@bbrock .

fascinating to hear of effect of snorkel.
i guess that tells why manufacturers got into snorkels?

i have read about helmholtz resonators on more modern intake systems.
seems like they are dead end chambers off the side of the feed between the air cleaner section and the intake plenum manifolds.

i suppose the snorket cancels out sound waves being generated by intake pulses.
maybe not low frequency sound like the exhaust, but significant at higher and middle level frequencies which are intake generated frequencies and still very noticeable to the human ear.

could be you have a carby car that is going to run as quiet or quieter than the stock EFI set up. nice.

I need to do more testing to isolate what it contributing to sound reduction, but I actually don't think the snorkel is making a big difference. This was the first time I drove the car with top off with the Bursch installed and I even though it is still on the loud side, it doesn't have the very deep note I had before that reverberated through the cabin. The fact is that I haven't been able to hear those carbs much at all with the air cleaner on and no snorkel. Take the cleaner off, and you definitely hear them!

Once I have a better way to measure sound, I should I'll better be able to figure out how much each component is helping. The ear has its limits trying to figure out where the sounds are coming from. BTW, this whole air cleaner project started from studying helmholtz resonators

Got a couple things to catch up on but tonight I will just update that I have confirmed that phone apps are not worth dog for measuring sound levels - at least not on my phone anyway. Got the new sound level meter that is factory calibrated and did some side by side comparisons. With the car sitting in the garage with ignition off and the roof off, the quiet reading on the phone runs within 2 db of the meter which seems like a good start.

Click to view attachment

However, as suspected the phone is hyper sensitive to transient sounds. For example, the click of the shutter when I snapped this picture caused the meter to spike momentarily to 80 db. Give me a break.

Now look what happens when I back the car into the driveway and measure the sound inside while the car is idling at 800 rpm (I really do need to change out that nasty screen protector on my phone).

Click to view attachment

I don't know how well you can read the phone, but it is measuring 86.6 db at the moment the picture was taken and an average of 87.1 db. Almost 20 db higher than the meter. That is HUGE! I couldn't get a pic but when I revved the engine to 3500 rpm, the disparity shrank some but was still significant. The meter read 79 db which fits with what my ears were telling me while the phone read 95 db so still a 15 db. difference. Let's just flush those numbers taken with the phone and start over.

When I get a chance, I'll repeat the 5 ft. behind the car measurements for both the Bursch and Ben's muffler to get a more accurate baseline.

Are there any spots welds at the rear of the center tunnel, or just the sides, and front?

Hello World. I thought I should drop a note to dispel any rumors of my demise. I'm not gonna lie, it was a rough winter, but I'll pick up where I left off.

Over the summer I clicked off 2,600 miles on the odometer of nearly flawless driving. There were a couple small hiccups, but nothing major. The biggest revelation is that I learned that I hate carbs. Don't get me wrong. The performance is outstanding. The car pulls as hard as a stockish 2L can be expected to pull all the way to 90 mph and at one point, I had the speedo needle wound to 125. I can't vouche for the accuracy of that reading, but I'm confident I was north of 115. Performance isn't unique to carbs though. The biggest drawback is that walking into the garage is like stepping into the 1970s as the wall of gas fumes hit your nose. That's even with the tight fitting custom air cleaner I made. Second is that they are too fiddly. The CSP bellcrank linkage is nice and pretty easy to adjust, but I've found it impossible to maintain consistent idle. I get a steady idle at 800 to start but after running the engine hard, the idle creeps up. My guess is that the linkage rods expand as the engine heats up hand holds the butterflies open a smidge. Maybe I need to leave more slack in the adjustment, but like I said, fiddly. Also, seems like every time I make an adjustment on the car, I wind up re-balancing the carbs and re-adjusting the linkage. It isn't hard to do, but gets annoying after awhile. Sooo.... the plan was to yank the carbs and fancy air box and Megasquirt the car over the winter.

