1973 2.0L Rustoration, Restoration turned OT garage build Options

[Superhawk996]

I purchased my first 914 back in 1987 (1973 1.7L) and had that car for nearly a decade and I personally put over 100,000 miles on it before it ultimately fell victim to a negligent driver that drove into the back end of it at about 40 mph while the vehicle was stopped at a red light. That rear end crash totaled the vehicle but what is amazing is how well it crumpled (early crush zones!) due to the kink in the frame where the halfshafts are. Everyone walked away unharmed.

I replaced it with a 1991 Miata. Great car in its own right but I've always missed my 914.

Purchased this "replacement" in May 2018 as a known poster child for a complete right side longitudinal rustoration.

This vehicle had been put into storage inside a pole barn around 2004 as far as I can tell.

Vehicle initially purchased in non-running condition:
Engine couldn't be started.
Transmission shift linkage was disconnected
Half shafts and CV's were in pieces, and the wheel stubs were not installed therefore the vehicle couldn't even be rolled without risking having the rear wheel separate from within the bearing.
Fiberglass laid into the floorpan . . . that can't be a good sign.

Vehicle looks great . . . until I got under it.

I spent the better part of the summer putting the items above back together and trying to confirm that it would:
1) Run under its own power
2) Drive though the neighborhood and shift though all gears.



Looks pretty nice eh?

Here is what is lurking underneath once the rockers came off.



and when I started cutting back the rust. Oh my . . . .

[Superhawk996]

I suppose you could add in one of those miniature fuses but it wouldn't serve much of a purpose.

What maybe isn't clear is that the internal "fuse" is the dab of low melting temp solder itself. Tthere are basically two "eyelet" loops.

One is fixed firm to the solenoid. The other is "sprung" down from the rear of the clock. This is just a piece of spring steel that is copper plated.

The sprung eyelet portion is pulled down to the fixed one and then the solder is placed which holds the two pieces together.

If a short were to occur in the solenoid, or if the mechanism were to jam preventing the winding contacts from being opened after only momentary contact, the thin spring steel will heat up, melting the low temp solder and the "fuse" then springs open breaking the current flow.

Remember, the purpose of the fuse isn't to protect the clock, rather, it protects the car's wiring.

So if the internal fuse is already opened from whatever cause, the root cause needs to be fixed. In my case this was to flush the sticky internals with alcohol to free up the stuck rewind mechanism and the mainspring gearing.

In theory, if you either put the mini-fuse inside (maybe between the eyelets) or outside the clock, it wouldn't really matter. Just protect your vehicle wiring.

I looked at the spec's on the mini-fuses you linked to. Those take quite a while (up to minutes) to blow depending on size of the fuse. It would take some careful sizing to get the right fuse vs. time to melt it. I'd prefer to just go with a simple external 1/2 fast blow automotive glass fuse since I know this works to run the clock but would also be low enough amperage to blow well before melting the clock power feed if a short were to occur.

Attached is a closer view. Sorry for limited resolution. I can send high res photo via e-mail if that would help.

Yellow arrow points to the "sprung" eyelet. Red circle is around the two eyelets that are now soldered with the low temp solder.