Intro 1972 Irish Green 1.7L; help needed with jerking engine Options

[andreic]

Hello,

some of you may remember me. After owning for several years a red 1975 1.8L 914, on which I reinstalled the L-Jet, got it to work well, and have sold this summer, I am now working on a 1972 1.7L D-Jet which I got this spring. Photos attached.

So far I got the brakes to work well (new front calipers from PMB were installed, and all four flex lines were replaced), replaced all fuel lines and the fuel pump, replaced all vacuum lines, new spark plugs, points, cap, wires and rotor. Also adjusted all valve clearances. I did a compression check and all was well, I got around 120lbs on all cylinders.

What still plagues me are two engine issues. One is that when the engine is cold, if I rev it up it will make a loud noise that sounds like a bad rattle. It is only there on hard acceleration, and it goes away almost completely as the engine gets warm, say, after 10-15 minutes. I have come up with several ideas what it could be: exhaust noise from badly sealing exhaust ports; valve noise; or something else in the exhaust (the muffler is an aftermarket one, and I am not sure if there isn't something in it rattling).

Another issue I have is that the car is not riding smoothly. It is hard to explain, but even if I am driving at constant speed, not moving my foot on the gas, it will jerk ever so slightly forward every couple of seconds, as if getting some extra power. The issue again is much more visible with the engine cold, but even properly warmed up you can feel it. It is stronger when accelerating than at constant speed; on acceleration the car really stumbles some times. When the engine is cold it can be pretty bad, enough that some times I worried if I would be able to climb a hill. I first thought it was ignition related, but after going through everything electrical I doubt it is this. (Replacing the spark plug, points, cap, wires and rotor changed nothing.) The car also seems a bit underpowered compared to my other one.

I am starting to wonder if the two things (the rattle and the jerking) are not related, and if it could be a valve issue. By the way, once or twice in the span of an hour's worth of driving I thought I heard a mild backfire.

Any suggestions on what could be the problem? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Andrei.

[mgphoto]

#3 normal

#2 vacuum lines are advance and retard, later versions have retard only. Timing with hoses attached subverts the internal mechanical advance.

#1 a few people here sell replacement circuit boards for the TPS, held in with a single rivet. Easy replacement, clean contacts and lube with Deoxit, than readjust.

ps: “trailer hitching” can be caused by an MPS that is not adjusted correctly, TPS has an idle circuit, when the switch transitions from idle to acceleration the MPS takes over, this transition is where the bucking starts and doesn’t end until the MPS senses hard acceleration.