The Porsche Gets All New Vacuum Lines

This morning, I drove the poor guy crazy at the auto parts store. "I'll take ten feet of this hose, eight feet of this hose, twelve feet of this hose..." After nearly an hour, I walked out of the store ready for the day's project.

This afternoon, I replaced all of the vacuum lines on the Porsche. I found a couple of elbows that will need to be replaced. Fortunately, I have a source to order them from and they are only a few dollars apiece. I was really pleased with the way the new hoses turned out!

Vacuum Line Inventory

This morning, I labeled, inventoried and photographed all of the vacuum lines, prior to replacement. Wow... this car requires a LOT of hoses!

A "Rust-Free" Porsche 914!

This afternoon, I spent more time going through the car at a leisurly pace - looking for any hidden "gotcha's".

Porsche 914's are notorious for having rust problems - especially in the area known as the "hell hole" (which is the area directly underneath and including the battery tray). Other easy to inspect areas where rust is typically found is in the front and rear trunks and the floor pans.

Closer inspection of this car revealed NO structural rust issues. Although I haven't had the rocker panels off the car yet, the jack holes look good as does the area around the pedal cluster.

The worst part of the body I have found, so far, is the battery tray - which is suffering only from very mild surface rust. This area, I will treat with POR-15 or a comperable product.

Oh yea, there is a broken bracket on the right-rear trunk lid. Since I don't yet trust myself with a welding torch, I'll need professional help getting that fixed.

The Engine Bay: Before And After

This evening, I cleaned more of the "junk" out of the engine bay and made a first attempt at de-greasing the engine. I was amazed at how well the engine cleaned-up. Although I still have a fair amount of detailing still to do, at least I can now see where everything goes and can work on the engine without coming-out a complete mess!

After cleaning the engine bay, I was able to locate the engine's serial number. I was finally able to positively identify the Porsche as a 914 1.7 Litre, California car.

Before putting the car to bed for the evening, I pulled the driver's side carpet to inspect the pedal board; as the accelerator pedal felt as if it was binding.

The Interior: Before And After

Today, I "gutted" and cleaned the front and rear trunks and the interior. Although the car was in pretty decent condition upon delivery, there all sorts of "strange things" lurking under the carpets and mats and the engine bay was filled with pine needles and other debris. I basically spent the afternoon - at leasure - performing a general inspection of the Porsche and "getting a feel" for what I got. After cleaning the vinyl seats, rubber bumpers, wheels and tires, I put the Porsche to bed under a new car cover for the evening.

The day I entered the world of "Porschedom"

This morning, I ran-across my friends Rick and Chuck on a job site. I reminded Chuck that I still wanted to pick-up his Porsche 914 and Rick chimed-in: "Why not today?"

Rick offered to pick-up the car from Chuck's house (using Rick's trailer) and deliver it to my residence around 3:30 PM this afternoon. I gave Chuck two hundred dollars (agreeing to take care of the balance and pick-up the keys and title later) and the deal was done!

Both Rick and Chuck live within a mile of my house and transporting the car was a "piece of cake".

By 4:00 PM this evening, I became the proud owner of my first Porsche!

Well, that's not pretty!

This afternoon, my friend Gerri, her husband and I drove-out to take a look at the "free Porsche". My goal was to quickly assess the over-all condition of the car and to figure-out what it was and what it was going to take in order to get the car to my residence.

Upon seeing the car for the first time in person, I learned that it is a 1974 model year 914. The badge on the rear of the car shows it as a 1.7 litre engine (but I don't think Porsche made 914 1.7's after 1973).

"Well, that's not pretty!"

It quickly became obvious that the tires would not hold air and would need to be replaced before the car could be moved. As fate would have it, I have a set of four Porsche wheels and tires in storage (which I had originally purchased for but never used on my 1971 Volkswagon Beetle).

The car was locked, so I couldn't get inside the front trunk or cockpit. However, when the vehicle was parked (left to rot), a window was left partially rolled-down. It looks as though the interior, engine compartment and rear trunk has been used as a rodent condominium for years. Not pretty!

A quick peek in the engine bay revealed what appeared to be a complete engine. However, the infamous Porsche 914 "hell hole" showed typical signs of a rusting battery tray. At this point, only god knows how deep the rust goes in that area.

The outside of the car looked pretty straight with the exception of a little surface rust in areas and a bit of light rear-end damage.

It is going to take a bit of effort to move this car, but I believe it may be worth it - albiet at the risk of making MY yard look like a junkyard. As a minimum, there are lots of good parts on this car (i.e. original steering wheel, targa top, etc.) that could help with the restoration of the 1973 914.

As we left the sad looking little red car, I reminded Gerri that before I could pick-up the vehicle, I would need the title and keys from the owner. She said she'd work on it.

No, not another Porsche!

This morning, my friend Rick and I were discussing his "project car": a 1936 Cadillac LaSalle that he is turning into a Street Rod. During our conversation, I brought-up the topic of the "free Porsche" that was just offered to me. Rick was curious to know what model Porsche it was and when I told him it was a 914, he laughed: "You know who's got one of those for sale? Chuck! You should give him a call - his wife would LOVE to get that car out of the driveway!"

Chuck happens to be a mutual friend of ours and I ran into him this afternoon at a job site. Chuck explained that he has a 1973 Porsche 914 that he picked-up as a "project car" but that he simply hadn't dedicated much time to working on it. He explained that he had lost interest in the car and that his wife would "really appreciate it" if he would sell the vehicle; as it was taking-up valuable space in their driveway.

Chuck said that the car hadn't been started in about ten years (sounds familiar) and that after tinkering with it a bit, he hadn't got it running. Supposedly, the car has a problem with the ignition switch, but Chuck was able to "hot-wire" the car and the engine cranks but does not fire.

I asked Chuck what he wanted for the car and he said: "I don't know, I just gotta' get it out of there." After pressing him further, he threw-out a dollar figure that really peaked my interest (not free, but low enough that I feel uncomfortable publishing it here). I told Chuck that I'd be interested in taking a look at the car and drove by his residence after work.

Upon brief inspection, I was surprised to find what appeared to be a complete, unmolested and virtually rust-free example of a "teener". I called Chuck and told him to "take it off the market"; as he was already advertising the car for sale in a local publication.