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]

So, the Raptor coating did not hide my patches/repairs as much as I hoped for. Not sure if it's because of the sheen, or if I know where to look. Here's a couple examples where the patch/repair is a bit too easy to see:


So, I ordered some body glaze and set about seeing if I could fill over and around my repairs so they are not quite so visible. I figured since I'm now working on the topside, I might as well make the effort to make things look better! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif)

Most of the work was where I replaced the frunk floor...


My fingers are a bit tender after all the hand sanding to blend things in/feather the glaze out.


Here's a couple of spots where I did rectangle patches to replace small rusted out sections. I believe once I spray the Raptor liner over them you will be hard pressed to find them (I hope!).


I did go back on that second one and do another layer to blend things in better. I know it will be behind the seat, but if I don't do it now, it will never get done!

I went ahead and sprayed the VIN body color, and coated with clear. Does not look great, but decent enough for under the hood.


Now I just need to figure out how to mask off a clean rectangle over the VIN number so it does not get coated with Raptor and you can't read it anymore! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

I spent hours yesterday in 112 degree heat masking everything off so I could spray the Raptor in the frunk, trunk, and interior early this morning...Only to wake up to 25mph wind and rain on the way. Chance of rain every day this week. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif) Oh well, we really need the rain...