Adventures of an old 914-6, Keeping it in the family and making memories Options

[vintage914racer]

As a regular lurker, and occasional forum participant (primarily when I find myself in a pickle and need to "phone a friend") I've always enjoyed ongoing build and "keeping them on the road and running" threads. So in an effort to do the same for myself, and perhaps prevent haphazardly ad hoc and disjointed threads for projects and updates, I figured I'd try to pull things together into my own, ongoing thread.

This thread is about "Speedy," my 1970 factory 914-6. The car has spent more time off the road than on, but as of late I've proclaimed it's the year of Speedy and started tackling a long list of updates. Before we get into those details, here's a bit about Speedy...

My memories with Speedy go back the the mid-80's when I was a pudgy four or five year old. Back when safety was more of a suggestion than a requirement, I'd often tag along in the front seat between my mom and dad on backroad blasts and the occasional trip up to Brainerd International Raceway when IMSA used to run up there.

Why the name "Speedy?" Well I suppose because as a kid I saw the 180mph speedy, felt my dad's right foot initiate some speedy acceleration, and perhaps because I distinctly remember my mom, in the passenger seat look up from what she was reading, glance at the speedo and shriek upon the realization that we were doing 120mph. By 1980s perspective, particularly that of a 6 year old, the car was Speedy. By today's standards? I'm not sure. But it sure is fun. And for the record, I'm not typically one to name a car, but apparently I was as a youth. And its stuck.

Here's she is, for reference...



It's worth noting that my Dad bought Speedy after he overcame a horrible battle with blood cancer (where they initially gave him 60 days to live). After paying off some truly excessive hospital bills that piled up during his better part of a year spent in the hospital, Speedy was his "I kicked Cancer's ass" celebratory purchase. He bought it at Carousel Porsche Audi in Golden Valley, MN, and perhaps not by coincidence, when I was a teenager I kicked off 10 years of employment at that very same dealership.

Stay tuned for more about our early years with Speedy and my journey as caretaker...

[mlindner]

That's very cool, both your story and Speedy. Keep it coming. Mark

[vintage914racer]

That's very cool, both your story and Speedy. Keep it coming. Mark

Thanks, the initial list of projects is nearly done. I even managed to add ~50 miles to the odd on the maiden voyage last weekend, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

On of the first items of business was to remove the rear bump and send it off for chrome. I know this process can take a long time and I wanted to get ahead of it. For as long as I can remember the chrome was flaking off to the right of the license plate and it was the first thing I saw every time I looked at the rear profile.

So off came the bumper and I shipped it off to beautiful sunny CA so ValcoOscar on these boards could work his magic.





The next order of business was to tackle what I assumed was a very leaky RMS bearing. The clutch had recently been slipping and I was pretty sure an unexpected hot oil bath was the culprit.

So I drained the oil, dropped the tranny, removed the PP, clutch and flywheel. And would you believe it, the RMS looked decades old, bungled up, and clearly leaking oil all over the clutch and adjacent parts.

Here's a picture after I cleaned up decades of caked on oil - at least most of it.



The old seal came out quite easily. Getting the new one in wasn't as simple. The countless threads and videos I referenced online showed folks gently tapping it in with a rubber mallet and a block of wood. That wasn't working here, and believe me, I was using the finest piece of leftover scrap wood I could find in my garage (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I learned online for a mere few hundred dollars I could purchase the "official" RMS installation tool. I'm all for buying new tools, but not one I'm going to use once this decade. So, I made a trip to Lowe's and scavenged the aisles to see what I could repurpose to build my own tool. I crossed my fingers that an employee didn't ask me what I was looking for, as 9 times out of 10 they don't understand what I'm trying to do or why I'd use a (insert unrelated product) to work on an old car. After 10 minutes searching the aisles I struck gold. In the electrical section I believe.

Armed with my makeshift install tool, the seal went in relatively easy.



From here I reminded myself that the clutch was heavily oil soaked and needed replacement. The pressure plate wasn't looking great either. It also appeared that the flywheel had been penetrated with oil and was pretty worn. Out came the CC and I placed an order for parts. A week or so later they arrived and I made quick work of installing them.

In went the flywheel.



Then the clutch.



Then the pressure plate.



I reinstalled the transmission and checked the first block of work off of my list. Only 47 other projects to go....