I am bringing back a 73 2.0L Djetronic 914 with the Charcoal canister beside the gas tank. I am also relocating the fuel pump below the gas tank.

Do you really need the charcoal filter?
Also the gas vapor gas / expansion tank also seems worthless.

Anyone an expert on this subject? Can you just plug some of these vapor lines and not effect the engine running? I think emissions are exempt on this year car.

I would like to make this as simple as possible.

Thanks

All these parts keep the smell of gas out of your cabin.

If you have them then I would use them.

John

The expansion tank should remain, with new hoses.
You can relocate the charcoal canister to the driverside inner fender (where the
914-6 oil tank lives). the two black plastic lines run from the tank to the engine
bay. One line connects to the fan housing, pressurizing the flow of the ELS.
The other one returns to the engine bay and is connected to induction.
You can cut the stock lines allowing the relocation.
Do not forget to use the filler neck hose to route overflow below the floor and
underneath the car.
There are schematics of the evaporative loss system for your car, here and
elsewhere on internet that you can use as an example.
Without the ELS lines, you WILL smell gas, especially in the heat of the day.

There are other ways, such as dry sumping carbs, and routing scavage lines
from the expansion tank via check valves to the exhaust bungs.
(You must NOT draw directly from the tank!).

I removed them to clean things up as well. The gas smell in the cabin got to be too much. So I put them back on and (self induced) problem solved.

Yes, has nothing to do with the way the engine runs. You'll piss off some environmentalists. If you don't route new vent lines from the tank properly you'll smell gas fumes.

I removed it and routed the line back to the air filter. No cabin smell.

Ding! A nice example of routing lines nicely.
Who still wants wants bpharffly tanks and lines and entanglements?
Keep r Clean

I don't get removing it, especially from a 73 where it's up front and out of the way. It weighs nothing, it's not in the way, and it serves a function... What's the downside?

And refill the canister with fresh charcoal. The original charcoal doesn't last forever. I believe the service manual recommends replacement every 50,000 miles.

Little to no downside for taking off. Pretty much all the cars I've been in with it off, have a fuel smell. Do you need fuel vapors in your air?

My experience says they are not needed. I've said this before that the majority of /6's didn't come with a filter unless it was for the CA market, although they do have the expansion tank. Why they have the expansion tank, I haven't a clue as it is vented underneath the car to the atmosphere and serves no real purpose. I have no issues with vapors. Even the webers vent to the atmosphere when the car is sitting. No smell and my car is factory stock.
Here's a thread where the tank was discussed before.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...expansion++tank

And here is a thread where an early /4 never had a filter, but did have the tank vented to under the car. Purely stock.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...72277&st=60

So, not all /4's came with a filter and the tank was vented by tube to underneath the car. Likewise with most /6's.

Don

More filter discussion here.......

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...108524&st=0

Don

If you go fro fi to carbs, how does it tie in. I thought it was vented through the fi vacuum some how.

Guess I'm wierd. Replaced mine at 50K miles, per the factory specs. Let's see, that was 1976 I think. Works! Think it was about a $40 part then. No stink to this day.

On early cars so equipped the canisters were pretty much sealed so replacement was your only option. On later cars they used a plastic cased canister which the top could be removed so you could replace the pellets with new.

Hello World,

I just got in a big fight with my wife on Saturday night after watching the Truck race and coming in from the garage. You smell like gas go take a shower! Why can't you stop the smell of fumes coming from that car. I have my charcoal canisister back in the engine compartment (75) and I am sure either the canister or the charcoal need to be replaced. I guess that will be the next step, I did'nt really have the heart to tell her that the six project with carbs will probably smell worse?

Are the charcoal pellets available at auto parts stores? Or I have the older style round canister which you cannot get into, is there a place to buy the style cannister that you can replace the pellets?

Vysoc

Answered my own question,

I just bought a brand new canister that fit the 911 / 924 & 914's same one shown in the other fuel vapor thread, it is a Porsche part NOS and was only $35.00. Found it on E-Bay, now where are the pellets available?

Thanks, Hope this works, I don't even smell the gas anymore.

Vysoc

I posted this before: http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?s=&...t&p=1602189

Thanks Zonedoubt,

Thanks for the info, was unsure if Aquarium Pellets would take care of the fuel vapors. They are readily available and easy to acquire.

Thanks for the great info!!!

Vysoc

I took the trouble of getting the charcoal canister, check valves and all that for my WRX914.
They are not all in yet.
You inspire me to get back to it.
I love the smell of a 2 stroke dirt bike track in the morning but the WRX all day is different.
It will feel better running cleaner too.

i just switched to carb, i upluged them in the e-Bay. i was thinking of just capping them. and capping the block. i thought the charc/can was more of a smog thing anyways.

After struggling for many years with garage vapor issues, after reading this thread. I purchased a NOS charcoal vapor eater upper. It was slightly used but in great shape with charcoal pellets.

