Another 914 goes under the knife, UPDATE: IT'S ALIVE....FINALLY Options

[vintage914racer]

Today was a chilling day, both figuratively and literally. You see, I dropped off my 1970 914-6 for some long overdue structural repairs in Northern Minnesota. It was both freakishly cold and a milestone in my 914 ownership.

A little backstory....




Since I was was a kid cars have been a part of my life, particularly 914s. In the early 1980's my father, who was in his early 30's, was diagnosed with cancer and endured months of experimental treatment at the U of M. Miraculously he overcame the odds and entered remission. Upon paying back his medical bills he celebrated by purchase a 1970 914-6.

This particular car brings back many fond memories from my childhood. I remember riding in between my parents in the front seat, urging my dad to go faster. I remember riding in the car as we drove up to Brainerd International Raceway to watch the IMSA Camel GT series run. I remember my school age friends looking at the speedometer in awe, simply blown away that it went up to 180mph. As a kid I affectionately referred to the car as "Speedy."

Long story short, the car fell into my possession many years later following my father's passing and would become a reminder of the great times I spent with him. The car spent the majority of the last 20-years languishing in our garage. It was brought back to life mechanically, but had a number of battle wounds that accumulated both by me as a lackadaisical kid and from corrosion on the non-galvanized body. Knowing that a car does not do wel sitting, I enthusiastically drove it whenever I could. In fact the last couple years I had it on the road I probably average 3k miles per year, which is a lot for a sports car in Minnesota where it snows 6 months out of the year...more on this later.

Deep down I knew that the car suffered from corrosion and I finally faced it head on when I removed the rocker covers just over a year ago. I soon discovered that the car suffered in the usual rust areas. So much that I was no longer comfortable driving it. The passenger side needed an inner and outer long. The drivers side needed an outer panel. I found that the rear half of the floorpan required replacement. Surprisingly, the hell hole was in pretty decent shape.

Despite having some little welding experience under my belt I knew the repairs weren't in my wheelhouse. After consulting the 914world brain trust I quickly learned that that the solution to my problems was just a couple hour drive away. Rick, aka Rick918S, has torn apart a number of 914s and after some back and forth he agreed to tackle the project.

Before hauling the car up north, I pulled the engine and interior. Upon pulling the engine I learned that the car no longer has it's original motor, rather is has one from a 68s. For the record the engine is stamped with 901/02 and serial number 4080519. Makes sense since the car seemed to have more zip than 110hp brings. Once stripped of the engine I loaded it up on my trailer in anticipation of the pilgrimage north.



So, this morning at the crack of dawn I hopped in my truck and made the 2.5 hour trip to Duluth, MN, with the car. Normally a trip to Duluth isn't a big deal, however the weather made it a bit more exciting. Earlier this week we got dumped on by snow. In the Minneapolis metro we got about 8-inches. Duluth got closer to 18-inches. If the snow along wasn't enough, the temperature brought things to a new level. When I left my house in Minneapolis the temperature read -7 degrees. As I got closer to Duluth the thermometer dropped to -19F. Soon thereafter it dropped to -26.



Part of me thought the car would break down and I would become a human popsicle. With inconsistently plowed roads part of me also thought I would careen off the road, but with a stroke of luck I made it to Duluth in one piece.



Rick and I unloaded the car quickly in an effort to escape the cold and rolled the car into his shop.



At present the car sits in good company next to a 1960s Mercedes roadster. Whereas the 914 normally hibernates during winters, this year it will partake in a makeover program. The aforementioned structural elements will get repaired. Concurrently I will be putting the engine on a stand to adjust the valves and replacing gaskets and seals as needed. I'll open the transmission to make sure everything looks good. I plan to replace the sail panel vinyl, carpet, shocks and rechrome the rear bumper. Inevitably, the slop will get more slippery. The goal is to have a stong structural and mechanical foundation come spring. Once complete, I'll drive the car for a few years before tackling the superficial cosmetic blemishes.

Stay tuned for a photo diary of the progress.

[Luke M]

Great work on the repairs Rick. I have the same rust issues with my 914-6 and watching this thread has answered a few of my questions. The one main question and concern of mine is how do you keep the chassis as straight as possible while cutting then welding in the new metal. I have a brace similar to yours but mine attaches to the forward door post. I took the car off the rotisserie then placed it on jack stands to keep things level so I thought. I checked the roof to door/windshield gaps and found them to be off. A quick adjustment to the brace and things looked good again. My question to you is what do you think is the best method other then a bench to keep things straight? I see that you have this car on some type of wheel stands. Does this seam to help or is it just for a working height thing?

Keep up with the great work and pics.

TIA,

Luke

[rick 918-S]

Great work on the repairs Rick. I have the same rust issues with my 914-6 and watching this thread has answered a few of my questions. The one main question and concern of mine is how do you keep the chassis as straight as possible while cutting then welding in the new metal. I have a brace similar to yours but mine attaches to the forward door post. I took the car off the rotisserie then placed it on jack stands to keep things level so I thought. I checked the roof to door/windshield gaps and found them to be off. A quick adjustment to the brace and things looked good again. My question to you is what do you think is the best method other then a bench to keep things straight? I see that you have this car on some type of wheel stands. Does this seam to help or is it just for a working height thing?

Keep up with the great work and pics.

TIA,

Luke

Ben's car is really fairly solid. I did not need to get into the trailing arm mount so the suspension could stay in the car. It sounds like your car is a shell. Here is the answer I posted when asked this question earlier in this thread. I suggested supporting the car under the suspension pickup points not in the usual places where we set jack stands.:

By supporting the car under the suspension you are spreading out the weight where the chassis naturally carries it. You are adding less stress and pulling force to an already weak point.

Here's an example: take a piece of 11" X 17" poster board. Set up 4 pencils at the center 1/3 square of the poster board to support it. You will notice the poster board will sag dramatically at both ended.

Move your pencil supports out 2" in all directions and you will see an dramatic decrease in the sag.

If your repairing a car with no suspension you still need to try to move your support points out to the strut and shock mount points. this will decrease your odds of introducing stress in the chassis from heat and weight.

Other considerations are having a chassis stretch at the long when you have removed a huge section. Any time you do this you really need to plan ahead and add a second brace. You could hold the length with a brace from the door latch bolt holes to the upper hinge. This will sort of add a triangle to the targa brace.


Really. The best method to protect yourself from having to worry about changing the chassis is to spend money and buy enough steel to build a fixture to hold the car.

The second thing you really need to do is plan your welding procedure.

If you look at the above photos you will see I have the vertical welds completed. I have not welded the horizontal welds yet. This allowed the welds to naturalize without pulling the chassis.