We had a beautiful fall last year which coincided with working on a film for my job. This film has nothing to do with Porsches but one of the ranchers interviewed got a real kick when I drove up to his house in the 914. If you are interested in grizzlies, ranchers, or Yellowstone, you might enjoy it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POhOkCqVIdo


As fall wound down, I rushed to catch up on a long backlog of deferred maintenance on the house when I was dedicated to the car restoration. The biggest project was revamping the frog/lizard room.

Click to view attachment

I was honestly enjoying a break from constantly working on the car. My biggest project was buying pajamas as a Christmas present to the mistress.

Click to view attachment

Then the string of that hasn't ended started. I won't go through it all but the winter has been nothing but responding to one or more crises every week. The most relevant to the 914 is that I lost my job in February when the org I worked for decided to shut down our entire regional program. This news landed 2 days after we signed a contract to install an rather expensive solar system on our house. I was allowed to transition our the projects I was leading to another org which only took 3 days to accomplish in principle. However, After four months, our newest and largest funder has not decided whether to transition funding to our new org which has put a serious hurt on out projects and my salary and my previous org has been slow with transfer other funding which has left me and a colleague working without pay for 3 months. Within a week of losing my job, our dog was diagnosed with a mast cell tumor which is potentially life-ending. He's now had surgery and crossed the halfway mark on his chemo today. He's doing great but our bank account suffers greatly. With all the expenses draining our savings and uncertainty over this year's income, the Megasquirt project has been put on hold.

In May I received an invoice from Hagerty for policy renewal and was shocked at the bill. I paid ~$350 last year and the bill for this year was $570 even though NOTHING has changed. I tried several times to download past statements and other docs from the web site but nothing would work. A completely different experience from just a year ago. Screw them. I got a good quote from Grundy, but they didn't want me to actually drive the car. No driving it to work or trips to the grocery store. For me, that IS the pleasure driving as I have wonderful Porsche roads any direction I drive from home. So I said no thanks to Grundy. I got a good quote from State Farm who we have insured out house and other cars with for years. That required sending pictures for agreed value classic car insurance. Of the hundreds of pics I've taken of this car, I did not have pics of the finished product from all the angles they need (but I have pics of the guts of the cigarette lighter ). So I fired up the car on a somewhat sunny day to snap some pics including this one of the car and chemo boy.

Click to view attachment

With an new insurance policy, I just had to wait for enough snow to melt for a drive. That happened yesterday...

To be continued...

Nice Film! My brother lives out in that area....beautiful country! I hope things turn around for you......I know they will.

Brent, sounds like a tough winter. I hope things continue to get better, and you get some more miles in.

Damn Brent!, quite honestly was going to email you today and here you are.
Uggh what a winter. Fingers crossed and great karma wished for the pup, as well as your job situation. Car looks awesome as usual.

PS: The film is excellent. Thanks for the education. Hope many outlets pick it up to get the word out.

Was just thinking about you today as I looked up your stereo install that I'm going to copy pretty much part-for-part. From where I sit, you're good people and you know what happens to good people.

I enjoyed going over the thread and seeing the rusteration. Looks like a great car. I also enjoyed the Working Lands video. I'm a retired wildlife biologist and the message hits home. I worked with farmers and ranchers on similar issues in WI throughout my career. Take care.

Hey thanks all. Before I dive into yesterday's ride, I think in trying to keep things as brief as possible for a 9 month catch-up, I made things sound a bit more dire about the job than they actually are. It's actually pretty complicated and would be too boring to go into but the bottom line is that the funding sitch for one of my projects is frustrating, but overall I'm set. It literally took just one phone call to slide the working lands program over to a partner organization I've been an associate with since they were founded and I have a large contract from my former boss. I'm not making as much as I was at the old job, but honestly, I was getting paid kind of stupid money anyway. I'll continue my lavish Porsche driving lifestyle The timing was perfect for killing the Megasquirt project is all. I planned to do that Feb-April before the driving season began. Now the driving season is here and I don't want to tear apart the car now.

