'71 Build Thread, Diamond in the Rough Options

[trojanhorsepower]

Hi Doug,
Can I come up when you do the bearing? I would like to watch. We could get that tree down to.

[dlee6204]

Hi Doug,
Can I come up when you do the bearing? I would like to watch. We could get that tree down to.

I just saw this today. You can absolutely come and watch if you're still interested.

[dlee6204]

Spent some time diagnosing my lights. Left side parking lights would not function. Ended up being a loose fuse under the dash. But I also had some connectivity issues so I cleaned all the bulb sockets on got them working. Same goes for the front. Side marker lights didn't work. I blasted the terminals in the housings and replaced the push-clips and seals. I got everything back together and discovered that my reverse lights stopped working. Diagnosed it to a faulty switch so I'll have to replace that or just replace the pin.








In an effort to diagnose the hiccup/hesitation I've been having, I rechecked the timing. While I was reeving the motor to 3500 rpm to check the timing I noticed that the advance would hesitate and not operate smoothly as I accelerated. It would stick and get hung up so that's one potential reason for the issue. I'm going to fully rebuild a spare and go from there... hoping that solves my issue.

[trojanhorsepower]

Thanks! Let me know when.

[dlee6204]

I haven't made too much progress on the car but I have spent some time troubleshooting the hiccup/ hesitation I've been having. I installed a spare distributor I had and got it timed correctly. The advance/retard now operates smoothly but that did not solve my issue. I verified the CHT connection and my grounds. All checked out. I then checked my fuel pressure and found that it was pumping to 40psi! It should be ~28. I adjusted it to the correct pressure and now the car runs horribly. It's barely drive-able so now I'm thinking at least one cylinder is running is lean. While idling I checked the head temperatures with an IR thermometer and noticed cylinder 3 was lower than the other 3 cylinders. Pulling spark leads had a less noticeable affect on cylinder 3 as well. My next step is to check injector flow and then valve adjustment.

[76-914]

I haven't made too much progress on the car but I have spent some time troubleshooting the hiccup/ hesitation I've been having. I installed a spare distributor I had and got it timed correctly. The advance/retard now operates smoothly but that did not solve my issue. I verified the CHT connection and my grounds. All checked out. I then checked my fuel pressure and found that it was pumping to 40psi! It should be ~28. I adjusted it to the correct pressure and now the car runs horribly. It's barely drive-able so now I'm thinking at least one cylinder is running is lean. While idling I checked the head temperatures with an IR thermometer and noticed cylinder 3 was lower than the other 3 cylinders. Pulling spark leads had a less noticeable affect on cylinder 3 as well. My next step is to check injector flow and then valve adjustment.

#3 was cooler? Odd. That's the hottest cylinder. Was it the coldest with the old distributor, too?

[dlee6204]

Made some more troubleshooting progress although no resolution yet.

Injector flow looked good
I couldn't find any loose terminals or connections
I performed a compression test 130-140 on all cylinders
Some iffy battery connections were fixed
Intake sensor TS1 measured ~500 ohms @45degrees. Seems correct
CHT measured ~90ohms after 5 minutes at idle.
Vacuum hoses are new and have been checked. I'm only running vacuum to MPS and distributor.


So at this point I know I'm running lean. The only thing that helps is if I 1) raise the fuel pressure or 2) Disconnect TS1. I also get a small backfire out the exhaust on overrun.

The only thing I haven't been able to verify is my MPS. My MPS holds vacuum and has not been tampered with but the part number ends in 051 A which is not a 914 MPS. There's not a lot of information on 051A but I found some vague references that it should be a direct replacement for 051E. So who knows. I'm going to continue verifying everything and I'll likely pick up another MPS as a spare to try out. Good news though is that I can at least trick the system so I can keep driving this thing.

[dlee6204]

Well, the car is still running lean. I swapped out the MPS and had no change. I went through all connections again vacuum and electrical and still didn't find anything. Triple checked timing. I also verified my fuel pressure gage is correct which it is. Time to dig deeper...

I also changed out one of my rear wheels bearing because it was noisy. Once back on the road I can now hear my other rear bearing making noise. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) I'll hopefully get to it over the holidays.


I have also decided that once I get this car running correctly it will likely be for sale. I'm interested in moving onto other projects so this one needs to go. If anyone is interested, drop me a PM. I'l be doing a formal ad once its ready.

