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]

Back to work. Last couple of weekends have been limited work due to other priorities and some ridiculously cold weather.

Back to mocking up pieces to tweak fits. First order of business was to get the inner frame mated to the outer wheel house and to the fit up the connection at the rear trunk.

In my case I found that the outer house sheet metal which as a doubler welded to it was causing the inner to sit too high. I did some creative reforming with a hammer and dolly and got it down to the point where the angle of the two frame rails is within 1 degree of each other.



I then started to mock up the inner longitudinal. This one is a bit surprising that the sheetmetal overlap between the inner frame rail in the engine compartment only overlaps the inner longitudinal by about 1/4". That just isn't going to do. That joint will be too weak and it's right at a highly stressed location.

I'm considering welding in a good 6" of overlap and then installing the whole inner longitudinal + the engine compartment inner all as 1 big piece.



Overall, I'm pretty happy to see something roughly resembling a "frame" back under the car even if it's only a mock up. It will likely be a while before I can weld. I have quite a bit of pin hole rust up in the front wheel wheels that needs to be fixed before I weld in structure.

Question: Does anyone know why the AA inner longitudinal has two seat belt bolts? My driver side and the cutout part only had one. I can't see the point in this. I'm likely to cut the 2nd out and fill the hole so that I only have one like the original.