The hole in the back of the trailing arm should be there, although it should be round (probably covered with dirt). The hole plugged with foam is for a J-pipe from the heat exchangers, for heating the interior. I believe on 73's there should be a tube running from a fan on the driver's side to that pipe for heat flow while at low rev's.

The pipe as an engine mount bar just implies a poor repair or replacement in the past IMO. It might be less robust than a stock bar though.

Thanks very much for your response to my questions. It's nice to know there's one hole on the car that is supposed to be there .

Below are the additional pics I took of the engine. There is a blower fan that is connected to a hose that goes to the tins on the left side. So, I guess I'll have to look and see if there is an opening on that blower housing for another connection.

From looking at the pics, can anyone say for sure that this is a 914 engine (and not one from a Bus)? When I found out that the engine support bar was incorrect I became more concerned that it's not even a correct 914 block. Click to view attachmentClick to view attachmentClick to view attachment[attachmentid=378
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Bus heads would not have the exhaust ports on the bottom of the engine, so they are at least 914 heads. You could check the case serial number to be sure it matches up, though I am not sure what the serial should be for a 1.7. Everything attached to the engine looks correct for a 73 1.7 to my eye.

The 1972+ Buses used Type IV engines with the exhaust ports on the bottom of the heads. The earlier ones had Type-I style heads with the exhaust ports on the front and back of the heads.

Check for a dipstick. I didn't notice it in any of the pics, but I didn't see a very clear shot of where it should be, either. It should be just to the left of the oil filler. The buses (and some of the 411/412 cars) had the dipstick inside a funnel coming out of the left-front corner at the bottom of the engine. (Right-rear as it was installed in the Bus/411/412.) Easy to block off the funnel and add the oil filler from a 914, but not as easy to add the dipstick.

An engine number in front of the oil filler (on a 1.7 or 1.8) would make this one from a VW application as well.


The 73-74 cars had a heater blower with a single outlet. The outlet was connected to the driver's side only; the passenger's side J-tube was capped with a plastic cap. The splitter from the 75-76 heater blowers can be fitted to an earlier blower, allowing you to hook up both sides, but it isn't hugely necessary.

--DD

Excellent information guys, thank you!

IIRC, the dip stick is just to the left of the oil filler. I checked my pics to see if I have a better one, but don't. Though, I think it can barely be spotted in the circle in the pic below

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Yesterday I removed the fuel pump and tank for the first time. The pump was re-located to under the tank above the gravel guard. It actually fits quite well there. The tank looks to be in good shape. I'll clean and re-seal it next spring.

A couple of questions:

1. I took some pics and noticed in one that a suspension plate looks a little funny. Is the plate in the pic below separating, or is it supposed to look like that? This is the rear right side and the car is jacked up from the front right in this picture.

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2. What is the ribbed black plastic piping in the pic below for? It wasn't attached to anything.

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1. What you're looking at are stacked shims between the suspension console mount and the trailing arm. These are used to set the rear camber correctly.


2. The black ribbed piping is the drain hose for the fresh air box that sits under the cowl.

Excellent info, thanks Doug!

And there appear to be way too many of them.

This indicates either a bent trailing arm or worse, a bent chassis.

My guess is a bent chassis. The right rear is about 1/2-3/4" higher than the left at the tail light. I think the car was hit on the left side at some point. The left rear wheel wobbles.

I just had a look. There appear to be 3 spacers on the left side and 6 spacers on the right side. The car is higher on the right side. Does this given any indications as to whether the problem is a bent suspension vs a bent chassis (I realize it could be both)? I find it odd that there are more spacers on the right and the car sits higher on the right. I would have thought that the extra spacers on the right would be compensating for the car being lower on the right. But I don't have an understanding of how alignment would work on a bent chassis.

Bump for any thoughts on this.

Something amiss. I'd look for some fairly obvious body damage with that many shims.

I will simply say this - don't UNDER ESTIMATE the time and money rust repair can require. some have spent up to $10k on rust repair alone.

I would say, if you find substantial rust, do yourself a BIG favor and find a good tub and move all the parts over.

chances are you will be replacing or rebuilding far more parts then your currently realize.

and I will say this, IMHO, any full or mild resto should begin with a completely stripped down and sand blasted (or soda blasted) tub.

all the best.

jim

Suspension pick up points are set with fixtures when the chassis is built. Shims are still required when the suspension is installed but only as a function of tuning the alignment. Over shimming one side is likely due to chassis damage but sometimes due to trailing arm twist. Also bushings and the inner mounting holes wear. Instead of fixing the worn bushings or mounting hole shims sometimes become the repair of choice.

When taking the car apart examine all these. It will make a big difference when reassembly takes place.

hole - yes

I was referring to the inner mount and bushings Jim but that's interesting. Is that trailing arm kinked just behind the nut?

Poking around this morning I found all of this....

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...in the left rear wheelhouse longitudinal. The whole thing was packed full. I thought I had removed everything last summer but this was missed. I needed a coat hanger to yank all of it out. There are about a dozen dried mouse carcasses in there . I'll take the pressure washer to it this afternoon. Hopefully I now have most of the mice remnants out of the car.

Sorry to hear the news about the left long Doug. I ran into the same thing on my project after completing the passenger side...the mouse nests and carcasses held a lot of water and caused a lot of damage.

On the bright side, it can be fixed...just took more time as the drivers side wheelhouse is not available from RD.

Good luck & keep us posted.

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Thanks, Bob. It's good to hear from someone that has gone through it successfully.

That's a very rusty car. You will spend thousands of dollars to be get it back. That's doing the repairs yourself. Buying a less rusty running car will be much cheaper. Btdt. Best of luck.