Ounce of Prevention, -regular up-keep for us newbies- Options

[Boldylocks]

This is a quote/cut and paste from a post from yesterday. I was asking a general question regarding ways to avoid serious problems (trying to be a responsible 914 engine owner) so that the Professors out there dont have to continue finding abused engines.
Perhaps I'm the only one with these questions.
For starters: (IMG:style_emoticons/default/huh.gif)

What would cause an intake valve to bend/br[ea]k???

An 'starter' answer was provided from ArtechnikA -as follows -

"almost always it's getting up-close and too-personal with a piston crown. >smack:question:

[J P Stein]

A few things come to mind...

1).Don't drive it in the rain.....repeat that 19 times.

20). This is kinda off the wall, but....many of these cars
have the original engine, untouched for 30 years.
Crud (shittage) collects on the tops of the cylinders...leading to over heating.

21). Attack rust where ever you find it.

22). The dangerous over revs are caused by shifting to
4th and getting 2nd. You don't even have to work at it.....New shift bushings are gud...cheep, too.....then there's Rennshifter.

23) Did I mention rust? The mechanical stuff is easier to fix than thru & thru sucking chest wounds.

24). I've been known to tear into the car each winter, some major subsystem to.... fix stuff that ain't broken.

[ArtechnikA]

these cars are too old and unsophisticated to be rocket science.

use good oil, change it often enough. do the regularly scheduled maintenance at the recommended service intervals - especially valve adjustments. if your car still uses points keep close watch on the ignition timing. get a good service manual.

stuff will wear out, stuff will break. use good quality replacement parts, good tools, and good safe procedures. almost everything you could possibly need in the way or replacement service parts is available in the user community - there is no reason to have to mickey-mouse anything (except possibly to limp home after some unexpected failure.)

in normal street service, these cars have no unplumbed mysteries - they're pretty well understood. if you have a specific question after you've done your own homework a little to make sure you're not asking a question that's answered on Page One of the manual, don't be afraid to ask.

a 914's magic is in its layout - not its engine, which is quite basic and ordinary. just do the normal, expected, recommended stuff and you'll be fine until something eventually breaks or wears out. when it does, find it & fix it. no magic.

[Boldylocks]

Cool, thanks...

sucking chest wounds! -YIKES- am I smelling some horror stories? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

[ArtechnikA]

sucking chest wounds! -YIKES- am I smelling some horror stories?

you don't need to look very far - the early Porsche annals are rife with stories of rusted hulks. 'tis the legacy of an entry-level car with unibody construction (lots of welded chambers to trap water) made with absolutely no corrosion resistance. add in leaky seals and the placement of the battery under the rain tray and above a suspension pickup and the stage is set.

when w4e talk of "rust free" 914's we mean it comes at no additional cost...

[Boldylocks]

So, I guess I'm to understand an unknown 'rust' problem has resulted in an incident while a person is driving?

Time to head to the discussions relating to RUST. yikes (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif)

[redshift]

If you don't carry a fire extinguisher, you should, you must, you'd better, there is a reason you see the bottle on the tunnel on interior photos.

If it's shifting crappy, fix that soon. Sloppy shifters have all kinds of consequence if you like to drive 'fun'.

Everytime you take your top off, God kills a kitten.



M