75 914 Laguna Blue Project Options

[Graydingo]

Hello everyone, my name is Duane and I love me a Porsche project. So much so that I've had five air cooled cars (mostly projects mind you) in the last few years. I've pared that down to a mere 2 911s (one massive RSR project and a pretty good little driver 75.) By fate, every single one of them was a 75, or a 77 model year.
I guess I love an underdog and a project! Any-who, here's me latest acquisition...



A 1975 Porsche 914 2.0 in Laguna Blue L50C. What a color!



It all started when I found a 76 2.7 911 motor on craigslist. I inquired and got a snappy text back from a known number. Turns out, it was a friend and the owner of the local Porsche specialty shop. I went over to check out the motor and ended up buying it. A pretty clean 2.7 core, missing a few parts, but had a set of Italian 40 IDTP carbs on it.

While there, I was shown the 914 which the 2.7 was actually destined to go into at one point but then the owner decided to go nuts and planned to put a 3.6 in it.



He had acquired thousands in parts but lost motivation in the project. He had flares, elephant suspension and all kinds of stuff. Sadly (or perhaps fortuitously,) he had sold a lot of the new parts to another 914 enthusiast, so what was left was just the original car.

Already having a big project in my 74 RSR tribute, I passed on the 914 and headed home with my new 2.7. My 75 911 has a similar motor and It's ready to rebuild. I thought I would take the best parts off both motors and make a 2.8 twin plug beast for my 75. Ya never know what condition the crank or heads are in, so I figured it was a good plan to have more parts at the ready for cheap, and then sell everything left over later.

One thing that struck me about the 914 on that first visit, was that the car was extremely dry. Here's the ....ahem... heck hole.



Though the car was taken apart, the previous owner seemed to have all the original parts (though many of them were in his storage facility and not with the car.) Another cool factoid was that the car was actually purchased in a nearby Audi/VW dealership right here in Las Vegas. Vegas in '74 was very, very small, so to have a survivor 914 in the same town that it was 46 years ago is pretty cool in my opinion.



The car was more or less stripped in preparation for a GT conversion. I remarked in my mind about how solid the car was and went home that day thinking it was a good deal but that I'm a snobby 911 guy who doesn't buy anything but 911s :-P The car was definitely marinating in the back of my mind...

Fast forward a few months later and a younger friend was talking to me about project cars, and it got me excited about the 914. On a whim I reached out to see if it was still there and bought it the next day. I think I just really liked it and I fell in love with the color. It feels like a mix between Gulf Blue and Miami Blue. I'm actually painting my RSR Gulf, so I absolutely love all the cool blue colors.

The shop had a bunch of waterpumper parts stored in the back:



PO had the original Fuchs 4 lug wheels, but no tires. the 914 was also on a pretty sweet dolly, but unfortunately that wasn't part of the sale.



I took the wheels to a discount tire and got the cheapest tires I could buy, just so I could make it a roller for the impending flatbed trailer pickup appointment.



I had to scrounge around and find some lugs to mount them. Luckily I had some open 911 lugs as well as some 996 studs to complete the temporary fix.

After getting it back to the shop I thought: "I've got a complete project build going already, wouldn't it be fun to try to build a total survivor driver with original paint, dings, dents, damage and all, but have a bit of a sleeper engine and nice interior. So mostly original, but everything works and is nice in terms of get in, turn the key, take it to the grocery and not worry about parking it. "



Stay tuned for the paint correction...

[914Sixer]

Here is a quick fix on the lugs. Click to open. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif)

[Graydingo]

Thanks! I actually picked up that exact set, but in black. I don't like the fact that they have a 15mm socket drive instead of the stock 17mm right? Also I want to make the wheels look stock so I think I'm going to try to tape off the polished anodized pedal and use a wheeled abrasive on the black reliefs.

Another question: I have the Auto Atlanta vinyl sail kit on order, is that a good one?

[914Sixer]

Stock lugs were 19mm heads, ones shown are 17mm. Yes, AA is a good source for parts. 914Rubber is also good for lots too. Jeff B is putting together an extensive list of parts suppliers new and used. Check threads.

[Graydingo]

Thanks 914 Sixer.

Here are some additional pics of chassis and body condition.

Starting with the frame area around the battery tray drip zone. It looks pretty good imho.





Below the battery tray:



The battery tray:



A weird cut section in the engine area. I need to ask PO about this. May have been prep to install the 3.6 for clearance. I hope it's not structural. Also if anyone has a good guide to a 2.7 six conversion keeping the 901 and 4 lug, I'd appreciate it.



