Steve's 73 1.7 Restoration Thread Options

[Steve_R]

Hi, I would like to introduce myself and share my project. I’m Steve, I live in San Diego and I picked up this 1973 1.7 914 about a year ago. It was in great shape with no rust and had been sitting in a garage for the past 13 years. My plan is to restore it to its original condition. At this point I think the car is about 50% done.
The car had door guards riveted to the sides and I had them welded up. One of the first things I did when I got the car was to build a dolly to be able to work on the suspension and make it easy to move it around the garage. It’s made from 4 X 4s and plywood and it took about 4 hours to build. If you don’t have a wood saw Home Depot will cut the 4 X 4s and plywood to the correct length. There are lag screws on top of the vertical posts that stick up ½” that fit into the 4 jack points cups under the car. This keeps the car from falling off. Also, I removed the engine before I put the car on it. To get it up there I used some cement blocks, 4 jack stands and 2 scissor jacks.
Over the past year I’ve learned a lot from reading your posts and now I would like to give back some of the knowledge I’ve learned.

[Steve_R]

More pics

[Steve_R]

Applied undercoating and relocated the fuel pump and filter to under the gas tank.
The pump I used is a NAPA Bosch N69133 and the filter is a NAPA 3482. For the fuel lines I used 3/8 & 5/16 steel lines from NAPA. I cut them to length and flared the ends for the fittings. I did buy stainless lines to connect to the engine.

[type47]

... and relocated the fuel pump and filter to under the gas tank.

totally awesome work! Won't the filter location make it really hard to change?

[Steve_R]

... and relocated the fuel pump and filter to under the gas tank.

totally awesome work! Won't the filter location make it really hard to change?

Thanks and good point. I think I'll re-relocate it back to it's original location and maybe add some insulation to help with vapor lock.

[Steve_R]

... and relocated the fuel pump and filter to under the gas tank.

totally awesome work! Won't the filter location make it really hard to change?

Thanks and good point. I think I'll re-relocate it back to it's original location and maybe add some insulation to help with vapor lock.

Actually, now that I think about it, it should be between the tank and the pump.
So, I think I'll just leave it there. I want it to look stock as much as possible so I don't want to put it in the front trunk.

[KELTY360]

... and relocated the fuel pump and filter to under the gas tank.

totally awesome work! Won't the filter location make it really hard to change?

Thanks and good point. I think I'll re-relocate it back to it's original location and maybe add some insulation to help with vapor lock.

Actually, now that I think about it, it should be between the tank and the pump.
So, I think I'll just leave it there. I want it to look stock as much as possible so I don't want to put it in the front trunk.

Spectacular work! Your attention to detail will pay off many times over.

You can make a more convenient location for the pump and filter by mounting in the cavity that holds the steering rack and master cylinder. It's protected from road debris by the panel yet easily accessed for service.

What are your plans for wheels?

[Steve_R]

... and relocated the fuel pump and filter to under the gas tank.

totally awesome work! Won't the filter location make it really hard to change?

Thanks and good point. I think I'll re-relocate it back to it's original location and maybe add some insulation to help with vapor lock.

Actually, now that I think about it, it should be between the tank and the pump.
So, I think I'll just leave it there. I want it to look stock as much as possible so I don't want to put it in the front trunk.

Spectacular work! Your attention to detail will pay off many times over.

You can make a more convenient location for the pump and filter by mounting in the cavity that holds the steering rack and master cylinder. It's protected from road debris by the panel yet easily accessed for service.

What are your plans for wheels?

Marc,
That's a great idea. My car didn't have a debris shield so I didn't think of putting it there. Does anyone have any pictures of this?

I just picked up some Fuchs wheels that I'll be using with some Bridgestone Potenza 195/60R15 tires. I'll be painting the centers black.

To paint the centers black I built a tool to cut the tape at a constant distance from the rim outer surface. It's basically a flat piece of aluminum with a standoff and a razor blade attached to the end. After taping up the wheel I just sliced thru the tape with the razor blade tool and had a perfect tape line. I'll add some pictures of the finished wheel next.

[Steve_R]

Started working on the interior this week. I bought a complete interior kit from Autos International and the quality is really nice. The kit was $1400. which included the seats, door panels, back pad, carpet and headliner.

[Steve_R]

The next project was to make a wire harness for the gauges in the center console.
My other hobby is woodworking so I couldn't resist making a new center arm rest box.
The car didn't originally have one so i got one on ebay to use as a template.

[Steve_R]

The gauges were in bad shape so I sanded them down and painted them with the same semi gloss paint I used for the valances.