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I think they make more from their YouTube content. I honestly had no idea they sold insurance before today but I love their YouTube videos.
A few things to know before stealing my 914
281–290 of 428 posts
Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914
#282Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is the electric conversion still a thing? I want an eclectic car with no monitors, no software updates, no surveillance (none of the new electric car offers that - they are calling home for updates and god knows why way too often, and they have bigger monitors than my 14" work laptop).
>>none of the new electric car offers that Eh? I literally got a brand new electric VW e-Up last week, it's exactly that. It even still has analog dials, and VW provides a mount for your phone instead of an "infotainment" system. The height of sophistication is DAB radio and heated front window and seats. I highly recommend it, it's a hoot - and with 150 miles range and rapid charging capability it's more than enough…
Nice. I’d buy one immediately if they were available in the US.
Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914
#283Earlier quoted context omitted.
My father had one of these just sort of gathering dust in the garage when I was growing up, utterly shocked when I turned 16 and he handed me the keys. I still like to casually drop "oh yeah, I used to have a Porsche back when I was 16." Although I must say it was in immeasurably better shape than this one :D I still dream of finding an old 914 and giving it an electric conversion… I'd have to do something about that…
Hello to a fellow member of the "my first car was a Porsche" club. Mine was a $400 924 that broke at least once a week. Good times.
Those are slowly gett;ng expensive as well. 928s seem to be reasonably priced so far. No wonder with a car that was barely considered a Porsch back the day.
It was one of the potential follow up projects, once the first one is done. That will take at least another two years... And I won't get permission for another project car in our drive way!
Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914
#284Great article! Makes me wonder if in 40 years people will write about how to (not) get an old Tesla Roadster or BMW i3 going again? Although, rather than pumping the acceleration 4 times to get enough gas into the engine so it will start, that will probably begin with hacking the car's system so it allows you to start it...
I've been saying for a while now, there will be no more 'classic cars' starting after the mid-1990's because of the failure of electronic parts that will not be able to be replaced. The best that will happen is people using the shells to 'restomod' them into new cars that look old. Even today, it's much easier for a beginner to buy a broken 1970's car and get it running than a broken 1990's car.
The aftermarket for mid-century American cars is huge.
Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914
#285> Norman Garrett was the Concept Engineer for the original Miata back in his days at Mazda’s Southern California Design Studio. hahaha. This whole time I was thinking "I know the car is lovely, but this is why people love Miatas"
Miatas are great, but I think the Fiat version is even more fun.
Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914
#286> starter is too weak to crank the clutch-transmission input shaft assembly with any success
[giggle] This reminds me of putting my Toyota 4x4 (Hilux) in 4-Low, First gear, pressing the Clutch Start Cancel switch and turning the ignition key, making it an electric vehicle for a few seconds. The starter was powerful enough to move the truck uphill in that gear on its own until the engine started.
Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914
#287THANK YOU for this! It's been a while since I've laughed out loud while reading an article on the web. As an owner of an ancient Land Rover, I feel this, physically.
Excellent writing.
Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914
#288Earlier quoted context omitted.
On the actual flip side, there are plenty of people who properly maintain vintage sports cars instead of just talking about how much they know about them. I get that door handles and lock cylinders are often made of easily-broken pot metal, but most owner communities have figured out solutions, or just live a little and recognize that a locksmith can easily get you into almost any vintage car if necessary. The starti…
The locks are stupidly expensive, like $1000 a door. I'd rather just not lock it. The starting issues are due to the carb needing a rebuild. It's on my list, but there are bigger fish to fry. The battery is due to it being a former race car with a tiny, super light battery. It's only designed to crank the engine a few times before it's dead to save weight. 1st gear in non-syncro, so it's for sure not that. It's likel…
Good to see there other vintage cars, dare I say, lovers out there that see things that way. Mine is a 1982 Range Rover, bought like almost 4 years ago before people started to ask absurd prices for those.
It's leaking oil from the oil cooler thermostat, the gearbox and started a while ago leaking from the transmission break. Oh, and the rear diff pinion is leaking, too. The 3.5 l V8, basically a Buick 215 allumium small block running on dual carbs, needs some gentle treatment before firing up. It usually does, a slight carb rebuild and calibrating really helped. The gearbox is more suited to a tractor and has all of four gears. The rear windows don't work and the upper tailgate doesn't close on its lock but uses two outside locks on each side.
It is rust free so, noise levels are acceptable below 110 km/h and she's a beast off road. Yes, I drive her in the intended environment, regularly.
I have hopes to get her finally done in the next 1, 2 years. And I love this rolling restauration thing. Only was close to selling her once, until I figured out I reassembled the choke wrong and drove fuel consumption up to 30 l per 100 km.
Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914
#289Earlier quoted context omitted.
On the actual flip side, there are plenty of people who properly maintain vintage sports cars instead of just talking about how much they know about them. I get that door handles and lock cylinders are often made of easily-broken pot metal, but most owner communities have figured out solutions, or just live a little and recognize that a locksmith can easily get you into almost any vintage car if necessary. The starti…
Hahaha, even on old muscle cars with good parts availability, and only 4 moving parts in the first place, something is virtually always broken. Keeping a german car of this era functioning is a sisyphean task.
Never fully broken, never fully repaired.
Re: A few things to know before stealing my 914
#290Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's quite fun, but anyone can pick it up in a few days if you join a few great Car forums that remain, or, ick, facebook groups and reddit groups. The discord groups are more of casual conversation and making fun of each other/new people who are trying to DIY. The BMW car forum is good, bimmerforums.com. Pelicanpart forum is good. BMW/Porsche GrassrootMotorsports is good. General racing, falls back to bmw/porsche/co…
This is all true, but one needs to be aware that these forums are also chock full of "forum folklore". You'll get all kinds of advice and lecturing which is driven by what has been posted before rather than what matches reality. Mixing DOT-5 brake fluid with DOT-3/4 is always a fun one. Folklore is that it will poison children and kill puppies. Reality is that they are, by law, compatible and mixing won't do anything…
Getting the proper workshop manuals really helps!