'73 914 - a slow recommissioning.

[misteralz]

[misteralz]

It's not exactly a secret, but I've finally got myself a proper big garage. And with that comes great responsibility. The responsibility to spend at least some time every day out there, doing something useful. I've pulled the early bay in already and started tin bashing. I really need to get a thread up for that as well. But there was another itch that needed scratching. I've lusted after a 911 for as long as I can remember. Specifically an early one, one with chrome trim, little bumpers and those cute wee grilles under the headlights. Feelers were put out...

[misteralz]

...and ultimately came up with nothing. Early 911 prices have gone stratospheric - even for utter basketcases. 912s aren't that far behind. One evening, after putting up a post on this here forum about backdating a Covin (yes, I know...), I got a 'phonecall from one of my neighbours, Deeman on here:

"You do know about the 914 half a mile from you, don't you?"

[misteralz]

The next day I popped 'round, and some introductions were made. Tea was drunk, shite was shot, and I got a tour of a barn and a quick rundown of why this 914 had been sat for 14 years. Bought purely for its engine for a 550 that'll be on eBay soon, the guy started stripping it, realised how good it was, didn't have the heart to carry on and there it sat, covered in swallow shite and most of it neatly packed up in boxes. When he said he'd let go of it, and for how much, I nearly had his arm off. I just needed to convince Lizzie. Gulp.

[misteralz]

And that took about two weeks. But that was fine - I'd already agreed to buy it in principle. And to be honest, I still needed to paint the garage floor. So it wasn't too big a deal. Life got in the way a bit, and then a few months later, this happened:







Peter's a hero. And his VR6 towcar's pretty heroic, too.

[misteralz]

And back at mine:



Since then I've shoved it in the back of the garage and had a poke about. It's very, very solid - there are a couple of holes here and there and naturally the hellhole's appropriately named, but that's what I've got a MIG for. I've put all the wiring back where it should be, and I've cleaned up some of the interior. I've worked out where most of everything goes as well, which is no mean feat when there's boxes and boxes of bits, all unlabelled!
From what I can tell so far, it's a 1973 2.0 which spent the first few years of its life in mainland Europe. It's registered on an R-plate, and has a speedo that goes up to 250. And an odometer that's reading under 30k. I have no idea how many times - if any - it's read 00,000, and to be honest I couldn't give a f***.

[misteralz]

Calum's quite keen on it:



I caught him sitting in it, making 'brrrrrmmm' noises. And running around it:



Dead excited about daddy's 'Poesh nine foh teen'.

Surprisingly little in the way of stuff in boxes:



And I reckon I've figured most of it out already.

[Bootsy]

Looking forward to the rebuild thread!

[misteralz]

Brushed off most of the swallow shite, and started cleaning the bulkhead trim before running out of upholstery cleaner:



I'd used most of it on the seats:



Came up reasonably well:



Wish I knew which one was which, though. I'm guessing the tattier one belongs to the driver...

[misteralz]

Looking forward to the rebuild thread!

Thanks! Don't be holding your breath, though - I've still to get power in my garage and the top priority at the moment is getting our early bay resolidified in readiness for some island hopping next summer. I'll be posting updates as and when, though.

[jackstowers]

Seats are the right way round in the picture

[misteralz]

Cool, thank you.

[orkneydave]

Dammit, I wish I knew of a 914 so far north! Although Mrs orkneydave has told me to finish my MGB first before taking on another project!

Looking forward to seeing this progress!

[Mr Pharmacist]

Reminds me very much of mine - here's a pic when i collected it - most of it in bits in boxes too:



Very similar to your pic!

So, nearly 4 years on and many many hours mine is almost done. If yours is solid though you should have an easier time of it than i did :D.

Good luck!

[misteralz]

Scarily similar! Mine does seem remarkably solid - just a few wee crusty bits here and there, plus the hellhole, obviously. Was underneath it the other day and crawled out all sticky - it's been heavily waxoyled, probably from the start. Makes my life a lot easier.