Hi All,

I've been a member here for several years, but not exactly active. This is all going to change... picked up a '71 over the weekend and will be getting to work on it very soon. Body is pretty good overall. It will eventually need some attention, new floor pans are in the future, and a respray but I plan to focus on getting it running for the summer and go from there.

The car has a rebuilt 2.0L motor/sideshift swapped in. Unfortunately the flywheel seems to be siezed. In the absence of knowing the history for certain, we'll be dropping the tranny and checking everything out rather than any attempts to break it loose. A new starter, tuneup, and hopefully she'll be ready to go!

I'm no stranger to working around newer cars, but this will certainly be a learning experience. Bear with me... there will probably be a lot of followed by probably a little and with any luck: .

And a ton of to lubricate the process...

On to the more important stuff!

Welcome to the madness my son

Excellent first post. Welcome to 914 world!

Have fun with the resto. Good to see another 914 getting some love.

Excellent foundation.... smart idea on driving it for awhile before it ends up on jack stands...

Very nice looking car, congratulations! As previously stated, welcome to the madness!

Thanks everyone... I'm pretty sure they all look nice in pics

I looked at that ad several times. Nice score!

Since you've been around since 07 I guess is not so apropreiate but hey it a cool smiley!

Yeah, that's a pretty long stretch before a first post... I originally signed up to track my dad's (jwhcars) 914, and to glean as much info as I could before finding one of my own.

Now I've gone and dived in headfirst

So, I guess this is as good a place as any to organize my thoughts and bounce ideas around. A whiteboard in the garage would work... but then the wife would see my shitlist in it's full uncen$ored glory!

For now, the goal is to get the car on the road and go from there. To do this I will need to sort out the following:

biggies:
-starter/solenoid/ignition issues: either I turn the key and get nothing, or it starts... no in between. I put the battery on a trickle charger overnight to eliminate this as a source, next step is to troubleshoot starter/solenoid + check grounds.

-clutch/flywheel seem to be seized: next weekend I may get daring and put the rear end on stands and attempt to coax it loose. I guess the wise solution is to drop motor/tranny and check things out. According to PO, motor/tranny was purchased as a low miles rebuilt unit and installed by him. Mild bore, P&P, cam, carbs... I've got no reason to doubt this but would be nice to know for sure.

annoyances:
-brake lights always on: switch?
-no reverse lights (??)
-drivers tail light lens
-assorted bulbs (tail, one high beam, one fog)

future annoyances:
-new fuse panel once starting issues have been sorted.
-remove old alarm (ugh)
-floorpans
-rust repair around windshield
-lots of old rubber seals
-full respray someday

The good news: it DID start on Saturday, and seems to run reasonably well. A bit reassuring, considering I had only heard it idle for about 5 sec up to this point.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqBbSOvuBxA

Re: Brake Light Switch - my '74 was like that when I took possession of it.

The brake light switch can come out of alignment with the part of the pedal that's supposed to press down on it. When that happens, it's spring-loaded to be in the "on" position.

Getting the pedal board out was a PITA for me, but after that it's pretty easy to pull out the brake light switch, bend the little arm on it (if necessary), and re-install it so that the pedal presses against it correctly. Also worth noting, the wiring is reversible since it's just a circuit - i.e. doesn't matter if you put the same wires on the same terminals when you put it back in.

A few comments:
The starting issue is a cracked ignition switch housing. This is a common problem.

Check out your brake-light switch. The mounting and activation for this switch isn't well-engineered and you'll probably need to fiddle with the sheet-metal activation lever.

The reverse switch is a common problem. Typical failure points are a worn activation plunger (you can easily replace this by removing the switch) or failed contacts on the wiring.

Never heard of a seized flywheel. Being attached only to the end of the crank, theres just nothing for it to seize to except the clutch itself, which would mean the engine would still turn over. If you can't turn the engine over, more likely something stuck inside the engine. I see the car on the trailer, and then moved to the garage, so I assume the car rolls. That would indicate the car is in neutral. That would seem to elimnate a locked up tranni (unless the cvs are loose). Still leaning toward engine not rotating. What you guys think?

Engine does turn over... when the ignition is not being problematic. That aside, it starts fine in neutral (video in my last post), but can't put it into gear without grinding. I haven't gotten it up on stands yet to start in gear, but seems to go through the gears just fine. Again, it's only been a week so I'm just starting to scratch the surface here... thanks for all the tips so far!

Just got my 914 back from getting a new clutch & flywheel. I had similar issues - grinding going into gears (esp first) and other shifting issues. My mechanic showed me the flywheel - it was badly worn and we suspect it was sticking to the clutch. It was driveable, but challenging.

New clutch & flywheel seem to have solved it.

You can put a white board in one of the trunks .... that way it is out of sight of questioning eyes Let me know when you want to have a car working weekend or just bring yhe car to me and i will play with it.

If the ignition switch housing were bad, wouldn't I get power in acc but no cranking when I try to start? I'm either seeing power & cranking, or nothing at all.

Well, I've been in teener remission for a few years while life took over but the illness is back. In the meantime we had a kid, remodeled most of the house, and I put in way too many hours in the lab. I've got a bit of downtime between jobs now and am giving the car a bit of attention... FINALLY.

A lot of the easy stuff is done: cleaned grounds, replaced battery terminals and several other sh!tty connectors. She starts fine now, no further worries with ignition switch or starter for now. Replaced bulbs, fuses, fiddled with switched, and nearly everything works as it should. Cleaned everything up a bit, removing a bit of decades-old sap one panel at a time so I don't go batshit.

The major roadblock is still the clutch, and I'm pretty much resigned to dropping the tranny and getting down to business (yes, this IS what I said I'd do first 3 years ago! ) . Car starts fine in N, will start in gear with rear on stands and wheels do spin. Clutch pedal does nothing. Nada. Tube is not loose at either end. I added several washers to the cable end by pulley, tightened, and definitely had enough tension that pedal should have disengaged. I even went so far as to try to pull the car "a tad" with all wheels on ground, in gear, with clutch pedal held down. This did not work... but the neighbors found it quite entertaining.

Am I missing anything external to the clutch that could be going on? Shifting is a bit wonky, but no use sorting that until I get this figured out.

For your entertainment... "using the wrong tools 101":

Wohoo Glad to see another L50E paint code. Adriatic blue looks amazing on this car.

Aha! Here's a timeworn method for freeing up a stuck clutch. Get the car to a place where you have substantial hazard free room. Like a 1/4 mile or more. Warm up the engine, then shut it off. Put it gear and start it back up. I like 2nd, but 1st will work. Once you're moving along at 3 0r 4000 RPM, depress the clutch, allow the RPMs to drop, and nail the throttle. Repeat this rapidly, jerking along like a kid on his first stick shift driving lesson. I've never seen this fail, and I've done it a lot of times.

Good luck! The Cap'n

Thanks Cap'n! I was trying to substitute for this method with my "pulling a tad" strategy. I may have attempted a few BRIEF awd launches with tension on the tow chain, to no avail.

I might have to call in a friend with a trailer to haul it somewhere a bit more secluded. My driveway is on a hill, and neither pushing it up nor coasting down into my garage with questionable brakes are attractive options.

If you CAN get into gear, with motor running,without it rolling or on jackstands it sounds like the clutch is just dragging bad. Clutch cable tube torn loose in tunnel & at firewall? Perhaps something to look at prior to mtr./ trans. removal?