Looking good Ed, keep the progress going and the pictures coming. It gives me motivation.

I installed the "mufflers" and it seems to lower the rumble at idle a bit...sounds a bit tinny, but good enough for now. I'd post a vid but I don't know how. I was calling them glass-packs, but they actually aren't packed with glass?!

I put off working on the chassis again (getting sick of grinding, scraping, etc.) by sorting out the rest of the rear suspension instead. I has a clean pair of 914-4 training arms that I refurbished a few years ago, and a dirty 914-6 setup from a junkyard. The bearings in the -6 were noisy, so I read the Pelican article on rear wheel bearings and, about 1/2 hr later, had both sets of hubs, stubs, and bearings removed. I used the recommended trashed 1/2" socket extension and a 30mm socket to punch the hub out, then a large washer against the inner race with the socket and extension to pop out the bearing.

Here's a pic of the arms, hubs, stubs

My engine builder came by the other day and blessed the engine. He listened with a stethescope because I had reported a ticking/tapping sound. He found a small header leak. Now I'll put it away and focus on the chassis. New wheel bearings dropped right in using the frozen bearing and heated trailing arm trick. Then I pulled the hub through the bearing with a threaded rod and the washer and socket.
I had read about cutting grooves into the poly bushings and decided to try it. I also drilled and tapped grease fittings into the bushing retainers in spots that are accessable. Maybe the fitting will prevent the bushing from rotating, because the bushings in the trailing arms are fairly loose. In the front it appears the bushing are tight in the retainer so I can hone out the bushing so the a-arm fit isn't too tight. I haven't put a fitting in for the rear a-arm bushing yet. If I do I'll have to drill a larger diameter hole through the bottom of the cross member bracket to access the bushing retainer. Then I can't put in the fitting until the bushing and retainer are fit. I'm not sure it I'm going to do this or not.

Here's a pic of the trailing arm with grease fittings.

I recalibrated my tach based on an article I found somewhere a few years ago. It's for later tachs and calls for the addidtion of a 15Kohm resistor piggy-backed on top of an existing 15K. It worked like a charm. I had to make a small tweeker to turn the potentiometer slightly to calibrate it to my tach/dwell meter. The hard part is getting the sealing rin off and on intact.

My tach only goes to 2000 rpm on the V8 scale.

I'm too slow

Ed
While you have that tach apart, now's the time to replace those old colored filters for the turn and high beam indicators. Those things turn almost black and block most the light.

New V8 at home tonight. Actually it is at the detail shop. Two owner 76 914 from Gig Harbor Wa. Built 306 Chev with 418 HP at 6500 RPM. MSD igniton and Billet Dist.Brembo four piston front brakes with drilled rotors, All SC front suspension. 914 gearbox with all new syncros and bearings. Boxed and reinforced rear suspension points. Extremely clean car that is in excelletn condition, professional conversion. Not for the weak of heart.
CCLINYESIHAVEAV8

QUOTE (boxstr @ Jan 25 2005, 09:30 PM)

New V8 at home tonight. Actually it is at the detail shop. Two owner 76 914 from Gig Harbor Wa. Built 306 Chev with 418 HP at 6500 RPM. MSD igniton and Billet Dist.Brembo four piston front brakes with drilled rotors, All SC front suspension. 914 gearbox with all new syncros and bearings. Boxed and reinforced rear suspension points. Extremely clean car that is in excelletn condition, professional conversion. Not for the weak of heart. CCLINYESIHAVEAV8

I was looking at that one advertised for a bit. Very nice 914, good score Craig!

QUOTE (elocke @ Jan 24 2005, 10:50 PM)

I recalibrated my tach based on an article I found somewhere a few years ago. It's for later tachs and calls for the addidtion of a 15Kohm resistor piggy-backed on top of an existing 15K. It worked like a charm. I had to make a small tweeker to turn the potentiometer slightly to calibrate it to my tach/dwell meter. The hard part is getting the sealing rin off and on intact.

