I recently bought my very first 914 a couple month ago, and i was hoping you guys could help me out with a few things. First off, i love this car very much and like it more and more every time i drive it, second, i don't know enough about cars to make her run at the best she can. The transmission recently started to grind when i put it into reverse, first when im not moving, and when downshifting from third to second. Just wondering what you guys would recomend for a person in my position. i Want to get it fixed as quickly as possible, but i only have about 500 dollars to spend. Thanks for all your help, your guys site rocks.

OOH, bad news. Reverse might not be too bad. What year car? I don't know if tailshifters are the same but, with a side shift you can get to 1st and reverse without even removing the transmission. You might get away with just changing a syncro ring. With second gear your talking about a complete dissassembly. It depends on how much damage has been done. Make sure your clutch is adjusted first, your grinding might be a sign of incomplete disengagement. Go to Pelican Parts technical pages for further info.

914noob: Welcome to the Club. Not enough info to tell you just whats up. If you have the time today, some of the guys are gonig to move a car of one of the members. This could be a good oppertunity to meet with the guys in your naborhood. There is some really good 914 people up there and they would be glad to tell you whats-up. I belive the therad is Korejo asking for help to a shell. Check it out.
Joe

buy a Haynes, and read the section on checking clutch pedal freeplay. hint: it's probably *NOT* done the way you'd think it "ought to" be done. clutch adjustments are easy. there's supposed to be a locknut on the cable but they often go astray and without one, the adjustments won't last. if you don't have one, get one.

if the clutch -is- adjusted properly, or you adjust it and in a week it's bad again, there are some horrible scenarios but let's check the clutch first.

also - make sure you have enough transmission fluid. get a GOOD quality 17mm Allen; either the familiar L-shaped one from the Sears or a VW store, or (my preference) the 1/2" drive socket adapter from Snap-On. or better yet, IMO, borrow one of those and replace the Allen plug with a 19mm hex head plug from a 911...

if you are thinking of changing the transmission oil, ALWAYS, ALWAYS remove the fill plug FIRST.

If it is grinding going into reverse at a standstill, it is either the clutch or the pilot bearing.

If you recently adjusted the clutch and the nuts are still there, then the cable is stretching and getting ready to break.

James

Clutch Cable adjustment is a good place to start. New gear oil helps. and I found getting new trany mounts made a big difference.

What happens if you don't? I drained mine today before I dropped the engine but didn't remove the fill plug first. What have I damaged?

If you can't get the fill plug out, then you can't re-fill the tranny with oil, which makes it a rather expensive paper weight.

Okay, that's it? Whew, I can get mine out without any problems.

If you can get the fill plug out then it wasn't working right to begin with and you need a new tranny

Huh??

Mike said it with a

He was just joking....

Thus his name...........Dr. Evil. Mike, you crack me up.

Funny stuff. Now I have to go dig mine out of the dumpster.