Intro from Montana: '73 2.0L rustoration thread Options

[Morph914]

Wow Brent! It was great to see your ride under its own power. I want to thank you for taking the time to post your journey. I have referred to it often to educate myself on how to do things the right way. And many of the projects you were able to accomplish, I would not think about or have the skill set to attempt , like flocking the glove box, wrapping the steering wheel, painting your whole car, fabricating a cup holder out of a ash tray, etc, etc.
I hope to have mine on the road soon as well.

Cheers (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
John

[Morph914]

I feel honored to be the first post on page 100 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/pray.gif)

[bbrock]

Thanks everyone for the kind words. I am truly humbled. And fitting that you were the one to kick us over to page 100 John. Your build is in that top tier. Let's be clear about the flocking though, that's all @raynekat . Heck, Doug even sent me his flocking kit. I didn't even know the glove box was flocked, but now it's one of the first things I show off. Yes, almost everyone looks at me like I'm crazy, but we get it.

I have to admit that I was feeling a bit of regret over yesterday's drive. I really didn't expect the car to be running so smoothly already. From dead cold the thing just barks to life and idles low and smooth. The throttle is buttery smooth at low rpms and I just want to take it the 3 miles out to pavement and put my foot in it. I did get some good news today. I called my windshield guy again and told him I'd be willing to drive to Billings or similar to pick up the glass. He called back and said he can get it delivered to Helena if I'm willing to pick it up. Hey, it's only a couple hundred miles, so heck yeah!

So back to the engine tune. The new SVDA dizzy arrived today so that will go in tomorrow. I know there is still work ahead to dial in this engine but it sure seems like it's off to a good start. Yesterday's drive just kicked my excitement into high gear but I need to not get ahead and skip important details.

[Rleog]

“ Just a short trip across the road to show off the car to the neighbor, but I now have one mile on the odometer.”

Awesome! Incredible! Such determination and persistence. This thread is golden. Thanks for keeping us in the loop.

[bbrock]

Brent buddie,

You are almost done with your car. Congratulations coming out to you and your wife.
When you first showed your car, I suggested that you find a car will much less rust.
Well you showed quite a skill set and also taught us a little on Montana and a bit on the restoration of a car that has a lot of meaning to you and your wife.

Funny thing about how meaningful it is Bob. When I was bumping up the insurance to full coverage, the Haggerty agent asked if I wanted the "cherished salvage" option. After explaining what that was, I told her that I've had this car most of my life, but I'm not sure I cherish it "that much" and declined. Maybe I'll feel different after building some new memories with it, but at this point, it is still just a machine.

Happy May from Montana everyone. Yes, same driveway I drove the car on in 70 degree weather 2 days ago (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[Porschef]

Wow. If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[raynekat]

Brent.....I think you could either go this route:



I know you've got the engineering chops for this.
Or if you need to fund your project a bit, you could go this direction:



Either way, I'll support it and be your biggest fan.
Ha

[bbrock]

Oh man I want... no NEED... a 911 snow plow!!!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/drooley.gif)

[KELTY360]

Oh man I want... no NEED... a 911 snow plow!!!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/drooley.gif)

Why stop at snow plow......make it a road grader. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[bbrock]

Oh man I want... no NEED... a 911 snow plow!!!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/drooley.gif)

Why stop at snow plow......make it a road grader. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/splat.gif)

[KELTY360]

Oh man I want... no NEED... a 911 snow plow!!!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/drooley.gif)

Why stop at snow plow......make it a road grader. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/splat.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif) I was just trying to help. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/poke.gif)

[930cabman]

@BB, very informative (long) thread. How is she running?

Couple Q's, are you running Weber 40 IDF wit 28mm venturis? vacuum advance dist?

thank you

[bbrock]

@BB, very informative (long) thread. How is she running?

Couple Q's, are you running Weber 40 IDF wit 28mm venturis? vacuum advance dist?

thank you

I was going to reply to your other thread but don't have much to report just yet. Yes, 40 IDFs with 28 venturis. Bear in mind that the only actual driving I've done was that short little trip at low speeds across to the neighbor and back, so no real road testing.