So yeah, yesterday was the first drive of the year. I left the car sitting untouched all winter so about a month ago decided I should see if it would start. A couple pumps on the gas peddle and it fired right up. Fired up again a couple weeks ago when I took those pics. Then yesterday I needed to run into town for a work meeting and low and behold, it was sunny and the snow was off the road. I hopped in the car and turned the key and... NOTHING. Well shit. I never plugged the trickle charger in after the first start so figured maybe the battery had drawn down. Hooked up jumper cables from the snow plow and VROOM! We were off and I figured the 30 minuted drove to town would charge the battery. Went to my meeting and then hopped in the car with a colleague to grab some lunch. Turned the key and... NOTHING. Pushed the car out of the parking space and my buddy gave it a shove in the cramped parking lot to push start. Fired right up. Drove to a restaurant and parked in an easy place for a push start which was again needed. I drove my first 914 daily to college for a full semester without a functioning starter, so push starting was a trip down Memory Lane. I haven't had a chance to trouble shoot yet, but the battery seems to be charged but not getting juice to the starter is my guess.

A funny thing happened driving back tot he office parking lot. A car pulls up in front of me and asks if I'd consider selling it. I said every man has a price but mine would be high. He said, "give me a number." I said, "Maybe 60?" He pulled out a card and gave it to me and we hopped out to chat a bit. I explained the history of the car and why I wasn't motivated to sell, but anyone could be persuaded. He said he was a Porsche guy, used to have a 914 and regretted getting rid of it. Has been looking for awhile etc. He kept saying, "Honestly, I don't think 60 is unreasonable." He also asked if I had the car painted locally. When I told him I did it myself, he about fell over. Gotta admit that made me feel a little good. When we parted he said, "Enjoy your car and when you are ready, you know how to find me." After that I drove home with the top off and it started to rain. I love driving these cars with the top off in the rain.He texted me this morning to ask what year it is.

Things get real after an incident like that. It got me thinking. I used to get notes on the car occassionally back in the 80s asking if it was for sale. Those were a nice contrast from the people who daily told me to my face that my "glorified VW" was a joke. But those notes were from people who might, in a moment of weakness, fork over $1,500 or so. Things are too weird now when these old VW jokes are commanding stupid money. Yes, every man has his price, but what is mine? I'm not there yet. Not at $60K anyway, but I'm pretty sure $80 would do it. I can't imagine being offered 80, but if I were, it would be hard to refuse. My buddy who was with me has seen the car through the project and couldn't believe I would entertain selling. The truth is I love the car but it is really impractical where I live and with the garage space I have. No, not ready to sell, but every man has his price.

Any chance the "D" in DBF stands for Duane? Many years ago I struck up an online friendship with a wolf biologist in Wisconsin named Duane. I can't remember his last name and know there is a snowball's chance it is you, but how cool would it be? I just had to ask. I don't think Duane would be retirement age yet though.

I do wonder all the time what my number would be as well. 60 sounds real good to me..

@FlacaProductions Hey Brian, FYI my stereo still sounds like due to lack of a subwoofer box. I've been offline so haven't looked to see if Mark ever produced the kickspace boxes he's been talking about. MY backup is to make one myself but that will be a pretty involved project and I haven't had time for it with all the chao.

At the moment, my system sounds worse than if it had no subwoofer at all because I have the crossovers set to send the low end to a sub with no enclosure. I think I'm just going to disconnect the sub and take whatever bass I can get from the Infinitys until I can seal that sub in a proper enclosure.

Funny how things do "get real" when someone says, essentially, "name your price".
My litmus test for actually selling is "does it still make me stand there and stare at it?"
Until that's a "No", it's not about price.
I think another key is if you're about the journey, the destination or both.
I'm about the journey so I'll be happy to sell when my car is "done" - whatever that means to me. @bbrock Brent, you're clearly about the journey, too! But with your history with your car, I suspect there's a bit of destination in you, too.
Regardless, IMO, it's about experiences, building memories/friendships and the folks you meet along the way. Aside from that, it's all just a bunch of eating and sleeping.

