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

[jc914]

Nice work (IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif)

[strawman]

The AA rocker covers that I bought as part of the GT flare group buy arrived late last week, as well as a few Ebay items that I won (jack post kit, poly trailing arm bushings and bump steer kit). I also had a chance to spend some quality time with the car on MLK, Jr. Day. In short, I finished cutting out the old driver's side jack post, installed the new one, and finished up welding in the GT Stiffening kit on the driver's side.

First up is a pic of the jack post welded onto the long, complete with SEM weld-thru primer covering everything. The welds match what the factory did (only along the vertical sides):



Next up is the jack post "cover." I found the only way to install it without removing the lower/forward quarter panel was to cut the upper/forward corner of the cover, and flatten out the bend that wraps over the top of the long. Maybe a pic would better explain this...



After rosette welding the cover to the long and welding along the post/cover joint, I was able to hammer down the upper edge and finish up the rosette welds along on the top. Here is a pic of the completed installation:



Next up is completion of the GT stiffening kit that was begun and chronicled earlier. A pic of that effort:



I still have to grind down the welds to make it look purty. I also spent about 4 hours scraping off the tar undercoat from most of the underside and driver's side inner fenderwells. I still have about four hours to finish the underside and the passenger side inner fenderwells. I can't imagine doing that without a rotisserie!

Next up is fixing the rust in the windshield area, then fix some rust holes in the sail panel area on both sides, then some frunk rubber channel rust repairs, then reinstalling the lower/forward passenger side quarter panel that I cut out to do the hell hole repairs, then two small firewall rust hole repairs, then welding in the passenger side long sill, etc. This list might seem never-ending to some, but I am making progress -- and that feels good. In fact, this project is cathartic for me and helps me deal with the stress of work/life/etc.

Unfortunately, my left hip is failing due to advanced osteoarthritis (and I'm only 42!), so I've scheduled surgery in late February to have it replaced, too. My right one was replaced in October 2007, and it is about 95% healed, so I'm confident this surgery will go just as well. So I won't be able to do any heavy lifting or acrobatics (i.e., welding upside down!) for a few months. Over the next few weeks, I'll try to set up projects that I can do on the workbench -- things like finalize the shifting mechanism, grind down welds on the reinforced trailing arms, new gaskets on Suby engine, etc. during my rehab. I might need to convince my wife to help move some things around to keep things moving along, which might pique her interest in this project (but I'm not holding my breath!).