I bought my 914 blind on ebay late one evening last year from Desert Hot Springs California. After exchanging a few “ask the seller a question” I got a phone number and spoke with the vendor. It was the Daughter of the original owner (1 owner from new) and her late father’s car. Having sat for 6 years or so on her drive after his death it needed a full re-commission/restoration.
Fortunately I got the address and Google Earth, street viewed it and sure enough the little 914 was sat on her drive as described. It was a bit of a gamble but the car was cheap enough to make it viable (far cheaper than Mike Brewer paid in Wheeler Dealers for their 914).
I was well prepared for a repaint and replace anything rubber or vinyl, but took a punt that it shouldn’t need welding, having spent all its life in the Californian Desert.
I arranged shipping with TGAL, and the car arrived in a container in Southampton a couple of weeks before Christmas.
Rear view
It was surprising the tyres held any air as they were perished beyond belief and the lacquer on the paint (from some bad respray in the past) just peeled off in sheets like sunburnt skin. However it was complete and with a good history file that proved a single ownership from new at the California Desert address.
My first task was to try and turn it over. Having not run for 6 years the seller had over filled right to the top, yep until level with the filler spout, with about 15 litres of oil to put the car into hibernation!!!!
This stopped all the seals and internals drying out but it had got everywhere, I took the plugs out and yes, oil came out the plug holes.
I then noticed all the crusty bone dry hoses and wires. A bit like the Skittles advert where everything the guy touches turns to Skittles; that was the state of all the rubber hoses. One touch and you had a 1000 little fragments. Totally sun baked.
There was nothing for it but to strip it all down.
My next nemesis was SAND….buckets and BUCKETS of the damn stuff. The relay board cover was cracked and when I lifted it off, a perfect sand castle the shape of the cover buried the relays entirely! I got 3 x Henry Hoovers FULL of Desert sand just out the engine bay alone. The “hell holes” in the forward corners were 6 inches deep in sand alone. Surfice to say it took all of a Saturday and a Sunday just cleaning it out of the engine bay.
I could then see that the cooling flap link bar from 1&2 to 3&4 cooling flaps was missing???? Obviously removed in some foolish attempt to get more cooling when the Thermostat had failed.
Hey ho, that meant the tinware had to come off too.
Removed Tinware
This gave me a chance to drop it off for bead blasting and powder coating. Whilst I tracked down a new Flap assembly and thermostat. This was found at Mega Bug, who sold me all the parts, flaps, rods, spring, pulley wheel & shouldered bolt, plus brand new thermostat, wire and bracket.
While working in that area I dropped all the oil, fitted a new filter, and dropped and cleaned the strainer and plate. Next a new fan belt went on. The old one simply snapped in two when I pressed on it so was very easy to get off. Especially with the tinware out of the way. Again when under the car I found some interesting wiring and a second starter solenoid self tapping screwed up under the boot floor. Twisted nasty extra wires just had to go. A new starter sourced from VW heritage (fitted yesterday) and the wiring left to tidy up should hopefully make it reliable.
Poking around underneath my list gets bigger of stupid stuff required. Handrake cable boots, rubber boot on starter main feed etc etc.
Next the Battery tray. The only real rust I found and to be fair was told about buy the seller was the battery tray. The two funnel rain water ducts from the boot lid had long lost there tubes having gone brittle as you like, and the battery side one was missing completely so any rain in the desert, plus battery leakage had eaten the corner out of the battery tray. I roughly sanded the tray to reveal the spot welds and drilled them out.
Old battery tray
A new tray was found on ebay.de for about £40, and duly arrived in the post. During the 3 days it took to arrive I got another hoover full of sand out from under the tray and started to clean up everything ready for welding back in.
A very small job that quickly turned into a MONSTER TASK.
The original soundproofing pad had fallen off the bulkhead onto the engine where it had draped in the intense desert heat until it was transformed into a rock solid shape the profile of the engine (never to be fitted again). This was stripped out and some new material obtained from Woolies. Cut to shape with a combination of Stanley knife, tin snips, my best scissors and a gasket punch set; I made a new one. 10mm thick I sealed the fibrous back and edges with black engine paint, followed by Tiger PU bond (squeezed into an old margarine tub & applied with a filler spreader) to replicate the tar type finish on the edges of the original. This took a few evenings to make, was very messy, but well worth it I think.
Next I stripped out the wiring loom so it was hung vertical over the rear window onto the roof and cleaned ALL wires with cellulose thinners to remove years of grime.
Followed by taking off all the cable clip protective vinyl sleeves and cleaning them too, followed by all grommets and clips.
I stripped the engine bay bare, and then set about sanding it all down. The paint was very thin and white primmer showed through from old scratches and battle scars. The Hell holes had surface rust as did the battery tray frame support, so all had to be cleaned off with rotary wire brush, sand paper and scotchbrite.
4 days work solid, back breaking. I took the boot lid off too, and spent two days sitting in the boot leaning over sanding and cleaning up until my fingers bled.
Once clean to bare metal I spot welded in the new battery tray and painted everything with rust encapsulating primer. Next I got some Alaska Blue base coat mixed up and sprayed the entire bay. Two coats over two days followed by a light clear (fuel resistant) lacquer.
Only then could I start the nice grand assembly
High heat resistant adhesive and new retaining plugs (still available from Porsche) hold the soundproofing on, along with freshly painted tabs (rock hard rear window seal removed to aid painting properly). New grommets from Porsche & VW Heritage. Freshly powder coated tinware with stainless slotted screws. (I know, I know… I couldn’t resist a nice bit of bling from my old VW trophy hunting days!)
Engine lid lock was removed, soaked to removed sand jamming it up, cleaned and replaced with a new grommet where the wire pokes through the tube. Boot light, stripped, cleaned and replaced as are the two bowl cups each side. New engine seal around the tinware (the old one was torn and perished badly on the drivers side)
The list goes on & on.
But this is not even the first month of the cars new ownership and I’m only just beginning the long journey ahead to right the wrongs and I hope to share it with you in this thread.
I hope you enjoy reading my ramblings as much as I am enjoying saving this little 914.
Kind regards
Darren
what a pain. I’ll have to get them changed over next week.
