I was all done, putting the final circlip to hold the CV to the axle, and noticed I did not put any of the spring washers back in.

FUCH!!

So tore them all apart, installed the washers, and finished 3 of 4.
Of course the 4th had to be a beyotch.
The circlip will not fit. The CV will not slide all the way onto the axle so the groove is only ~3/4 exposed.
All the others fit fine.
Pulled it apart, again, and cleaned all the internal and external splines.
Made sure no grease or whatever was interfering.
Pressed it back together and still wont fit.
So now I am about to pull the CV off the axle AGAIN, but not sure what to do except start all over.

Are the internals to the CV direction specific?
IOW, does one side of the internal star thingy need to be facing a certain way?
If so, how can you tell what is right?
I will tear the whole CV apart and rebuild and repack, but curious if this will be in vain.

Any words of wisdom?

There is a video on Youtube showing a "How To" and covers the orientation of the washers. If I find it I'll add it here.

One of the messiest jobs on a 914.

Link to YouTube video as mentioned above:

CVs Part 1

CVs part 2

And it IS possible to assemble the CV "wrong"

Here is a pic of the right way & wrong way:


The one on the left is correct.

And I was able to get a notchback CV on my 914 axle once and it would not go on far enough to get the clip on. They were too thick.

Did these CVs come OFF the axles, or did you get them separately?

8 minutes into video 1.
There is an inner and outer side of the star thingy!!

You guys ROCK!!

And yes, I was rebuilding the existing axles removed from the car.

Me, I took the easy way out. Just placed an order with Chris at Tangerine Racing. Problem solved. Well worth the $$.