Fred's Backyard LE Restoration Options

[friethmiller]

So, I finally decided to create a build thread for my 2nd 914.

Quick Story: Last summer (6/2022), I found this car listed on FB Marketplace and it intrigued me. It was listed as a ’72 but some of the pictures were telling me that this thing was probably a ’74 and possibly an LE. Against my better judgement, I decided to call. The man who owned the car told me that it was, in fact, an LE and that the “72” was a misprint. I told him I’d come pick it up and pay him his asking price of $1000. So, I rented a U-Haul trailer for $68 (incl. insurance), and drove 4 hours from Austin to Leonard, TX, which is about an hour northwest of Dallas. Got the car home without issue and shoved it into a storage unit for a month while I got thing prepared at my house/garage. Unfortunately for me, I had promised my wife that I wouldn't restore another car "in our garage". So, I'm stuck in the backyard [for now] attempting to restore a very rusty, old car. It’s kind of a pain when it rains and have to cover everything up, but I prefer being outside.

Condition: Poor! To say that the floor pans were a little rough, was an understatement. The car had been sitting in a field with all the doors/hoods off for years. This is never a good thing. When I saw the car in person, it had about 5 inches of wet leaves in the bottom. The trunk replacement was a "hack" with no welds to the transmission support. I can’t imagine driving the thing with the backend loose like that. The hell hole was in horrible condition with about ¾ of the passenger side longitudinal ripped open with rust. The list goes on. However, it did have its original 2.0L (minus FI) + transmission, and the dealer installed A/C. To be honest, the condition didn't bother me at all. I love restoring and repairing these cars. Plus the COA (or whatever they call it now) came back as a CanAm package car. This thing needs to be saved! I’m going to do my best to bring back this bumblebee. I've got a lot of pictures to post but here are some of the initial pics.

[dstudeba]

That looks like some work ahead of you! Look forward to watching it progress.

[TonyA]

congrats

[krazykonrad]

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[friethmiller]

Some additional tear down photos. Love the pic of the engine with that lovely single carb. Yikes!

[technicalninja]

I actually like the single carb for one reason.

If it's in generally reasonable shape it will make any T4 engine function.

No balance bullshit, not finicky at all. Just install for instant 914 intake system.

My 75 came with a brand new (2022) progressive that I will replace with IDFs (already have 3 sets now) but for initial run testing and getting the engine back up I will use the progressive as it's stupid simple.

Good carb set up to test engines with.

Almost mistake proof.

Don't toss it. That part might quickly make that car into something you no longer have to push around!

It's a luxury to "have it move under its own power"...


Tell your wife you're not crazy. I'd have bought that in a heartbeat as well for the 1K.
Maybe you are crazy, guess I am as well.
Big project but well bought IMO...

[friethmiller]

I actually like the single carb for one reason.

If it's in generally reasonable shape it will make any T4 engine function.

No balance bullshit, not finicky at all. Just install for instant 914 intake system.

My 75 came with a brand new (2022) progressive that I will replace with IDFs (already have 3 sets now) but for initial run testing and getting the engine back up I will use the progressive as it's stupid simple.

Good carb set up to test engines with.

Almost mistake proof.

Don't toss it. That part might quickly make that car into something you no longer have to push around!

It's a luxury to "have it move under its own power"...

100% agree! When it's time, it'll be used on my test stand, for sure!

[friethmiller]

Paint Removal: My daughter and I spent many hours outside hand scraping the paint off this thing. Sometimes it came off easy, other times in was a real PITA! I had my last 914 blasted but thought I'd spend the time and save the money. Aside from a few places like the cowl, and air tubes in the door jams, the body was pretty rust free. It did have a few dings. The drivers front corner and the rear wheel area were hit as some point. But damn! Those rear quarters look good! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/drooley.gif) Finally, I hit the fenders with black epoxy paint.













Bracing: Based on what I saw of the tunnel and cross member I decided to level the car and bolt/weld in some steel bracing before I started doing any more of the restoration.

[technicalninja]

You've already made serious progress. Some parts of it look kick ass!

Some look "ass kicked"...

I especially dislike the cowl (bitch to fix) and the racoon sized hole in the driver's floorboard.

How old is the daughter?

I'm a huge believer in starting them out early. I did so with my boys and my oldest is a Senior at Tarleton University. He's Mechanical engineering with a minor in Electrical.

He's a better fabricator than ANYONE at the school including the instructors...

He goes "Mark Rober" on all of the projects and sets the "Bar" so much higher than anyone has hit in the past.

He built a bridge from cardboard that spanned 3 feet. It went over 1000 lbs. without failure (1K with students jumping on it!). The instructor STOPPED the "Test to Failure" as they started to worry about safety.
His was the only bridge in the history of the class that was un-breakable and we HAD to use a chainsaw to put it in the dumpster after he was finished.
His closest competition hit 175lbs before failure...

In his Digital Printing Class he took over the instruction of the Instructor as she had NO IDEA what the school printers could do...

4 times his projects have been confiscated by the instructors as they have wanted his bits to show future classes what is actually possible if you put the effort in.

Most of Bryan's contemporaries have never operated a power tool!
They can all design things.
98% of them cannot build what they design...

Now, there is one BAD aspect to having your children help you with the cars.
When they get older, they will CLAIM the car for themselves...
As a parent, you are SCREWED.
You WILL give it to them!

Bryan has already claimed one of my Zs and the ONLY MR2 turbo (91) that I own.

It ALL starts with "You wanna help me with the car?"...

