The 1974 Porsche 914 Project

The 1974 Porsche 914 Project takes 180 Turn

My last installment wrapped-up with the rear wheels finally being back on the ground and the bridge jack on mu four-post lift supporting the back of the car from the engine mount pods moved out of the wat. I had just spent four unglamorous days in that “coal mine” stripping the lower engine compartment ahead of the engine mount pods to bare metal. In the days that followed since, all the areas that had already been repainted behind the engine mount pods were cocooned in large garbage bags and o.7 mil plastic drop cloths, so I could proceed with applying self-etching primer and painting this last remaining section red.

Once the red enamel had been allowed to cure, the “payoff” fun period began; installing all those brand-new parts that I had purchased months earlier. Restoring and installing the original parts I’m reusing by vapor-honing and painting made all the hours of drudgery spent under the car in the prior months felt worth the effort. I had visualized what the car would have looked lie as it rolled off the Karmann assembly line, and now that vision was becoming an extremely satisfying reality. Access to great color photographs on the internet from Facebook groups like 914World and websites like “Bring a Trailer” enhanced the Porsche workshop manuals and made it so easy to verify how the assembly was done originally and replicate it.

Even with “professional” help, it’s kind of comical to see how many things were assembled incorrectly in my first restoration 30 years ago. Proof; I was fumbling along without the aid of a digital camera to document disassembly, the set of factory manuals I now own, and access to the internet to research and ask questions. I found things like the heat flap control boxes mounted on the engine compartment bulkhead from a prior owner like every other Porsche I’d seen. The boxes were swapped left and right, so they would point the right way and then left me wondering why new heater cables didn’t reach, so I added extensions to them! Now I know they belong on the engine, and it will all be put back together correctly with all new parts. I’ve learned a lot about the logic of Porsche engineers over the years and now it’s become almost like a religion. Simple things like the nuts on motor or transaxle mounts are always installed so that they’re visible and have a dot of paint where the joined surfaces meet once they’re torqued, so it’s obvious if they’re coming loose. Missing, too, this time is that can of leftover hardware bits that I couldn't figure out where they went! The real joy is having the proper tools now; there’s no more approximating axle nut torque with a breaker bar, length of pipe, and body weight or using a carpenter’s claw hammer where a brass hammer, dead-blow hammer, or ball pen hammer is the proper tool!

During the reassembly phase, I configured my shop, so I could vapor hone and paint the restored parts within a few feet of the 914 without dealing with dust and over spray. I went into detail about vapor honing in last month’s article, but didn’t go into my free, temporary over spray paint booth. I usually find a large cardboard appliance box, about washing machine size, but in this case, the huge box the new vapor honing cabinet came in worked perfectly. I have an air filtration system (fan) by RIDGID tools designed for use while doing dusty drywall construction, that has a built-in filter. I cut a 12-inch diameter hole in the back of the cardboard box, then wedged an additional 14- inch square furnace filter between the box and the RIDGID fan was supported

by milk crates. All the over spray was sucked out of the back of the box and trapped in the furnace filter. I also suspended a 10-foot length of metal electrical wiring conduit with a chain from my garage door rails and dropped another chain down the center of the cardboard box to suspend heavy parts for painting. It’s pretty remarkable how much over spray gets trapped by the furnace filter and when it starts looking full, I just swap it out for a new one. Once I'm done, I’ll just knock the over spray dust out of the cardboard box and cut it down for recycling. Assembly with all the new parts was down to the last step: the CV-joints and rear sway bar that I was burned by when not closing inspecting the new CV-joints and assuming they were correct six months ago. Those expensive Porsche Classic C-joints I was so excited about finding after being listed as NLA for decades were not made for the original axles! This is the thing that I find so frustrating about using the Porsche Classic PET (Porsche Elektronischer Teilekatalog) on the Porsche website. If a part design has been superseded, there’s no explanation or part number change to the last two digits! In this case, Porsche Classics produces a new, complete rear axle assembly (CVjoint to CV-joint) but, instead of 33 splines n the axle shaft like the original, there’s only 25. Where the problem arises is that the individual CV-joints listed in the PET are for the replacement axle with 25 splines, yet, they don’t sell the new 25-spline axle shaft by itself. Even more disappointing is Pelican Parts. The vendor I purchased them from was oblivious as to such

The 1974 Porsche 914 Project (continued) a basic incompatibility and have a 30-day return policy. Luckily, I called my Dodge Cobra loving eBay Porsche parts guru Rich Bontempi at High Performance House in California. Not only did Rich educate me on the replacement CV-joint situation but also happened to have a 4-inch made in “West Germany" NOS 33-spline CV-joints in stock! I'm not going to whine about how much money I have wrapped up in my CV-joints but rather focus on the positive, they have zero hours on them and life will be just that much more carefree! So now it's time to stop and take an "after" photo to compare to the "before" photo as proof that the second winter of the Covid-19 pandemic was put to good use. Now as spring begins, the rear of the 914 is all ready for an engine and will be turned-around on the 4-post lift to perform the same level of restoration on the front suspension and wheel wells. Removing the gas tank and welding in mounts for the new (used) factory front sway bar will also be part of the task list. The engine builder, Jack Morris in Spokane, has no good news to report concerning the wait list for Walt Watson's machine work on the heads or the arrival of the new Carrillo connecting rods so no need to rush on my end. Wait, it's spring and my wife's starting to bring vegetable plant starts home for the garden! Is wishing I had a few more weeks of winter selfish? No, it would be crazy because spring is time for driving vintage Porsches and it’s car show season again too!

ARTICLE WRITTEN AND SUBMITTED BY Darryl Deppe