Ex BUILD-OFF CHALLENGE: Brett's 914, Got engine installed and working on wiring! Options

[brettrarnold]

Background
This car was the first car that Brett drove when he was 13 and was given to us in 2014. It had been sitting idle back in Indiana under a family friend's carport for the past 15 years before Brett went back to Indiana and towed it out to Colorado with his father in July 2014. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif)

When we got it, we didn't have a garage to work on it and it sat idle being stored outside for another year until we could afford a house with a garage. Colorado is pretty expensive so after we got a house with a garage, we then needed to save up more money to work on it.

Also I must mention in my ignorance, there were 3 distinct phases of thinking for getting this car fixed which I now find funny and are listed below

Phase 1: I will tow this car out to Colorado and get it the engine running for maybe $2,000 and have a working car.
Phase 2: Holy shit after researching this is impossible and will have to pay somebody to fix it for $15-20k.
Phase 3: I have enough local support and 914world resources and can fix this myself for around $10-15k.

Build-Off Challenge
So Amy and I are going to be tackling different aspects of this car so the posts will be coming from both of us. I will handling the rust/engine work and Amy will be on Interior and Exterior. Also she may help with some of the posting so we will start each post with name.

Brett
Step 1 (Complete) was to remove the engine and assess the frame rust situation. Never having removed an engine from a car, this was an extremely daunting task. The steps listed in Pelican Parts tutorial - 914 Engine Removal Made Easy is by far the most difficult thing I have done to a vehicle thus far. Hell I don't even know the difference between a camshaft and a carburetor much less a CV joint or a clutch cable. But after staring at it for about 2 weeks, I decided to just start unhooking shit and labeling. Made a ton of progress and finally got the engine about 95% unhooked. Had a friend come over to help me out and we actually got it out. WOOHOO!!!

Step 2 (Complete) is to strip out all the interior. I ordered chassis braces and other misc items from Tangerine racing and am still in the process of identifying all the rust areas that need repair.

[3d914]

Brett, congrats on the marriage. Hope shes as much into cars as you appear to be - or should I say - going to be. Don't be discouraged by all the work, even if you're unfamiliar with it. If you continue to approach it as a learning experience, you'll come out the other side of the experience wanting to do more.

PS:I had a similar experience in Columbia years back in that it turned out to be a wonderful trip and the people were terrific. Not at all like the state department painted it.

Enjoy!

[brettrarnold]

Brett, congrats on the marriage. Hope shes as much into cars as you appear to be - or should I say - going to be. Don't be discouraged by all the work, even if you're unfamiliar with it. If you continue to approach it as a learning experience, you'll come out the other side of the experience wanting to do more.

PS:I had a similar experience in Columbia years back in that it turned out to be a wonderful trip and the people were terrific. Not at all like the state department painted it.

Enjoy!

So soo true. I get frustrated all the time but yes I really need treat this as a learning experience. Ya colombia was awesome.. food was great and cheap, everyone was really nice, and weather was pleasant.

She is getting more into it but certainly a learning experience for her too. The first semester of the pregnancy, was pretty slow going as one would expect, but were both back at full energy now.

-Brett