Re: Another soon to join the ranks...
Posted: Sat Mar 30, 2019 7:38 am
I see, in that case it's certainly worth it then. And of course the peace of mind of having someone else agreeing it's roadworthy. Cheers.
As of today, the car is still not registered with DVLA, despite them having the paperwork for over four weeks, an MOT and numerous phone calls, e-mails and on-line chats.
After two and a half weeks, DVLA decided that the car need to be inspected to prove its existence, despite having an MOT, and to show it was a historic vehicle. That pee'd me off as it had taken them so long to decide, that after first of all telling me they had no record of my application and that I would have to resubmit everything. Except, of course, I couldn't as I had sent them the original US title and all other relevant paperwork. DVLA then admitted their mistake and apologised for any confusion.
So, SGS, the people who carry out the inspections, get in touch by letter, and then I need to call to make an appointment for their guy to come to the house to look at the car. He was amiable enough, a bit of a jobsworth and a retired 'motor engineer' (mechanic to you and me) in a dayglo jacket that almost matched the car. He had no real clue about what he was doing, and took a dozen photos of the car, including the interior, dashboard, front and rear boots before asking if the suspension was standard. He then disappears and I wait patiently by the mailbox (a familiar pose these days).
I ring DVLA a few days later to see what progress and am told it's not in the system yet. Last week I was told (finally) that the paperwork 'has been processed' on Wednesday and that I should get the V5 'any day now', so still patiently waiting by the mail box...
In the meantime, have been familiarising myself with the car and doing odd bits and pieces to it. Oh, and spending money. I'd bought a set of 14-inch Fuchs, but in the back of mind was the thought of going to 15s – and 7Rs... A few people on the 914World forum had gone that route and there was info about tyre sizes, necessary spacers and what else needed to make them fit under stock narrow arches. Basically, they fit if you use 8mm-10mm spacers and 195/65 tyres (the narrowest that fit 7-inch rims. If you go to 205s, then you need to trim the lip of the arch. As I have a set of 195/65s already sitting unused, I'll run those for the moment. The wheels are the excellent Group 4 reps, which I had delivered in bare aluminium before getting them painted in a semi-gloss pale gunmetal colour. Not to everybody's taste I know, but I wanted something different.
The seats in the car were typical of many a 914, with taped-up side bolsters and split seams. I knew that when I bought the car, so it wasn't a shock. I was considering other seat options when a pair of 914 seats came up for sale on, of all places, Facebook Marketplace. A guy in Yorkshire was stripping a 914 to build a track car and the seats happened to be in great shape. £300 later, they were mine. A definite improvement on the originals!
I also took advantage of the DDK group buy and installed an electric windscreen washer conversion. Pretty straight forward although I did have to add a couple of extra spacers to the switch to get it to function properly.
While the column was apart, I decided to address the excessive up and down play in the column itself – in a 911, this is often a result of the spring and collar behind the wheel being missing or fitted the wrong way round. But in a 914/4, being a VW column, there was no spring/collar. Instead, the play is caused by the disintegration of a nylon sleeve inside the upper bearing. Believe it or not, Porsche has a cure for this in the form of a repair collar for a 928, which is simply slid over the column and tapped down into position. I got mine from Design 911 and it took just minutes to install. Here's the old nylon collar:
Other stuff I've tackled include fitting a CSP bell-crank throttle linkage, which isn't a direct fit as it's designed for use with a Type 4 engine in a Beetle. I changed the throttle cable in the quest to get a smooth throttle action but am still not 100 per cent happy. Further investigation needed... I also fitted an original rain tray to the engine lid to make it more UK weather-friendly – thanks to the guy who sold me the seats for the perfect rain tray and to Defianty for other bits. I've discovered some rust I didn't expect around the pedals and I've decided that at the end of summer I will replace the whole floor – a pretty straightforward job as such jobs go – in the quest to have a long-lived 914. I'm also not 100 per cent happy with the engine. It's got less than 1000 miles on it but sounds noisier than I would expect. It may just be valve clearances in need of adjustment, or it could be a cam follower, if the correct cam bedding in procedure hadn't been adhered to. I hope it's not the latter, but a check of valve clearances on both sides of the engine will tell me if the cam's going flat (if one lobe is badly worn then it will show up in the form of excessive valve clearances on opposing cylinders). Of course, checking the valve clearances on a 914 is further proof the 914 was designed by a sadist...
Hopefully I'll get the V5 on Tuesday, so I can then get some plates on the car and take it for more than a mile or two 'test drive'.
