Restoring my first 914

[tp_reading]

Can this be true !

[Mr Pharmacist]

What you upto Darren?!

[LMR]

My guess is they have given Darren a year old car so that he can get a mirror finish on the paintwork

[Mr Pharmacist]

Ah - rumbled

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=21211&start=14910

[milhouse914]

Darren, why didn't you hold out for a 718

[Darren C]

What a day the little 914 & I have been lucky to have had…

This evening was the Porsche Centre Portsmouth Launch of the new 718 Boxster. Some very special cars had been brought down by Porsche from their Museum. Upstairs at Portsmouth there was a small collection of flat 4 engined vehicles to demonstrate Porsche history of the flat 4 leading to the new flat 4, 718 Boxster.

I was genuinely chuffed to bits to have my car involved and spent the evening waxing lyrically about all things 914, and stunned to hear some of the kind comments from Porsche GB & museum staff who absolutely loved my car! It was fantastic to fly the flag for the 14 and to see that it is really starting to generate a true appreciation in the halls of Porsche.

What a great experience this 914 ownership is…..first time out, a fantastic day at the Witterings and the second rubbing shoulders with Porsche Museum 550’s.

Here’s a few pictures from this evening. Kev attended and took a few hundred so hopefully some more will get posted too.







The 914 is having another sleep-over with it’s new mates tonight and I have the Black Edition Boxster courtesy car until tomorrow when I go pick up my car….you kinda guessed I wouldn’t have swapped it for a Boxster....surely

Mind you.....I wonder if the keys will be in the 550 tomorrow morning early on?

[Green Ernie]

Nice one Darren your car looks great . We've been invited to Porsche Solihull for the 718 Boxster launch next week. I wonder if they will have a 914 on display?
Do you like the 981 Boxster they loaned you? Did you get a drive in a 718?

Cheers

Matt

[Mr Pharmacist]

We knew you hadn't really traded it in! You didn't fool us. Honest

[Nine One One]

Darren,
there is this original poster of a 914 on ebay, not sure, but appears to be the same colour and combination as yours. Not sure if you would be interested but thought i would post it?
Ian
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1972-Porsche- ... 7675.l2557

[Darren C]

Thanks Guy’s

The car spent another night at Porsche Centre last night as the rain & drizzle didn’t stop all day yesterday and I didn’t want to drive in it un-necessarily.
This meant I kept the Boxster another day & Porsche were absolutely fine with it.
This morning I picked up my son in it and drove a while in the cloudless blue skies before handing it back and returning home in the 914.
Matt,
There’s a couple of films they play before drawing the sheets off the 718 which has some nice footage of an old RSK 718, from which the new Boxster gets its model number. In the second film there’s an “evolution” slide show with the 914 included. The flat 4 cars on display at our Portsmouth launch were a mix of Porsche museum cars and private owner cars arranged by the dealership (hence my attendance). I’m sure if someone in your area has a nice 914 and you gave your Porsche Centre a call they may accommodate you? I had to send photos and Porsche GB had to clear it all first, but they were genuinely pleased to have my car on display.

As for the Boxster they leant me and the new 718…….they are all very nice, look stunning and sound fantastic but after having one for 3 days I failed to “bond” with it.
There’s something that I have thought long and hard trying to identify that’s missing. At first I couldn’t put my finger on it.

It’s like when you have a really bad cold, and you don’t quite feel you’re “with it”

The driving experience is disconnected. It’s blatantly obvious that your actions are being turned into binary 1’s and 0’s, precisely analysed, computed and acted upon. The feel and driving experience in return, coming from the car is also subject to this process.
It’s a little like having a conversation with someone from Kazakhstan using “Google Translate”

A proportion of the meaning and nuance is lost in translation.

It’s akin to wearing a 1890 heavy brass divers helmet. You feel safe, yet claustrophobic with weighted down shoulders while your senses are suffocated and oppressed; desperate to escape, so as to draw a breath of clean fresh air.
It’s a total enjoyment vacuum for a car enthusiast who likes driving. The knife through the heart is the Bl**dy “blue motion” engine turn off within a Nano second of the car being stationary. Stop, start, stop, start, stop, start, stop, start, the hesitancy between releasing the foot brake and pulling away while you wait for the engine to start drives you nuts. I know you can disable it but for heaven’s sake it’s supposed to be a sports car not a Greenpeace campaign bus.

