Need help/suggestions/opinions, Carbs Options

[drdriddle]

72 914 with 1.7 that I have been restoring for about a year. Bought it with dual Webers and ran very poorly and made it home 30 miles but with Popping and backfiring the whole time. I recently rebuilt the carbs and installed the jet doctor modification to try to solve any debris clogging issue on the air intakes. Verified dwell at 52, timed to 30 at 3300k. No vacuum advance. Pulling 5’s on the snail airflow meter to all carbs. Made sure to disconnect linkage prior to working on idle. Idle adjustment screw all the way in, then advance to touching the plate plus a half turn. Started with air/fuel needles 1 1/2 out on all four and fired well. Minimal monkying to get the carbs relatively synched. Lowest idle I can consistently get without backfiring is around 930rpm, any lower and I get the occasional pop up through an carb throat and it seems to hunt up and down badly. And I brought it up to temp before doing any changes. Any changes I did, I waited a moment for things to settle before changing anything else.

It runs without popping but big hesitation when advancing throttle for just a moment then she goes well. Runs better off idle circuit, but I’ve read at steady pace some idle circuit is still there? Hesitation from steady pace at slow and mid range rpm…but runs well over 4K without any hesitation when getting on throttle hard. Additionally throttle let off gets me a lot of popping out the tailpipe. I did swap the exhaust for a bursch (sp?) and it sounds awesome btw. No more tinny sounding VW motor

So these are 44’s and everything I’ve read is saying these are too big for the motor size. Strongly considering dropping to 40’s but it’s a chunk of money to do that. I do know that the mains and other jets are the standard sizes, I think 11’s for the mains?(been a couple months since I looked at all the numbers, but at the time I verified they were all the normal ones supplied as if I had bought them new).

If I need to drop down, is 40’s acceptable. The air filters and bases, linkage etc will work with 40’s and I don’t want to have to buy all that as well if I don’t need to, but would 36/38’s be a better choice?

Or

Do I get some different jets, and start going that route? I’m at a higher elevation of 3500 feet and feel like different jets may certainly help. But I don’t want to do that if the entire carb (44’s) are too big for the motor and end up chasing my tail of the starting point isn’t correct

What say you all, and thank you for any input.

[Spoke]

What say you all, and thank you for any input.

Any input? Sure I'll give it a go.

Agreed the 44's are too big for a 1.7L. If it were me, I'd either keep the 44's and look for a 2L engine or look for a 2L engine with EFI. If you want to wake up your 914, go back to basics: There's no replacement like displacement.

I've had a 1.7L w/dual 40s in my 914; replaced with a 1.8L with EFI. Both engines produced about the same HP but the car was slow to accelerate. Then I replaced the 1.8L with 2.056L w/dual 44s. The 2L really woke up my 914. I can almost out drag minivans at red lights with the 2L; no chance with the 1.7/1.8.

I'd look for a 2L engine coming out of someone's 914 as they put a /6 in or some larger displacement engine. Best would be to find a 2L with EFI.

[drdriddle]

What say you all, and thank you for any input.

Any input? Sure I'll give it a go.

Agreed the 44's are too big for a 1.7L. If it were me, I'd either keep the 44's and look for a 2L engine or look for a 2L engine with EFI. If you want to wake up your 914, go back to basics: There's no replacement like displacement.

I've had a 1.7L w/dual 40s in my 914; replaced with a 1.8L with EFI. Both engines produced about the same HP but the car was slow to accelerate. Then I replaced the 1.8L with 2.056L w/dual 44s. The 2L really woke up my 914. I can almost out drag minivans at red lights with the 2L; no chance with the 1.7/1.8.

I'd look for a 2L engine coming out of someone's 914 as they put a /6 in or some larger displacement engine. Best would be to find a 2L with EFI.

Well yes I’d love to do a 2.0 liter or bigger…and maybe I should’ve stated this off the jump but, honestly buying an engine is out of reach for me. I’m doing the best I can with rebuilding with the budget I have. I can do 40’s and keep a lot of the ancillary things that would swap over….was mainly looking to see if I should buy the 40’s or if I was missing something that jetting would correct. As the first responder noted there are a lot of variables such as venturis that I am still learning about/grasping concepts. Thank you both for the replies.