74 Roller rebuild and Subaru conversion, 1974 rebuild and Subaru conversion project Options

[mgarrison]

Hello,

I new around here, but have been lurking for a bit trying to soak up all the 914 knowledge and information I could! I was looking into building a Factory Five 818 kit with the Subaru flat-4, but the cost of entry was a bit too high, and the time & space needed to build a car from scratch seemed overwhelming. But it got me thinking; that's basically a tube-framed 914 with an odd body. I wonder if anyone has put a Subaru flat-4 in a 914? A few Google searches later I learned that a lot of people had, and parts were out there to spend my money on!

Long story short, I found two rollers with no engines or transmissions in Tucson, AZ a couple of hours South of me. Soon I rented a car hauler for a couple of days and my "Craft Project" (my wife's label) was begun.

The rollers were a green 1971, and a red 1974. I wanted to restore the 71 because it just seemed to have more character. The 74 had been partially stripped for an electric conversion project, and seemed less "car like". Sadly, the 71 needed a bit more work than I was setup to handle. So, it had to be the 74 who I have simply labeled as "Red".

I will try to track my build process here as best I can. I tend to get working on things and forget to document things, but will try to keep track.

Here's Red when we got her home on the trailer and tucked away in the back yard for the moment.

Mike

[mgarrison]

Still just trying to keep moving forward. Inch by slow inch...
Trying to get the interior of the chassis all wire brushed, any rust I find treated, and then a quick coat of primer to protect it. With all the little nooks & crannies I think doing the flares and the outside might seem easier! Still have the frunk to finish up!

I found some surface rust under the dash - seems like a really odd place to rust, especially on an Arizona car!


Not too terrible after cleanup.


Some more surface rust on the firewall, but not much!


I actually forgot to treat the two spots on the firewall before priming, so I looked back at the above photo and hit the right areas with the wire brush so I could treat them. Just try to ignore my amateur patch on the left there! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)


There was some odd, crunchy sealer just in front of the doors under the dash. Very different stuff from the other seam sealer!


I tried to check all the problem areas to uncover any rust. The usual spots look really good!


There was a bit of rust in the windshield channel, especially at the two bottom corners. Did my best to wire brush it and then treated it too.


The shop vac is seeing daily use, and getting quite the workout sucking up all the paint dust, rust, and metal shavings! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)