I’ve owned this car for over 17 years now. Bought her in Sept 2002 in Canton, Ohio. First projects were to replace the brakes and shifter…brakes were almost non-existent and trying to find a gear with the original shifter was like a game of chance! I’ve tried to block out the memory of the hideous plastic whale tail on the rear lid and the ridiculous front air dam that were added prior to my purchase…both were removed the day I got the car home! Added a “cheap” five lug conversion on all four corners and the after-market Fuchs and drove it on sunny Sundays for about 5 years with the original fuel injected 1.7L. During that time, I also moved from Ohio down to Northeast Louisiana (November 2003 I drove her 800 miles down from Cincinnati to Monroe, LA.).
I’d always wanted a 914-6 so I started collecting all the parts I needed for my conversion. In 2004, I bought a “bagged”, but running 2.7L on eBay for $1500 (the best part was that it had a new set of Weber carbs).
Between 2007 and 2009 I was working/living in Europe. In 2009 I set back on getting the car running…then a job transfer to South Carolina…car up on a trailer and moved to a new garage!
In 2010 I transferred jobs again back to South Louisiana. In 2012, I decided to start working on my project car again. Started building a 2.7L from scratch (LN Engineering Niko cylinders, forged 9-1/2:1 pistons, Pauter rods, dual plug heads, custom grind cams from Dougherty Racing Cams).
With the new six, and living in the “deep south”, I also added the external oil cooler conversion with thermostat.
Went over the transmission, replaced synchros and reverse and first gears and added a side shift conversion at that time as well.
While the motor was out, completed the SS fuel line conversion/replacement as well.
Also completed a proper 5 lug front and rear conversion with Porsche 911 parts and added 140# springs in the rear for the heavier six.
The front hood had some rust on the underside supports and the rear lid had cancer from where a previous owner had mounted the whale tail (and subsequent mounting holes). I added the QRS fiberglass replacement deck lids in 2013 as well.
The car was finally back on the road again in 2013…and what a blast to drive!!!
One thing that was always missing for me was the “GT Look”…I’d always admired the wide body 914!
Well, this is the Winter that I start that project!
I wasn’t sure what I would find in terms of rust as I started to tear my car down…guessing by the glue on the back pad and carpeting, I’m guessing the car has never been disassembled!
I was pleasantly surprised as I started my teardown…especially considering the car started its life in Ohio!
When I installed the external oil cooler along the passenger side 6 years ago, I knew that a previous owner had installed what looks like a Brad Mayeur stiffening kit on the passenger side (but, not on the driver’s side???).
I didn’t take any really good pictures when I did the engine swap 6 years ago, but, couldn’t recall any major issues when I installed it.
I am expecting the inner long on the passenger side to be in bad shape. There is a little bit of rust around the passenger seat belt mount area (in fact, I couldn’t remove the seat belt mounting bolt as it was just turning in the frame…had to pry it out). At least part of the inside (passenger compartment) long will have to be replaced.
The outer firewall and floor pan are in great shape (with the exception of the surface rust on the bottom side of the pan).
The right rear jacking post/plate has some rust and will need to be replaced. The inner firewall has some corrosion near the center tunnel on the passenger side. I’ve ordered both lower inner panel replacements.
The passenger side motor mount and suspension console looks to be in great shape. The right side engine tray has never been replaced…I still need to clean up the “hell hole” area to see what lurks beneath, but, it really doesn’t look that bad. When I installed the oil cooler transfer lines 6 years ago, I recall drilling through metal, not fiberglass.
The driver’s side inner rocker has a very small crack just ahead of the jacking post…I’ll replace this inner long part as well.
The rear trunk has surface rust, but, no holes. Lots of bondo from a previous owner on the lower rear cross panel…I’m assuming the car had minor rear end collision damage in a past life…nothing really ugly from underneath. The underside of the rear trunk is actually in really good shape considering these cars were never undercoated.
The original bumpers were painted black…I installed the chrome bumpers while I was still living in Ohio.
The front half of the car is in great shape…no issues in the trunk area (I installed the oil cooler here 6 years ago), no issues inside the fenders, nor the headlight buckets.
The front cowl/windshield support is also in great shape.
Yeah, some of the pictures look funny…the car’s original paint code is L 97 H (Gold Metalic)…a previous owner went with white…I’ll likely keep it white.
I’ve built my rotisserie, but, for now, I’m not planning to use it for the replacement of the structural longs (and the rear cross panel)…it’ll help when I do some media blasting after the structural work is done.
Overall, I’m pretty pleased with what I’ve found (or haven’t found!) so far.
Replacement panels have been ordered from Restoration Design as well as the inner long stiffening kit and GT rear suspension stiffening kit from Maddog Motor Sports. I’ve been sitting on the reproduction GT Flares from AA for about 3 months now as well as the 16” (7” & 8”) polished reproduction Fuchs from Maxilite Wheels.
Overall, I’m pleased with the starting point of my latest project!

