Saving a 914

You're a brave man to consider rescuing a 914, they rust to the point where even the rust rusts..... Parts supply never used to be brilliant either. Still, perhaps it's a lucky car and will live again.
As a '70 it should have the 1.7 litre W code engine as shared with the VW type 4 sedan - originally it would have been fuel injected, but that looks to have gone astray in the intervening years. You will also note that the cooling cowls atop the engine are missing. Engine bits should be easy enough to get owing to the shared usage in volume VWs - although converting back to FI will likely present challenges in parts supply.
Fun cars - very go-cart-y to drive but never 'quick' in standard trim. Best of luck with the rebuild

 

See the carb on top of the engine in your pic??? under the aftermarket air cleaner?

To have any value after the restore, you need to put the injection back on the engine... finding parts is difficult ... maybe a parts car?

 

I am amazed. You have saved some real heaps from the scrap pile. You have my full and in daunting respect. Cudos to you.

 

I know zero about P cars. A quick Hemmings search show high ask of $35K, most low 20's that are not basket cases.

It's going to cost many sweat equity hours to restore this. Move on, Josh.

BTW - I've seen 2 around. One of Southwestern Blvd and another in Cheektowaga, similar condition and I bet it's still rotting where I last saw it.

 

There’s no financial upside to this one.
But then, there’s no financial upside to fly fishing either.

I restored my 64 MK II from a similar state, and its taken 20 years to be worth what I spent.
But I enjoyed the process and have 20 years of fond memories. So to me, it was well worth the cost.
If you want to restore it as part of your hobby, you can argue either way. But only you can say if it’s worth it.

There sure looks like there’s a lot of rust in the lower half of the car.
And that’s only what you can see. There will obviously be more once you tear into it.
You’re a brave man for even considering it.

 

Drop a small block V8 in and have some fun!

Scott

 

Renegade hybrids in Las Vegas sells conversion kits if you are interested in going the V8 route.

Scott

 

Forget the Vermont angle.

Start here:
https://www.dmv.com/ny/new-york/custom-vehicle-registration

Do a little research and you’ll find you can title it.

I titled and registered an Ariel Atom in Pennsylvania, which is probably the most difficult state in the Union.

Matt

 

they sag in the middle from frame rot , if the doors are touching the tops of the rear quarters...its pretty far gone

 

They're all missing door handles... hard to find.

 

You’re better off.

Matt

 

Exactly.

 

Change your focus to the green '50's Chev pickup next to it.........more upside!

 

As others have said, rust is the enemy of the 914. Everything else is easy in comparison. I looked at one 914 for sale back in the late 70's and, during the test drive, we made the apparent mistake of opening both doors while the roof was off when my brother and I switched driving positions -- it sagged a bit in the center and then the doors wouldn't close. We had to manually hold the doors closed on the drive back to the seller's house. I told the seller I would "think about it".

I later bought a nice one (while in high school circa 1979ish for $2300 (every cent I had at the time)) and it was slow but fun. The engine on that car threw a rod when I was in college, so I bought another parts 914 for something like $400 that was literally collapsed in the middle from rust. You could drive the parts car, but, as it turned out, we needed a floor jack to get it over a speed bump into my college apartment complex. I ended up swapping engines and selling what remained.

The dilemma with 914's restorations is that, if you restore if for value (back to original), it won't be that much fun power-wise (but otherwise is still a fun to drive) -- and if you restore it for fun (with a modded version of the original engine), it will be fun but won't have much value.

 

+1 that car was too far gone to be worth it. You would have had to replace just about everything on it to get rid of the rot. Check out 914world.com if you want to see some nice-looking cars that had a LOT of hidden rust. That car wasn't even trying to hide it To top it off it has the 1.7 with the dreaded 2-barrel weber progressive carb conversion (barf)

 

Amen!

 

Looks similar to my first car -- a '70 914 that I bought when I was 16 years old (circa '96). It had been sitting under a redwood tree in damp tree sheddings for years. Paid $100 -- the same price the owner said the scrap yard was going to give him. Some friends and I towed it to a vacant lot where we planned to work on it (my parents forbade me to have the car, so it had to stay hidden). A few weeks later it mysteriously vanished. Called the county to see if it was towed, but they had no knowledge. Either way, the car was too rusty to save so I'm glad it was taken before I could waste more money on it.

 

Start with a better car if you are going to get into 914's. I have two chassis that I am working on now that will become 914-6 conversions. The chassis are very prone to rust as a few others have already stated. Chassis longitudinals are where most of it is hidden.
Do check out 914World.com garage forum for tons of threads on restorations. Not for the faint hearted. Nice to see values climbing as it's been a stepchild in the Porsche world. They are a blast to drive and handle like a go kart.