Poor patch panels in frunk:



2nd patch area that's only spot welded?



Both engine lid brackets have been booger welded up. I guess this might be a common break point?



Even though this is a fun driver, I'll probably patch in a trunk floor and look for some brackets, and see about fixing the battery tray and hole below in terms of wire wheeling it off, and maybe getting some 2k in a can to hit that area.

I'm guessing 156k miles if the speedo gear isn't broken.

[Chris H.]

The patch panels in the frunk are likely because the car once had dealer-installed a/c. You can buy a new panel from restoration-design if you want to replace it.

Pretty sure a 2.7 bolts right up to the 914 trans and there are plenty of conversion threads on here to help you. You don't have to change over to 5-lug.

Enjoy it! I've had a Laguna Blue '75 for 20 years.

[Graydingo]

Well sometimes pretty paint makes all the difference in motivation so I hired a friend of mine to buff the paint and polish the windows.






The doors are completely apart right now as I fix years of goobered up stuff. The glass looks amazing though.





The detail job turned out pretty dang good. I can't tell if it's been repainted or not. The door sticker looks original and there's not really overspray, but some panels have some weird flaking going on.

There are also some pretty good dents. A tough to get to one in the passenger A pillar, and this guy on the passenger rear quarter.



The drivers rear quarter is the worst. Something hit pretty good here.



Part of me wants to fix everything 100% and part of me is like "you don't have time to do this car like that right now"

I thought maybe I would keep the 4 lug if they were Fuchs, unfortunately I discovered this...



American Eagle replicas... No wonder they felt much heavier than expected.

Well now I have a set of rollers for paint or something, but I really think this is going to push me to 5 lug conversion now. Can't stand fake Fuchs.

It also has these white coilovers in back that look pretty worn. Sorry not a great shot as I was framing up the bolt for the shock.



I removed the brake caliper, and was going to remove all three when I discovered the fake Fuchs. Rather than buy real wheels, I think I might invest in 5 lug hub conversion. I have 3 sets of narrow body 911 wheels, so I think one particular set of Group 4 wheels would be perfect for the car.

I also want to upgrade my 75 911S to an aluminum crossmember which I already have. I have the Boge 3" front 5 lug 911 struts with new Bilsteins, I think I take those off, put that front end on the 914 and then buy the PMB rear 5 lug hub conversion.

I have 911R offset rear 7" wheels, though they are currently wrapped in 225/50 tires which probably wont fit under these narrow flares. Maybe...

[nditiz1]

Wow Duane! Nice paint correction.

For those of you that don't know Duane, he has some awesome build threads on the bird forum. He also has a YouTube channel of him doing work on 911s. Maybe he will do some video on the 914.

[Graydingo]

The patch panels in the frunk are likely because the car once had dealer-installed a/c.

Thanks Chris!

Wow Duane! Nice paint correction.

For those of you that don't know Duane, he has some awesome build threads on the bird forum. He also has a YouTube channel of him doing work on 911s. Maybe he will do some video on the 914.

Thanks so much for that comment. If anyone wants to read through a long thread on my 911S it is here. And my 77 widebody project is here.


Here's the caliper off:


In good shape, just needs a rebuild. Question: for a 2.7 will the rear stock caliper be OK? I plan to run Alfa Milano Brembo 3" spacing aluminum brakes up front on my 3" 911 Boge struts. I fell that should do well for a 2k lb car with a about 190 hp.

Here's the donor 2.7.







In talking with PO he said treat it like a core and that he wouldn't try to clean it and oil it up and try to run it. Which means at least 10k, a full case split, trip to ollies and slippery slope etc.

hmmm...

[Cairo94507]

Good call re the motor. Better safe than sorry when you put it all together and try to start it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[krazykonrad]

Looking good! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/first.gif)

[Graydingo]

Well a lot has transpired in the last few weeks. Mainly parts acquisition and some door work.

I bought the door rubber kits from 914Rubber as well as the full trunk kits. I figured I wanted everything that opens and closes to work and seal properly.



I made this little wood tool by cutting off the end of a brass wire welding brush:



The doors were all goofed up, but I've got them opening and closing much better now.

I've also been struggling with the passenger quarter window. I've had it in and out maybe 7 or 8 times. When the door is closed it doesn't want to fit as good as I want. The glass seems to slip and move around in the seal a bit. I tried Ian's packing wrap trick and that helped a bit. I was getting frustrated with this little corner too:



Though I think I have it better now. 14th times the charm.

There's still a pretty good gap at the top where cap piece reaches the A frame. I also have the car on a lift, that might be part of my problem.

