the rear trunk repairs I've started. I'll chronicle the build as I go, so feel free to chime in!

Geoff

[strawman]

On Sunday, I finished up welding in the rear trunk floor and removing most of the remaining seam sealer from that area. I also finished up welding in the final patch on the forward passenger side outer long (as described above).

I picked up some ESAB Easy-Grind .023 MIG wire, and I like it... it does seem to grind down easier than the standard ER70S-6 wire I was using. Flapper wheels on a 4.5" angle grinder do a good job knocking it down, whereas the other wire seemed to need abrasive wheels.

I also finished up the removal of the heater tube from the driver side long. There is no rust through on this side, which was a welcome relief after spending so much time on the passenger side long repairs. The pic below depicts the hole I had to cut in the forward portion of the long to remove the heater tube. The pic also shows the area I sandblasted, Marine-Cleaned, Metal-Ready-ed and then covered in POR15.



Although not shown in a picture yet, that whole area of the driver side long has already been patched and covered by the Engman long stiffening kit... unfortunately, the rechargeable batteries in my digital camera died and I, too, ran out of steam.

Gotta say -- even with the car on a rotisserie -- welding in the Engman kit takes a lot of patience and you're best advised to do some serious stretching before attempting to weld in all those rosettes. I spent the better part of two hours trimming the three pieces to fit just right, and another 90 minutes welding in only the driver's side (wedge myself through the chassis brace, weld, extricate myself while catching my welding helmet on the brace, curse like a sailor, blow compressed air on it; repeat about a hundred times...). I knew I was "done for" when I reached for a beer from the fridge after finishing the last rosette weld and my upper right oblique muscle locked up!

I won't be able to work on the car until the middle of the month, when I'll try to finish up the Engman kit installation. I'll post more pics soon.