The first dizzy I installed was the stock 2.0L DJet dizzy with the FI trigger points removed and blocked off and both vacuum advance and retard hooked up. I really think that would be a good dizzy for my cam which is just a little longer duration from stock. I'm pretty sure it has a bad centrifugal advance spring though which was causing it to run inconsistent.

The dizzy in there now is a full centrifugal 050 which I think would be a pretty good dizzy. There is a slight hesitation just off idle, but nothing compared to the insufferable flat spot from the 009s I ran on another 914 and a VW Bus. However, I'd like to do better than just tolerable so I now have this Pertronix SVDA waiting to go in. Hopefully I can report at least a little on it after this weekend.



Of course, not being one who is easily satisfied, I'm thinking of sending my stock dizzy in for rebuild and give it another go.

[930cabman]

Thanks, we are not far behind. Is it possible your hesitation is coming from the initial spark timing being retarded? When do you plan to get her out for an Italian tune up?

[dr.tim]

NEED... a 911 snow plow!!!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/drooley.gif)

NO! That's a perfectly good donor car.

There is a slight hesitation just off idle, but nothing compared to the insufferable flat spot from the 009s I ran on another 914 and a VW Bus.

What does the snail (AFM) read at warm idle?

[bbrock]

What does the snail (AFM) read at warm idle?

It's running pretty steady at 7 on both sides IIRC. Will double check before pulling the 050. When I say slight hesitation, it is very slight and don't know how noticeable it would be while driving, but suspect maybe more when the car is under load. I did not notice it at all in my little drive across the road even when I stepped on it a little coming up my steep driving. When I notice hesitation is with the car idling in neutral and I rev it quickly to something near WOT, and even then, I might not have noticed it if it hadn't been a back to back comparison with the stock dizzy with vacuum advance connected. That one snapped the advance up the instant the throttle opened.

My understanding is that centrifugal advance will never respond respond to increased load and the 050 is better than 009 in that the centrifugal advance kicks in at lower rpm to eliminate the flat spot. Still learning though.

[bbrock]

A Tale of Three Dizzies

Let's start where I left off, with this SVDA dizzy.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads/post-20845-1620871275.jpg)

First I'll mention that little spring on the right. That is a return spring for the CSP carb linkage. I decided to add it because the springs on the carbs are a little soft. Adding this spring gave me a much nicer peddle feel and more certainty the carbs will fully close.

The SVDA is Chinese made and seems to be decent quality, but not great and it is no Bosch. Per recommendations, I took it apart to clean and lube. Mine was really clean inside but there was zero lubricant between the advance plates and they had a bit of a gritty feel to the action so I gave them a very thin smear of high temp grease. There was a rubber plug instead of the felt lubricating plug at the top of the shaft and they had squirted a little silicone grease in there. I didn't like the look of it so put a drop of oil in and transfered over the oil soaked felt pad from my old dizzy. I also transferred the dust cover (because it says "Germany") and the rotor I modified to remove the resistor so the high output coil won't fry it. Finally, the new dizzy has a chintzy looking O-ring so I transferred the D-shaped seal from the old dizzy. Then I switched them back after I discovered the new dizzy is machined just different enough that the OEM seal won't work. Oh, and of course the points and condenser came out and were replaced with the Pertronix Ignitor III.



Plugged the new dizzy in, fired up the engine, set the timing, and then tried to redial the carbs. Couldn't get the engine to idle for shit. It ran every bit as crappy as it did with the stock dizzy. This time I could tell for sure the ignition was missing badly and could see it on the timing light. I could dial the carbs in to get the engine to idle smoothly at about 950 except for occasional misfires, and then the idle would drop until the engine nearly stalled. I f-d around with various things for about 2 hours and the said "fuch it" and moved the Pertronix back to the 050 and plugged it back in. Plugged it in EXACTLY on perfect timing and after de-fuching the carbs from the previous adjustment, had it purring like a kitten and revving like a tiger. It was running so nicely, I decided to drive it down to the beaver ponds (yes, that is a thing here) and back. Damn I need to get this thing on some pavement. I can tell that this engine wants to SCOOT!