Moving on, over the Labor day weekend, I saw that Maddogsmotorsports was having a labor day sale, so I bought the engine mount system he has:



Now I'm wondering if I need the swing arm reinforcement kit and the frame reinforcements like the 6 apparently had.


I also purchased a 6 tank kit from Ben Mcfarland:



I did a little more de-boogering of the ignition system. PO had put a push start ignition setup in as the original ignition switch died. Since the ignition was all boogered up and the keys missing, I decided I would take out all the locks and send them Curt for a re-key.

I don't have the original keys, though the owner says he has them somewhere. The PO is a local friend who has a lot of the parts in a container and as part of the deal of buying the car I promised to be patient in getting the rest of the parts since they were not in the same spot as the car when I bought it. I'd rather have a new set of keys anyway as my expectations for the originals is that they are all worn out.

Last week I went over to the local Porsche shop here in town "Carl's place, the 900 series" to have them blast my register guides. The originals were completely rusty and crusty, though everything else in the door was in really good shape.



I had also bought reproduction interior door handles and the drivers latch was an epic piece of trash.



The housing was squeezed tight making the latch bind up. I tried fixing it but the overall quality is really poor from the entire construction to the terrible paint the covered it in.



While at Carl's place I asked the owner Tony if he had any door parts. Tony found a drivers door with a good latch and pulled it out for me. Tony also had a pile of original back bumpers. So I found the straightest one for the bumper backdate. If anyone has a core front bumper let me know. I'll probably ship it to Ben to do the cooler opening mod.



Since the door job is now stalled (waiting for the exterior handles to be re-keyed) I started to dive into the ignition so I could pull that for Curt as well. I found that the steering shaft has play and that will need to be rebuilt. I also have a Mitch Leeland bushing that I bought years ago and never needed it for my 911. I wonder if they are the same shaft as a 911.

Lastly I picked up a better Yoke. I had a flat 5 arm, but this one fits with the oil cooler on:

Ebay China special. I asked for the Red one and got the white one....

[Graydingo]

Yesterday I was able to squeeze a few hours into the 914.

I thought it would be best to completely remove the wiring harness and either A, pare down the existing and replace the cut ignition wires, or B, buy a Kroon or other harness for the 6 conversion.

The 6 conversion wont actually require anything more as I'll be going weber or PMO carbs on it. The existing wires, though filthy are not too bad, save for the engine bay section which feels a little hard, presumably from the engine heat.

I started by removing the dash harness which was not too bad. I took photos of the gauges to assist with the reassemble.





I've removed a harness from a 77 911 in the past and I'd say the job was about the same. The frunk took longer than expected as there were the parking lights, horns, and popup light motors to contend with.


I just cut off the boots to the side marker lights as they wouldn't have fit through the bulkhead anyway and were pretty much wasted. I think I'm going to delete the side markers anyway.

I had to remove the housing to the fuel level sender end to squeeze it through the hole in the firewall:



The only wires going to the front will be the Fogs, Fuel, the popup headlight motors, the headlights, the parking lights, the horns, and probably an automatic fan for the front cooler. I'm probably forgetting something else.

The rear was pretty easy too. PO had already removed the harness up to the rear lights and it was laying in the trunk.
The trunk is full of parts atm:



Back to the frunk, I'm at the point where 90% of the front is pulled into the cockpit and I need to research the best way to remove the rest. The 911 pulls out the back, so I'm thinking the 914 is the same way.



I received my 6 motor mount. I took advantage a labor day sale and received the part yesterday:



It still needs a lot of work to be welded to the bulkhead, and once it's smoothed over, seam sealed and painted it will be great.

The yoke is heavy duty and well done: I'll probably powder coat this black.



I also removed all the locks and reached out to our own Curt Curtis. Curt and I discussed some of the issues (such as having no keys and also having the 75 ignition which is very difficult to get the tumbler out.) We came up with a plan and I packed everything up and shipped it out to him.

The drivers door handle has a broken lifter arm, but luckily Curt had a replacement. I sent him mine for spare parts as I think he can combine parts to make one good one in the future for someone else.

I think once I get the harness removed, I'll move the 914 out of the shop and pull my 75 911 in. There I will remove the front suspension which will become the 914's for the 5 lug conversion. I've always wanted to upgrade my 911 from 3" boge front struts to Bilstein 3.5" caliper spacing. I have a set of aluminum S brakes that are ready to go on that car and I have a sweet set of Alfa Milano brembo aluminum 3" spacing calipers for the boge that I'll mount on the 914. Again, I'm wondering what brake combo I should pair in the back with this setup? I'll have a 911 vented rotor in back so maybe I can convert the 914 rear pad to fit that? More research is required...