Cool project..

Please note those heat exchangers have proven to not produce much heat.. Ask @coondog and many others..

I admire your persistence with this project.

Smart thinking with the door braces and going right to the rotisserie. If I had known what kind of extra work I was going to have to do, I would have done the rotisserie right off the bat. Live and learn..

Looks like the right long was reworked at some time. Ck the bottom of pan with an awl. With the pan, the way it looks it may be thin there and you would want to address that.

Looks pretty good IMHO. There are guys here that will joke with you as leaving the color GOLD. They like them, but it is always best to repaint in the original color.

I painted my 6 in original yellow and I am sorry I did not paint it blue.

Welcome to the world.

Bob B

The PO welded the reinforcement on the right side because that's the side that rusts first.

Good luck with your project.

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement!

I'm still thinking about the Brad Mayeur reinforcement...I'm assuming that's what's currently installed on the pax side. I will remove it and do a proper repair on the inner and outer long (clam shell).

The car as I drove it, did not have any flex...both doors opened and closed smoothly/freely. I'm wondering if I should re-install a Brad Mayeur kit after I fix the longs for additional "firmness"??? I actually like how it bolts into the rear suspension...must be some undocumented benefit from that.

I've already purchased the inner long strengthening kit.

I'm not likely to be swayed by the "purists" about the final color...the car is so far removed from when it left the factory, the subject of "originality" seems like a moot point for a tribute build...at least for me.

Thanks again!

Looks like a nice car to begin with and I say paint it the color you want.

Today, I pulled out the gas tank and the external oil lines (PITA job!).

With the oil lines removed I could get some better pictures inside the fenders...the right front looks really good from the fender well side.

Upon closer inspection, it looks like there was a previous patch completed in the hell hole area...all metal on the inside, but, visible rust inside the right rear fender after the oil lines/thermostat were removed.

Pleased by what I don't see on the fender well side of the door jam area!

This week, I hope to get the previous longitudinal repair (Brad Mayeur kit) removed to see what lies beneath.

All my new body panels should be delivered next week as well (including panels to complete longitudinal repairs).

So far, so good...

Glad to see one from the midwest being saved before the tin worms completely devour it from the inside out. Even when you can't see them, they are still at work!

Overall looks pretty decent but, dang, these things just consume themselves.

Dig in and get it done!

Tin worms found!!!

Already had the two clam shells for the longitudinal repair on order from Restoration Design...looks like I'll have some additional repair on the inner wheel house as well.

Santa arrived early today...replacement panels from Restoration Design, re-inforcement panels from Maddog Motor Sports and front anti-sway bar from Tarrett.

Yesterday, placed a second order with RD for the wheelhouse piece as well as the rear half floor pan (if required).

Now the fun begins!

Yikes! That long is definitely toast. Glad to see the new parts- that is going to be sweet when done.

I was a little surprised by the amount of rust I found in the passenger long...considering how little rust I had found up to that point.

Thanks!

Removed the inner rocker panel...you have to wonder if Karmen used any rust inhibitor when these cars were assembled.

The passenger long is also in pretty bad shape.

It'll be interesting when I pull off the driver's side inner rocker panel.

The right inner engine long looks to be in pretty good shape and the outer mating piece (on order) is pretty solid metal ahead of the suspension console (thankfully).

The picture I took last week inside the rear fender well (hole) ran directly into the longitudinal...good thing this car has been indoors in the years I've owned it...and fair weather driven only...suspect the long would've been a lot worse with rain water intrusion.

I'll likely have to remove a section of the rear fender/quarter panel and revisit the previous repair on the hell hole area/hole I found last week, but, thankfully it's not as bad as I was expecting.

keep up the good work saving that 914! I had actually designed the 914 rocker clam shells years ago to go over the rusted parts just to get a rusty 914 a few more years of use. Later people were using them to strengthen the chassis. However to use for this purpose it is still necessary to install the chassis stiffening kit, and to know that when you clamshell, the prep on the clamshelled piece needs to be very thorough as not to trap rust. Finally there is some fitting required of the rocker panel cover and the sill plate as now the metal in this area is thicker.

