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...

[vintage914racer]

The holidays have passed and despite fooling myself into thinking I'd have some project time in the garage, alas I was wrong. Now in our first week of January, I've finally found time to jump back into the car.

The rear shocks are reaching the end of their life, so I ordered up a set of replacements. Preparing to get them installed I got a case of while-you're-in-there and decided it was a good time to replace the trailing arm bushings. I didn't see any record of them being replaced in my pretty extensive records for the car, so I figured there wasn't a better time than now.

So off came the trailing arms...



Once removed from the car I couldn't get over how dirty and nasty the trailing arms were. Now if you've followed this thread you may remember I replaced both rear wheel bearings lately, a task I now regret given I plan to blast and refinish the trailing arms.



So out came the hubs...



...and then the bearings. Fortunately I've essentially doubled the value in the Harbor Freight press I convinced myself I needed a few years ago for some other project.



Finally, I proceeded to remove the trailing arm shafts. I was whistling the whole time, knowing I had now tripled the value of my investment in my hydraulic press.





Now, over the years, I remember seeing many threads of people lamenting the removal of their old rubber factory bushings, involving blow torches, anxious anticipation of a puff of black smoke (as if they were awaiting the arrival of a new pope), and a bunch of jerking around. But as if the wrenching gods were looking down on me, I was spared. Or perhaps I just had the right tools for the job.

And with what only took a few minutes to recap in this thread, but in reality was a few nights of expletives and busted knuckles, I managed to have two hulks of greasy, grimy 914 trailing arms on my bench.



So now, two questions on how I proceed from here:

1) My trailing arm shafts are pretty corrodded, and its my intentinon to replace them. Should I replace them with PMB's fancy stainless shafts and stick to rubber bushings, or should I go the Elephant Racing Polybronze route? I have the latter on my track car and they're great, but I'm not sure I really need them on the street car.

2) The rear springs are a bit soft for my likings, and given I've never achieved a low BMI score, i'd like to up the spring rate. My leaning is towards threaded Ground Control collars (I have them on the other car) and either 150 or 175lb springs. All my forum research suggests I should err on the softer side.


Up next, deep cleaning inner fenders that appear that they've never been scrubbed.