Chad Mitchell

OK, so I *used* to be active on Rennlist, back when it *was* a list. Anyone remember email mailing lists? Dial-up service? That newfangled Win95? Guys like Joe Yoder? Anyway, it was a cool place, but at some point they changed it to this new 'forum' thing. I think at the time there was a membership involved and I was fresh out of college, freshly married, and fresh out of cash, time, and anything else necessary to deal with the 914 snoozing peacefully in a nearby storage facility.

Twenty years later, and ... ok, frankly not much has changed. But at least she's in the garage, and not in storage. That's gotta count for something. I've been semi-active on another unnamed 914-oriented forum off and on, but got reminded about this place and decided to stop back in. So, hey there everyone! There might even be one or two real old-timers that might remember me, if 'reminded' gently enough.

Matt Romanowski

I was on the list and remember all of that stuff. Is your car running? Pictures!

Chad Mitchell

She *was* running when parked in 1986. I'd been thru a rather rough patch of repairs that were hard for a broke college student to deal with. IIRC, a broken CV joint, which also managed to trash the starter and crack the transaxle when it went, then a bad replacement starter that drained the battery, an alternator, and two fried ECUs. And back then I didn't know how to do my own work, so I was paying a Porsche mechanic for all that. Then the clutch went and I'd had enough. For several years she was stored in Tulsa while I was away at college and stayed there until the mid 90's. At that point, not having been started in a decade, I figured it best not to mess with it until I could go through everything.

Here's a couple of pics from a storage unit I had her in while we were moving a couple of years ago.

Matt Romanowski

Doesn't look too bad! Now's the time to start working on it and get her going!

Turb-OH Brad

E-mail existed 20 years ago? Wow, I guess I was late to the game.

Chad Mitchell

Oh yeah. It's actually been quite a bit longer than that, but until the really late 80's it was only used by university research departments and the Dept. of Defense. College students started getting into it about the time the first graphical 'web' browsers started becoming available. Before that, everything was ANSI text based.

Anyway, I think I've had this email account for right on 20 years. One of these days I should fire up my old computer and pull the old emails off of it. Probably make for some hilarious reading.

Chad Mitchell

Yeah, just tired original paint with lots of scratches, and a dent in the rear lid from the wife getting something out of storage. Interior is good with the exception of the seats - I split the crap outta the vinyl by putting a knee down in the driver's seat. Luckily I got a guy who does upholstery.

I'd really been thinking I wanted to take my time and "do it right", but I'm realizing that all that thinking is doing is keeping it in time-out. I'll never have all the time I need.

NaroEscape

First of all...Welcome Back! Rennlist has changed a lot, but it's not a bad place...progress happens...

Yep...stop thinking and start doing! do a little at a time, figure out what it needs to get running and do that first. Get it on the street, then fix the 'little' things, as you go. The more you drive it, the more you'll enjoy it and want to make the time to get the rest of the things done...

We rebuilt our car Huey in 2008 after totalling it in Targa Newfoundland in 2007. Been driving him a lot since, and every time we come back from a weekend, we add to the list of things to do - did a lot of hard mountain driving roads this past 2 weekends and made up a HUGE list of things to do on our way back today.... we'll get those done, drive him more, and start a new list...

But if you wait to do it ALL first, you'll miss all the fun of driving in between...

Good Luck!

Chad Mitchell

Thanks, Bob, I remember reading about Huey's build and the Newfoundland 'incident' - glad to see everything is righted and sorted once again!
Unfortunately part of my problem is more 'immediate' projects. The kind of stuff that needs to be done when you have a 100-mile-a-day commute to work and your car is over 20 years old.

Jay Gratton

Chad,
I also remember the e-mail days, I prefer the forum. Welcome back! Anyway, what do we have to do to get your 914 rolling again (besides us giving you$$$$)?

Chad Mitchell

Heh, well, time is probably the bigger obstacle for me. Oh wait, that's my bank on the phone. It's *never* good when they call you...
Ahem. Anyway, I think the things I *need* to do to get the old girl roadworthy are:
1) Fix clutch. Actually, I suspect this might really be a pedal cluster failure, but after 25 years it's hard to be sure.
2) Replace fuel lines. Yes, they're the originals.
3) Replace muffler and heat exchangers. The muffler fell off about 10 years ago - I guess the flanges on the heat exchangers rusted off.
4) Get my body repair friend over to look at her all over, check the longs and the hell hole, make sure no rot has taken over.
5) New tires!

Assuming all that works out OK, I think that'd get her rolling again.

Oh, and gotta straighten out the title. :P My mom signed the title and gave it to me when I was 19. Unfortunately, at that time in my life no one had told me what you were supposed to to with it. Still have the title, signed and everything. Unfortunately my mom has legally changed her first name, and remarried (twice) since then. So this could be ... complicated.

Matt Romanowski

I have a pair of stock heat exchangers I'll send you if you pick up shipping. I'll double check that they are good.

Chad Mitchell

Matt, that's a hugely generous offer. I'll try and check on it this weekend - it could be that the muffler is what rusted off and the exchanger flanges might be OK. I just really don't remember.

Sadly, I don't recall who made the muffler. The original owner had it installed by the dealer back in '73. It made a *huge* difference in exhaust note, very aggressive and un-TypeIV-like. I had to be careful that I didn't get into the throttle too much around local law enforcement persons. I'll try to take a picture of it if I can find it - I know I didn't toss it out. I think it's in the trunk...

Chad Mitchell

While I'm in here, I think I'll describe this problem (at least as well as I can 25 years after the fact!) and see if any of y'all have some input.

Clutch was operating normally. Pushed clutch pedal and felt a snap, much like breaking the cable. Pedal did not return, stayed down on the firewall. I was able to pull the pedal back out, and when I did the clutch was operational again.

It worked for, I don't know, perhaps a day before failing again. At that point I assumed that a couple of the fingers on the pressure plate had broken or the throwout bearing was trashed and parked her for good.

Any other potential culprits you can think of?

Matt Romanowski

The weld on the tube in the center tunnel might have broken. http://www.944-parts.com/porsche-service.php?technum=7