Would I have one….good god NO!

This is all very sad; from a chap who’s owned many Porsche cars for over 30 years and is a true enthusiast for the Marque. It was as disappointing as being seduced by the beauty and allure of a siren, only to find out it was a Taiwanese lady-boy.

Driving the 914 home was 1000 times more enjoyable and engaging.

Having missed tinkering on the car for a few days, I immediately removed the rear lock, badges and lights and finished off this afternoon flatting and polishing the very last panel between rear lights.

Stuart....I know.
Ian, Great find, that does look good.

[Darren C]

I had an odd issue that came to light the otherday when driving the 914 for the first few times.
The engine ran roughly, and spluttered at odd times then ran well???
When I got back from Porsche Centre on Saturday the car stalled twice while manoeuvring into my garage. Everytime I selected reverse gear it stalled???

On the third attempt I noticed the Voltmeter drop to 9V as soon as reverse was engaged and my foot was on the brake. 10V when foot on the brake, 9V when selecting reverse with foot on the brake, then stall. Foot off brake and in Neutral I had between 13 & 14V.
Dropping to 9V or below was not enough for the ignition coil to operate.

Fortunately I’d had this issue (without the benefit of a Voltmeter in the car) many, many years ago in a Beetle. It was the Voltage regulator.

I'd also noticed while working on the 914 that the regulator was getting quite hot, so I'd had my suspicions.

I found a replacement on-line using the Bosch part number from Just Kampers for £26. It turned up yesterday in the post and was made by Beru.
The casing is much shorter in height so I suspect it’s electronic.
Now, as always there’s a catch.
The 3 pins on the underside are about 5mm further along than the Bosch one, so it plugs into the relay board easy but the two screws don’t line up to attach it.
I ran the car and tested it first, and all was good, so I very carefully re-drilled and fitted the screws a little further along from where they were originally.
The bonus is….with a shorter regulator the relay board cover goes on and off a lot easier!
So now I consistently have between 13 & 14V with engine running, dropping to around 12.5V when the brake pedal is pressed with reverse selected and turning the headlights on.

The other snag I’ve found since driving the car is that the time clock gears must be worn as the hands get so far then the clock makes a whirring noise but the hands stop moving. There’s always something or another after rebuilding a car. Again fortunately I’ve found a NOS never fitted clock (at a very reasonable price) on US ebay so that’s on its way across the pond as we speak.

[Darren C]

My New old stock Time Clock arrived today.



Swapped it over and now I have a fully working clock.

[rhd racer]

The car looks great in the showroom Darren, and is very deserving to be there.

Mine was used at PC Nottingham at the launch of the 987 a few years ago, and also had a brilliant experience. ( helped also by my wife offering to drive and them throwing wine at me all night)!!! There was a 550 there also, I will try and dig out some photos and convert to digital

Look forward to seeing yours in the flesh at some point this year,

Cheers
Wayne

[Darren C]

Today was a good day.

I finally saw justice on the Front Brake disc saga.

Those reading my thread will be aware of the circus that unfolded regarding discs and bearings supplied by BS (lets abbreviate to BS as it’s most appropriate and apt).

I haven’t been able to explain what’s been going on since I was forced into an on-line silence following threats of slander by BS back in May last year. Now we finally have resolution I can tell you what happened.
Again I will only be factual in my explanation to avoid any repercussions from BS.