[friethmiller]

Trunk Restoration (part 1): What a pain! The P.O. decided to cut the trunk to fit the repair panel instead of the other way around. This type of repair is extremely difficult due to the shape of the upper trunk pan above the trans support. Maybe it was all rusted out but I doubt it. After removing the beat-up, old rear panel, I decided to use the existing trunk repair panel but cut it in two pieces. That way I could focus on the top section first and then fit and weld in the lower pan after that. The following photos show the pan replacement. Note the use of frame rail paint and marine wax inside the trans support.

[friethmiller]

You've already made serious progress. Some parts of it look kick ass!

Some look "ass kicked"...

I especially dislike the cowl (bitch to fix) and the racoon sized hole in the driver's floorboard.

How old is the daughter?

I'm a huge believer in starting them out early. I did so with my boys and my oldest is a Senior at Tarleton University. He's Mechanical engineering with a minor in Electrical.

He's a better fabricator than ANYONE at the school including the instructors...

He goes "Mark Rober" on all of the projects and sets the "Bar" so much higher than anyone has hit in the past.

He built a bridge from cardboard that spanned 3 feet. It went over 1000 lbs. without failure (1K with students jumping on it!). The instructor STOPPED the "Test to Failure" as they started to worry about safety.
His was the only bridge in the history of the class that was un-breakable and we HAD to use a chainsaw to put it in the dumpster after he was finished.
His closest competition hit 175lbs before failure...

In his Digital Printing Class he took over the instruction of the Instructor as she had NO IDEA what the school printers could do...

4 times his projects have been confiscated by the instructors as they have wanted his bits to show future classes what is actually possible if you put the effort in.

Most of Bryan's contemporaries have never operated a power tool!
They can all design things.
98% of them cannot build what they design...

Now, there is one BAD aspect to having your children help you with the cars.
When they get older, they will CLAIM the car for themselves...
As a parent, you are SCREWED.
You WILL give it to them!

Bryan has already claimed one of my Zs and the ONLY MR2 turbo (91) that I own.

It ALL starts with "You wanna help me with the car?"...

LOL! Very impressive. Yeah, I refuse to teach my son how to drive a stick just for that reason. I want my 914 to STAY in the garage when I'm not there. I'll teach him later when he can make better decisions (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) My daughter is only 15 but has an eye for the details.

[technicalninja]

Nicely done Sir! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/first.gif)

Even re-used the patch and the finished product looks GREAT!

Car went to the right guy...

[friethmiller]

Trunk Restoration (part 2): With the pan in place, I started on the other details. First I had to add a transmission grounding bolt, which the PO forgot to transfer over (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) Note the bolt head in the first photo, this will be rounded later to make it look more original. Next came the stock holes in the transmission support, the support brace, and the rear swaybar tabs. After that I cut the holes for the rear plates (lids). These were a little tricky but I used a template that I cut out of front floor pan. It worked like a charm! After a little bit of filler, I hit the whole trunk will epoxy. Not too bad.

[technicalninja]

LOL! Very impressive. Yeah, I refuse to teach my son how to drive a stick just for that reason. I want my 914 to STAY in the garage when I'm not there. I'll teach him later when he can my better decisions (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) My daughter is only 15 but has an eye for the details.

I'm an even bigger believer in teaching my children clutch/shifting.

None of their friends have that ability early on.

Found the trick to EASY instruction is a smooth-running Z car on a hill.
At the moment they can "hold" the car, on the hill, with the clutch alone you are DONE!

Zs also are one of EASIEST cars to change a clutch on as well so if they smoke it, it's not a big thing.

[914sgofast2]

There is a guy on YouTube with the "CT" channel who is restoring a 1975 Porsche 914 with rust many times worse than your CanAm Limited Edition. Yours will be worth all the effort; his not worth it at all, at least in my opinion. The YouTuber's car was submerged in a salt water flood in Florida. At least your CanAm was rusting away in fresh water, instead of being in a salt water flood. As I said before, your car will definitely be worth all your efforts because it is the most desirable version of a 914 four cylinder powered car.

[friethmiller]

There is a guy on YouTube with the "CT" channel who is restoring a 1975 Porsche 914 with rust many times worse than your CanAm Limited Edition. Yours will be worth all the effort; his not worth it at all, at least in my opinion. The YouTuber's car was submerged in a salt water flood in Florida. At least your CanAm was rusting away in fresh water, instead of being in a salt water flood. As I said before, your car will definitely be worth all your efforts because it is the most desirable version of a 914 four cylinder powered car.

What CT is doing to that '75 is just hard to watch! He welds in 2 door support bars and then cuts the entire longitudinal out. Jesus! Lord help me! He needs to put down the sawzall and pick up the drill and remove the spot welds. It's so much better removing the panels out that way. And having the proper amount of support is necessary. If he gets that thing back together halfway straight, it'll be a miracle!

[friethmiller]

I'm an even bigger believer in teaching my children clutch/shifting.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) We are currently in the market for a used car for him. The only requirement is the standard transmission.

[JeffBowlsby]

Your patience and foresight are resulting in excellent results Fred. Amazing to see your skill level, and it is inspiring to see your passion for these cars. Will check in on this thread from time to time. Thanks for this eye candy.

[burton73]

My opinion is you've got a great car as an investment. This was the one to do. Putting it together so far it looks Like you're doing it the right way. Like the treatment in the rear trunk .

A lot of people don't go to the detail of putting back. Those round things, whatever the hell they call them, that perhaps held the car during assembly. Yea you will not have the date of the karman body but maybe you could find out that date and stamp it. Its not a vin so you should be good.

Keep up the great work and please keep up with the photos of your work.

Great for us and great for the day way down the road if you want to sell it.

Best Bob B
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[friethmiller]

Yea you will not have the date of the karman body but maybe you could find out that date and stamp it. Its not a vin so you should be good.

Thanks Bob! I actually have a punch set for this but haven't stamped the body number in the replacement pan yet. I should probably do that before I forget and it gets painted.