Stay happy, my friend!

Hey Brent - I'm using your same amp, mounting location and method while replacing the aging Blaupunkt 6-1/2's with new Alpine R-S65.2's. I have a blank/uncut panel for the sub but holding off for now to see what comes out. Nothing new on that front and I patiently wait.

I also have your "old" exhaust so basically you're responsible for all the noise being generated here....

Brent, I’m sorry for the rough patch, I know things will turn around
Its great to see that you are putting miles on the car. I am going through the process of getting mine dialed in, it seems to be running pretty good now. I had not driven a 914 before starting my restoration, now I get it ! This thing is a blast to drive, I can’t wait to start putting miles on it.
I just want to say thank you again for taking the time to post in detail all that you did. Although my skill set is nowhere close to yours, you gave me confidence to take on many tasks that I would not have if it were not for you. And through all your life experiences along the way you have brought us all closer to you in some way, shape, or form.
Good health and many more miles to you my friend!

My baby, under wraps as well

Click to view attachment

Thanks for checking in and life has been known to have a curve ball or two every so often. Hold fast and things will brighten up soon. Also thanks for sharing the film, very informative for an Eastern city guy. Glad to hear your 914 has met/exceeded some of your goals.

My first name is Douglas, or Doug for short. I don't know any state employees who worked with wolves named Duane. I recall meeting a federal employee (USDA Wildlife Services) named Duane - they deal with wolf depredation issues. Maybe that's the guy? Interesting you mention wolves - that was the critter I was thinking about when watching your video. Same issues - just a different state and critter.

Starter problems really aren't a problem with light cars. Back in college, my '62 bug's starter quit working. I still wonder if the guy in the gold cadillac tells the story of pulling up behind a multi-colored VW at a stoplight in the rain. When the light turned green, a skinny blond in a dress got out of the passenger side, and a long-haired guy in khaki's got out of the driver's side. They started pushing the VW across the intersection, and after a bit, the blond hops in the car followed by the guy, the VW lurches and chugs off down the road. We made our dinner reservation, and we've been married 40 years!

thanks for link to film.

watched it.

have family in the cattle industry up north here.
my very early childhood was every school holidays out at my uncle and aunts cattle station in central queensland with my cousins. remember it vividly.
i could half relate to it.

but very different landscape.

----

good luck with things. change is opportunity.

It came to me first thing this morning. Funny how a good night's sleep can reconnect the synapses. Wayne Stevens was his name. Not Duane. He wasn't with the state and was early in his career at the time (just out of grad school). Seems like he didIt's funny, the ranchers I work with have really settled down about wolves because they've learned how to live with them. Not that they never cause trouble, but manageable. The same really goes for griz on ranches that have been living with them forever. It's the guys on the fringe of expansion that have trouble because both they and the bears are figuring things out. I could go on and on...

Great story! I can picture it perfectly!

Starter is functional again. I started troubleshooting with the simple stuff. Cleaned battery terminals and tried to start the car. Nothing. Time to move to the other end of the starter cable. My lead suspect was the used Bosch starter relay that was donated by a member here.



I knew these relays had a history of failure and installing a used one was double jeopardy but I took a gamble. I jacked the car up, disconnected the battery ground, and bypassed the relay by plugging the starter switch wire directly to the solenoid. Then I reached into the car and turned the key. Nothing. Absolutely dead. Smart readers may have notices a critical step missing in my sequence. RECONNECT the battery ground. Doh! Okay, battery reconnected and turned the key. VROOM I'll source a Ford relay following Mark Henry's procedure because I firmly believe the starter should be on a relay.

It's a beautiful sunny day here but has been snowing the last couple so the 3 miles between me and pavement are muddy. Probably going to have to remain garage bound.

Brent, you probably already know this but.............Those Bosch units require ~9v to operate. The Ford solenoid needs about 4v, IIRC. Caution: there are are cheap import knock offs. The OEM solenoid holds up well in rough environments. Glad to hear you have things in hand. I was afraid the next paragraph would tell the woe of a wrecked 914. I hope your dog makes a full recovery too.

