The new harness did come with the rubber boot on it, so some insurance, but that was my concern that over time if the cover was rubbing on it it would wear through.

Well. the first of my transmission tools arrived today from 914 Werke, waiting on a couple more and then it will be transmission work time.......

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Well, finally after nearly 4 weeks of waiting, I received my flywheel from Jorge at European Auto. Not his fault it took so long, just still having supply issues.

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So I mounted the flywheel and set it up with a dial indicator. Then worked on zeroing the dial. Measured it several times, Making sure I zeroed it each time.

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It was a pain converting all the numbers from inches to mm's but I was able to get that done....when I was done the average measurement was .9906 mm, which meant I needed to fill about .8906 mm, with shims. I used a combination until I got it to .0040 inches, which converted to .1016 mm.

In the photo I know it shows .035 inches, but I had the dial guage set up poorly, so re-did the setup. Tomorrow, I will remove the flywheel and put the rear seal, the pilot bearing, etc. before bolting it in for good.

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Meanwhile I wanted to get the cooling fan installed so it didn't get damaged sitting around the garage.

The first photo shows how bad it looked prior to disassembling it, blasting it, having the belt ring powder coated. Etc. Before disassembly I indexed the fan in orientation to the ring, with an index dot where the balance weight was installed in the belt ring. Since these came balanced from the factory, I believed this was the only way I could come back with as close to being balanced in the end.

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After re-assembling the fan, I used a tooth pick and red paint to highlight the timing marks on the fan.
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As yo can see, a bit too much coffee made it difficult to keep the paint in the lines....lol, so I sanded the marks with 300 grit paper to sharpen it up a bit....

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Then I installed the spacer, the fan and all new hardware. The two arrows show the location of the weight on the ring and the indentation I used to mark the fan so they could be re-assembled the way it was originally oriented.

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Progress!

Well stupid me...I forgot to drill the breather holes into the heads before assembling the engine......so now I have to devise a way to do it without dumping metal shavings into the engine....

First I needed to mark the boss where the hole needed to be drilled. The fittings for the hoses are 1/4"NPT to barbed fittings.....

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After getting the alignment of where the fitting needed to go on the boss of the head, I found a punch that fit exactly into the fitting so it made centering the mark quite easy.

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Then came the hard part, drilling the hole, without dumping all of the shavings into the heads and valve train. So after removing the valve covers, I stuffed rags down into the pushrod tubes, then covered the valve springs with a rag, kind of like a blanket. I started with a 1/8 drill bit and started my hole.

After getting it drilled into the head, I checked the alignment of the drill bit to the boss with a straight edge.....The 1/8 whole was a little out of alignment, but I was able to square it up with the next sized bit. Then I drilled it 1/16 th of an inch larger with each bit until I reached the required 7/16 inch hole. That way I could double check the alignment and vacuum the shavings and replace my blanket rag after each size up.

Tedious, but worth the time in the end.

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Then using lots of machine lube and a 1/4 inch NPT Tap, I tapped out the hole, cleaning the hole, tap and changing out the blanket rag several times during the process. In the end, I have very little cleaning to do, but will remove the rocker assemblies and insure everything is cleaned out. The and result came out very nice.... so one down, one to go.

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Hmm, have you read all the pros and cons on venting the heads? After buying mine from Len Hoffman, he explained his position firmly: no vents.

Maybe an optical illusion but you may need to remove the hose fitting to install the intake manifolds.

So Bob, I guess my question is if you don't vent the heads, how do you vent bypass gasses so they don't build up in the engine case? Did, Len give you any insight? I can always plug the hole(s) since they are threaded. My concern is the pressure building in the engine case would lead to oil leakage...etc.

I think its an illusion, however, I will try it out and let you know the outcome.....

Any 914 with L-Jet didn't have vents in the heads. The crankcase was vented to the intake hose, and that was on the downstream side of the air flow meter. Any blowby was pulled into the intake and burned.

IIRC... the late 2.0 engines didn't have head vents either.

MIght consider asking around for another fan. That one appears to be missing a fin.

Clay, thanks for the input. So if I am not using LJet and the engine is carbureted, what is the best way to proceed?

Here is the page about venting Type 4 motors on Len's website. As I understand, forcing any excess air pressure inside the valve covers to exit into the case via the push rod tubes helps to flush oil back into the case. And the case will vent through the top breather, with or without a PCV. BTW, I omitted the PCV but then routed the vent hose to a catch can.

https://newsite.hamheads.com/2016/12/10/typ...tests-analysis/

I would route both head vents and the pcv valve to a puke box. Something like https://www.cbperformance.com/product-p/1754.htm

Also, If you want to replace the fan with the broken fin, I have a few laying around.

Thanks Clay, that was my plan was to run the lines to a oil can and to the PCV. This is what I do with my regular engines, so I assumed it would work on an air-cooled engine as well.