I'm going to stick with the 050 for now but will fiddle with dizzies again. Because the Pertronix is running so well in the 050, I had ruled it out as the problem on the stock unit. I'm rethinking that now. Either I have two bad dizzies which seems unlikely given one is brand new, or the Ignitor just isn't playing well in them. This latest version doesn't use a magnet ring like the earlier two, and doesn't have an adjustment for the air gap. Instead they just using the dizzy cam lobes themselves to trigger the Hall effect, but I'm now suspecting these are more sensitive to air gap than the engineers thought. Oh well, a mystery to solve at a later time.

I posted this in another thread, but in the middle of all this, I had to get gas for the car and a neat thing happened. Went to Livingston to pick up 5 gallons of petrol to put in my teener. As I pulled on the frontage road at Livingston, I passed a Montana Whizzer. That is a guy standing full frontal facing the road whizzing away with Johnson in full view. For reasons that are not clear to me, this is not an uncommon sight along the roads around here. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif) That was the most interesting part of the trip until I was near home and pulled over to pick up our paper at the frontage road just as the same red 914 I spotted on this same road last fall pulled off I-90 to turn onto the same road. I pulled up next to him and told him I had a 914 too but I'm not sure he could hear over his engine. He said this was his fantasy drive and started telling me the route he likes to drive. Then a car pulled up behind and he had to go. Good to know he is a regular so hopefully we'll cross paths again while I'm driving mine. Sadly, I had left my cell phone at home so again, no pic.

The other project I've been working on is the air intakes. I said I had a plan, and here it is.



Slice the can open like I'm giving it a face lift. To drop the outer edges down about the one inch that was needed, only required trimming about a quarter inch on the back side to bring the whole thing into the correct plane. Then it is a matter of stitching them up.



Geometry 101, if you flatten an arc, the distance between the end points increases. And that's exactly what happened when I lowered the air box to bring it closer to the same height as the carbs. There is enough adjustment in the center mount that I could shift it all to the right side, but I had to chop off the inner end of that right intake and rebuild it to shorten it.



Then there was the matter of fixing the interference with the right intake with the trunk torsion rod. Here was my solution.



This also required relocating one of the spring clips.



After dressing all the scars and fresh coats of paint, it is back in the car and I'm just going to say it. It looks BITCH'IN (IMG:style_emoticons/default/aktion035.gif)





And yes, the engine lid closes WITH the unmolested rain tray in place.



I'll have to take some sound measurement with and without but for now I will say that there is a lot less whoosh and clatter and what you hear from inside the car is almost entirely exhaust note. Ben's muffler becomes the star of the show and it sounds totally badass. The engine has more of a woof and a growl with the intakes on. I'm going to be honest though, it is too loud for me. Ninety-nine percent of you guys would love the sound of this muffler, but if I can find something quieter, I will probably switch. When I pulled up next to that 914 today, my first thought was "goddammit that car is fuching loud!" I'll have to spend some time with it though. I will say that driving down the road slowly with the top off, the sound was not at all unpleasant and I had no trouble hearing the radio. I just need more seat time but as far as I'm concerned, the fewer mechanical decibels there are in this world, the better.

[bbrock]

One last thing. These have been on back order for so long that I can't remember when I ordered them, but the rear tail light lens seals came from AA this week. I don't say this often (or ever) about AA reproductions, but I'm very pleased with these.





The news seals are so plump compared to the old dried out ones that I used a screen spline tool to roll them into the grooves before installation. This helped a lot getting the lenses to seat properly.

[930cabman]

Looks bitchin, keep it goin.
Thanks for posting

[Superhawk996]

For reasons that are not clear to me, this is not an uncommon sight along the roads around here. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Here's the possibilities that I see.

1) Montana closed too many rest areas. I don't know if it was due to the Rona or just an opportunity for Montana to try to save money in the winter. When I passed though in March nearly every rest area along I-90 in Montana was closed. Other states on my route have not closed thier rest areas like Montana did.

2) Not enough trees to hide behind? That area is a bit barren along the highway!

3) Trolling for Beaver?


Car is looking great. Distributor and Pertronix woes are a mystery to me. Your experiences make points seem even more attrative to me.