My first 914 joys, woes, and discoveries., My newly acquired 914 saw pavement for the first time in four years Options

[FourBlades]

The front shocks have dust covers on them. If there is oil leaking down from under the cover you have a problem. If you bounce your weight on the front fender over each shock it should compress and spring back but not oscillate.

Your tie rods have bushings that are probably shot making your steering wander. These are pretty easy to replace.

Replacing the ball joints is harder because it is hard to get the big nut off holding them on. I just cut them off and buy new ones to save a lot of grief.

Can someone suggest a good thread showing how to rebuild the front suspension?

Make sure your brakes and fuel lines are good before doing anything else.

Most "normal" mechanics are clueless about how these 40+ year old cars work.

Get help from a world member or Porsche mechanic and save a lot of grief.

I think your car looks very solid (i.e. not too rusty) which is a huge deal as these cars are usually swiss cheese by now. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/aktion035.gif)

If you do need some parts, get used ones from 914 world members and not ebay (much better prices here). I have bought lots of good parts from bdstone.

Get new parts from pelican parts or other Porsche specialist and not generic parts places.

The stuff the generic parts places sell is usually low quality and sometimes plain wrong.

John

[SirAndy]

Shalom

Gesundheit! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[dvid3k]

The front shocks have dust covers on them. If there is oil leaking down from under the cover you have a problem. If you bounce your weight on the front fender over each shock it should compress and spring back but not oscillate.

Your tie rods have bushings that are probably shot making your steering wander. These are pretty easy to replace.

Replacing the ball joints is harder because it is hard to get the big nut off holding them on. I just cut them off and buy new ones to save a lot of grief.

Can someone suggest a good thread showing how to rebuild the front suspension?

Make sure your brakes and fuel lines are good before doing anything else.

Most "normal" mechanics are clueless about how these 40+ year old cars work.

Get help from a world member or Porsche mechanic and save a lot of grief.

I think your car looks very solid (i.e. not too rusty) which is a huge deal as these cars are usually swiss cheese by now. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/aktion035.gif)

If you do need some parts, get used ones from 914 world members and not ebay (much better prices here). I have bought lots of good parts from bdstone.

Get new parts from pelican parts or other Porsche specialist and not generic parts places.

The stuff the generic parts places sell is usually low quality and sometimes plain wrong.

John

Those are all excellent suggestions, I got my accelerator pedal today and I've got everything put back together and running.

I'm pretty familiar with working with suspension and steering components but I'm very unfamiliar with carburetors. I refreshed all the rubber hoses, eliminated the second regulator, relocated the other regulator the the line coming into the engine bay and relocated the fuel pump up to the front trunk area for now. I've made good progress but I'm still not quite there.

I'm not really sure where to go next, the car will run now but it likes to stall out very easy, some back firing, poor idle. I can take it out on the road and it will do okay but the throttle response is still a bit sluggish. The carbs were rebuilt carbs that were installed after the engine was changed by the previous owner, would they need rebuilt from sitting all that time?


Also, the car will sometimes puff some blue smoke when revving, not all the time but every so often. The engine is practically new so I'm guessing something like valve seals or something like that but I'm not to sure, I've also read that just running the car for a while may help take care of that problem.

[dvid3k]

I made somewhat of an improvement by moving the accelerator cable to the lower slot on the throttle linkage bar between the carbs, It seemed like it made a decent improvement but I'm still getting some popping and sluggish response from the throttle.

[FourBlades]

Weber carb tuning is a whole area of knowledge unto itself.

Most "normal" mechanics today know nothing about this.

It would really help if someone familiar with 914s and webers was nearby to help you in person.

There are several books and many lengthy threads on the subject.

John (Last Name Escapes Me) from aircooled.net is also a guru in this area.

http://www.aircooled.net/how-to-set-up-vw-carburetors/

If you want to learn and dive in people here can provide a list of resources.

John

[Bob L.]

Shalom

No, it's "Chalon" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[dvid3k]

A couple photos I took after doing a few circles in the nearest empty parking lot. I think my next steps will be turbo tie rods, carb rebuild kit and a shifter bushing kit. These are the three biggest problem areas I'm dealing with at the moment.

[Eric_Shea]

How much for the Clapton cassette?

[dvid3k]

How much for the Clapton cassette?

I'd mail that off for free, who knows how many years it was lodged under the drivers seat. I unfortunately no longer have a functional cassette deck, so it is of no use to me. I found Mike and the Mechanics in there as well, sadly the cassette deck in the car doesn't work. It'll be coming out anyway or at least be wired up properly.

[FourBlades]

That is not a bad looking body kit.

I normally only like the factory GT look or the Sheridan kit but that is not bad.

I would sort out the mechanical bits totally and enjoy driving the hell out of it.