Glad to see you use the tach cal file. I wrote that about 2/3 years ago on the old Yahoo porschev group and have seen where 5 or 6 people have used it. Simple and easy to do and cost about 25 cents.

Bob

QUOTE (elocke @ Jan 5 2005, 09:58 PM)

Question: Since my brake setup is basically that of a 914-6, does that mean I can't use a T and need a 914-6 proportioning valve? Master cyl is 19mm, which I assume the 914-6 had. Not sure if the part #'s are different between -4 and -6...I'll have to do some homework. Ed

Hey Ed,

I haven't caught up on your thread for a while, but I just did, and saw nobody answered this yet. My car has 914-6 brakes with a 19mm master, and has the proportioning valve replaced with a T. She brakes like a cat, so I would say there is no reason you can't. Obviously there are the same trade offs as with any teener and dumping the valve.

Thanks for the feedback on the brakes, aircooledboy. Perhaps the extra weight of the V8 enables the rear tires to grip with the extra brake pressure.
Craig, that's a nice car! I'd like go get flares at least on the rear and tap into the used 911 205/225 (I think it's 7" ft and 8" rear?) wheel market someday.
Bob, your article worked very well. And I should have replaced the colored filters. I may just go back and open it up again; the sealing ring is not as tight anymore.
Since the engine's done I tore down my test setup and stowed the engine under the car so I can get my winter car ('96 Caravan) in the garage. 5 degree mornings and cleaning off snow is getting old fast. I can't wait until spring!

Craig, How many V8s do you have now? I count 2.
How is the light weight red car going?
How do you have time to work on them when you are so busy buying them?
Yeah, a little jealous here.

George

Yes there are 2 918 Porsches at CAMP. And I still have a complete RH V8 kit to install in JLO.
I am not getting as much done on the lightweight V8 as I would like, but it will come together in due time. I just got the front and rear fiberglass bumpers from Dan Root, thank you Dan.
The new yellow car was so well put together that it was a car that I could not pass up.
It would look better with front flares, which I got with the car, plus a lot of other goodies I will eventually put the flares on the front.
CCLINIHAVEAV8

No one ever answered the Rod Simpson cam spec question, don't know if it's propriatary, but I would like to know what the specs are.

I've been busy. I now have 2 914's on the road! One is scary fast!! I just got back from a little shake-down run on I-95 and some of the back roads. I'm still smiling. The car's nice and quiet at 80; 3400rpm. It's loudest from idle to 2k. I've only had it to 4000, maybe 4500 rpm and it pulls like mad, especially above 3000. I bet I haven't even used half the gas pedal. Clutch is very smooth and doesn't seem to demand more force. I'm supposed to go easy for 500 mi to break in the kevlar clutch. Starting in 2nd is very natural...1st is useless. The shifting's great, not having to deal with the 1-2 grind. Got one thumbs-up from a guy in an Audi, but no "comparative" driving yet. Each time I checked the water temp gauge on the manifold it was 180. I still need to run wires for the water temp and oil pressure sender for gauges in the cockpit. I bought an oil pressure switch for a '66 Chevelle 4bbl for $5 at the local FLAPS and hooked it to the stock wire harness. Distributor wiring was also easy and used the stock wires. I had to jumper out the starter interlock under the passanger seat to get the starter signal, and the big red light on the gad gauge is blinking and clicking incessantly. I still need to get horns, squirters, backup lights, and license plate lights working, and a windshield replaced, to be legal. My alignment seems close, but I haven't pushed it in the corners like I always do with the 1.7 car. I may have some unwanted motion in the suspension somewhere, I think in the rear. I had to bore out the bushings to get the rods through and I'm wondering if I took off too much. I meant to keep this more updated but I was busy working. Now hopefully I'll be able to post driving stories.

QUOTE (elocke @ May 10 2005, 09:32 PM)

and the big red light on the gad gauge is blinking and clicking incessantly.

