So I was a happy 914 owner, just got a great deal on a set of dual carbs and went to install them when I found that the two top studs seem to be pitched at an angle! WTF! This engine is from a parts car that's going to go into my 72, I thought I would dial everything in before I did the swap. My question is what type of heads are these? Also I bought the intake gaskets that have the insulator plates it now looks like I'll have to use a regular thin ones, where can I find them? I'll get the dremel out and make the intakes fit, I guess!

Thanks,

Jsaum

1.7/1.8 heads.

Are you talking pitched at an angle as in crooked or bent? Hard to tell from your picture...

I have some 1.7/1.8 heads laying around if you needed some replacements, but they will need gone through.

Could be Bus 2.0 heads as well.

You can easily make gaskets out of gasket material. I've made several for my 914.

If a head bolt is bent you may want to try to straighten it vs. taking the Dremel to the carb intake.

The one on the right sure looks bent.

No they're not bent i can see the threads are angled in. These heads each have a vent tube on the left side, are they bus heads?

jsaum

Here's better pictures. The one stud maybe slighty bent, I'm not sure I'm brave enough to try and back it out!

jsaum

The vents are susposed to have hoses running to a catch can, then back to the oil filler neck (for carbs).

Put a nut on the stud (all the way on) .Put a socket with an extension on the stud and gently tweak it back so it lines up with hole. Then remove the nut to clean up the theads on the end. Stick a rag in the socket and you probably won't even damage it.

btw, using a jamb nut-two nuts tighened together on the stud- the studs are easy to back out using the first nut .

Yeah, don't worry about pulling that stud. Double nut it and it will come right out.

Yep, pulling studs is easy. Then just use a bolt instead of a stud. I'm using bolts with allen heads (socket head cap screws) on my car. With the intakes I'm using, I couldn't get a socket on the nut and using a open end wrench was a slow PITA. So I took the studs out and replaced them with allen head bolts. Much easier now to pull the intakes off.

There's precious little material where the intake studs are threaded into the heads, and pulling them as little as possible is the way to go. If they're crooked and you use bolts instead, you run the risk of still having issues with the fit, and pulling the threads, as well. As for them "coming right out", I've seen them stuck badly enough to require a stud puller, and take the threads with them when they do come out. OH, BTW, those are 914 or T4 heads ONLY. Busses never had the breather ports, and they're NOT 1.8 heads unless they've been fly cut for the larger bore.

The Cap'n

L-Jet heads didn't have breather ports. Probably 1.7 heads.

Those are 1.7 heads.

O.K. cool at least I know what they are at this point! I'll pull the studs out this evening and update the post with my findings.

Jsaum

Put two nuts on the stud and then put a deep scoket on the stud and straighten it with a big closed box end wrench over the socket to use as a prybar. Put the bottom nut where you want the stud to get straightened.

"Straighten it"? Have you looked at a T4 head lately? You have a hard steel stud screwed into a soft (and abusively heat cycled) aluminum head, and you have about 10mm of engagement into a boss which tapers upward to about 3-4mm thickness. Bending that stud could either be successful or destroy the area of the upper corner of the intake port. You get what you get, and your chances are 50/50 on a GOOD day. The material you're messing with is barely thick enough for a helicoil, so there's VERY little room for error.

Think about it ...................

The Cap'n

I gotta go with the Cap't here. You will most likely break off the stud flush with the head or break off a piece of the head.
That is a risk I wouldn't take.

O.K. I got seven of the studs out two were bent and the one that is left will only unthread part way out before it stops. I tried a little liquid wrench and some WD-40 along with a little heat but could not persuade it to come out. It appears to be staight enough to work I can get the EMPI 34's on now. I was hoping to use the insulated gaskets and longer studs but I don't want to risk tearing up the threads. Even with two nuts and a lot of force it didn't want to come out. Tomorrows project daul carbs!

Jsaum

Did you day EMPI 34's??? All this work for EMPI 34's? Too bad.

Hey what can I say they were cheap and so am I! They'll be a big improvement over the crappy single carb that was on the engine! But O.K. I'll bite what's wrong with the Empi 34's?

Jsaum

The carbs were essentially the same as used on the 1.8 Euro motors and Type 2 motors. A little restrictive for the Type 4 if you want to be a Ricky Racer, but setup correctly will give you good gas mileage.

Don't know about the quality of EMPIs. Actually I don't do carbs on anything anymore except my weed whacker.