Saving Babydoll Options

[zymurgist]

I'm trying to help out a friend here. She has had a 914 for a few years now... she bought the car as a weekend toy. Never mind the fact that it was almost 30 years old, since she has a few Porsche freaks... erm, I mean friends... to help her out with maintenance.

Babydoll, as her white '74 2.0 is affectionately known, sadly has rust in all the usual places. But we're not going to go there, at least not in the immediate future. What I'm trying to do is to get the mechanicals in good shape so the car can be used as a weekend joyrider. The engine was rebuilt a few years ago with Euro pistons & cylinders, and it runs as smoothly as you can expect from a 4-banger. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/wink.gif)

It started with an oil leak onto the clutch. Normally this is a "drop the engine, fix the problem, put it back in" kind of deal, but since we're doing this in my 2-bay garage, and I already have 2 toys of my own in it, we have to play a logistics game. We dropped the engine/tranny and rolled the car out of the garage, allowing my poor sick 911 to be coaxed back under cover. Babydoll got a car cover and then a plastic tarp to keep the rain off.

So now her 2.0 drivetrain is sitting on my floor, and I'm going over it, trying to make sure that the hoses are in good shape because she has complained of chronic fuel leaks. Lo and behold, I found that all of the injection hose is 5/16" hose that is clearly marked as 7.93 mm... factory spec is 7 mm, so this hose is almost 1mm too large. There is one piece of 7mm hose, but it looks really really old, so all that hose has to go! I'm also going to replace all the worm type clamps with proper fuel injection clamps. Also going to pull the injectors and have them checked out. When they go back in they will get new seals. That, I think, should fix any fuel leaks on the engine.

The emissions hose is all there, but I'd like to replace it if I can find a nice factory-type sheathed hose in 13mm, although 1/2" would be OK if it's got that sheath on the outside. The only thing missing is the deceleration valve, but my research indicates that this isn't strictly necessary. No emissions on antique cars in Virginia.

When I get around to separating the engine and tranny, I plan to clean the heck out of the flywheel and pressure plate; replace the flywheel seal and O-ring; replace the clutch disc and throwout bearing; and check the oil galley plugs and goop them up if necessary.

Does this sound like a good plan? Are there any "while I'm in there" things that I should attend to? I don't want to have to drop her engine for a long time, especially since I may be dropping my 911 engine (to fix oil leaks, why else?) this winter.

Oh yeah... I consider engine drops and reinstalls to be 2 person jobs, so I schedule that work when my friend can come over and help me. That way somebody can call 911 (EMS, that is, not my car!) when I drop an engine on my foot.

[DNHunt]

Ken

You be careful when you work on that car. 914's carry a disease called Dirk Wright Disease. Once infected you will look at a car differently. Everytime you start a project you will see other things that could be done. A newly infected individual will be heard saying "While I'm in there" and ussually the projects never end. Cars spend years on jackstands. It would be ashamed if your 911 and Corvette got the disease too.

Having said that, adjust the valves while the engine is out. Big time saver. While you are in there change the valve cover gaskets. Consider replacing plugs, points, rotor and cap. But while you are in there, consider looking at the distributor cause the bushings may be worn. Change the filters. While you are in there if there is rust in the fuel filter consider pulling the fuel tank and cleaning and sealing it. Repack the CV joints or better yet while you are in there clean and inspect them and replace if necessary. (Sorry that part is NLA so you can consider adapting something else). Well crap, since we are doing all of that maybe we should do the rust. See where it can go.

Seriously, check to see if it is safe (Brakes, tires, suspension and reasonably solid, fuel lines). Do a tune up (adjust valves, filters, ignition components). Eliminate vacuum leaks (new hoses). Most of this you were already on. Just don't look to close at everything else cause you may be opening a can of worms . Oh ya, JP says magic smoke lives in these cars somewhere so be really careful not to let it out cause the car never runs right without it.

It sounds like you are a kind soul so tell your friend about the other things you see but, let her get them done cause you may not get back to your own cars.

Dave