Hey,
a new car to me, 74/2.0 914. I have all the lights working, pedal assemibly needs work, but the main problem now is the starter. I have 12 volts to the starter, the switch at the key is good. The engine rolles over fast and good with all plugs out, but struggles with plugs in. fuel injection car that has not been started in 15 years.
The car cleaned up nice, dash and console pristine, front /rear trunks have no rust.

The wife's 74 did the same thing, no start issues. former owners replaced the starter a few times and also the ig switch. I cleaned all electrical connections with the engine out and it worked good, for a while. (I got the dreaded phone call, Dave the car won't start). I changed to carburetors and problems solved.
WHAT IS WITH THESE 74 CARS?

Check the ground strap that runs from the transmission to the bottom of the rear trunk & give it a good cleaning. A friend had this exact same issue.

thanks,
I've changed the starter to a known good starter and cleaned all grounds. 1- at the battery,2 under the relay board,3 at the tranny.I've rolled the engine with all plugs out to pre oil everything. do you think compression is to tight? shows 54000 ish miles....

Dave,
I would be happy to come down this weekend with my meter and check things out for ya. Just let me know.
Tom

I believe I have read where the starter circuit is a known weak circuit. Guys with V8 conversions and high compression engines who add a high torque starter will add a relay to allow a larger 12v wire to feed the starter. Have you tried to run 12v directly to the starter with a cheap switch you can buy at your flaps? It would at least rule out the starter/battery/ground.

Also, how old is the battery?

Sounds like you're not getting full amperage to the starter. . With no load on the starter , i.e. the plugs out, it spins fine, but under load it doesn't have enough juice. . . Are you sure the battery is good. . . Cold weather brings out the problems in a questionable battery with low cranking amps. . .

Next place to check is the transmission ground strap and the battery ground strap. . . remove the straps and clean / wire brush the lead and the terminals. . . Next do the same with the large cable to the starter from the battery. .peal back a little of the insulation and see if you have corrosion between the strands. . . If those don't do it, you may have poor contact connection inside the solenoid when it operates . .

You might be able to find the culprit by feeling the leads after cranking. . if one is hot, then it has resistance to passing current. .

A good guide to see which part is weak is: Take a voltage reading across the battery when cranking. Shouldn't drop more than about 2 volts. If more, battery is suspect. If above looks good, measure from ground to the starter batt terminal while cranking, this should be very near the above reading. If not you have a current limiting issue. Could be the trans ground strap, starter cable, or ground cable to batt. These get corroded and make poor cantact along with getting corrosion inside the cable ends. If you have jumper cables, substitute the jumper cables for the batt to starter connection. If it turns faster, your batt to starter cable is defective.
If the voltage tests are good, you probably have a starter going bad. You could remove and clean the insides or just replace with a known good one.

Tom