Thanks Kent. I did not know the Bosch units require 9v vs 4v for the Ford unit. Good to know. I think anything to reduce load on the ignition switch is good. I just ordered a Standard brand solenoid per Marks recommendation.

As for the dog, he's clueless anything is going on, and it is possible that nothing is. The longer version is that he had a small mass under his jaw that was a mast cell tumor. We him in quickly after it appeared so that was good. After a round of CT scans, x-ray, and ultrasound, he was scheduled for surgery to remove the mass. A couple days before the surgery, the mass "degranulated" and ballooned into a soft, undefined mass of inflamed tissue. Surgery was postponed and he was put on steroids to reduce inflammation and shrink the mass back down. That worked and he had surgery a week later. Next, the tumor needed to be graded by a pathologist to decide if additional treatment was needed. The pathologist wasn't able to find any cancer cells in the mass sample and ordered another set. Still no result which left us to guess. If the cancer was low grade, then surgery would be the only treatment needed. If it was high grade, he'd probably only live 6 months without further treatment. Chemo works pretty well on this type of cancer so we decided the risk of not doing chemo was worth the expense and possible side effects. He finished his fourth of eight treatments last Thursday and so far has shown no side effects of the chemo, or any indications of cancer other than the lump. As far as he is concerned, Thursdays are the fun days he gets to play with other people. The only real trauma has been to my bank account. He's still a dork.

Click to view attachment

A BIG DORK, probably like a pussy cat

While I was under the car today, I attempted to fix a problem that plagued me all last summer. I could not keep the engine tin seals from pulling away and leaving gaps. That played hell on the 3 miles of gravel road I drive since one trip out would fill the engine bay with dust. Not good. I've read hog rings were used in some way to help keep those seals in place, but I wanted to just get something done so I drilled through the engine tin flange at the corners and through the outer side of the seal. Then I ran zip ties through to pull everything tight to the tin. It was a pain and I could only get the drill in the corners, otherwise I would have added zip ties halfway between too. Not exactly elegant, but I hope it helps.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Later I opened the glove box and found that even with the car stored inside a well sealed garage, a @$%^ing mouse had been in there chewing the shit out of things. I also found a wire on the console harness with insulation chewed. I was able to "fix" that with liquid electrical tape (I love that stuff) but it still pisses me off after all the work restoring all the harnesses.

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

I HATE MICE!

Besides the damage and waste they left in my car before I bought it, I have been battling mice in and around my house for 5 years. The longest fight has been in the crawlspace. Last year, they opened a new front on my elevated deck, setting up home on my outdoor sofa, under a rain cover.

You're probably not going to like my solutions - neither of which are ecologically friendly.

1) Get some outdoor / barn cats. They kill lots of mice - but birds too.

2) Mouse poison in the little paper pouch /packets. I used to put three of these in the Miata when it was left in the Idaho field between trips. One packet in engine compartment where you can easily remove it. One inside the interior. One in the trunk. In all honesty, over the course of about 8 years, I only saw the packets in the trunk and the engine compartment chewed once each. They tend to love to chew the packet paper and the of course the bait which keeps them away from the rest of the car. I know these packets can have negative implications for birds of prey that can potentially ingest 1/2 dead poisoned mouse. Given the average frequency of attack (average one chewing / 4 years) I can't see that much risk but would feel very differently if I were burning though lots of chewed packets.

I'd be interested in other more environmentally friendly solutions but these are the two proven strategies I'm aware of.

The main strategy that has worked with the Idaho house (which had mice when purchased) was to remove all shelter and food sources from the crawlspace. Original owner had all sorts of crap (old windows, old wood remnants, etc) down there that was a prime breeding ground. I also tried to remove any tall grass from a 5' perimeter of the house. One the shelter and food sources were gone, the mice disappeared too.

