Time to un-DAPO the "new" car, Bad things happened to a nice car Options

[BillC]

So, I bought a "new" 914 a few weeks ago (a '73 2.0). When I received it from the shipper, I noticed was the seller was quite artful about his pictures, with what was and what wasn't shown. And, now that I've had a chance to start taking things apart, I have uncovered quite a bit of DAPO-done-damage, and I'm sure there's more hiding somewhere (oh boy! something to look forward too....). Some of the damage appears to have been there for a loooong time.

I've already received a piece from a scrap car to fix this hole:


Once I took the rockers off, I discovered this:

Yes, they hole-sawed through FOUR layers of sheet metal, including the heat duct. Not sure what they were thinking, but there it is.

In the trunk, I found three hole-sawed holes. I think they might have been thinking about mounting the fuel pump in a 75/76 blister, but they never finished the work (and also picked the wrong location).

[Montreal914]

Front mounted oil cooler or AC? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)
Look for holes at the feet of the passenger side.

[SirAndy]

Front mounted oil cooler or AC? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)
Look for holes at the feet of the passenger side.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)

[BillC]

Front mounted oil cooler or AC? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)
Look for holes at the feet of the passenger side.

Possibly, but no holes inside on the passenger side. If that's what they were doing, then they gave up before finishing.


But wait! There's more:

They did front-mount the fuel pump. However, for whatever reason, they decided to run the wiring for the pump through the passenger compartment. And, they drilled a hole in the firewall above the EFI computer to do it (notice, no grommet).

The wire runs between the passenger seat and the longitudinal, and then up into the front trunk through the grommet for the heat air tube and then down under the tank to the pump. Once I get a chance to pull the tank, I'll be able to see how that is mounted.

[BillC]

But, so far, the "best" has to be the hole they hacked into the center tunnel, near the pedals.


My guess is that they were changing the cables, and wanted easier access to the tunnel. So they took an air chisel and hacked their way in. And they left the piece they cut loose.

Here's the hole without the hacked piece.


I cut it off with a pair of snips. I'll take a look at welding the piece back in, so at least I still have the piece, even though it needs to be reshaped.

[BillC]

And, in the archaeology department, here's a couple of interesting things I found:

According to the maintenance records, the first owner of the car was a woman. It looks like she wore a lot of bobbi pins, since here's what I found on the driver's side and in the center console:


Also, when I first pulled the floor mats, I saw a bit of brown on the front firewall. I just assumed someone had made a replacement floorboard out of particle board. However, once I got the front carpet out, I discovered it was actually a molded piece of hard urethane foam.


Has anyone seen this before? It's new to me, previous car didn't have one.

And, is a floorboard supposed to go over this? Or, is this the floorboard?

[BillC]

It turns out that the car may have it's original spare tire.



It's a bias-ply Continental in 165R15, and still looks pretty nice on the top side (inside).

It doesn't hold air anymore, so I'm going to replace it with a new tire at some point. However, if some CW would like the tire for a concours display, just pay shipping and I'll send it to you after I get it replaced.

[Chris914n6]

The foam is factory correct for an early car. It's smaller than the later cars. A piece of carpet is fitted over it.

[BillC]

The foam is factory correct for an early car. It's smaller than the later cars. A piece of carpet is fitted over it.

According to the Karmann production number, this car was made on 5 March 1973. My previous 914 was built in the last week of April 1973. This car has the foam wedge, but my previous car had a wooden floorboard and no foam.

Did these two cars fall across a running change? Or, did someone replace the foam wedge on my previous car with a wood board?

[SirAndy]

I cut it off with a pair of snips. I'll take a look at welding the piece back in, so at least I still have the piece, even though it needs to be reshaped.

They were trying to weld/secure the broken clutch tube.

Do a search here on how to fix this correctly and make sure it is done well before you close that back up.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif)

[ClayPerrine]

Trying to "Un-DAPO" the car.



I am still working on that myself!!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/poke.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/av-943.gif)


I still want to know why they cut a hole behind the door latch. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

[mepstein]

The foam is factory correct for an early car. It's smaller than the later cars. A piece of carpet is fitted over it.

According to the Karmann production number, this car was made on 5 March 1973. My previous 914 was built in the last week of April 1973. This car has the foam wedge, but my previous car had a wooden floorboard and no foam.

Did these two cars fall across a running change? Or, did someone replace the foam wedge on my previous car with a wood board?

I think your previous car might have been modified. All the cars I've bought (about 20) either had foam or nothing. I thought it was some sort of compressed sawdust with a binder.

[ClayPerrine]

The foam is factory correct for an early car. It's smaller than the later cars. A piece of carpet is fitted over it.

According to the Karmann production number, this car was made on 5 March 1973. My previous 914 was built in the last week of April 1973. This car has the foam wedge, but my previous car had a wooden floorboard and no foam.

Did these two cars fall across a running change? Or, did someone replace the foam wedge on my previous car with a wood board?

I think your previous car might have been modified. All the cars I've bought (about 20) either had foam or nothing. I thought it was some sort of compressed sawdust with a binder.

