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Thu Nov 09, 2006 10:26 pm

Hi all, please take a moment to help a noob to the forum find his way....

In 1990-92 I drove a '70 914 and loved it. Rebuilt the motor and used the car as a daily driver for a couple of years.

Recently I became interested in getting another 914 and I've been scoping the market. I was suprised how much a nice one goes for these days. I've come across a few 912's during my search and they don't seem to have reached the crazy price levels of the early 911. I always liked the 912 but I have zero experience with these cars.

Ignoring the styling and handling differences, how do the 914 and 912 compare? Is the 356 style motor much harder to work on than the type IV? I seriously love the shape of the 911/912 cars but I really know my way around the 914 which makes it pretty attractive too.

I know this may be apples to oranges but any opinions are appreciated. Thanks

Fri Nov 10, 2006 8:45 am

i've had a 914, but not a 912, although i have a t1 beetle and i've had a 911, so i can say that i know alot of what a 912 would be like, and i think if i were you i'd go with the 912. When i had my 914 it was very hard to get parts, one of the things that made me sell it, that and the 914 is really just a vw with porsche badges. the 912 is a better car in my book, the engine is much eaiser to work on, and the 912 is'nt as bad for rust as the 914, which rust like crazy in really bad ways. If your looking at a 914 make sure you look at the longatudnals, and under the battery, the battery typically leaks right onto the rear suspension arm/chassis and really rots out a critical part of the car. In the long run i think you'd be better off with the 912, for both finding parts, value, ease to work on, and it's really a better car.

Fri Nov 10, 2006 4:05 pm

Have you thought about a 1976 912E? This Porsche has the same body as a 911S except instead of the 6 cylinder engine, it has the Type IV, 4 cylinder engine as used in the 914's. The major difference is that this 912 has fuel injection from the factory. Some 912E owners have switched over to dual webers as the fuel injection can be pretty fickle at times. If you get a '76 912E, you will have the best of both worlds, styling and reliability.
Good Luck!

Fri Nov 10, 2006 5:28 pm

I have owned them both. Nothings wrong with a 914 but I like the 912 better. The 912 is more Ghia/Bug like. The engines are very expensive to fix. If push came to shove I'd roll a 912 with a VDUB engine.
my 0.03

Fri Nov 10, 2006 9:48 pm

Thanks for the input everyone. I'm going to start looking a little more seriously at the 912. I like the older 912 but the 912E has me thinking about a type IV engine swap into an older car.

Thanks again everyone.

Tue Nov 21, 2006 11:42 am

What sort of yearly maintenance price tag could one expect with a 912?

I know that it can vary widely, but a ballpark figure is fine.

Who are the back seats designed for? Can an adult fit, or just little kids?

Thank.

Tue Nov 21, 2006 1:32 pm

both car are great but it seems you have already made up your mind , so good luck

Wed Nov 29, 2006 6:41 pm

Do asearch for Jake Raby's posts. He is "the man" for T4 engines, and can lead you in the right direction.

His weekly radio show, "Fourth Dimension Radio", is available through his web site, and is a WEALTH of knowledge. This past week's show, coincidentally, was everything you would ever want to know about.....the 1976 Porsche 912E!!
Trust me....go there...listen...it's well worth the time! :lol:

Sat Dec 02, 2006 4:13 pm

I have now a 914 that is hard to work on but type 4 parts are still cheap. The 912 is old type 1 technology and very easy to work on but but parts are way out of line. The 914 handles better and cruises better with lower rpms. The 912 looks cool but doesnt have a removable top. The 912E with the type 4 motor and a sunroof is a very nice car. Tough one huh. Good luck DG

Sat Dec 02, 2006 10:46 pm

I have a 914 and a 912 and a 912 is not a volkswagen, a 912 shares no engine parts with a 914 that I know of. 356/356a had many VW parts (nothing wrong with that) late 356B/C/ had numerous non engine parts that would swap with vw many of them were not of the same composit.
The 914 is a three seater no it is really that little foam thing between driver and passenger is a seat look at the plate it says so, the 912 is a 4 seater no really those two things in back are seats.