Thanks for the feedback George!

Thanks, Rob

Well, Christmas is over and time to get back to work...

As I was starting to remove the passenger long, I came across a previous patch for what must have been pretty serious cancer 20 years ago...small metal patches brazed in place to cover the holes going through the passenger long and conveniently covered with tar!!!

I cut out the rust today and removed the cancerous section(s). I chickened out a little...originally, I was planning to splice in a complete section of the replacement longitudinal...not having a frame rack made me re-think that approach...I kept the upper portion of the long for additional support while I repair this section.

Good thing I had already ordered the short rear pan section...pin-holing in the area around the area of the hell hole. I will be replacing at least the rear passenger section of the floor pan.

Also removed the inner firewall on the passenger side...the outer firewall from the inside is in very good condition!

(Hopefully this surprise doesn't await me when I remove the inner long on the driver's side!)

Making a little progress...

Got the replacement passenger longitudinal and right rear inner firewall panels welded in and added the Maddogs Motorsport Chassis Stiffening kit.

Measurements unchanged...thankfully!!!

Distinct improvement!

Hell hole repairs underway. Still need to finish up some welding and clean up the spot welds (not the prettiest repair yet, but it will be durable!), but, the worst looks to be done.

The section of the inner (engine bay) longitudinal has been spliced into place and the section of double wall on the backside (engine side) has been replaced/completed. Fortunately, I was able to save a part of the inner double wall to help this repair of the inner long piece. (Tough decision to either remove the consoles and replace more metal with the replacement panels, or splice in a smaller section, as I eventually choose.)

For added piece of mind, I added a "bridge piece" to secure the spliced inner longitudinal section onto both sides as well as the bottom, inner double wall overlaps the joint between the passenger longitudinal and the inner, curved longitudinal on both ends.

Right now, the double wall on the engine bay side is tack welded in place to the existing double wall...completing this repair will be much easier on the rotisserie.

Wow thanks for jumping in on this one and saving it.

Thanks for the feedback...and encouragement!

I have to remind myself that this originally started as a wide body fender modification project...never expected it to turn out like this. No regrets though...thankfully, replacement panels are available which makes the job sooooo much easier! (My original Restoration Design order has been followed up with 3 more.)

Coming together...

Found another Easter Egg from a previous owner...working on the driver's side long, I started to remove the paint (actually bondo!) from the lower part of the left door jam...lo and behold, a previous patch was brazed in place/bondo'd over.

Completed the repair on the driver's side jack post area...fortunately, the rust was confined to the outer part...with a boroscope/endoscope, there were no additional issue with the driver's long.

Started the rear trunk repair as well, cutting out the old (especially the previously bondo'd rear cross panel), ready for the replacement trunk floor and cross panel.

...and another Easter Egg!!!

I knew there was bondo around the passenger door handle. As I started to take off the paint, I hit a layer of about 3/16" thick bondo layer the full length of the sail panel. A previous metal repair had been done on the passenger sail panel in the past.

After removing the panel, the view from the inside showed where/how the panel had been repaired in the past...including a glaring rust hole near the door handle (previously un-noticed during my initial inspection) as well as gold paint that had been sprayed on the inside of the fender well to mask the previous repair.

Had a small patch to complete on the inner sail panel...at least it was in pretty good shape.

Now I'm wondering what the driver's side is going to look like?

Next step is to fit the replacement panel and install the new door jam.

Keep fighting the good fight! Finding botched repairs is at least as entertaining as finding undiscovered rust.

Sail panel and door jam tack welded into place.

Great job on a very ambitious repair!

Thank you! I've certainly been admiring your 914 build as well!

Nice work! Every panel is like a box of Cracker Jacks. There's a toy surprise inside every one.

Just catching up on this thread, outstanding amount of work you tackled. Well
done. Will be watching your progress

If by toy you mean cancerous rust and/or botched previous repairs!

(BTW, I agree--very nice work.)

Thank you for the comments Gentlemen...much appreciated!

@bkrantz and @bbrock , following your projects as well...you've both done great work on your 914 builds...and have helped me in how to tackle my project as well.

Thank you!

To quote Yogi Berra..."It's like Deja Vu all over again!"

Why wasn't I surprised to find the same issue with the driver's side sail panel? Started to take down the paint and found a previous patch on that side as well...plus lots of bondo to cover up the door vent area.

