That looks better.

Every 914 needs a toolkit onboard, right? I have long been a fan of voodoo, at least the kind that seems to prevent any incidents I am prepared for. I grabbed some old tools and some new ones, and a tool bag that was sitting on a shelf. This includes wrenches, pliers, screw drivers, sockets (including a 19mm deep socket and breaker bar for lug bolts), and a few other things.

Good spot for the tool bag on the right side of the spare tire. I also stocked the usual clutch and throttle cables, plus another small bag with electrical spares.

Some bling: new window cranks. The originals were a bit chewed up. I know the early cranks are not correct, but they are more shiny.

I like it.

Left side too. The bit of shiny metal matches the rest of the interior.

Shiny is good. I think I like them better than the black ones anyway.

I recently put the same cranks on for the same reasons....

No 914 work today, but I can't resist noting over 200,000 views.

Getting ready to haul the 914 to the big city, and do some dyno tuning. First, I drove to the corner gas station, and put several gallons in the tank. Good news: the gas gauge seems to work. Bad news: the speedo and odo do not.

Then I picked up a rental trailer, and got the 914 loaded and tied down.

Then for fun, and to get the rig off the street, I practiced my backing up skills.

The good thing is the Speedometer and Odmeter are not electrical, so it narrows the problem down to mechanical issues, question is which end of the cable or is it the cable itself.

Can't wait to see how the Dyno tests go

The speedo in my 1975 works when I can get her over 40 mph, must be something sticking somewhere. I simply give the dial a tap to get it going when my speed is under 30.

I think of it as my '70's version of a touch screen.

Looks great. Which big city?

Longmont, which I guess is not too big. But I consider it part of greater Denver.

At 5250 Perfomance in Longmont, CO. Nice shop with lots of EFI tuning experience.

Here's their Mustang dyno.

And the 914 strapped down. Mike was not too worried about controlling all the awesome 2 liter horsepower.

The core of the dyno: electromagnetic brakes, with computer control.

A quick review of the day. Once home and after reviewing all the files, I will post more.

The initial checks went well, and the car started and ran (no surprise to me, but Mike said he is often skeptical of people who show up with cars that will not start).

Then we had a problem with the throttle sensor (TPS) reading. At first we thought the sensor was bad, then the leads were reversed, and then a software problem. Finally we figured out that the bad reading "might" be due to cross-talk with the crank position sensor. We rewired that, and got a reasonable TPS reading.

Mike then went through his complete tuning process, starting with the fuel table, then the spark (advance) table, and then tip-in enrichment and a few other drivability tweaks.

I was not after "max" horsepower, and my goal with the engine mods (bump to 2056 cc, compression about 8.8:1, new EFI and ignition) was 120 hp. At the end of the day we saw consistent peak hp of 113 at the wheels (corrected for the altitude. Assuming a 10% loss through the transaxle, half-shafts, and hubs, that means 125 hp at the crank. Yay!

Note that the curve data below 2500 is not "real", based on the settings for this pull.

I did not have time to drive the car (I was late to help my uber-gardener wife pick up plants at two area nurseries, so that will have to wait until we get home.

Ready to go home.

BTW, the old bumpers went to Chad, who recently bought a 73 1.7, and lives in Longmont.

BTW, we found this under the transaxle during the dyno session. Looks like the speedo angle drive self-destructed, and left the cable hanging. That might explain why the speedometer did not work.

I will use all that you have done on my rebuild. VERY well done !
Thanks

We made it home yesterday, and got the car unloaded. This morning I washed the 914 for the first time to remove the road grime. Then I checked a few more things off the list.

When I washed the car, I noticed that both headlights look dirty on the inside, with the right side worse. I need to investigate this.

Then I started thinking about how to sort through all the remaining boxes of 914 parts, some that I took off and did not use, others that I had refurbished in some way.

My updated lists. Next week I will get an alignment done, and then get the brakes bedded and adjusted.

Here's my speedo cable again drive that "exploded" on the dyno.

First I tried pressing the pieces together, but it pulled apart under moderate tension. So I decided to make it permanent.

Looks ready to go, but...

First I confirmed that if I spun the speedo cable counter-clockwise, the speedometer works. Yay.

But then I figured out that the angle drive transmits the transaxle output into a clockwise spin at the cable--opposite what I need. Looks like the shop that did the transaxle rebuild put on a 911 angle drive. That might also explain why I had trouble getting the cable end nut to screw onto the angle drive.

Oh, well. Another part to buy.

You have angle drive. You can drive in reverse and your speedo will work.
Same issue I had on my previous 75 1.8.

Yeah, I learned late that the 914 and 911 angle drives spin in opposite directions.

I tackled the headlights today. It might be hard to see, but the general fogginess of the lens, and the bands on the right, are on the inside. This was not how they looked when installed.

Here's the likely problem: the rubber cap that is supposed to seal the bulb mounting is wide open. Last week, with the 914 on an open trailer, we drove through a few rain squalls. And then I gave the car a quick wash at home.

Assembly out, and separated into lens and reflector housing, LED bulb, and rubber seal.

it would be easy to clean inside the lens, except for the bulb shield.

Here's my solution: a piece of synthetic rag, glass cleaner, and bit of coat hanger.

Working the rag with cleaner around the inside.

After a couple of rounds, it looks sparking clean again. Now, how to keep it this way.

How about sealing all the openings, with my favorite stuff.

First, I sealed around the bulb.

Then a bead of goop around the rubber cap edge, since no matter how I adjusted the fit, the edge would not stay sealed against the reflector.

We'll see tomorrow if it stays sealed.

Another quick task: replacing the license plate screws with security Torx. Maybe a bit paranoid--and OCD--but why not?

Now I have to avoid losing the security Torx bit.

Headlights ready to instal, with a bead of goop around the bulb itself.

installed with the lights off and it looks clear.

And with the lights on, still looks good.