Yeah, you don't want to raise these "solutions" with a wildlife biologist. Especially one who's expertise is the human impact of rural development on wildlife. I'm not not going to go into the impacts of outdoor cats (a trillion birds killed in the US every year) and rodent poisons on wildlife (not just birds - most commonly dogs, but foxes, weasels, etc too), but it is devastating. BTW, the odds of a bird of prey ingesting a poisoned mouse are about nil but the list of species that will scavenge a poisoned mouse is large.

Dealing with mice is inevitable with where and how we live. As you know, our landscape is native vegetation to minimize our impact on wildlife habitat. The main mode of entry into the house is mice hitchhiking in cars pulled into the garage. Typically the mice are caught within hours to a couple days by one of the live catch traps we always have set. The live traps are not because we don't want to kill the mice, but because they can catch a dozen mice without resetting. If we have to leave a car outside in the driveway overnight, we can count on catching a half dozen mice beginning within minutes of pulling the car in the garage. It's just part of living here.

Of course, a mouse can do damage in two days. My mistake on the Porsche is that I had accidentally left a window rolled down with the car cover on for a couple months. That's how the little bastard got in.

Invest in a battery powered mouse trap placed bit aways from the car. You never have to touch a dead rodent (unlike a conventional spring trap). You just dump them in the garbage or bury them in a hole. Remember to check the trap daily when you first start using one. Spring time is 'pinky' season. You don't want ANY pinkies. They just have more pinkies. Repeat. Cardboard boxes with paper in them make swell birthing rooms.

Really? That is crazy.

Makes me glad I'm doing a detached garage / shop.

Rat bait/poison is the worst! The rodents die a squirming death, other creatures eat them. Then the predators die a squirming death. Then you bury the predator to keep scavengers from eating them and dieing. The cycle continues right up the food chain.

That is the dream. And one large enough to store the whole fleet and provide shop space so no car ever has to spend the night outside.

The bottom line is that healthy wildlife habitat comes with an abundance of mice and other annoyances like all of our shrubs "pruned" by moose, but well worth the tradeoff IMO. If it means the occasional annoyance of a mouse in my impractical luxury sports car, so be it.

Brent, sorry to hear you have been going through a rough patch and hopefully it will all be in the rear view mirror soon.

Have you looked at something like this for your rodent problem?

Loraffe Under Hood Animal Repeller Rodent Repellent Ultrasonic Rat Deterrent LED Strobe Lights Keep Mice Away from Car Pest Control for 12V 24V Automobile...on Amazon.

I might give it a try. When I dropped the stone guard to change the oil on the sedan last Saturday, it was apparent that I have critters taking advantage of the engine heat down there. Luckily, no nests or chewed wiring.....


Click to view attachment



Click to view attachment

Dryer sheets! For years I had mice invading my garage in Renton. They really liked living in the back seat of my Mercury ragtop and for awhile a friends 911 coupe. After hearing about dryer sheets I put them under seats and in glove boxes, trunk, etc. Never had a problem since. Sounds crazy but it works.

Glad to see you post buddy. Keep doing what you’re doing and it will all work out. Glad the pooch is doing well.

Cat

I've read several studies testing those ultrasonic devices and none showed that they work. Same goes for deer whistles. Dryer sheets do work. There is also a product called Cab Fresh you can pick up at many hardware stores that works. The problem with both is that you need to keep them fresh.

Next person who suggests a cat gets called a dick (For anyone who missed it, getting called a dick is a badge of honor in this thread: http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?s=&...t&p=2801518 )

I am thinking about some snakes.

Now you're talking my language!


Click to view attachment Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

I keep traps set in my storage unit, garage and in the house year-round and I rarely see signs of mice. Given the tunnels in the snow and other sign, we have plenty living in the yard, so that tells me they get caught quickly when they venture indoors before they have done any damage. Yes, there is an argument that the bait attracts the mice into places they might not normally travel, but after 40 years of no mouse damage in the house or cars, I'm thinking the traps are effective. Nice to read so many people share my views about not letting cats roam free and why we should never use poison. One other reason why poisons are bad is when the mouse dies the terrible death, they may be in some isolated area in the car where you can't get the corpse, and then you get odors. I forgot that I had set a trap in one of the rooms in my basement but discovered it when the dead mouse started decaying. It is amazing how stinky a little decaying mouse gets!

