Dragged another basketcase home

BretLuter · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2014 10:16 pm

Jason Tower wrote:

BretLuter wrote:

Saw that thing on CL and thought it looked like a really good deal for someone looking for a V8 P-car.

There's also a V8 914 for cheap on CL that looks like it might be a hoot.

well, provide the link so mike can buy it

http://greensboro.craigslist.org/cto/4405407009.html

:stick:

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

BretLuter wrote:

Jason Tower wrote:

BretLuter wrote:

Saw that thing on CL and thought it looked like a really good deal for someone looking for a V8 P-car.

There's also a V8 914 for cheap on CL that looks like it might be a hoot.

well, provide the link so mike can buy it

http://greensboro.craigslist.org/cto/4405407009.html

:stick:

Is it odd that I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in ever owning a 914? I guess it has to do with growing up in the 80's and 90's, all my adolescent car love is centered on those decades.

Head gasket set is on the way (oooh, $94, big hit on the wallet) and I'm thinking a simple freshening of the heads at CHS then bolt it together. Not interested in making big power considering the transaxle.

Paint's looking nice now. Gotta get some big dents taken out. Next up is reassemble the interior while I wait for the heads.

Anyone want to come help push this thing on the lift next week?

BriceJohnson · **Joined:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:33 am **Posts:** 2230

I drive by your house everyday on my way home from work, let me know if you need a hand.

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Thu Apr 10, 2014 9:45 am

MikeWhitney wrote:

Is it odd that I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in ever owning a 914?

No. And it's especially not odd that you'd rather have a 944 with a V8 than a 914 with one. At least the 944 has a chance of standing up to the power and stresses of it. That 914 is just dumb, and I just bought a 914 to play with so I *am* a fan.

I want to buy the V8 914 to part it out and remove it from a miserable existence.

--Donnie

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Sat Apr 12, 2014 12:17 am

Donnie Barnes wrote:

MikeWhitney wrote:

Is it odd that I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in ever owning a 914?

No. And it's especially not odd that you'd rather have a 944 with a V8 than a 914 with one. At least the 944 has a chance of standing up to the power and stresses of it. That 914 is just dumb, and I just bought a 914 to play with so I *am* a fan.

I want to buy the V8 914 to part it out and remove it from a miserable existence.

--Donnie

There is something horribly wrong with that V8 914. What is going with the transmission being held up with a chain? It does need to be put out of its misery.

Regarding lots of power in 914, the chassis generally has no problem with that. There are plenty of monster 914s around. Now attaching a V8 to the stock transmission that was designed to handle around 150 ft/lbs of torque might not be a smart idea.

Richard

clinehall · **Posted:** Tue Apr 15, 2014 3:22 pm

wow, stay off of here a while and the place goes crazy. I would look for the 911 to start rebelling, sort of like when dad brings home a bastard kid from the girlfriend.

I screwed up by not buying the 914 (yes I am a child of the 70's ) 18 months ago. They appear to have gone nuts since then.

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Tue Apr 15, 2014 4:38 pm

clinehall wrote:

I screwed up by not buying the 914 (yes I am a child of the 70's ) 18 months ago. They appear to have gone nuts since then.

How so? Just a few weeks ago I got a complete running 1971 1.7L car for $4100. It's a former NM car with minimal rust, but definitely not a *nice* car. Needs brakes gone through and we've already had to do a little work on some fuel lines that were leaking (that's not good!), but the motor seems pretty decent for one of these.

Pretty sure I got a pretty killer deal, but they are still out there. Original 6cyl cars are crazy expensive now, but that's just due to rarity...you can get a decent shell and drop someone's cast-off 2.7L 6 cyl in one of these and have a LOT of money left over AND a faster car than an origina 6 cyl. *shrug*

I'm doing the ghetto 5 lug conversion for now and have some refinished frosted Fuchs in 15x6 on order from Wheel Enhancement. Going to go through the brakes and do the conversion at the same time and then drive it with gorgeous wheels and shitty paint for a little while. Then start fixing it up in earnest.

--Donnie

Chuck Branscomb · **Posted:** Tue Apr 15, 2014 6:51 pm

I was under the same impression as Cline. A few years ago, ~2008, I recall looking at an ad for a low mileage '73 2.0 (my father bought one new in late 1972) that had very low mileage, kept well, good provenance, etc, and the guy was asking something like 15k for it; that same car today would probably sell for...? $40k? It was advertised as one of the lowest mileage, best documented 914 2.0s in the country. Of course this is talking about near-museum quality type cars...