New panel now tack-welded into place...opted not to replace the entire door jam...just the upper and lower portions. Fortunately, the RD door jam panel is almost perfectly shaped for this spliced repair.

Nice work! FYI, if that is an RD replacement vent opening on your door jamb, make sure you test fit your plastic vent cover BEFORE you paint. Don't make the mistake I did. I found the hole as stamped is too small for the vent cover to clip in and needs a fair amount of tweaking to bend those flange edges back. Not a big deal for raw metal but it's a lot less fun to watch your beautiful fresh paint split open at the bends.

Thanks for the tip on checking the vent opening before paint! I noticed the stamping was a little different on the driver's side vs. the passenger side...I will do a test fit!

I did a comparison of the RD door jam vs a competitor...they're definitely not the same!

That's interesting. I think the RD panel looks closer to the original. I really like the RD piece other than not noticing I needed to tuck those vent flanges back.

Cool thread! Another 914 saved!

Bondo-B-Gone!!!

Almost finished with the rear trunk...funny...after I removed the old rear cross panel, it weighed close to double what the full replacement panel weighed!

I probably should've made a small wooden jig to remount the right rear taillight mounting bracket...actually glad I didn't have to cut more of the cross panel out to minimize the tedious work.

Some serious progress being made here. Well done.
I need to check my RD door jamb and test fit the vent and snorkel. Thanks for the heads up fellas.

Wow, great work and fast too.

Most people take a couple years to get that all done.

You have some serious metal skills.

John

Thanks for the feedback!

Finally on the rotisserie to start the rear section of the floor pan.

Happy to find a "rot-free" tunnel and "clean" area between the firewalls.

From my experience, you'll be better off to replace the entire tail panel. I made the mistake of sectioning it in (not wanting to get into the extra work at the sides) and that was more work. The replacement tail panel is not a direct duplicate. It's a nice piece, but some areas are not the same as OE

You've piqued my interest! I'm assuming you're recommending to replace the entire rear half panel?

The shorter panel from RD looked pretty close...I'll look closer tomorrow as I clean up/prep the section I cut.

Thanks!

Looks like you've already installed what I call the tail panel, or rear trunk bulkhead.

It's been a while since the last update...

Rear floor pan job completed!

Worked on the hell hole area to finish this job up from the inside...welding/metalwork completed...just need to clean up my welds a little more...

Started on the front trunk...thought that would be one of the easier jobs...

Was only expecting to correctly install the louvered panel for the front oil cooler (when I installed the cooler, I took a short cut and drilled six 1-1/2" holes rather than correctly installing the louvered vent).

Made the cut out for the louvered vent panel...found the metal in the lower pan area was pretty thin...before I knew it I was making patch panel upon patch panel.

As I started to get closer to the passenger front A-arm mount, I started to get nervous. Removed the angle panel from the inside of the front trunk and found quite a bit of rust between the two panels...opted to replace the front pan.

As I debated whether to install the whole front pan panel or splice what I needed, I elected to go the latter route.

Finally got the front pan tack-welded into place after wasting quite a bit of time trying to repair. Lesson learned...

Front trunk completed (except for modification to the oil cooler inlet and hard mounts for the oil cooler shroud)...this job was a lot more than I initially anticipated...

Some smaller jobs...

Fabbed a small bracket to relocate the new battery tray to the front trunk.

Welded in the driver's side chassis stiffening kit (Maddogs Motor Sports).

Opened up an access panel in the firewall for future maintenance.

Should be able to rotate the car, install the passenger side chassis stiffening kit and the seat mounting brackets then finally media blast the underside/trunks/inside floor pan...hoping for no more surprises...

Installed the right rear chassis stiffening kit (Maddogs Motorsports).

I was "on the fence" about adding the Brad Mayeur longitudinal kit after completing the longitudinal repairs.

I did a check on the existing body "sag" with and without the door cross braces. With the door braces on, I had a targa bar to windshield frame distance of 25-1/8" (as per spec).

Removing the door braces, the gap between the targa bar and the windshield frame decreased by between 1/8" to 3/16" on both sides. (Of course, this is measured with the car currently supported by the bumper mounts, not the suspension points.)

Corrected the gap again with the door braces and welded in the Brad Mayeur kit on both sides. After the kit install, there is no sag/difference in the targa bar to windshield gap with or without the door braces.

Glad I went this route...I also like the added benefit of the increased strength at the jack points and the added benefit of the attachment to the suspension console.