This turned out to be Mark's major accomplishment this year taking from February 2021 through August to get it on the road and ready to paint.
Bought a 1973 Porshe 914 in February from the breeder who sold us Hunter. It has been a major restoration project from the start but, the after just brake and carburetor rebuilding it was back on the road again. Water leaking into the engine during its 7 years in the redwood forest rusted the vavle springs and corroded one carburetor. . I rebuilt the 1.7 L engine we pulled out of it and sold it. The disk brakes were all frozen and all required rebuilding. The jury rigged carburetor linkages needed to be replaced to synch the carbs over the whole rpm range. The original carburetion was fuel injection. It was replaced by much simpler dual Weber racing carbs. It was/is set up for the track but, I was still able to register it because of its age.
Here is the car on arrival. It came from Idaho. It spent 7 years on a trailer near Cazadero in the redwood rain forest before it came to us from Roger Poole a retired pilot and dog breeder.
The first challenge was getting the car off the trailer where it had been for 7 years in Roger's front yard. The disc brakes were all frozen. The rotors were all rusted and the caliper pistons rusted in place. The wheels had to be jacked up one at a time on the trailer and the wheels removed and the hubs turned with a crowbar to free them enough to get it off the trailer.
Here are the calipers after rebuilding of the cylinders, rust removal and rubber seal rplacement. The brakes are not great as they are all disc brakes and there is no vacuum power assist to aid the braking. Pedal pressure is all there is.
After the brakes the carburetors needed rebuilding. Dual Down draft Weber IDF 40 carburetors. They were aftermarket replacements for the fuel injection the car originally had to simplify. They are designed for racing. Later the jury rigged throttle linkage had to be replaced to be able to balance the Left Right carb sychronization over the entire rpm range.
Broken vavle spring which failed after 75 miles due to rust during 7 years with the carb and intake vavle leaking water into the cylinder and head.
Cameron with the pulled engine ready for dissassembly.
Rebuilt 2.0L engine from GEX, cost $4500. It also has oversized valves.
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This car is basically a go-cart with a big engine. The engine is a VW type 4 engine which is a bus engine, lower profile. What's interesting is that the engine is rotated 180 degrees from the orientation it would be in if it were in the bus. The engine is in front of the transmission but, behind the driver which is what makes it a mid engine. I'm still trying to figure out why I sold my 200 Boxter and bought this car which is a similar configuration to the Boxter but, with much less power. . I guess it is mostly because I can work on this car. It's not a fully integrated proprietary design. It has no smog or electronic engine control so it can be repaired by a mere mortal.
Last edited 12/20/21 M.H. The Family Website