Back in May last year after seeking advice from Trading Standards I sent a “Breach of Contract” letter to BS giving 14 days for them to exchange the incorrectly sent Beetle discs for 914 ones.
The reply included what was to be the basis of their defence. BS maintained that there were no stock of 914 brake discs, and that any other vendors offering them for sale were mistaken and they had the wrong discs in stock too. Yet they had previously stated that I could have them in 3 days if I paid another £140 each on top of the sale & invoice price that I’d paid on line in February last year? They also said that I was aware that there were no discs currently available and that Kev & I had hatched this whole plan in some way to “set them up”????
Now obviously it all got a little out of hand and I was so sick of it all, that I had no option but to take them to court for Breach of Contract under the sales of goods act in May last year.
The court date was set for October and all was well until the week before when I received a letter saying that BS had asked the court for the date to be deferred.
A new date was sent out by the court the same week (beginning of October) saying the case would now be heard in the first week of December.
I duly arrived at court that day and waited 2 hours. BS failed to show and the judge ruled in my favour. I won the case!
The next day the court sent out a County Court Judgement (CCJ) to BS to pay me my refund plus costs. I got a copy of this a day or so later and they had made the order for the monies to be paid to me by BS within 14 days (ending 18th December).
Suffice to say 18th December came and went. Due to the Christmas holidays I contacted the Court on the 4th January this year to say that BS had failed to pay the CCJ. I was advised to obtain a High Court Writ (enforcement order) if I wanted to obtain my money. This cost me more money for the Writ, but it needed to be done and the Writ was sent a few days later to BS from the High Court.
So again I heard nothing. The last and final option was for me to pay out again for bailiffs (can’t pay we’ll take it away types) to attend and obtain the money from the CCJ & supporting Writ.
This happened a few weeks later and the bailiffs finally obtained payment plus additional charges.
Due to money laundering laws I had to wait another 14 days until the bailiffs could forward me the money from their recovery.
Ok, this is where you would think this woeful saga might end.
Nope….
About 2 days later I get a letter from the Court saying BS wish to “defer judgement”!
WTF?
The court set out a date in February that I have to attend to hear the “defer of judgement” proceedings.
I duly attend and have to sit and hear that BS claim to have not heard from the court back in October that the case was postponed until December, which is why they didn’t attend. They also claim not to have received several recorded delivery letters from me with evidence for the case (of which I have proof of delivery) and they didn’t receive letters containing the December hearing date & subsequent letters containing the CCJ sent from Chichester Court, or the Writ sent from Glasgow high court, or the several Bailiffs letters sent from Birmingham; and the first they knew about the whole affair was when the bailiffs knocked their door.
To my surprise and disappointment, the judge that day starting the opening with “It is with regret” that the rules state BS have the right to defer the judgement for a hearing to be set at a later date. To rub salt into the wounds the money that I had just got from the bailiffs a matter of hours before was ordered to be returned forthwith to BS pending the re-trial.
To say I was sickened to the bottom of my stomach was an understatement.
Due to the difficulty in obtaining the money I wrote to the court and suggested the money be paid to court and held in bond. This could then be released subject to the decision made at the re-trial. The court agreed and the date of today, 27th May was set.

Further papers were submitted by myself and BS. BS had sent in a “how many are left” website screen shot to claim that they were only 40 matches to Porsche 914, presumably to support their claim that it is reasonable to assume no one would have discs for such a rare car. I sent copies of their website showing the discs for sale at £62.40 when I purchased them and a copy of their website page showing them now listed at an eye watering £240 each, plus a dozen or more independent Garages offering them for sale between £65 & £80 each.
Last week they finally submitted in evidence a copy of BS Terms and Conditions from their website trading.
You may want to go read this as it’s a real eye opener and was part of their downfall today in court (if it’s still up there?)

So today after both of us giving evidence the judge found in my favour (for a second time, with thankfully no request to appeal by BS).

The failure to supply me with the brake discs as per the description (914 front discs) was indeed Breach of Contract under the sale of goods act.

The BS terms and conditions in a consumer sale (which is in this instance, me, purchasing parts as an individual) is NOT bound by their T & C, which the judge basically laid into as being “unfair” and not in compliance with The Sale of Goods Act.
Basically their T&C said they were above the Sale of Goods Act and absolved of responsibility as a vender in a consumer sale.

The whole saga started with them asking for another £140 each brake discs several months after the sale and then point blank refusing to acknowledge me or the courts while their T&C said that they had the right to end the contract at any time and the right to refuse to supply goods. This was the basis of what had gone on here which is NOT following the Sales of Goods act in a consumer sale.

So there you have it in a nutshell. What a palava!

The court will get the funds released and I should hopefully see my money back for good. I gave the Beetle discs to BS at Court and trust this is the end of the matter.
Let’s see if they change their T&C’s?

Caveat emptor

[C3s]

Result