Hey All!

I just traded my 1970 Ghia for Arizona '73 2 liter.

I wanted a 914 since I was a kid and am overjoyed to finally get to call one mine!

The last two weeks since I got it has been baselining the mechanical and electrical systems to get it into a drivable state.

Things I've done so far:

• Coil
• Battery
• Fuel pump
• Added a fuel pump relay (as it had been circumvented my previous owner)
• Adjusted the shifter to allow for access to 4th and 5th (love the bungee method)
• California plates

It pretty quickly needs tires and alignment, new interior door handles, wiper blades

Next it needs headlight motor debug, new body seals and weatherstripping all around and eventually paint (its primered at the moment) and a new interior

Stoked, as rust seems to be non existent and the 2 liter has about 200 miles on it.

PO set it up with a single carb, which works OK, but from what I read could certainly benefit from an upgrade. Any recommendations on where to look for sourcing an affordable option?

Thanks!

Austin

You will find that it will become an absolute addiction.

Congrats! More pictures please

Recommend installing the original FI if the new engine has an FI cam.

Nice!! Welcome

You're not looking hard enough.

Congrats and


Post more pics, but resize 'em first.

Congratulations! Great car to start with. I would definitely try to find out what cam is in the engine and if it is a stock cam or one that will play nicely with the factory fuel injection, that is the way to go. Get it running and driving perfectly and collect all of the stuff you will need for the cosmetics when the time does.

Get it ready for WCR2021!!!!!

Oscar

Feel like I am well on my way there...

OK, thanks! I will do some investigating to determine the cam setup.

Likely very true...

Sounds like a wise approach, as badly as I want to doll it up quickly

More photos coming, I promise!

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome.

Long time member of the IH8MUD landcruiser forums (my other addiction) and have been stoked on the level of attention and collective knowledge there.

Seems like a similar community here.

Good model to start with. Unless the engine has been replaced it probably still has the FI cam. The single carb was the cheapest mod and it’s unlikely they went to the expense of changing the cam. You’ve got an unusual combination with chrome bumpers but no sail vinyl. Does your interior have the full console with gauge panel in front of the shifter?
Good luck on the 914 journey.

Still waiting to investigate the FI cam question.

No, the interior is quite basic. No console, no special gauges. Appears that someone went in and added some margin carpet to replace whatever the factory carpet kit might have been.

So as I mentioned in the original post, I did recently replace the starter. I went with a remanufactured one from Oreilly, as it was the only option that they had in stock and I need something quick. I am regretting that decision, as it now, some five or so weeks later, appears to have failed.

The mechanism of failure seems eerily similar to the previous starter, however, so I am wondering if I am perhaps missing the ultimate culprit.

On failure : specifically, the starter became progressively more intermittent in its willingness to quickly rotate when the car was already warm. AM starts always seemed OK.

Things I tested :

• voltage at the battery (12.6V)
• Resistance in the 1AWG cable that goes from the battery to the starter (~4 Ohms) replaced it anyway
• Voltage at the starter during start (12.4V)
• Voltage at the white wire connected to the solenoid from ignition switch with ignition in "start" -- (11V)
• Added a relay with 12AWG cable direct to battery actuated by ignition switch cable. 12.3V at the solenoid

Progressively, the starts became more and more sporadic until, fast forward to yesterday, I am pushing the car down a residential street to do a compression start. No start or even labored rotation when warm, cold or otherwise.

Will take the starter out and bench test it this weekend. Do people have recommendations on starter options to use that are less likely to fail? Anything I might be missing here that could explain the very similar modes of failure?

Thanks!

Great car, congratulations!

Looks like a great project.

Two things...

First, I would replace the ignition switch before replacing the starter again. They are a very common failure point and not too difficult to replace. I've had the best luck getting them directly from Porsche (approx $40) and steer away from the cheaper replacements.

Second, I would clean all your grounding points on the car. Not just inspect them but remove each one and clean with a wire brush.

Oh and

Congratulations on the car! Welcome to the sickness!

Yep, go for the ignition switch. Ground above the transmission is a must do asap.

Clean all of your grounds all over the car. this is one of the most important things to prevent all sorts of gremlins.
if the car has carbs then you need to add an additional ground from the body to the empty bolt hole on the fan shroud
also add a starter relay to take the load off of the ignition switch.
good luck

Thanks, everyone.

PO seems to have installed a fresh ground strap from the lower starter mounting bolt to the left transmission mount. I measured continuity between starter housing and that point (really low resistance) but didn't measure all the way back to battery.

I'll do some digging to see if I can find pics of what the expected ground strap location and routing is.

Going to dig into it tomorrow.

Welcome aboard mate! Looks great and keep the pics coming. Try the ground strap for connection. I have seen these fail and not allowing enough current to turn the engine over.

I think I like the 80 Series most!

The 80 is my daily driver. Its a JDM HDJ81. Absolutely love it. It has all sorts of fun Japanese quirks like a center console fridge, button actuated retractable side mirrors (in 90!) and most notably an in line 6 turbo diesel and factory locking diffs. Very capable vehicle! I've had lots of LCs and it is my fave by far.

Thank you! I will see where I get after tomorrow. I just picked up some more straps and large gauge wire in case I need to get crafty with extra paths for current returning to the battery.

after picking up new shoes and getting the headlights to actually rise properly.

Hey everyone -

I carefully inspected all of the grounds and found good continuity from the starter all the way back to the battery. For good measure, I cleaned many of the contact points with a wire brush.

Unfortunately, the fail condition persisted, so I ultimately pulled the starter and swapped in another remanufactured unit I picked up from a more reputable vendor. Interestingly, upon installation of the new unit, it started immediately. I don't have a great explanation for what ultimately causes the intermittency, but I am suspecting that the ignition switch might be my next project. As I stated previously, I was only seeing about 10/11V at the solenoid in earlier testing, so this might be indicative of an internal failure and increased resistance in the switch.

On another front, I disassembled by fuel level sending unit and found that it had failed in a familiar way : the small gauge wires along which the float slides had snapped and were spooled at the bottom of the unit. The float was also seized, so no contact with the reserve terminals at the bottom either. I had some small gauge stranded wire, so I figured I would try replacing the factory wires with my own. I got it all back together and soldered, ultimately content with how it ended up looking and functioning. Unfortunately, the resistance of the replacement wire (even the single strand I used) is considerably lower than the factory spec, so the range is not particularly useful for the 0 -70 Ohms the gauge is expecting. Ended up ordering a replacement sending unit from Pelican Parts with a new seal. At least the reserve light is functional in the current unit! Definitely learned a bit along the way.

Confusingly, the green "gauge" wire that goes from the sending unit to the rear of the gauge in the cockpit had failed internally. I spent some time digging in the harness, but ultimately relented and added a dedicated (green!) wire in parallel to the harness to carry the variable resistance back from the sender to the gauge.

While neither of my Saturday objectives were perfect successes, I was none the less excited to get out for a drive on Sunday. I drove from Berkeley to Tomales Bay for a swim. About 60 miles each direction. Perhaps 30 of those miles along beautiful, windy biway. No major complications along the journey!

I found repeated issues with shifting into fourth from third--it would often prefer two which was not a particularly fun surprise while trying to accelerate. 90% success rate with shifting from third to N, releasing clutch, then shifting to fourth. Not quite sure why that would make a difference, but it seemed to.

Very, very fun day in that little rig though. Stoked!

new wiring in the fuel sending unit harness

pulled the top off!

pt. reyes fuel up

LED fog lamps look a little out of place. Oddly, the grills don't have cutouts for the lamps...can't imagine that is correct. Right side grill is removed as I was debugging the horn.