The RocketMonkey 914 Options

[RocketMonkey]

I thought I’d start a thread to say introduce myself and my newly acquired 914.

I’ve owned air-cooled VW’s for years so the 'fourteen isn’t unfamiliar territory, but obviously all cars have their own mechanical nuances and quirks so I’m hoping to gather some input from the group along the way to ease the journey and save a bit of solitary head scratching.

I purchased the car as a non-runner due to the previous owner losing commitment to work through the fuel injection issues he was experiencing. He got as far as stripping the injection system out and bolting on a pair of brand new Webber carbs, but didn’t get as far as trying to sort out connecting fuel lines, fuel pump or ignition before the poor thing got abandoned to sit unloved in a barn in deepest darkest Hampshire.

Thankfully all the FI components removed came with the car, along with a few extra used parts the previous owner purchased during their attempts to get it running so I’m hoping I can go through it all systematically and reinstate the fuel injection again having read on this forum that a straight switch to carburettors without a change of cam isn’t ideal.

The car otherwise is relatively up together. It’s suffering slightly from lack of use, so I’ll go through it from a safety perspective before it hits the road again but I’m hoping this won’t take too long as the summer is here and I’d like to use it!

For those with long memories the car may be familiar as it was originally imported into the UK by a 914world forum member who I was able to track down thanks to a bit of sleuthing initiated from these very pages. I’m not sure I would have picked the car up as a non-runner with the same confidence had it not been for the invaluable input from the man who is lennyhope on here, I know it left his custodianship in good shape so a big thanks to him for his help.


Anyway, enough talking and time for some pictures (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)



These are the images saved from the original advert. They did the car no favours at all, it just looked a bit sorry for itself. Nevertheless, they were my first impression of the 914 so it seems befitting that they should also start this thread, a before and after if you will as the project develops...


























A deal was done; however, it was going to be a few weeks until I could get the car delivered to home so I had a smaller one delivered to my desk via eBay to tide me over (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)







Finally, the day arrived to pull it out the barn...









and a few hours later it's home at last!







This was the first time I really got to get a good look around the car and on the whole it's not bad at all so I'm very pleased with it. It's not perfect by any means and there are many small jobs aside of the obvious fuel issue but all being well it shouldn't take too much to bring it back to a very useable car.
















So that's it for now, there will be plenty more to follow and many questions will be asked of the group along the way.

I'm currently in two minds whether to get it running on the carbs first which seems like the easiest option with the intention to refit the fuel injection after the summer when I have a bit more time, or whether to try and reinstall the fuel injection straight away. Either way, initially there are a few little jobs that I'd like to complete for some easy wins to get the ball rolling before I get too stuck into it.

Let the project commence!