Members with 74 1.8, information needed for history of cars Options

[wonkipop]

@StarBear & @wonkipop want to hear from members who own 1974 1.8s.
to assist with a topic in originality section of the website.

Cars need to be reasonably original with L jet fuel injection system intact.

If you have the time and can help us with some information it would be great.

information.

1. Vin Date - month and year (no need to post vin numbers if you don't want to). thats the date on the driver door sticker.

2. Karmann plate #. or if you have already done the maths, the day and week of the year the car began production.

3. Image of engine bay emission sticker (lhs above the air cleaner - white with red letters). sticker should say whether it is an EC-A or an EC-B engine and whether it is california + EPA or only EPA.

4. image of engine tune up sticker.
this is the small white sticker that is on LHS engine tin just below fan shroud.
most of them are gone by now, but some engines still have them.

5. image of the throttle body. image of the distributor.
we are looking at the vacuum hose set up between the distributor and the throttle body.

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[wonkipop]

@L-Jet914

i think i have figured out what the modification on yours does and why it might have been done.
its someone's idea of how to cancel retard at standing idle.

the basic idea would be the advance on the dist is being pulled at idle and counteracts the pull in opposite direction from retard.

retard at idle was an emissions thing.
it made combustion cooler for lower NOx emission.

the plumbing in the modification possibly also changes the way the distributor comes off advance as you deaccelerate. someone has done it because they believe it makes it drive a bit sweeter is my guess. it probably does, you are driving it. the only way to know what its doing would be to drive another 914 with the original set up and compare alongside.

stuff gets done to these cars.

esp. these ones with the first real smog engines.

EDIT
actually i might have that the wrong way around, re-reading your original description.
it seems they have gone for a different source of vacuum for the retard than the throttle body?

and maybe took the factory cap off the advance port and put it on the retard port.
and connected up advance when it was never connected. could be as simple as that.
some-one familiar with the EC-B engines looked at this one and decided it was "wrong" so they made an EC-B style set up?

[L-Jet914]

@L-Jet914

i think i have figured out what the modification on yours does and why it might have been done.
its someone's idea of how to cancel retard at standing idle.

the basic idea would be the advance on the dist is being pulled at idle and counteracts the pull in opposite direction from retard.

retard at idle was an emissions thing.
it made combustion cooler for lower NOx emission.

the plumbing in the modification possibly also changes the way the distributor comes off advance as you deaccelerate. someone has done it because they believe it makes it drive a bit sweeter is my guess. it probably does, you are driving it. the only way to know what its doing would be to drive another 914 with the original set up and compare alongside.

stuff gets done to these cars.

esp. these ones with the first real smog engines.

EDIT
actually i might have that the wrong way around, re-reading your original description.
it seems they have gone for a different source of vacuum for the retard than the throttle body?

and maybe took the factory cap off the advance port and put it on the retard port.
and connected up advance when it was never connected. could be as simple as that.
some-one familiar with the EC-B engines looked at this one and decided it was "wrong" so they made an EC-B style set up?

So what you're saying is that according to my tune up sticker, the vac advance side of the distributor was not supposed to be hooked up to the rear port facing the trunk of the throttle body (I've checked no vacuum until off idle at the rear port and manifold vacuum at the forward facing port)? I've only driven the car as you see pictured in the engine bay. I never drove the car prior to any engine work etc. I would love to see a EC-A setup L-Jet engine in bone stock configuration to see if I should remove the added vacuum t and route the retard side of the distributor to the manifold vacuum side of the throttle body. This thread is becoming more and more interesting as I've read through this.