If youare looking for funnnn on the run it's hard to beat the 914 I have found the midengined, light, 2 liter; fast enough, very forgiving and God knows you can build a type 4 with who knows how much power. If it craters your out 2 grand, you can spend that on a counterbalenced crank and main bearings for a Super 90 356/ 912. But a 912 is a PORSCHE just like a 911 (short wheel base) and you can get a Targa, soft window to 67 or glass to 69 . If you consider an engine swap of a type 4 into the early 912 you should read "Secrets of the Inner Cercle" by Harry Pellaw as this is addressed in that book, no easy matter. (if you to put a 2007cc type 1 in it that may be another matter, as it no big deal into a 356B) Now a 912E does give you the best of both worlds, but it wont corner with a 914 Though it is a lot of fun learning how not to drive it.
You might want to start reading Excellence mag as it follows the values of porches of all types. Sorry for being so long winded ........again

Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:09 pm

I have recently become a 914 owner and I have never even driven a 912 so I can't comment on the 912. IMHO the 914 is a sports car bargin. There are many running and complete 914's in the classifieds in the $2K-$4K range. As far a performance and handling, I have been blown away with my 914. It's quick, handles better than any car I have ever driven, and gets 30+mpg. I have yet to work on my 914, but have read through the manuals and it is definately more complex than a T1 or T3 but nothing as complicated as a modern car. The sad part is, I am coming to the conclusion three older air cooled cars is too many for me right now and one has to go soon.

Wed Dec 06, 2006 6:50 pm

That is a tough choice. I would probably forget about those two and go with a 913. It's very fast and very sleek.

Sat Dec 16, 2006 9:12 pm

Well, today I picked up a '66 912. I really appreciate the input from everyone and the choice between 912 and 914 was not easy. I looked at several 913's but it seems all parts are NLA so I passed on them. 8)

I have some previous 914 experience and I really love those cars but in the end I wanted somthing new (to me). The car I bought is a strong runner with solid floors and little rust. The interior is really rough and there is evidence that the rear end has had collision repair but I was looking for a driver, not a show quality car. It looks good to me.

Gotta admit, the cost of engine parts scares me a little. And Nadella half shafts....... :shock:

Again, thanks all.

Wed Jan 10, 2007 2:20 pm

Nice to see that you went for the 912, they have such classic lines and it would be fun to build that car to look like a 67 911R since it has the short wheelbase. I am also considering the purchase of a 912, there is a 912e near my house that looks OK from a distance. It has a cheap paintjob that I think was supposed to be red but it looks orange and it leaks oil and has a little rust under the battery and then I saw one in the samba for sale also. A 68 stripped, no engine or windows, basically a rolling shell and I thought to myself, hmm that would be nice, take the galvanized 76 body with the wider rear fenders and backdate it using the front fenders, hood, bumpers, etc from the 68...Then you have best of both worlds. Classic styling, galvanized body, longer wheelbase, 5-speed, a/c, full instrumentation, sunroof, fuchs alloys and the venerable type IV. Hmm, I have a set of 44 webers that came of a 914 somewhere... and then I woke up! Wish I had the time to do it.
Congrats on your purchase!

Wed Jan 10, 2007 3:41 pm

I had a mint 912 for several years, a 66 to be exact. You should google for the 912 registry and see what all is available there.

I sold my car 8 years ago for $10K. Hopefully, you didn't pay that much.

Harry Pellows, rest his soul, built my engine. And he had some of those engines getting over 100,000 miles with just regular oil changes and scheduled belt and valve adjutments.

They are nice cars, though noisy.

A lot of folks from the old 356 era didn't like the 911 evolution as they wanted the old push rod sound. When the 912 was thrown together to save market share, it fixed that problem and was the most purchased Porsche of the era. The 912 was phased out for the 914.

The 912E was a one year effort of the ten year anniversary (of the 66) model to use up the old 412 VW engine parts that were laying around after the 914 expired.

Enjoy your car, take real good care of the engine. There aren't many people that know those engines really well, and the parts are pretty scarce.

FWIW, I would never put any orther engin in a 912 other than a 912 engine ...

Wed Jan 10, 2007 5:56 pm

fmarshall wrote:
FWIW, I would never put any orther engin in a 912 other than a 912 engine ... Amen to that! Well, maybe a 911 engine...