Push your E brake all the way down and I bet that red light stops flashing.

QUOTE

My tach only goes to 2000 rpm on the V8 scale.

I made a tach conversion page too. Maybe it'll shed some light on what your tach is doing. I had to change my tach for an MSD signal so ignor that part of the write up.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/MotorCity/smrz...calUpgrades.htm

QUOTE (smrz914 @ May 11 2005, 03:45 AM)

QUOTE My tach only goes to 2000 rpm on the V8 scale. I made a tach conversion page too. Maybe it'll shed some light on what your tach is doing. I had to change my tach for an MSD signal so ignor that part of the write up. http://www.pelicanparts.com/MotorCity/smrz...calUpgrades.htm

I think he was talking about the dwell meter tach he used to calibrate his 914 tach with.

Bob

QUOTE (elocke @ May 10 2005, 11:32 PM)

I now have 2 914's on the road!

Good deal, Ed! Let's get some footage of the former
rotisserie-queen car soon.

Ed,

I've seen this before.

I bet a U.S. nickel that your vacumn advance hose is attached to a vacuum port and not a spark port on your intake system.

Meaning a REAL vacuum advance dizzy only advances when a vacuum is supplied to it. (under acceleration) FYI, there are some vac retard dizzys out there.

If your vac hose is attached to a vacumn port ABOVE your throttle plate/butterfly valve and not on the intake manifold then your cool. This location will supply vacuum only under acceleration.

If your vac line is attached to your intake manifold or any other place BELOW your throttle plate, they you will experience maximum advance at idle. Additionally you will experience a vacuum drop and timing retard under acceleration. NOT GOOD.

Your checklist:

1. Ensure that your dizzy IS NOT a vacumn retard distributor... TONS of these have been made and there are good reasons to have them. Mostly for smog control.

2. Make sure your vacuum line is attached somewhere above the throttle plate.

3. Re-time your engine.

4. Drive the hell out of that thing!

Peace. Out.

QUOTE (rogergrubb @ May 11 2005, 11:57 AM)

If your vac line is attached to your intake manifold or any other place BELOW your throttle plate, they you will experience maximum advance at idle. Additionally you will experience a vacuum drop and timing retard under acceleration. NOT GOOD.

I think the distributor's mechanical advance takes over, or at least it should.

OK, so then th ebig question is....

If you suck on the vacuum diaphram, do the points advance or retard in the dizzy.
Do they rotate clockwise or CCW?

Every dizzy i've seen has the syntrifical weights attached directly to the main shaft of it.

Every one I've ever seen also had the vacuum diaphram attached to the points plate which rotates independantly of the weights.

Vacuum pulls the points (or interrupter) counterclockwise, which is same as rotating the distributor counterclockwise, to advance timing. Mechanical and vacuum advance mechanisms are independent. Both add to the initial timing adjustment. Vacuum usually adds (increases) advance about 10 deg. max. Mechanical can add more and varies with rpm and spring weight. Some factory distributors have a vacuum retard port for EFI or emissions controls. Have not seen this on any aftermarket Chevy distributor.

So Ed,

The question of the day is..., "Where is that vacuum line attached?

Wow, glad I checked the board tonight!
I was connected to manifold vacuum when I first fired up the engine on the floor of my garage. It was hard to start, and the timing seemed way too advanced when set to start reliably. My builder suggested 32 degrees total; 8 initial + 24 per the distributor specs. Finally I disconnected the hose and plugged all ports, static timed it to 8, and it fired up nicely. Then I broke out the vacuum gauge and found out the other port is ported vacuum. The confusing thing is that both ports are located in the same horizontal plane. Here's a pic of the trunk cutouts. Not sure if I left room to turn the dizzy much.

In the previous post, I was refering to my tach dwell meter being limited to 2k.