Lastly, I have to take the window out yet again. I think I'll go ahead and patch the mirror holes while it's out, and then try to get this top fit better.



It just really fits poorly at the moment. I can't get the cap to sit flush, I think it requires internal trimming or something, I should also put new rubber on the A pillar as well.

[Graydingo]

Whelp, pulled the harness, rolled it up and stuck it in a box anticipating that I might ship it to Jeff Bowlsby. I need to reach out to him and see what my options are.



Rather than show you all the damage, here's a pic of one spot.



There are quite a few cuts , mainly in the middle of the tunnel where the PO added his own push start ignition setup in the center console. As a result there are some strange things happening in the dash, and engine bay.

The best part is probably the front section of the harness, though even that has been changed to accommodate an aftermarket fuel pump.

I guess my options on the harness are:

-Rebuild my own using existing as a core. Strip out unnecessary wires, re-do the ends where needed back to factory spec.

-Send to Bowlsby for fixin'

-Buy a Kroon $$$$

Lemme know if I missed anything.

[Graydingo]

More progress:
I removed the pedal cluster and shipped it to Bruce Stone for a refresh. While I've refreshed two 911 clusters, I just felt like farming it out this time. With all the work of plating, powdercoating etc it's a lot of time to do it by yourself. I even made a video of me doing my 911 cluster if anyone is interested in the process



I think mentally, I just didn't want to do it again. Plus Bruce replaces the aluminum nut with his own part if I recall so he makes it OEM +

I like reaching out to others in the 914 world to get to know the community. So often I learn something when I talk to people who've been doing this for years.





Removed the EGR counter, sourcing a single speedo cable instead of the two piece setup used for the EGR counter.



I may replace the gauge surround plastic face with a non EGR/CAT version as I don't really want or need those lights in my dash now.


Photo by Dr. B Johnson from his excellent book (restorers guide to authenticity III)

I was also thinking of adding brighter turn signals in those spots as the gauge turn signals are notoriously hard to see.

More inspection on the wiring harness is revealing a lot of funkery. Many cuts all over the place as well as melt damage, outright wrong wire replacements, and copious amounts of electrical tape. As I mentioned the ignition harness was cut and then hastily wired back together. Every. Single. Wire. While ultimately whomever did it, only needed to cut two or three of the 6 wires. Ugh. Here's the harness after I cut out the offending wire nuts, electrical tape, and odd soldering.



I believe I've found a full harness out of a 76 with only very mild differences. I'm swapping out the 914 Tach with a 911 2.7 midyear tach, and I'll need to choose a wire for oil pressure and maybe AFR. I run a dual AFR gauge made by John Bell in my 911 and it's pretty badass. :-D

This week I'm going to break down the 2.7 and get it off to Ollies. They will do the heads, crank, case, rocker re-bush and cam towers. I'll put new JE pistons in for 40 webers and new cams. Not looking to reinvent the wheel or go nuts with twin plug. Just a higher compression simple carb 2.7 will be plenty for 2k lbs.

Yall might find this interesting; Carl's place had an original 914-6 tank. I took some photos for reference. Note the holiness:





As I mentioned previously, I did buy Ben's setup as it's a hugely important piece of the 6 swap and it did not disappoint.



Finally, when removing the EGR counter I found a weird blob of sealant just to the right of the tunnel on the passenger side:

After popping it out I discovered a bullet hole:



This is wild to me because here's the story of my 911 that has a bullet hole in the passenger floorboard.

A closeup of the bullet hole. I reached out to the PO, and he more or less confirmed what it was.



Finding a bullet hole in my 914, which is the same model year (1975) as my 911, which ALSO has a bullet hole in the passenger floorboard (and made just one month early in 8/74) is a little freaky. To top it off I was born in June of 75, meaning myself, the 914, and the 911 were all started in the 'factory' approximately the same time.

While no bullet holes in my body (yet) I did shoot myself in the face one time with a BB gun. Does that count?

It endears me to the cars as I refresh them because I'm reminded of my own aging body as I'm exactly as old as this 914.

The bullet hole thing is wild though. To be fair I also own a 77 911S (and previously another 77S and a 67 912) and none of those had bullet holes anywhere!