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Tue Apr 15, 2014 8:05 pm

Chuck Branscomb wrote:

I was under the same impression as Cline. A few years ago, ~2008, I recall looking at an ad for a low mileage '73 2.0 (my father bought one new in late 1972) that had very low mileage, kept well, good provenance, etc, and the guy was asking something like 15k for it; that same car today would probably sell for...? $40k? It was advertised as one of the lowest mileage, best documented 914 2.0s in the country. Of course this is talking about near-museum quality type cars...

I assume you're talking about a 6cyl car. The 6's are 2.0, but there was also a 2.0 4cyl 914.

If the 6, yeah, they're stupid money now for what they are. But nice 4's can be had for a song (under $10k for a decent car, $15k for a VERY nice 4 that needs nothing and is low mileage). And honestly, if you want one to *drive* and the 4 isn't enough power, it's just not that expensive or hard to get a 4 and turn it into a 6. They're *so* lightweight that the power made by people's cast-off 911 6's is usually more than enough for these things.

The weak point is the shifting of the tranny, but there are ways to make that decent that aren't horribly expensive. But if it's just for a car guy to drive, I didn't find the horrible shifting of my car to take that long to get used to. I wouldn't let any normal person try to drive it that way, but another car guy could figure it out fine.

--Donnie

clinehall · **Posted:** Tue Apr 15, 2014 8:57 pm

ok, that's good to hear. I guess I have been guilty of believing what is being asked and not what they are selling for as well as looking at too few examples.

Donnie, on another subject. I'm thinking of getting a Fat Tire bike (have a line on a couple) then put one of those Chinese motors on it. Maybe I'll trade you that for the 914!

Chuck Branscomb · **Posted:** Tue Apr 15, 2014 9:35 pm

Donnie Barnes wrote:

Chuck Branscomb wrote:

I was under the same impression as Cline. A few years ago, ~2008, I recall looking at an ad for a low mileage '73 2.0 (my father bought one new in late 1972) that had very low mileage, kept well, good provenance, etc, and the guy was asking something like 15k for it; that same car today would probably sell for...? $40k? It was advertised as one of the lowest mileage, best documented 914 2.0s in the country. Of course this is talking about near-museum quality type cars...

I assume you're talking about a 6cyl car. The 6's are 2.0, but there was also a 2.0 4cyl 914.

If the 6, yeah, they're stupid money now for what they are. But nice 4's can be had for a song (under $10k for a decent car, $15k for a VERY nice 4 that needs nothing and is low mileage). And honestly, if you want one to *drive* and the 4 isn't enough power, it's just not that expensive or hard to get a 4 and turn it into a 6. They're *so* lightweight that the power made by people's cast-off 911 6's is usually more than enough for these things.

The weak point is the shifting of the tranny, but there are ways to make that decent that aren't horribly expensive. But if it's just for a car guy to drive, I didn't find the horrible shifting of my car to take that long to get used to. I wouldn't let any normal person try to drive it that way, but another car guy could figure it out fine.
is

--Donnie

No, I was referring to the 914 2.0, 73 model year was the first for the 2L 4cylinder. I have thousands of miles of seat time in the car back in the 70s including autocrossing it, etc. From what little I've seen, the finest quality, low mileage '73 2.0s with proper provenance are selling in the 30-40k range. This is perhaps a handful of cars I guess. I think a really nice one but not of the caliber of the above probably can be had in the 15-20k range. I don't recall the details now, but I believe there was a change in the tranny by the time to 73 models (at least the 2.0) came about.

It's been well over 30 years since I drove that car. I can't imagine how under-powered a 9.0 second 0-60 car must feel now.

It was one thing in the 70s when a V8 Chevy Monza was considered "fast" with a 10 second 0-60 time, but the slowest car I own, the 850R Volvo, could leave the 914 for dead...I know. Like most memories, this one is probably best enjoyed virtually as opposed to re-experiencing it for real.

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

Chuck Branscomb wrote:

It's been well over 30 years since I drove that car. I can't imagine how under-powered a 9.0 second 0-60 car must feel now.

It was one thing in the 70s when a V8 Chevy Monza was considered "fast" with a 10 second 0-60 time, but the slowest car I own, the 850R Volvo, could leave the 914 for dead...I know. Like most memories, this one is probably best enjoyed virtually as opposed to re-experiencing it for real.