Mark, that would be awesome to get some video. I have a video feature on my digital camera but I don't know how to post it, or a place to put it to access. I'd love for you guys to hear the sound and see the acceleration! It's amazing! Do you still have the setup to sample rpm over time?
Ed

OK, here's the deal.
Knowing now that your dizzy was attached to a vacuum port verifies that it was advanced fully at idle. NOT GOOD> =-)

When you use a vac advance dizzy without vacuum it becomes a mechanical only dist. I've done this but it is limited in it's advance curve.

Find a vac port above the throttle plate. See pics...
It's of a 750 Holley but most carbs have both.

Hope this helps.
carb1
carb2

Thanks for the pics. My carb's configured differently. The red capped port is where I was connected first, which reads high vacuum at idle. The one I'm connected to reads 0 at idle and jumps when I rev it, and doessn't effect idle when disconnected, so I assume it's correct. My big port is opposite the bowl side and is plugged.
Know anything about appropriate jet sizes? I'm running a 67.
Thanks
Ed

I think 67's are what comes stock and are just fine. Unless you've got a beasty cam and running some stroked thing.

I'm posting here the progress I made on this thread:
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?show...1&st=&p=&#entry
, since it's sorta V8 related.
As I wait patiently for KEP to return my pplate with new diaphram that will accept the stock throwout bearing, I pondered why I needed so much pre-load on the pedal/TO bearing to get the clutch to disengage properly. The result is the pic below; clutch tube reinforcement.
The guy at the clutch shop said my PP and flywheel had evidence of not being fully disengaged, so I still wasn't pulling against the pp enough. Off to the clutch tube. I spent some time with a mirror and flashlight and found no broken welds. I positioned the tranny such that I could connect the clutch cable, using a socket spacer to jam the clutch arm against the tranny case, and push the pedal and try to isolate all forces to the tube. BTW I referenced a great Pelican thread/post with good pics of the tunnel guts. Seems the oval hole for the heater arm exposed the area where the tube bends. The welds on both sides of the bend are not close. Stressing the tube showed the tube rising and moving inward towards the middle of the car. Could this be exaggerated with the heavy V8 PP?!

Another ingredient to the possible extra unaccounted-for throw (I had forgotten about this) was that I discovered the clip missing from the tranny bracket with the wheel and tha cable precariously at the tip of the slot. I wonder if it was moving into position each time I pressed the pedal, accounting for more extra motion? So I need a replacement or I'll probably just make one.

Oh yeah....don't worry
I pulled the gas line and have one of Racer Chris's waiting to go in.
Ed

Got my rebuilt pp back from Kennedy with a new diaphram that works with the stock t/o bearing. Set the pivot ball height with 1 washer and ended up with just a tad of arm movement between the case and the pp fingers, so I should have all the throw in the world. Still seemed I didn't have enough throw to disengage while leaving the recommended slop at the top of the pedal. Then I found the pedal was screwed all the way into the lower arm and hitting the floor. I unscrewed it which brought the pedal up a bit and added some throw. During these adjustments (and possible for some time before) the roll pin for the clutch pedal lever fatigued, then sheared. The cluster was rebuilt 15K ago w/new parts. Could this be another effect of a heavy pp?
Now the adjustment seems reasonable...The pedal's at the top of it's travel and pushes about 1/2" fairly lightly (w/hand) before it really pulls, and it disengages enough to shift well and not grab right off the floor. It's not as loose at the top as my 1.7, so it still seems to me that there's a pedal travel shortage due to a combination of things resulting from the heavy clutch/pp setup, or I still have slop somewhere. We'll see how well the adjustment holds.
Ed

Nice to see another V8 car on the road. I have seen a few guys finding the clutch cable and assorted other parts fail under the pressure of up-graded pressure plates. I tried to go with a cable but just didn't have much luck. I am using a KEP plate and a 9" clutch disk. It took me a long time to get a hydraulic system up and running but it work well now. Glad to here from you