[Cairo94507]

Man, when you see stuff like that in a harness it is no wonder some of these cars burn up. So glad you are tackling this and addressing all of the usual issues during your build. You are going to have a great car. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[Graydingo]

Man, when you see stuff like that in a harness it is no wonder some of these cars burn up. So glad you are tackling this and addressing all of the usual issues during your build. You are going to have a great car. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

You aren't kidding! Fuel and wires should be everyone's top priority. These cars are pushing half a century old.

People fret about both of those, in terms of DIY. If you think of wires in a simple way, such as it's just a hallway from one door to another, (and it's color coded!) it becomes so much easier to manage in your mind.

[Graydingo]

Making a bit more progress on the 914.

Removed the dash completely.



I noticed the top vinyl pad is tucked under the metal dash, so I decided to remove it entirely in order to put the new pad on since I'm leaving the windshield in. Not too bad of a job, just hard to get to some of those nuts that are in the frunk.



I also removed the remaining crusty rubber seals. These rubber seals were left in the sun for a few years and they are hard as a rock. I can literally snap them in half like a piece of spaghetti.

I removed everything off the targa top in prep for paint. I picked up some SEM trim and the plan is to just rattle can it.



I'm also missing one of the small passenger side aluminum trim strip. If anyone has one for sale please let me know, driver quality is fine.



The rear latches are pretty beat up. I might replace entirely.

I removed the vinyl across the targa bar and the pads and side pieces.



Sourced an entirely new harness from a 76.



If anyone needs bits and pieces from a 75/76 harness, reach out with your request. There are a lot of good parts left on my harness, especially in the frunk and dash.

Lastly I got word from Curt regarding my locks. He's waiting for the drivers handle to be finished at the chrome place and will send out. It will be nice have brand new keys and everything working.



More to come...

[Graydingo]

A friend of mine is headed to Ollies this coming week so I decided to get after it and tear the 2.7 down so he could take the major components along.



I think the big thing is to align bore, RR piston squirters, hot tank, vapor blast, and do the case savers. Ollies will also do the crank, the heads including bigger bore, clean the cam tower and RR the oil tube, and rebush the rockers.

I'll go with a nice set of JE P's and C's probably 9.8:1 compression.

MSD ignition, or 123 dizzy.

I have a set of Weber 40's I'll probably move over to this engine.

But first I have to tear it down. First was dragging it out from under another project and trying unsuccessfully to remove the early heat exchanger rear cross over pipe.



My yoke wouldn't fit on the engine due to the relief not lining up with the crossover pipe flange on the rear of the motor. Swine 'discount off brand yoke'

After an hour of twisting off a few bolts I said "f' it" and just sawzalled through the right side heat exchanger and the crossover pipe.





These original heat exchangers were rusty and had holes in the bottom. Typically, because of the size and weight, It doesn't make sense to sell them as they are only worth about $100 bucks and way more hassle to pack and ship.



Once I got the Yoke mounted, I rallied my neighbors to help me lift it onto the engine stand.



Luckily the nuts holding the exhaust onto the motor were put on recently and came off with little persuasion.



Next up, full tear down and inspection.

[Graydingo]

Engine tear down is nearly complete. Cams are like new in the motor! I'll sell to my friend who wants to rebuild his CIS 2.7. Thecase has time serts in for the head studs which I'm now removing to make way for case savers. A friend was selling brand new Mahle jugs and CP 10.3:1 jugs for a great price so I scored those.





I was almost done tearing down the motor when Luft8 happened. My 911 made it as a featured car in the show, but I hit a rock on Angeles Crest hwy the Friday before, and I think knocked some rust loose in the tank clogging up the 911 fuel system. Unfortunately, though I tried my best to get the car in the show, I couldn't get it done. I did attend without the car and the show was great, snapped a few pics like this GT:



And the row of 914s



and of course a 916



Despite working on the car in makeshift situations in LA, I couldn't get it running reliably and had to have it towed back home to Vegas.



I decided to go ahead and pull the front end off (as it was going to be the new 914 front end) and fix my fuel issue. So that's delayed me a bit but also will help ultimately with the 5 lug conversion on the 914.



The boge 3" spacing struts have new Bilstein inserts and refreshed A calipers from PMB, but I'll probably throw on my Alfa Milano Brembo aluminum calipers that I sourced a few years back.



The 911 also had a steel crossmember, so I may source another aluminum one for the 914. If anyone has a good clean one let me know.

I got my brake pedal cluster back from Bruce stone, it looks amazing.

Sorry can't find the pic but his work is top notch. Very happy with it.

I also got my new key set back from Curt Curtis, and all the locks, ignition, and outer door handles are ready to go back on the car.

Once I get the 911 back up and running, the 914 will get the new front end!