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Thread: My 914 lightweight project

  1. #1
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    My 914 lightweight project

    Hi all,

    I thought that you might enjoy a project with a lot of metalshaping and pictures, even if on a 914 and not a 911. If not wished, just let me know and I will stop posting about it,no problems

    First about myself: I am a french guy living in Stuttgart, 33 years old, mechanical engineer but my real passions are metalshaping and aircooled VWs and Porsche.

    After some years of dreaming about it, I bought myself a porsche 914.. Light, low, fun on curvy roads, love it..

    So the car: originally from the US (sadly I know nothing about its history there), it is a 1974 1,8l 914 originally phoenix red. It was sometimes repainted, before 1991 when it was imported to the UK. It ran there until 2009, where it found its way back to Germany. And since october with me!

    It looked like a good driver, which was my goal, as I want to enjoy it on the road during the restoration of my karmann ghia

    my plan was:
    -drive drive drive drive (made 1000miles the first month with it )
    -in the future: paint it original color back, improve the handling (it still has no sway bars, shocks are quite old, frame stiffener will be ordered,..), some interior modification,.. goal is to keep it usable on the street, while lightening it where possible and putting some more power (I am in love with the sound of a 6 but might keep it a big 4 for weight and legal reasons..).

    Some pictures from the start:






    I made some changes, mostly removing all sound deadening material, changing old bushes, mounting a short shifter,.. A pleasure on the roads!
    The short shifter:




    Cheers

    Antoine

  2. #2
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    And well.. The previous owner used is for less than 1000 miles in 10 years, only on sunny warm days..and as I did differently and drove it a lot and hard, some old "hack fixes" came on the surface.. I don't want it to become dangerous or too bad to be fixed..

    So decision has been made, a few months break from the ghia and I fix it correctly to have a safe and reliable car. Start has been made yesterday:
    First checking.. Under the long.. Well fiberglass was well hidden:




    And on the inside under the belt fixation was also nicely fiberglassed


    So.. The 914 is in my shop


    And I made some more disassembly, and checked the B-pillar behind the sail panel where I expected a lot of work..
    Passenger side is quite a good surprise, except this hole that could be foreseen:


    And is real:


    The rest is good


    Driver side had developped some.. Let's say waves..




    And here there are a bit more damages..




    Well, I know the condition now, and nothing that really scares me

    Then I built the necessary door braces, made to be able to keep the doors, in order to always be able to check the gaps


    And mounted:


    I made them in order to be able to keep the doors to always be able to check the gaps:




    And I check further the inner firewall.. Holes on driver's side, bad repair on passenger's side..






    Well, all in all I know more about the work to come, it has been a good first evening

    Cheers

    Antoine

  3. #3
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    So, I removed more of the undercoating and it appeared to have some "fix" from the past on the long.. Well, let's see after cutting:








    But before I go further there after engine removal, I started to remove the tank to be able to weld safely. I will also mount the sway bar in the same time, as well as change all fuel lines.
    Here we are :


    And because it's always good for the motivation, I made a first repair on my driver's sail panel, all TIG-welded






















    Cheers

    Antoine

  4. #4
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    I started upfront by pulling out the frunk seal to check the condition under it..


    And I found holes after holes. I cut each of them and replaced with metal, I won't bore you with every single picture but here are a couple of examples, like here :








    Or here:








    Or here :








    One last example:






    Afterward I put some primer and some paint for complete protection:






    As I was already working on the front, I removed the side markers and the antenna (no radio on a lightweight project !) :








    And started the first part for my B-Pillar:






    Cheers

    Antoine

  5. #5
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    I then put the rear up in the air:


    And removed the engine :


    And the started to investigate..

    Found some rust here at the bottom of the firewall :


    And what looked like a "sh**ty fix" for the clutch cable tube:


    Is worse than that..the tube just moves freely like that!!


    And the big question.. The hell hole.. Well, when I bought it, I couldn't disassemble much so I checked with my hand - no holes - and tried with a screwdriver-everything robust.. So I thought to be safe..
    Then I checked after engine removal:


    And after a better check with my screwdriver..


    Here is what I found:




    A real disaster:



    But I am not a guy that let something like that discorage himself. So I need to remove my battery tray to check further and make my plan.. But before that, and before probably destroying the old one by disassembling.. I built the replacement one:










    Check with the battery and the fixation sandblasted:




    And the bottom part:






    Ready to go after the hell hole repair:




    Stay tuned!

    Antoine

  6. #6
    Amazing work!
    Peter Kane

    '72 911S Targa
    Message Board Co-Moderator - Early 911S Registry #100

  7. #7
    It is nice to see a younger person have interest in repairing rust in their own project. You are saving yourself 1000’s of euros. I’ll be watching your progress. The worst is yet to come, but don’t give up.

  8. #8
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    Thanks a lot guys!!

    @Rick: not only does it save me money but I am having a lot of fun doing it so all good!

    To be honest : the car is already way further, so I can update a lot now..I did work around 280h on it since last august :-)


    As I already did start the work on the front, I decided to make sûre nothing is hidden there under the paint..


    Well of course some (bondo-) surprises were there...
    Here a big dent, that I took care of using dolly/hammer:



    And here.. There was a lot of bondo and under it a "fix", by the way of a plate under the rust hole.. Here to see:






    So I of course couldn't let it, so cut this bad work:


    And TIG welded a real patch:


    And put it in primer:




    Same on the other side :
    Big dent here was hidden under bondo:


    So dolly/hammer:






    And in the back there was also a surprise:




    Yes, again a plate welded quite behind the panel.. And on the bottom not welded :


    So.. Patch prepared :


    And welded:


    Now we are flat:


    Stay tuned, lot to comes !

    Antoine

  9. #9
    Moderator Chuck Miller's Avatar
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    GREAT thread Antoine !!!!!
    Chuck Miller
    Creative Advisor/Message Board Moderator - Early 911S Registry #109
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  10. #10
    Senior Member bob joyce's Avatar
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    Great work.
    Keep in mind Restoration Design Europe.
    it is often a better repair to replace an entire unit as opposed to hole patching.

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