Rear Tires Clearance Question Options

[Osnabruck914]

'74 914 2.0
Tires 185 65 R15

Question:

The rear camber on my rear wheels measures equal, yet when I reach up in the wheel well and try to feel the space between the tire and the side of the trunk body, it is not equal. On the driver side I can get my hand into the space up to my knuckles, but on the passenger side only to the 2nd joint of my fingers.

Is the body of the trunk non-symmetrical by design, or is something else going on here? Input appreciated.

Osnabruck914

[Jamie]

'74 914 2.0
Tires 185 65 R15

Question:

The rear camber on my rear wheels measures equal, yet when I reach up in the wheel well and try to feel the space between the tire and the side of the trunk body, it is not equal. On the driver side I can get my hand into the space up to my knuckles, but on the passenger side only to the 2nd joint of my fingers.

Is the body of the trunk non-symmetrical by design, or is something else going on here? Input appreciated.

Osnabruck914

I've heard many times about the irregularities of rear wheel well fitment on teeners, and know I have a slight variation in clearance between sides on my 73 all original teener. I've run several sets of 205x65x15" tires on 5.5"steel wheels over the years, and they fit with no fender pulling required. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

[914sgofast2]

The 914 bodies were “coach built” by Karmann craftsmen. They were not mass produced like VW Beetles. The variations were normal and oftentimes made worse when there were body repairs done. These were considered affordable, cheap sports cars for many years, so body repairs were performed accordingly.

[NARP74]

Hans was a better builder than Fritz. It depends which one you have.
Mine is a Fritz...

[Osnabruck914]

Let me be clear, I am reaching around the top back of the tire and feeling the space between there and the body. I am not referring to the space between the tire and the fender.
Does that help/change your analysis, all? Thanks.

[Geezer914]

Mine is a 75 and the right side has about 1/2" more clearance than the left.

[dtmehall]

i have similar differences on my 73, and it was never in an accident. i guess hans built mine!

[wonkipop]

they are asymmetrical across the whole back region from the get go.

in part it could have even been transfer of dimensions for tooling from the clay model.
which is how they did it back then. side to side final contours could be slightly different.
not resolved with exactness until computers came along. but does not explain the wandering about in 914s.

i suspect its to do with difficulties in manufacture.

and not because karmann was some kind of "craft" or kraftwerk set up.
they weren't. not by that point in time. they had body presses etc equal to anything VW had at wolfsburg or porsche had at reuter. they had spot welders. it was all well up tod date and not really hand built as we might imagine that to mean. they had jigs to accurately position body parts for the assembly of the shell. i have never seen a photo of a 914 on its body shell jig but i have seen images of the 912 body on its jig being manufactured at karmann.
its a serious affair.

i think it might have had something to do with that dirty big hole in the middle of the car where the engine went and adjacent to that another hole where there was no roof - that only a mid engined design open car involves. they just got out of wack or the jig could not hold them precisely enough as they worked up from key positioning points on the jig.

they did use an unusual number of small panels welded together to make the whole rear of the car instead of one single pressing. that could very well have something to do with it. and stresses induced during fitment and welding together. whatever it was it plagued all the bodies - but not to any inherently insurmountable degree.