ehokana

I'll be picking up a '73 2.0 next weekend- very rust free, factory fuchs, interior nearly perfect and all stock parts come with the car. The paint leaves a bit to be desired (cheap respray some years ago) and all rubber needs to be replaced, but overall, the perfect candidate for what I want to do.

Anyway, I know a lot of the guys on here have done restorations on their 914's and I'd like to see if I can get some advice and information on what I'm getting myself into. My first car was a '73 2.0 so I know a bit about the cars but in the last 8 or so years I've had a Boxster and 951 so now I'm pretty out of the loop on the specifics of the 914's. This restoration is meant to be a father/son project for my dad and I, so I want to make sure this is not something that will be beyond us. My dad used to work quite a lot with old 280 Z's that he owned and I did much of the work on my 951, so wrenching isn't new for either of us, but neither of us have taken on a full restoration.

Is there anything that is especially difficult or takes specialty tools to do? Anything I should keep in mind before we start? How hard are parts to find at this point if something should be needed?

Thanks in advance guys

skl

Boy this could take a while... been working on my '71 since it was new... in the middle of a restoration of a '73 2.0.
Doing the mechanical stuff myself with help from my son- had a shop that specializes in 356's do the body- of course it had more rust than I thought (and a lot more dead mice but that's another story), but now it is perfect... (see separate restoration thread below)
Suspension is 911 front and 914-6 rear, brakes from Eric Shea (PMB) great source for brakes lines etc. Body stuff from Restoration Design and Brad Mayer from Peoria, Illinois, tons of stuff from Pelican.
If you haven't already, you can find most of what you need from ads in Excellence and Pano.
914 World is a great source, much more active with 914 stuff than here, though the few that do frequent here can be a source of info and ???
Have fun and let us know how it's going...

ehokana

Thanks! I post a bit at 914world too but it seems that the 914 guys on here are going through restorations for the most part rather than normal maintenance. I plan on documenting everything since it's kind of a pet project for me and I'll definitely post updates once I get started.

I went through your restoration thread yesterday since that's close to what I'll be doing. I'd like to keep the car as close to stock as possible- will I have trouble finding parts or are people starting to re-manufacture most of the 914 stuff now?

PelicanParts.com

This will be a fun project! Congrats on the 914 - California car?

We offer a large number of parts for the 914 here. My favorites are PMB restored calipers which you can find here.

Keep us posted with your progress......pics too!

Mark/Pelican Parts

ehokana

Thanks Mark! It is an original CA car- that was a huge bonus for me.

I'm glad to have you guys just a few minutes away from me; I order almost everything from Pelican, so I'm sure you have my card on file already

PelicanParts.com

As you get it running, you'll have to stop by so we can take a few pics!

Mark/Pelican Parts

skl

When I get my '73 done it will live in Arizona so I guess that is closer to California than Iowa...

Yep, I basically have Pelican on speed dial as well.

One word of advice you'll find here and other places... avoid AA if you can...

skl

Surprised Jay and Matt haven't chimed in yet...

Matt Romanowski

Post some pics! I don't think parts are too much of a problem. 914rubber.com is a great resource and owned by a 914 guy. Do you plan to remove everything and do a bare metal respray?

Jay is real busy with work and hasn't been on in a while.

ehokana

Mark- I definitely will stop by when I get to the latter stages; I pass by nearly every day to go to school in LA anyway

Matt- yeah, it's going to be taken all the way down to metal. I'm hoping to rebuild the motor and get the interior parts (that need it) reupholstered while the car goes in for paint, also. I want to get this project done as systematically as I can or I'll end up dragging it out forever

I really don't want to give any bad press, but I have had some issues with AA in the past- is that still an issue? I haven't ordered much there for some time now

Matt Romanowski

Aa sucks.

skl

+1 on 914rubber as well...

jrrhdmust

check all the usual places for rust. I thought I had a decent car, 18 months of welding panels in later, I have a solid car. I am getting ready to re-install all the brakes. PMB performance is awesome too!

sccchiii

I can't think of a better father son project than a 914……if the car is solid and doesn't need a full restoration then your going to be fine as everything is relatively easy to do (removing bumper, lights, ext). I just finished the same project on my 74 914 2.0, no rust and all original but needed some paint as the paint had lots of scratches and was slightly faded. I replaced all exterior seals and top seals along with sail panel vinyl and can tell you that pelican parts is great. I would go through the disassembly first and separate all parts/seals you plan on replacing and tag them with location. Then you can spend the day trying to order everything you need in one shot. I had a very good body shop paint the car in original color then I reassembled myself. I can tell you that the 914 is a piece of cake compared to my 356 which is underway now.

racerbvd

Doing a 70 914-6, matching number, full concours($$$) shell up, bare metal...