Nick73914 just bought a 73 1.7 litre a month ago, and brought the car by for me to look at. Its badged as a 2.4L. The po said he pulled out the 2.4 and reinstalled the 1.7. I checked and reset all the settings, but it still ran like crap. I thought it was running on three cylinders. Last week his alternator went out and he brought it over last friday so we could change it out. That's when I discovered someone had used a 3" long shoulder bolt to secure the belt tensioning nut. It needed a 1/2 " wrench. I turned it just a little, and the bolt snapped about a 1/2' from the bracket. Vise grips would not unscrew it. While it was on jackstands I decide to give it a good look underneath. What I found was shocking. This is a 73 1.7 with side shifter. Here's the mount bar, and the shift rod. The bottom rod is for comparison. The bar was shimmed down with two nuts and two washers on each side. There were no soft mounts. The shift rod was hitting the cutout they made in the bar.


Then there was an external oil cooler that had been installed. The lines (which are common heater hose) was running in the wheel well, with the filter mounted directly over the tire. Yikes!!!




Nick, I said, We need to pull the engine and fix this right. Engine came out at 4pm friday. We worked all day Saturday to make everything right again. We removed the cooler crap and put the filter back where it belongs. Switched the mount bar, and found a proper shift rod in my parts stash. Had to remove the front tin so I could grind off the strange bolt on the alternator. Got everything done, and I thought this is great time to check vale adjustment. Every valve was at zero lash. No wonder the car ran like crap. By the time we got done it was 4pm saturday, and the 100 degree heat had got to me. We called it a day. Took the day off
Sunday as it was my 18th day in a row at work. Nick will be back this morning to help me reinstall the engine. This 19 yr old has learned a lot in one weekend, and I got a feeling he will be smiling big this afternoon.

Thanks for listening. We'll report back later.

Way to go.

Pretty scary...

Good on ya!
Can't imagine someone doing anything that stupid. Must have been an out of work engineer. LOL! "air turbulence" from the tire rotating cools the oil?!
Tom

Yes, perhaps but the term "engineer" has been so diluted that I'd have to agree with you. A REAL engineer would never have done that.

Thanks for helping to make a 914 right again!

Put it back the way it's 'supposed to be...

I'll tell you what Curt, the NE-OK Green Country Teeners are lucky to have you around!

Ok. Engine is back in and she purrs like a kitten. Runs like a typical 1.7, and shifts very nice. We had to remove the joint that connects the two rods together and rotate it 180 degrees. Seems like the front shift rod is upside down as the hole for the cone screw is one the top! Anywho, all is well now. Well, not "all", but that will be another day

Here's a happy young man.












Thanks Tom. I really do enjoy helping the guys and keeping the cars running.

BTW Tom, How you know bout green country?

What an awesome learning experience! Curt is THE MAN! It literally felt like I was driving a different (better) car than what I drove to his shop.

Win!

You were really.

Nice work Curt

Ah, my old car . . . I remember it fondly . . . is the secret drug mule hatch still sunken in the trunk or did someone replace the pan?

Hey Curt, any chance you want to help another fellow OK Tenner? Jcambo is my brotherin law and has no spark. He currently has pertronix and I have a theory is if fried but since I am not there I can't do much but tell him what to do.

Whoa, when did this happen?

There are a couple of guys in OKC who can handle work on 'teeners. I'll PM James and see if I can't get him hooked up. Unless he needs 'beer help'.

There are plenty of cabable guys in OKC. There is a shop run by a guy named Dumont. He's in the classen and nw 50th area.

Yea! Nothing like helping out a new guy and letting him learn in the process. I am always amazed with people have done to these cars.

Is that lyndsey racing or planet9eleven?

Ok, I confused. according to Dumonts website he's in the downtown area. Either he's moved or I mistaken

http://www.pcarshops.com/oklahoma/dumonts-porsche-service

I have a call into a bud in Okc who knows them all. Waiting for him to call back.

Thank you guys for helping I wish I could fly out but things are crazy here right now

What amazes me is these cars still run and are somewhat reliable no matter how bad the "repairs" are done.

I went by Dumont's one day to check it out. Lot of ragged torn up VWs outside and didn't get to see inside (closed). Then I read a lot of bad reviews online. Planet9eleven is closer to me. I've talked to Cory, the owner, a couple times. They seem like they would be much more knowledgeable and have a couple 914s on their lot, but definitely not their specialty. Guarantee they could put a fancy aero kit on your 996 though!

I called them and they don't have pertronix. They would have to order it.

You could get one yourself. Just order it from them on line and install it if hat is the route you want to go. If you want to switch to points they could easily help.

That was what I was thinking of doing Jon. I guess I just don't wont to have to deal with points and having to adjust them. It would be a good thing to learn and know though so I may end up getting one so I have it in case the pertronix fails again and I have a back up system.

That would be a good idea. They are only a few bucks and they are simply to install when you know how

Thats what I will do then. I pretty sure that the forgeign junk yard near me that has the three 914s will have some old points I could get for cheap. I will get points and learn how to adjust them and stuff and put the pertronix in using the points as a backup system.

Don't forget to get the Vin's for the database, Unless you have already.

Yep thats been taken care of. It was the first thing I did after the first day I went there.

Don't do that, man. They'd probably charge more for pulling used points from a wreck and selling them to you than Kerr Imports would charge for a new set.

As for a guy to work on your car in OKC, I'd recommend Eddie's Imports, NE 30th and Western. His shop is a bit of a hole-in-the-wall, but he knows aircooled cars and he's reasonable. I take all my VWs to him, and I'll take the teener there when I need someone for it.

New points and a condensor is cheap enough. Use only the bosch brand.

nothing lacking in creativity of the prior owner. maybe got in a money bind and could only afford the new tranny, not the correct cross bar. fact is it was stillholding when you got it, right? at any rate if prior owner had not repaired it, no mater how mankly it is, there is a chance the car might had been scrapped as a non-runner. tossed out sold for scrap and crushed and shipped to red china as scrap to fuel their industry.

things could be worse. the engine cross bar was a very very creative (admittilty wrong ) solution to a probelm, my hat off for that. note there is a problem with early design of rubber motor mounts, the ones that went outboard on the body, this resulted in the cross bar being hard mounted to the soft aluminum engine case, not good for hits! the later bar used on both tail and side whift trannies (hence three styles of four cylinder bars) is that teh rubber mount where moved to the engine, and the out bourd mounts were made solid.

I bought a car that had the old soild enigne mounts, and several broken / stripped out studs on teh motor case to prove the bar had been wacked from below before!!! I converted to the later rubber engine mount bar.

with a side shift the later style is the only option.

good luck!!!!!!!!!