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]

Both lower corners of my windshield are crusty. I picked up driver and passenger side fender/cowl cuts from Derrick (can't remember his 914World name) in Palo Alto. While they had some rust in them, they were in far better shape than my car's.

Here is a pic of the passenger side lower corner:



It took about 90 minutes to carefully cut out the passenger side piece I needed from the donor fender/cowl. It took every tool in my box (air body saw, jigsaw, sawzall, 1/8" cutting wheel on a die grinder, carbide burrs in a die grinder, etc.), and a ton of patience! Here is that piece prior to being fully cleaned up.



Here is the cut-out, followed by the piece rough grinded (I forgot to take a pic of the piece welded-in / pre-grind). I used my friend's spot-welder to tack up the piece along the seam, and my trusty MIG to complete the butt-welds. The lead used by the factory at the cowl/fender seam caused a lot of popping, and the lead flew when I cooled each tack weld with compressed air...





I'll tackle the driver side lower windshield later this week.

All told, I spent about 15 hours this Fri-Sun making these repairs. While the progress is seemingly slow on these little projects, I am heartened that they're done. I can't wait to begin the motor/trans mounting effort, as well as the fender flares project -- but I still have some more rust to deal with.

I went to the Parts Heaven swap meet this morning, and picked up a clean targa top, some spare trailing arms, rear non-defrost window and a rough fiberglass front bumper. There were some incredible cars there, as well as some good deals.