I recently got back into the 914 world with the purchase of a nice '71 with sideshift trans and a 1.7L, now I need some help and suggestions.... SO I have officially become a registered user instead of just lurking and searching.

My motor runs for the most part, but it had a hell of a time starting up after a week, and it does spit and sputter a bit. After getting it to my workshop I adjusted the valves, I replaced the cap and rotor which were badly corroded. Plugs are in great shape, gaps are good, but when I went to set timing I noticed the distributor pinion was 180-deg off and the #1 plug wire was actually pointed toward the #1 cylinder. I moved the pinion to the correct "12-degrees" at TDC and corrently arranged the wires. I could not get it to fire up. I had to leave until this weekend but when I went back I checked a few more items. The distributor is a 009 with electronic ignition, not sure what brand. Coil shows 4-Ohms and I have good 12V to the coil.

It started- but I had to baby it and hold the throttle until it was warmed up. Now I was finally able to check timing, but I cannot get it to rev to 3500 rpms. I can get to about 25-28 deg BTDC between 2500 and 3000, but it seems to fall flat and pop/sputter above 3000 and advancing the timing any further doesn't seem to make a difference. Weird because I was generally driving the car between 2500-4500 rpms before parking it to do this work. At first I thought there was a voltage drop at the ignition, now I'm beginning to think my carbs are not jetted correctly, but why could I drive it 70-80mph in midrange RPMs? Any ideas? I'll be heading back to the shop Friday to do some more troubleshooting but any feedback is appreciated. I can take pics if any further info is needed... Thanks!

I had a very similar issue when I put Empi copies of the Weber 34 on my car. It did turn out to be a jetting issue. I'm not sure why you could get it to run over 3500 RPM before the work though. Maybe if the timing was retarded a little more before the work was done it would allow it to run better at midrange??? If I remember correctly your main jets take over from the idle circut around 3000 RPM. It has been quite a while since I had this issue but I am pretty sure that bigger mains cured my problem. You do have the carbs synchronized right? Maybe someone with more recent or better knowledge will chime in. Good luck

The dizzy points in the wrong dirrection because its driving gear was not synchronized correctly. Not a real issue unless you can't turn the dizzy to fix the correct timing.

After the timing is set, go ahead and tune the carbs.

Suspect u have lean idle jets,you should have 50-55 in there or around that ,main jets should be 120-125,check for air leaks and make sure the dizzy is advancing properly which by the way isn't a great one for your motor
Good luck.

mjrrti - the combination of retarded timing and small mains does make sense. Before this issue, I had to crank FOREVER to get the car to start up after it had been sitting more than a day. I was afraid the battery would die. I think the timing was retarded to the point where it wouldn't catch at low RPMs. Now that I have somewhat adjusted the timing, I can get it to start roughly. I just need to hold the throttle open partway until warm, but doing this doesn't rev the motor as high as it should go with my foot on the pedal. I need to dig up my syncro tool...



porschetub - I will check the mains this weekend and see what I actually have. I know the 009 isn't the preferred dizzy, but my options at the moment are the one that's in it with electronic ignition, another 009 I have laying around with points, or the stock unit currently sitting in a 2.0L bus motor core on my floor with points and vac advance (but I have no vac port).

Thank you all for your suggestions!

I did fix the dizzy drive gear, so now my plugs, wires, cap and rotor are all Kosher. Some other items to cross off:

I have fuel from electric pump. New fuel filter installed as well. Coil is older bosche blue coil, I do have another "new" off-brand blue coil I got this week that I can try as well.

So it worked just fine until you messed with the ignition? If that's the case I would suspect an ignition problem.

It did not work fine, the car started and ran with some noticeable misfiring issues when I bought it. And it did not start well when cold at all. I just couldn't get to the bottom of things until I got it someplace where I could do the work. I've never had one act this way trying to do a tune-up though, it could definitely be ignition issues. Hopefully I can eliminate some of the unknowns this weekend.

This week I was able to start, no problem! I still had to blip the throttle and keep pressing the peddle for a minute or 2. After letting the engine warm up I was even able to set the timing above 3000 RPMs. Know what I did? I replaced the crappy "Duralast" ignition rotor with an Echlin unit from NAPA (no one had Bosch in stock)!

The car runs much better, BUT I get a lot of popping through the carbs above 3000rpm, regardless of total timing advance, I played with it between 20-33 BTDC and still pops. Looks like the carbs are straight out of the box - .52 idle jets, .160 air, .130 mains.

Suggestions?

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Check your float level. Low level will give you a lean transition (which I believe is your problem). If that's not it go with bigger jets.

Disclaimer- I'm not a 34 guy. I know the dual IDF.

looks like you have a very nice 4 tip modified muffler!

I believe it is a dual-muffler bursch, but it has colored dual tips added to each end. It is the 1.7 / 1.8 pattern and dimensions but the tubing is upsized to 1-5/8" I believe

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I don't think this has been brought up. But when was the last time you adjusted your valves? Aside from vacuum leaks. Just go through the basics. I've had type 1 motors that acted like this when needing the valves adjusted.

Valves were the first thing I checked, cold, after the car was sitting for a week. Nearly every valve had zero gap (or less). I think that was part of the starting problem, the valves may not have been sealing well enough when cold to allow compression.

I'm sorry. I see where you said that up top. So electronic ignition? I've also had problems with those electronic ignition setups in 009 distributors. I'd throw a set of points and new condenser in there just to rule that out. It's cheap enough a try. I had a similar problem recently with mine. I have the same setup. Ended up being the new points and condenser! Defective EMPI condenser! Acted the same way yours is acting. Maybe a defective electronic ignition can do the same. My problems I've had with them is they would just die. That's why I like old school points and condensers. Cheap and easy to fix.

And stay away from the cheap Chinese junk that AutoZone or Oriley's sells! Just order a good Bosh set online if that's your only option. I've had points from Orileys break in less than 100 miles! Arm actually snapped off!

I have run and fitted to other peoples cars the pertronix ignitor and had no issues,some say there are issues however, there is a UK based system called Hotspark which uses the same principles,correct coil selection is important with any of these systems.

Your jetting....the idle jets sound about right but a change to #55's may help,have you checked your plug colour after a run ?,reason I ask is your mains may be a little large for such a carb,the venturies are very small@ 27mm.
What is your fuel pressure?,any Weber is sensitive to over pressure.

I ran ICT 34's on a 1200cc buggy motor with 1500cc heads and it went great after many told me it wouldn't work,good well setup ignition is the first step to getting carbs running right,if the ignition isn't 100% you will never get good tuning from the carbs period.