I am a newbie, but did own a '71 1.7 back in '79 while I was in college. Anyway, I am going to look at a '74 2.0 tomorrow and knowing that the '73 2.0 is the "one to get" my question is: How do the '73 and '74 2.0 models differ? Is the '73 truly "better" for some reason?

Thanks in advance!!

John

Very little difference between the two. If anything it is the extras; the 73 was loaded in most cases ( chrome bumpers, sway bars, Fuchs, console instruments) but much of that was optional on the 74.

'73 has two pipes on the throttle body for vacuum lines ... '74 has one. Porsche determined the advance was not needed and only used the retard function.

thats interesting (or just retarded), i remember in the early 80's ca. smog testing, you had to disconect & plug the dist. advance, along with a nox decal put on the speedo. (on my 442 & mustang anyway). the reason was to lower combustion temps. under 2500* to eliminate the NOX emissions. what it really did was lower m.p.g. & power.

sorry for the hijack

side note: 73 up had the side shift, some early 73's had the lighter, non reinforced doors.

74 has bumper tits on the back as well as the front. 73 only had them on the front.

Kelvin

73 has silver dot gauges, 74 does not.

74 Djet 2.0L has better injection as you can still get the parts. Try finding a 017 CHT these days!

Actually, 73 had three different doors. The early ones were the same as the 72 with the cable lift. Then the scissor lift, and finally the reinforced door came with January production.

My early '74 has silver dot gauges ... but perhaps they aren't original. (Build date 9/73)

early 74's have the silver dots, mid year they changed

good point.

although a note to "torque" is that the 1.7 d-jet's component use and layout are basically the same 70 thru 73 as are the 73 thru 76 2.0 d-jet's. but the components values/part #'s may vary year to year. like bleysing used for example the 73' 2.0 CHT was a one year peice to match the universal ECM (used w/ both the 1.7 & 2.0)

inline with the theme of this thread, if your looking for a 1st time driver the 74 may be a a better choice for the above reason. that is if you had an equal choice between a 73 & 74 comparable.

they're all fun

mike

In addition to the lighter early 73 doors, mine has the 017 Cylinder Head Temp Sensor, not the later 012, and it has the early 2.0L dizzy and the very early ECU.

I even have vinyl around the windshield frame and early air inlets in the cabin.

Also early window handles, early window frames, early window rubber rear tabs and a very small early sound pad under the carpet in the rear trunk.

So old it is a different color than the black, sort of a dead mustard color.

Can't think of anything else.

PO removed the rear swaybar and I am not going to put it back in. Works better without it at all. After 6 of them, I finally listened to people here.

John