1973 bahia red 914 2.0 refresh
10-24-2017, 11:34 AM
#1
1973 bahia red 914 2.0 refresh
They all say the 73 2.0 is the one to have. Well we were happy to get in this 1973 original owner car for a refresh. The guy had all of the original papers, including the window sticker and owners manuals as well as the tool kit. It had as options, corduroy seat inserts and rear window defroster. We plan on refreshing this car to total originality by eliminating things like the tornado mirrors, reinstalling the sail panel vinyl, tuning it, changing the rocker panel covers to steel ones, switching the radio to a vintage blaupunkt, removing the steering wheel cover, and doing anything else to restore the original look and feel of this milestone 914. I will post more pictures showing the work and what we may find!!!
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10-30-2017, 02:27 PM
#8
So we finally have the car in the shop and on the lift. The floor pan looks solid but has the typical rusty appearance of an Illinois car. Nice looking stainless steel heat exchangers though! Our next move is to remove the fiberglass rocker panels and see what is underneath. The original owner said that at one time he had the longitudinals reinforced. We shall see!
10-30-2017, 03:55 PM
#9
Rennlist Member
what are the toggle switches on the center console for?
10-31-2017, 12:22 PM
#12
Well we started work on this car and got into it just as I thought. The original owner said that the chassis had been reinforced, so when we removed the fiberglass rockers we were not surprised to see reinforcement, but what they did was a TOTAL waste of time. Instead of replacing the inner rockers jack posts and sill plate, they spent HOURS custom fabricating two big reinforcement panels and spot welded them onto the original parts! As you can see we cut them off, will be installing our new pieces, and return the car to its original state
11-01-2017, 12:02 PM
#13
many of these cars back then were used as daily transportation even in the winter, and because of that, the northern cars had snow and salt and mud that packed under the outer rocker panels causing rust to the jack post and the inner rocker, but actually no where else. This is one of those cars, and because the car is actually very nice with low miles complete original paperwork and nice interior and exterior trim, is well worth doing this small bit of rust repair
11-01-2017, 06:00 PM
#14
Three Wheelin'
Seeing these images makes me thankful for my dry, Montana car which never got used in inclement weather, or during winter time ever. Nothing like this is seen anywhere on the car, but on at least 100 or so 914s from the Midwest to the south to the middle of California, rot like this was seen on nearly every one. I never even gave the southeast or the northeast a consideration when searching for the 'right' car....
I also don't understand why people spend all this money on a premium sports car bought new, then don't even consider a supplemental 100 to 1,000 dollar winter beater to complete the purchase. You could go thru one once a year and not even wince when it went away to the scrapper..... this is what 'appliances' are meant to do well with. Use them up like toilet paper and keep the great stuff for next spring.
( once bought a VW Fox for 275.00 in around '98, with 120,000 miles on it, drove it all winter long for a dozen years. Logged 534,000 miles on it. It's faithful service preserved the Porsches soundly sleeping their lives away in their dry, safe garages..... )
How does the back of the rear bulkhead look in and around the proverbial 'hell-hole' ?
I also don't understand why people spend all this money on a premium sports car bought new, then don't even consider a supplemental 100 to 1,000 dollar winter beater to complete the purchase. You could go thru one once a year and not even wince when it went away to the scrapper..... this is what 'appliances' are meant to do well with. Use them up like toilet paper and keep the great stuff for next spring.
( once bought a VW Fox for 275.00 in around '98, with 120,000 miles on it, drove it all winter long for a dozen years. Logged 534,000 miles on it. It's faithful service preserved the Porsches soundly sleeping their lives away in their dry, safe garages..... )
How does the back of the rear bulkhead look in and around the proverbial 'hell-hole' ?
11-01-2017, 08:11 PM
#15
Those of us who have 914s like yours are indeed the lucky ones. Because these cars were relatively inexpensive when new, the owners did not mind driving them every day through show and slush (they were always good in the snow) and do very little preservation. Figured that they would drive the value off of the car and just sell it for nothing…. unlike a 911 which was a very expensive car.
It is typical in this case that the rest of the car is good, including the floor pan. Just by looking at the interior and carpeting, one can tell the miles are correct (even though we know it from the original owner) We are blessed here in the south (today is all saint's day!! ) that we have dry rust free cars that have never seen salt, and frankly if this was a high mile worn 1.7 it would CERTAINLY not be worth saving except by a savior of 914s. Actually the repair we are doing is a minor one, you will see as I post more pictures. We have all of the braces installed now which I will picture tomorrow and then get on with the cutting
It is typical in this case that the rest of the car is good, including the floor pan. Just by looking at the interior and carpeting, one can tell the miles are correct (even though we know it from the original owner) We are blessed here in the south (today is all saint's day!! ) that we have dry rust free cars that have never seen salt, and frankly if this was a high mile worn 1.7 it would CERTAINLY not be worth saving except by a savior of 914s. Actually the repair we are doing is a minor one, you will see as I post more pictures. We have all of the braces installed now which I will picture tomorrow and then get on with the cutting