[dlee6204]

I worked on the interior of the car today. I started by installing 914Rubber's floor vinyl kit. Only some minor was trimming was needed.



I didn't like the idea of adhering anything to the floor of the car so I also made some custom removable sound deadening mats. I cut them on a CNC router with a knife attachment out of 1/8" rubber. The fit came out great and they'll work really well.

[dlee6204]

I also installed some sound deadening/insulation on the firewall. Some might notice the extra wiring... One of the few non-stock components I installed on the car is a defrost rear window. It adds a neat little touch.



I installed most of a new carpet kit. I also cleaned up the backpad and installed. I put the seats back in and called it quits for the day. Still have a lot of little things to install for the interior but those will get completed a different day.






Another item I have to do it paint the retaining pins black for the front floor mats.

[dlee6204]

Been busy with a lot of things lately but I've been making slow and steady progress. Switching gears a bit...

I had to quit driving the car because I had a real bad shimmy in the front end once I got over 60mph. I assumed tie rods were shot and it turns out I was right. I replaced them with turbo tie rods. Night and day difference. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgDIvLqDsiQ

[dlee6204]

Finally an update for my lean running condition...

I've been working on this issue on an off since I got it back on the road . I'm finally getting to the bottom of it. The root cause of all my issues? VACUUM LEAKS!

I sprayed starting fluid throughout the engine bay and I found nearly every connection leak air. I was quite surprised since I was diligent putting the motor back together with new gaskets, sealant, etc. Intake tubes to heads... leaked. Intake tubes to plenum... leaks. Cold start valve... leaked. Temperature sensor II... leaked.

Here's a good shot of the leak at the cold start valve. New gasket and even some sealant, and it still had a nice hole for air to get in.



After fixing all these areas the running condition improved but I was still experiencing issues. At this point I would say the issue was 75% contained. Spraying fluid around the plenum and throttle body still caused the idle to shoot up. I swapped out the throttle body and again I saw a slight improvement but still had issues. I came to the conclusion that plenum itself was leaking at the seam. I swapped out the plenum and saw an improvement but still had issues. I would say at this point issue was at 90%.

So at this point I assumed that the replacement plenum also leaked so I welded up the original plenum and low and behold the running issue once again improved and it runs very close to normal. Lets say 95%. This is currently where I'm at. I took it for a short drive today and I didn't have time to see if there are any more leaks.

[second wind]

Finally an update for my lean running condition...

I've been working on this issue on an off since I got it back on the road . I'm finally getting to the bottom of it. The root cause of all my issues? VACUUM LEAKS!

I sprayed starting fluid throughout the engine bay and I found nearly every connection leak air. I was quite surprised since I was diligent putting the motor back together with new gaskets, sealant, etc. Intake tubes to heads... leaked. Intake tubes to plenum... leaks. Cold start valve... leaked. Temperature sensor II... leaked.

Here's a good shot of the leak at the cold start valve. New gasket and even some sealant, and it still had a nice hole for air to get in.



After fixing all these areas the running condition improved but I was still experiencing issues. At this point I would say the issue was 75% contained. Spraying fluid around the plenum and throttle body still caused the idle to shoot up. I swapped out the throttle body and again I saw a slight improvement but still had issues. I came to the conclusion that plenum itself was leaking at the seam. I swapped out the plenum and saw an improvement but still had issues. I would say at this point issue was at 90%.

So at this point I assumed that the replacement plenum also leaked so I welded up the original plenum and low and behold the running issue once again improved and it runs very close to normal. Lets say 95%. This is currently where I'm at. I took it for a short drive today and I didn't have time to see if there are any more leaks.

Just a Saturday night thought....this is the essence of 914 World......most of us have seen every issue in this thread....and gotten past it....this is the fun part.....driving the cars is nirvana...fixing them not far behind.....I love this stuff....don't want to do to much again....(would for a 6)....but been there done that and now car is really nice.....new clutch...backing plate....motor mounts in last 14 days...car is like new again....will put nicer dash pad on this summer....never finished and no two alike.....This is the best hobbie-sport-addiction for me.....
gg

[dlee6204]

Well this car went to its new home today. Hopefully the new owner will continue to revive this car and continue to make it nice. I'm now looking to see what other projects I can get in to. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)