It is definitely molded, compressed sawdust coated with shellac on the outside. I took the one for the 4.0L and carved out grooves for the DME wiring. Man what a mess! Once the outer layer was gone, that stuff went everywhere. By the time I got done, I was yellow with sawdust.

[BillC]

I cut it off with a pair of snips. I'll take a look at welding the piece back in, so at least I still have the piece, even though it needs to be reshaped.

They were trying to weld/secure the broken clutch tube.

Do a search here on how to fix this correctly and make sure it is done well before you close that back up.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif)

Hmmm, good point. I'll definitely have to check that. It might also explain why they removed the clutch pedal stop from the driver's floor board. If that is the case, then they didn't fix it, since there's no sign of welding or other repair anywhere near the cable tube.

Trying to "Un-DAPO" the car.

I am still working on that myself!!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/poke.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/av-943.gif)

I still want to know why they cut a hole behind the door latch. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

I believe the hole was cut to remove rust, so a new piece could be welded in. However, while the DAPO(s) could obviously operate drill bits, a hole saw and a cut-off wheel, I haven't found any signs of them doing any actual welding on the car. And trust me, this car is going to need a lot of welding to fix the DAPO damage. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif) Fortunately, not as much welding as would normally be expected to fix rust, so that's a little relief.

[Cairo94507]

I hope they disclosed all of those issues prior to the sale. Or, in the alternative, I hope you got a great deal. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[preach]

It turns out that the car may have it's original spare tire.


It's a bias-ply Continental in 165R15, and still looks pretty nice on the top side (inside).

Here is my potential original from a 1972 I just picked up.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?act...t&id=746212

I also have an Opel that I think I may have been the dumb arse prior owner of.

[BillC]

I hope they disclosed all of those issues prior to the sale. Or, in the alternative, I hope you got a great deal. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

No, and no.

In the seller's defense, I don't think he knew about all the problems, since he seemed more like someone who would take the car somewhere rather than work on it himself.

And, I got a reasonable deal on the car, but not a great one. If I had known about all of these issues, I would have pushed harder for a lower price. Once the car is fixed, it should be a good car. I think I'll live with the funky paint job for a while, before I worry about getting it repainted.

[BillC]

So, continuing down the list of discoveries:

There was a mess of wires hanging down under the dash. Most of it is for the aftermarket radio, but there was one wire connected to a toggle switch under the dash.

One end of the switch was connected to ground. I dug into the dash and discovered the other end was spliced into the tach wire from the coil. So, it appears to be a shade-tree anti-theft device, grounding the coil to kill the ignition. However, that might also explain why the tach doesn't work.

Here are a couple more pics of how the fuel pump wire ran through the passenger compartment:


Speaking of holes in the firewall, I found this lovely on the driver's side:

It wasn't connected to anything, but may have been a remote trunk release. Although, other than the hole in the firewall, I didn't find any other holes related to it.


The fuel pump wire hole and the pull handle hole are the largest holes drilled in the firewall, but there are at least 10 other holes of various sizes drill in it.

Under the car, I discovered that the original vinyl fuel hoses are still in the center tunnel. However, they did splice in new hoses between the firewall and the engine compartment (stock vinyl hoses in the engine compartment, too).


And, of course, none of the heating parts are connected. They did install new stainless heat exchangers and a muffler. However, they are for a 1.7, not a 2.0. But, they did not replace the muffler hanger with the correct one. Instead, they drilled new holes to move it upward and then created home-made adapter brackets to connect it to the muffler.


It turns out that the stainless heat exchangers are in really nice shape. Any chance anyone might want to trade these for some nice 2.0 exchangers? I'll eventually post pics in a "trade" post on the for-sale board, after I get a chance to wash them off.


Tomorrow, the plan is to drain the fuel, drop the engine and pull the tank (if there's time). Who knows what fun is lurking under the tank?

[barefoot]

It turns out that the stainless heat exchangers are in really nice shape. Any chance anyone might want to trade these for some nice 2.0 exchangers? I'll eventually post pics in a "trade" post on the for-sale board, after I get a chance to wash them off.

The 1.7/1.8 SS heat exchangers have the same tube sizes as the 2.0. so no need to replace them. If you're anal about the muffler bracket you can easily find a 1.7/1.8 version.
have fun with the other fixes.

[BillC]

It turns out that the stainless heat exchangers are in really nice shape. Any chance anyone might want to trade these for some nice 2.0 exchangers? I'll eventually post pics in a "trade" post on the for-sale board, after I get a chance to wash them off.

The 1.7/1.8 SS heat exchangers have the same tube sizes as the 2.0. so no need to replace them. If you're anal about the muffler bracket you can easily find a 1.7/1.8 version.
have fun with the other fixes.

Yeah, I know the tubes are the same size, and that the 1.7 exchangers will work just fine. However, I am kinda anal about making the car "right". And, I'd rather reinstall the exchangers just once if I can, rather than put these in for now and change them later on.