I installed it and got immediate results......it works.

Struggled with this problem for 2 years, if you have gas vapor fumes check the charcoal cannister first, if the cannister is old replace it, if your charcoal is old go to a pet shop and buy the activatated charcoal pellets for aqariums.

I am now FUME FREE and happy!!!!!!!

Check the charcoal cannister!!!!!!!

Vysoc

Clean air

Just unearthed my old expansion tank while cleaning out a storage unit, which was deleted in the process of converting my car to a six.

Now wondering if I should reinstall, and/or track down a charcoal canister. Fewer fumes in the garage would be a lovely thing indeed…

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?s=&...t&p=2980081

Don't come back here and pretend you haven't been warned ...

Well educated engineers designed the 914. Go ahead, keep pulling parts until the car is a POS.

If I don’t want to go into a dope shop, where can I get either new pellets or a new production canister?
I changed my air filter the other day and I noticed some very, very small black uniformly shaped particulate in the bottom of the airbox that I suspect may be used up pellets getting sucked in.

Van

You can buy them on Amazon or, as mentioned above, a local pet store. I have a left over bag from when I re-furb'd mine that I'd be happy to send you. I think you'd still need one more to do the job.

Hey Craig! Can you post a pic or link to the brand you went with?

Van

I used this one.
https://www.petsmart.com/fish/filters-and-p...4RoCuegQAvD_BwE

Would those small flakes get sucked through the canister into the airbox?

Van, you NEED to buy the activated charcoal in pelletized form. Specifically.

@Van pelletized charcoal from a fish/aquarium store works perfectly at about $20 enough for two fills.

Van, I used the pelletized form as well. I just followed the link in Ian's video on refurbishing charcoal canisters. I THINK Amazon is sold out on that particular link, but it is the pellet form. Again, I'll send you the bag I have...free...if you want it.

There is no apparent benefit to removing it, performance or otherwise. It will help keep fuel vapors out of the passenger cabin.

Look at it this way. Porsche / VW was constantly looking for ways to reduce the manufacturing costs for the 914. If the canister served no purpose, they would have ditched it.

These are the pellets I used

https://amzn.to/3ouDzF6

The flakes are not that small and there is a screen in the canister that prevents anything from getting through.

Thanks guys!
@Craigers17 you’re a scholar and a gentleman, but I’ll go get the aquarium pellets from a local pet store. Please don’t spend your money on me… I’ve already robbed you of some irreplaceable wheels lol….

Van

take some photos when you pull it apart.

you should have a plastic one in the engine bay?
i think they are a bit easier to get apart than the metal ones.
but the plastic will be brittle by this point in time.
there are some other bits besides the charcoal that deteriorate.
i think a kind of mesh filter can turn to goo.
there is a couple of good threads on the site about ripping into them.

Well, I pried open my canister today. And as suspected, it was filled with very small pellets that were getting sucked into the airbox, after the air filter! You can see that they were so small they worked their way past everything.
I need to find some fuel resistant foam for the small port. The foam plug that was in there was disintegrated. I tried to take it out to measure it, but it went full Avengers endgame as soon as I touched it lol.

thanks for the look inside.

so what you are saying is where its turned to smaller dust sized particles its been getting past the air filter?

i've got a new air filter on mine and i will keep an eye on it now.

Your pellets are too small.

No. Those pellets, as you see them, are too small. Even under spring pressure they are actively working their way past the filter pad, plastic grid, and through the hose and into the airbox.
Further, I think it created such dense media that it rendered the canister inoperable.
So, I’ll be replacing these roach turds with some rabbit turd size pellets lol…

Mine has clearly been refilled before as the canister was sealed with home grade clear silicone that did not bond to the ABS plastic. It also had some crappy black paint applied that I’m removing with acetone. Acetone is also great for removing oxidation from ABS.

Regarding the foam filter for the small port at the bottom, I’m thinking to either stuff with a stainless dish scrubber, cut up a dirt bike foam filter, or both.

Edit: Jeff was too fast.

good thing he opened it up then.

someone must have been in there before Van B and screwed it up?


got me worried - pulled my old air filter out of the box i kept it in after i put a new one in.
looked between the pleats - could not find anything - phew.
that charcoal can feeds in above the filter.

jesus, there is some dumb arse stuff that people do to cars.
good thing you got curious about that.

i can relax again. my can is unmolested.
likely the filters have turned to molecular soup. but probably all.

mine did stink after i recommissioned it for a while.
but i've been giving it good long drives as much as i can.
they purge when you get them out on a good long freeway or country run.
its stopped smelling a good while back.

@wonkipop the tube from the canister feeds in AFTER the filter so, these pellets were getting a free ride straight into the intake!

yeah, what i realised. thats why your photos sent me into momentary panic.
good thing jeff came in like a tornado and put up a picture showing proper koala turd contents.

That's what she said.


Apologies, but our son is on an Office kick.
Dan