Started the car this AM. Pulled in the clutch, put it in reverse...minor grind and the car starts rolling slowly backwards. Put in 1st and the car starts rolling forward. 2 turns of the adjusted nut and it's better. This is how it started 15K ago. I don't want to eat another pp and t/o bearing. I don't like the way this is looking. I need to find the post showing an extension someone put on the clutch arm in the cluster where the cable connects. Can't afford to go hydraulic at this point. Any food for thought?
Here's a pic of my cluster fix. I'd prefer a new roll pin but I have to find one. Thought about putting a weld on it but I could regret that later.
Ed

My thread has it in it. Dont want to look now... lol

Andrew

I read through your V8 thread and found reference to the clutch extension used on the 8", or stage I, pp. I also searched for a pic of one that I saw last week but couldn't find. Anyone hgave one?
I also read a thread about all the increased forces with the extension and didn't like that. But I read a great way to check cable travel by putting a cable tie on the cable near the "wheel". Looks like I get about 3/4". Roughly measuring the arm at the pedal it looks like I should get about 1", so I may be losing 1/4" through the tunnel, tube, firewall, cable itself...somewhere. It was a crude measurement at the pedal...anyone have one out that can measure the clutch arm (see pics)?
Thanks
Ed

Found the pic. Think I'll make something not quite as long.

Hey Ed,

This is a timely thread as I've got the exact same issue.

Did you note if the clutch fork comes in contact with the transaxle housing? Mine is doing that...

Do you have a pic of the spacers you used under your fork?
I think i need this adjustment..... =-)


Roger

Roger, I don't have any evidence of hitting the tranny side. I don't think I'm close. I don't have a pic of the washer I used under the pivot ball.
With the cable slack/disconnected, I have about 1/16" play (maybe less?) between the fork and the tranny case; one extreme hitting the case, the other contact with pp. The washer I used is about .060" thick. I chose to go this way instead of no washer or thinner washer because I knew I had a problem with not enough throw and wanted to get all the room I could. No washer gave me tons of slop and I didn't think I'd disengage before hitting the other side of the case.
I believe 1/16" is alot less than what's recommended. I read one post that said you should have 1/2" of play in the clutch fork before the t/o bearing contacts the pp fingers. The Haynes manual translates this play to a measurement at the pedal of 1/2-3/4". Either way, this motion should be taken up by the clutch pedal return spring, which is not the case with mine. I can wiggle the fork sideways but not back and forth. My 1.7 car adjusts perfectly according to the manual, and when you grab the clutch fork and jerk it back and forth, you can hear the pedal thumping against its stop up front. That clutch is more worn though and it grabs more at the top of the pedal.
I'm not even positive that I have a real problem or not!? The pressure against the t/o bearing is "not too bad" when engaged and grabs not immediatly off the floor so I can shift and it's bearable. As the clutch wears, it'll grab higher, so I guess I could back off the adjustment. It still just doesn't seem right. I believe nothing's moving (tube, firewall, etc.) so I'm going to make a short extender for the arm at the pedal. Only other thing I was thinking was to call KEP and ask how much distance the t/o bearing has to move to "fully" disengage a clutch of my type, then calculate back from there to see where I'm losing throw.

Ed,

This is what's happening with mine...

When I engage the clutch the clutch fork hits the opening of the transaxle.

When I tighten the cable enough to leave zero slack in the cable, I still cannot push the clutch in enough to disengage the clutch. It hits the housing.

I think I need to replace the clutch fork. Crazy...... Plus add that spacer for more fork clearance.

