Its the final countdown, progress thread Options

[type11969]

I've had this 71 for 3 years now and I've only driven it for 10 minutes before I bought it. I figure if I haven't made serious progress by the spring, she is getting stripped and scrapped. You'll see why. Its probably only a parts car, but I want to learn how to weld, and if I can get this thing back on the road, I think I will be well on my way. I'll start from the beginning:

The exterior, looks harmless enough:
(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/914.jpg)

The interior, looks pretty good (wait, what was that saying about wrapping a piece of poo in a pretty package):

(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/914012.jpg)

Long looks okay at first glance:

(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/914009.jpg)

Wait, umm, is this factory installed golf ball sized hunks of epoxy and bondo:

(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/111404015.jpg)

Yum:

(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/111404010.jpg)

Delicious:

(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/111404012.jpg)

Craptacular:

(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/914-2018.jpg)

Brace yourself (also have another brace running to the drivers side door jamb, couldn't find that pic):

(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/111404001.jpg)

Couldn't find any pics of the lovely riveting and brazing job a PO did with re-attaching the portion of the fender below the sail, but I hacked that focker off:

(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/121304002.jpg)

Mmm, clean:

(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/121304013.jpg)

Also found after removing the interior that the passenger side was once used as a pool, the entire lower inner corner of the long and bulkhead was gone. PO crappily arc welded a new floorpan in, but didn't fix any of the other damage:

(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/Picture069.jpg)

(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/Picture070.jpg)

(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/Picture071.jpg)

(IMG:http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/type11969/914/111404002.jpg)

Quick break, then pics of the repairs so far . . .

[type11969]

Thanks Johny! You are welcome to stop by whenever, but, with any luck, I'll be sealing up the long in the next week or two. Tough to see the guts then!

[Johny Blackstain]

Thanks Johny! You are welcome to stop by whenever, but, with any luck, I'll be sealing up the long in the next week or two. Tough to see the guts then!

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif) Thank you for your gracious invitation. I'd be happy to shoot up this weekend & take a look. I've been having dreams/nightmares of sandblasting & acid baths. GOD I HATE RUST!! I was thinking after all that work you've done you must be considering an upgraded power plant? Let me know what you think. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool_shades.gif)

[type11969]

Thanks Johny! You are welcome to stop by whenever, but, with any luck, I'll be sealing up the long in the next week or two. Tough to see the guts then!

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif) Thank you for your gracious invitation. I'd be happy to shoot up this weekend & take a look. I've been having dreams/nightmares of sandblasting & acid baths. GOD I HATE RUST!! I was thinking after all that work you've done you must be considering an upgraded power plant? Let me know what you think. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool_shades.gif)

Saturday morning up to about 1pm will work for me, or later on during Sunday. If you have a working 914 you would like to bring along, great, nothing better than a working 914 for motivation, but I can understand if you would rather not because of the cold and road salt! Let me know what you think about times.

Upgraded power plant? My guess is that I will probably throw the 1.7 back in there with dual weber icts, may split the case, throw in a better cam, etc. Down the road I want to take the 1.8 that I have in my beetle, throw the 2.0L heads I have sitting around on it, put that in the 914, and megasquirt it. Gotta build a new engine for the Beetle first, got a beast in the works. Figure if I put the beast in 914, I'll never want to drive the Beetle!