dave-h

I have found a guy selling a porsche 914 which he says is in good and original condition. He says it is a rust free car, so I was immediately interested. He then said that the car has been sitting in a garage for 20 years, and that it is not running. He says it will probably require an engine rebuild. My question is this, assuming I visit this car and find it to be as described, how complicated is it to rebuild a 2.0L engine? I have never done so before, but I'm attending a technical school and the winter is coming up so it might be a nice project car to get ready for the spring/summer. Just wondering what your views on this would be. Asking price is 2k and the engine is mechanically all there.

dave-h

ok so the last car i planned to look at ended up being a bust, the guy sold it the night before i was going to come up to NY and take a look. Big disappointment, also there seems to be a bit of a dry spell in terms of new listings for 914's in my area the only one I could come up with is in NY and has been sitting in a garage fro 25 years. I will take a look because the owner says its in great cosmetic condition but is not running. My first question for him will be "why was this car left in the garage in the first place?" but can you think of anything else I should ask or check, I have never dealt with a vehicle that has been sitting for this long. The reason I'm considering ti is because he says its rust free and in NY thats a really rare thing, so I thought its at least worth a look.

Jay Gratton

There is no such thing as a rust free 914. Some just have less then others. If the body and price are good then I would go for it. The engines are easy to fix and cheap to work on, so I wouldn't let that stop you. I know my Dad parked his '71 240 Z in the mid-80's because he didn't have the $$$$ to get it out one spring. 20 years later it finally came out, it happens.

Peter Zimmermann

Just to refresh, my car "had not run in eight years" in a desert climate, yet, the fuel system had so much rust that I had to boil the tank, replace the lines in the center tunnel, replace the fuel pump and injectors, replace the hard lines in the engine compartment, along with every hose section in the car. If you're going to have a shop do that make sure that you budget at least $1500 for that part of the project. Also, take a fully-charged 12V battery and jumper cables with you. You will want to hook them up and check things like lights, wipers (squirt water on the windshield before you try them), heater blower in engine compartment, etc.

dave-h

Well I saw the $2000 non running 2.0 today. It was being stored outside, the owner told me it had been inside for 25 years, but judging by the condition of the exterior i would say those must have been the first 25 years of its life, it now looks like junk. Dents, rust bubbles, rust on the B pilars and around door latches. Bad rust in front and rear trunks. Carb conversion was ok but it doesn't run so it didn't matter to me. Interior had no carpet, console was in part sin trunk, no steering wheel, everything was removed from dash, missing most weather stripping. cha-ching cha-ching cha-ching. No thanks, its a bit more of a project than I am willing to take on.

I am currently talking to a friend from school who has been helping an old family friend clean out his garage. This guy has another old porsche (my friend didn't remember the number) but it has been in a garage most of its life, and runs. It probably isn't registered since it only gets moved in and out of the garage. This family friend says he wants to clear out his garage, and from what I heard the porsche has an old for sale sign on it. Regardless of model I am interested, if its a decent price I will take a look.

Peter Zimmermann

$9K;

Jay Gratton

That is a nice buy for a well sorted 914. '74 is one of the good years to own too.

skl

Jay, what are you currently asking for your "new" 914?

Jay Gratton

Interesting question as I am not trying really hard to sell it, but it is for sale. I was selling it for $18K a year or two ago. There aren't to many 23K mile 914's out there. It seems like a crazy high price, but I have seen orig. ones like mine go for more.

Jay Gratton

I told Stu I would post a picture of my original 914. It is a basic barn find story, so they really can happen. Sorry to steal the thread, but here it is!

dave-h

Nice cars! I would probably be more interested in the black 74 than jay's car. Purely because of affordability. But at the moment I do not have 9k to spend (and I realize the decent ones will be priced around that mark). Wish I had a better paying job to make up for the difference lol.

Jay Gratton

Dave,
The sad thing is you either spend the $9K on the car now and be done or buy a car needing "fixing" and spend a total of $9K after buying the car and getting it on the road. Ask me how I know! But I feel for you as I have been there.

Peter Zimmermann

Gosh, what a pretty car!

Jay Gratton

Thanks Pete, it is a funny little car. I can't believe how bad it handles and how it was considered the best handling car of its time back in the day. Granted the shocks are gone, but holly body roll batman!

skl

That picture brings back great memories of my dad's Bahia red '71 which he got 6 months after I got mine. The picture is from around 1972!!

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I should dig up some old photos I have from WAY back of 914's autocrossing without rollbars- you needed to polish the door handles after a couple runs!