As for the fan I will be needing a replacement, so let me know how much you would want and we can either arrange shipping or I can pick it up next time I am up your way.. thanks.

I have plenty of spare fans, so come get some of the mass out of my garage.

Thanks Bob. Very interesting reading. I think I may just plug the vent hole I just did and try it without the venting...If I decide I want to vent the heads, I can always remove the plugs and install the nipples, and reroute any hoses......

Len's heads have threaded holes, and shipped with both hose fittings and plugs. Initially I planned to use vent hoses but then Len convinced me to try them plugged. So far, with running on the street and during my session on the dyno I have not noticed any problems.

Thanks Bob. I think I will tap the vent into the other head at this point, but plug them and try running them without the hoses....I can always change it to breather hoses later if there is a need.

So after drilling and tapping the heads for threaded fittings to vent the heads, I got allot of feedback. Pros and Cons of venting. Thanks to all who provided input. Thanks Bob for sending the link to Len Hoffmans printed research article. After researching this I have decided to plug the heads and go un-vented for now. The good thing is, if I discover this to be a problem area, I can always uncrew the plugs, screw in the fittings and change things in about 5 minutes....

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Finally had some time to work on the engine this weekend. Got all of the new parts needed to install the flywheel. Since the crankshaft had been reworked, the spacer had been removed. Not sure if I did it or the machine shop did, but it was missing, so I grabbed one from one of my spare crankshafts. In the second pic you can see that the spacer is missing.

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Spacer installed and then the rear main seal...

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Then I needed to install the o-ring and pilot bearing into the flywheel. After installing the O ring, I lubed it with assembly lube. I believe it will hold up better than oil while the engine waits to be run in.

Since I didn't have a press available I improvised with a bolt, nut and two washers. The bearing came un-lubricated, so first I packed it with very high temp grease. Then ligned it up and using the bolt pulled it into place.

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Did you check the crankshaft end play? The shims between the flywheel and the case determine the end play.

After lubricating the rear main seal (using assebly lube) it was time to mate the flywheel to the crankshaft. After alligning the flywheel I used the bolts and the old ring to pull it into place. After removing the old mounting ring, I put in the oil soaked wool seal in place and installed the new mounting ring and torqued the flywheel in place.

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After the flywheel was in place I checked the valve adjustment one more time and then installed the engine tin. I decided to go with stainless low profile socket cap screws to attach the tin. While its not original, I believe that it will be easier to remove should the need arise, and I think it looks a bit more modern too.

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After installing the engine tin, I went to re-install the distributor. It would not go back in because it interfered with the tin. I realized I had the distributor installed 180 degrees out. So after re-installing the distributor drive and re-orienting the distributor, it all ligned up perfectly.

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That's not a stock distributor. What is it?

It's just a mock up distributor. The plan is to install a 123 distributor so I can tune it via blue tooth

Did you check the flywheel end play?

It's just a mock up distributor. The plan is to install a 123 distributor so I can tune it via blue tooth

I did check it and it measured at .1016 mm.

I know its been awhile, just doesn't seem to be enough hours in a day to work and play with the 914. But did get some more parts blasted to be sent to Finish Plating services for plating. Mostly just small misc. parts, but I needed my cooling flap clip (arrow) finished before I could proceed with my engine build.....I know, pretty picky since it will never be seen, but I hate rust.

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Didn't get any work done on the car this weekend....however a new piece of car bling arrived in the mail today.....My new 123 Tune Plus Distributor arrived, it is a work of car art....Many thanks to Gonzo54 and Ed Madak for making this group buy a reality....

I went with the angled Distributor Cap just to give it a try. If I dont like it I'll just buy a standard cap

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Spent a couple of hours with my baby in the garage this evening. The part that I needed to finish the cooling flaps arrived today....

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Now to get it into this small space and clipped in place....But after a bit of fumbling with my fat stubby fingers, its in.

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Then I prepped the rear half of the fan shroud, I chased all of the threaded holes needed to mate the front half to the rear half. some of them had quite a buildup of hardened powder coat in them.

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Next I needed to unwrap the front half of the fan shroud...it hasn't breathed fresh air for months.

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After completing the install I decided to call it a night..The install went okay with the excetion of one thing, I ordered the wrong size allen head bolts, so for now I have it back together using the old cheese head screws. Will go back and change them out as soon as I can locate them locally or I will have to wait for an order from Bel-Metric. Felt good to spend some time playing with big boy toys again.


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Been absent for a bit. My daughter took me on a vacation to Florida to the Kennedy Space Center and Disney World. Fantastic trip, but I will skip Disney in the future...lol.

Anyway have gotten a few things done on the car, not alot, but inching forward.

Started with getting the thermostat system installed. The parts came back from FPS looking like new. Of course I couldn't wait to put them on.


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