I'm in the same boat. There are a bunch of old cars I'd love to own but I recognize that I've become a torque addict, and I'm sure I'd get tired of anything underpowered quickly. All the more reason to just keep buying old V8 swap candidates

As for progress on the "948". Looks as good as possible with a buffer and touch-up paint. Sorted and organized all the parts and I've started going through the wiring to figure out what's up. Finding too many random cut wires and not sure which wiring diagram to look for them on .... ah the joys of a swap.

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Wed Apr 16, 2014 8:05 am

Donnie Barnes wrote:

The weak point is the shifting of the tranny, but there are ways to make that decent that aren't horribly expensive. But if it's just for a car guy to drive, I didn't find the horrible shifting of my car to take that long to get used to. I wouldn't let any normal person try to drive it that way, but another car guy could figure it out fine.

Donnie, it sounds like you have been reading up. Various linkage bushings go bad and either the stock (or better yet some of the improved brass ) replacements really help with the shift linkage. Another item to point out is that the transmission is using late 1960's tech (Porsche balk ring synchros and not today's Borg Warner cone synchros). State of the art at the time, but it will never shift as smooth or a quick as a new Honda or Toyota. If you ever run into transmission issues give me a shout. I rebuild these on the side and know a good bit about them, have specialized tools and a good bit of parts stash.

Chuck Branscomb wrote:

No, I was referring to the 914 2.0, 73 model year was the first for the 2L 4cylinder. I have thousands of miles of seat time in the car back in the 70s including autocrossing it, etc. From what little I've seen, the finest quality, low mileage '73 2.0s with proper provenance are selling in the 30-40k range. This is perhaps a handful of cars I guess. I think a really nice one but not of the caliber of the above probably can be had in the 15-20k range. I don't recall the details now, but I believe there was a change in the tranny by the time to 73 models (at least the 2.0) came about.

Nice cars are going crazy these days. Anyone thinking of buying one should do it now. The prices are never going back down. I bought my driveable but in need of love 72 for $800 a few years back. Regarding the transmission changes. There was a different/better shift linkage (including internal linkage in the transmission) for 73 and beyond. Earlier cars can be retrofitted.

Chuck Branscomb wrote:

It's been well over 30 years since I drove that car. I can't imagine how under-powered a 9.0 second 0-60 car must feel now.

It was one thing in the 70s when a V8 Chevy Monza was considered "fast" with a 10 second 0-60 time, but the slowest car I own, the 850R Volvo, could leave the 914 for dead...I know. Like most memories, this one is probably best enjoyed virtually as opposed to re-experiencing it for real.

I hear what you are saying. The 914 is not a drag car. My 2000 Honda Odyssey is actually pretty quick in a straight line, but doesn't quite give the same driving experience as the 914.

The feel of driving a 914 gets compared to two modern cars. The Elise and Miata and it is lighter than both and I can fit into a 914, but really can't in the other newer cars.

MikeWhitney wrote:

As for progress on the "948". Looks as good as possible with a buffer and touch-up paint. Sorted and organized all the parts and I've started going through the wiring to figure out what's up. Finding too many random cut wires and not sure which wiring diagram to look for them on .... ah the joys of a swap.

When you shared that photo of the engine bay shot with the engine all together in the car on Google+ the other day, I saw that on my phone and I thought "Holy shit, he has it together already" and then saw that it was a photo from the previous owner.

Richard

Andrew Jonell · **Joined:** Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:43 pm **Posts:** 1350

How are the Subaru 2.5L swaps in the 914? I've only seen them online a few times and it seems like a decent idea.

Regarding slow cars, minivans will blow the doors off of my Mazda2 all day long. Apparently 100hp isn't exactly the straight line killer.

clinehall · **Posted:** Wed Apr 16, 2014 9:25 am

Chuck Branscomb wrote:

It's been well over 30 years since I drove that car. I can't imagine how under-powered a 9.0 second 0-60 car must feel now.

It was one thing in the 70s when a V8 Chevy Monza was considered "fast" with a 10 second 0-60 time, but the slowest car I own, the 850R Volvo, could leave the 914 for dead...I know. Like most memories, this one is probably best enjoyed virtually as opposed to re-experiencing it for real.

I hear what you are saying. The 914 is not a drag car. My 2000 Honda Odyssey is actually pretty quick in a straight line, but doesn't quite give the same driving experience as the 914.

The feel of driving a 914 gets compared to two modern cars. The Elise and Miata and it is lighter than both and I can fit into a 914, but really can't in the other newer cars.

Richard[/quote]
Grassroots did and comparison of a Honda Odyssey and a 356. Guess who won everthing except cool points.

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