Thanks for the pic and allowing my hijack.. =-)

Yeah, it looks like you could definitly use a spacer under the ball to move the clutch fork closer to the motor side of the tranny. That'll hopefully gain you the throw you need. I bought a used clutch fork, t/o bearing, and guide tube off e-bay for my 1.7 for $30. I still have the old arm...it seems bent.
In the meantime, I think I've made some progress with my scene. My plastic clutch wedge broke this AM. Luckily, Stuttgart N East in Davners (978-777-3077; these guys have come in handy more than once...good guys) had a metal one...$20. Put it on and hand-tight while pulling against the return spring. Short story shorter, it seemed to improve my disengaging situation. Started the car and put in gear; no grind or traces of forward motion. Let the clutch out and it started to engage a reasonable distance from the floor. I reset my cable tie and found 7/8" of travel, compared to 3/4" before with the plastic wedge. Hopefully I'm not speaking too soon cause I haven't driven it yet, but I've done all my clutch tests the same way and this looks real good.
Time to take a ride and see what's left to shake out!
Ed

So far, so good. Adjustment has held and I've convinced myself that I have acceptable pre-load on the bearing (see pic of "cable tension test"). Please stop me if I'm wacked.
I'm also assuming that I has massive preload before, since I had tightened the cable so many times and was oblivious (read; dumb ass) to any potential problems or damage I was doing.
Up next, my chronic radiaor leak...but first; to the search button!

[I have been foolowing your thread. My setup is similar to yours:

-'75 with minimum rust
-full Renegade setup; big clutch, radiator, wiring harness
-'61 283, .06 over
-mild cam
-327 heads @ 1.94 x 1.5
-4 bbl Holley jets reduced in size a little for leaner mixture
-shorty headers and single dual-in dual-out magnaflow muffler
-stock 901 trans
-16 lb cap and 180 degree t-stat.
HEI distributor
-BMW brakes, soon to be upgraded to Mueller hubs w/ventilated 911 rotors and M-calipers
-venting through hood; probably will give that up in favor of conventional venting through wheel wells. Works ok in city but not great flow on freeway.
no dyno test yet

I have put on about 800 miles so far, trouble-shooting and improving as I go along.

What is your ignition advance set up like? I have about 11 degrees BTDC of initial advance, medium springs for 20 degrees mechanical advance at about 3,000 RPM, and vacuum advance set at about mid-point.

What is your mileage like? I am getting only about 10 mpg stop-n-go city driving and about 15 mpg freeway. I thought that it would do better.

I am having some shifitng problems as well, but not like yours. It does not like going into 1st gear (original 2nd gear) occasionally - only when stopped. (not always) Can't find a reason why it always doesn't do it. Also gets worse when hot. Might be an internal transmission problem. might be that my shift rod was not rotationally aligned when lengthened...

Sorry for the delay; I tried to post but kept getting booted
So your total advance at 3000rpm (vac adv disconnected) is 31 degrees. Mine’s around 38. I think it’s 14 initial. My dist came setup at 24 degrees at 3000rpm, 10 degrees at 10” vacuum. I bought some Chevy books: “How To Build The Small Block Chevy” by Atherton & Schreib, “How To Hot Rod Small-Block Chevys” by Fisher & Waar, and “Budget Building Chevy Small-Blocks” by Vizard) and they talk about 34-40 degrees, depending on setup, application, etc. Lots of other articles on SBC’s talk about 34-38 degrees. I set it to where it starts to ping at low rpm mid throttle, then back off till it stops. Haven’t tried the vacuum gauge method yet.
Mileage testing that I’ve done is a mix of “city/highway”; I haven’t done any controlled testing. With my 500cfm 2bbl, on a good day I’ll get 18-19; 220-230 mi/fill (12-12.5 gal). On a heavy-foot day 15; 180 mi/fill. For a while I had a borrowed 750cfm 4bbl w/bigger jets and got 16-17 down to 13.
Mine sometimes is difficult to get into original 2nd. I haven’t noticed hot vs cold. It never grinds; just seems to me to be a shift adjustment issue, although I’ve never tried to adjust for all gears AND perfect 2nd every time. If it doesn’t “latch” right in first try, another try usually does it. Could be my clutch adjustment (groan). Could also be residual damage from the old 1-2 shifting days. You probably can adjust out at least a limited degree of rotational offset of your shift rod at the collar in the tunnel. I guess if the rod wasn’t lengthened enough maybe problems with hitting orig. 2nd and 4th.