If you really want to remove the kit later then you can go for it.

John

[dvid3k]

I decided to pull one of the carbs off today and this is what I've found, definitely not looking too clean.

[dvid3k]

While I'm waiting for the rebuild kits for the carburetors, I'm going to try cleaning out the fuel tank to remove some of the pesky rust that has been causing the fuel system to get clogged up. I can't wait to see how she runs after the carbs are rebuilt.

[Bartlett 914]

While I'm waiting for the rebuild kits for the carburetors, I'm going to try cleaning out the fuel tank to remove some of the pesky rust that has been causing the fuel system to get clogged up. I can't wait to see how she runs after the carbs are rebuilt.

Many radiator shops will do it. Shouldn't cost much more than 100.00 to do it and have it treated They are a little better setup to do this. When I had mine done, I was told sometimes they need to heat the tank where there is persistent rust. I painted the tank when it was done and it looks new. I try to do most things myself but this was money well spent

[Eric_Shea]

I'm shocked that it even ran after looking at the carbs... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif)

[dvid3k]

While I'm waiting for the rebuild kits for the carburetors, I'm going to try cleaning out the fuel tank to remove some of the pesky rust that has been causing the fuel system to get clogged up. I can't wait to see how she runs after the carbs are rebuilt.

Many radiator shops will do it. Shouldn't cost much more than 100.00 to do it and have it treated They are a little better setup to do this. When I had mine done, I was told sometimes they need to heat the tank where there is persistent rust. I painted the tank when it was done and it looks new. I try to do most things myself but this was money well spent

I've been thinking about contacting the local radiator shop, in the past I've heard that they can do it so I imagine it would be worth checking out. I'd definitely like to remedy this problem once and for all.

I'm shocked that it even ran after looking at the carbs... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif)

The screen on the inlet of the carburetor that I disassembled was nearly blocked off with debris. I've got the first carburetor ready to put back together so I can't wait to pull the other one apart and see what it looks like inside. The girlfriend got a bit annoyed with me last night since she wanted to watch a movie but I couldn't quit digging at a dirty carburetor. I guess she just doesn't appreciate the thrill of achieving progress on getting an old car running better. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Eric_Shea]

Did the same thing basically. Spent the day setting float levels on 40 IDA 3C's and chasing leaks on my fuel pressure regulator.

After an entire day of Chevron 91 Octane permeating my sole and and existence, I've come to the logical and reasonable conclusion that my carbs are possessed. All of the priests were busy today. We'll see what tomorrow brings...

[dvid3k]

I finished up the car rebuild today and got them back on the car and I'm already feeling a world of difference, the throttle response is about 200% better and I also fixed my binding accelerator issue by fixing the linkage between the two carbs, it was binding and making the throttle pedal stick. The car runs much better but I can feel that it isn't running as smooth as it should, I think I'm going to be taking my fuel take to have it flushed and coated so while I'm doing that I'll see about getting the carbs tuned up, it'll be my first time so it will definitely be a learning experience. The floats were way off when I took the carbs apart but that is just one thing in the long list of things that have been wrong from the start. I don't think I've ran into one thing on this car that has been set up right.

[cwpeden]

I finished up the car rebuild today and got them back on the car and I'm already feeling a world of difference, the throttle response is about 200% better and I also fixed my binding accelerator issue by fixing the linkage between the two carbs, it was binding and making the throttle pedal stick. The car runs much better but I can feel that it isn't running as smooth as it should, I think I'm going to be taking my fuel take to have it flushed and coated so while I'm doing that I'll see about getting the carbs tuned up, it'll be my first time so it will definitely be a learning experience. The floats were way off when I took the carbs apart but that is just one thing in the long list of things that have been wrong from the start. I don't think I've ran into one thing on this car that has been set up right.

You'll need one of these: goes in the bottom of the tank.



Because this will stop fuel flow too:

[dvid3k]

I finished up the car rebuild today and got them back on the car and I'm already feeling a world of difference, the throttle response is about 200% better and I also fixed my binding accelerator issue by fixing the linkage between the two carbs, it was binding and making the throttle pedal stick. The car runs much better but I can feel that it isn't running as smooth as it should, I think I'm going to be taking my fuel take to have it flushed and coated so while I'm doing that I'll see about getting the carbs tuned up, it'll be my first time so it will definitely be a learning experience. The floats were way off when I took the carbs apart but that is just one thing in the long list of things that have been wrong from the start. I don't think I've ran into one thing on this car that has been set up right.

You'll need one of these: goes in the bottom of the tank.



Because this will stop fuel flow too:

I looked into one of those after I read about them but after looking at my tank it seems like someone has modified the outlets by brazing them on when they did the conversion to carbs so at least for now it looks like adding a extra fuel filter in the line is about my only option.