Thanks for the pointer, this guy has been my hero for many years

Dang, I've gotta try harder.

Maybe you need a small herd of Ferrets since you're so opposed to cats

Quite some time ago on another thread, someone commented they thought I could pull off a DIY PPF install. I took that as a dare, and I can't pass up a dare. So this just happened

Click to view attachment

Going to do a full front install. I could have bought die cut pieces for ~$500 extra. It's a pretty simple pattern I think I can do with a 5 cent razor blade and save significant coin. I should have quite a bit extra material to avoid F-ups. Should be interesting...

If anyone can figure it out...AND document it....it's you. Looking forward to seeing your results!

Had to make a 200 round trip for a work dinner last Wednesday so I took the 914 and took a few glamour shots. Locals will be able to pick out The Sphinx in a couple shots. Car ran fantastic except for a high idle that I fixed today. Had to make the same driver yesterday but it was snowing on the way over, so had to take the boring car.


Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Click to view attachment

Looking fantastic Brent. Those side markers are really well done. Quiet part of town?
Luv the scenery. I need to get back out there.
Enjoy!

very cool pictures

Anniversary

Tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of my post-resto maiden voyage.



Since it looks like I'm going to be stuck with these carbs for another driving season, I decided to finally hook up the wideband to check the AFR. I've been paranoid I might be running way too rich or lean. I have data now but not sure what I need to do next to dial in the carbs, so any help appreciated.

Click to view attachment

I spent a lot of time trying to get a reading from the lambda. Turns out I must have wiped out the free-air calibration the first time around. After I pulled the sensor and re-calibrated again, it worked fine.

Initial readings with warm engine at idle were around 11.0 - too rich. I redialed the idle mixture on all barrels but this time aiming for the leanest mix that produced a steady idle rather than backing out until the idle came up and then another half turn for good measure. After several rounds, it was idling very smooth at around 700 rpm @ AFR of 12.3 which seems okay. I would be happier with 13, but will take it.

Click to view attachment

It's raining here and the gravel road is ridiculous sloppy, but I took the car out to get more readings anyway. In general I think it is running a bit rich and really rich in some areas. Here are my notes:

Idle - ~12.3

Low speed just off idle - ~11.0 Too rich. Do I need to reduce the size of idle jets?

WOT - ~12.5 It dips to low 11s when the throttle opens then climbs as it leans out a bit. Not sure if backing off the accelerator pump would be a good idea

70 mph cruise - Mostly ~12.8 - 13.5 The road I was on is mountainous so not much straight cruising to get steady readings.

Deceleration/downhill - mostly in low 13s but can go as lean as 14.9

Overall I think these numbers look decent for what I've seen recommended for air cooled engines except that low speed (20-30 mph) cruising at 3000 rpm or so. I'd love to tune for a bit more economy but since I'll be swapping the carbs for FI, it's not worth going crazy over, but again, the low speed range looks too fat to me. I also get a bit of surging driving at those speeds which I suspect is related to the rich AFR.

Any suggestions on how to improve are welcome

Also, the Expel PPF is here but I need to buy some supplies before attempting the install.

@bbrock - I can't speak to carbs or air cooled (so why am I even posting...? )
Maybe it holds true across engines: With my Holley ECU there's a specific setting that completely cuts fuel on closed throttle. I display AFR as one of the gauges in the digital dash and on closed throttle, it pegs full lean.
Again, maybe it's a different game with an H2O cooled, but I thought I'd mention it.

Nope, not a different game. One of the may reasons I want to go FI is to be able to do exactly that, shut off the fuel completely when it isn't needed. I believe on carbs, you just have to take what you get when the throttle closes and whatever you get is a waste of fuel. I'd also like to know a little more about how lean is safe for an air cooled engine at highway cruise with little load.