My 73 914 2.0 was rebuilt, stock rebuild including fuel injection, by Chris German in Redmond. Since they rebuilt the motor it's been back to them 3 or 4 times within 500 miles. 3 of those times when I picked it up it did not run good, including needing to be towed back within an hour of pickup due to the car dying on me. It's always a different mechanic and at least once the mechanic working on it had never worked on a 914 before, mine was the first for them. Most recently when I picked it up it was running poorly right when I started it, and the mechanic came out to look at it and talk to me. They talked about my motor like it was a basket case of problems-failing hoses, vacuum leak at intake mani due to bad gasket installation etc. Which really ticked me off as I had paid Chris' German a year earlier to do all that work, so their own mechanic is saying the work is bad!!!

Currently there is oil leaking out of the distributor, disconnected vacuum hoses under the hood, an intermittent wandering and high idle and throttle drop-off (seems like vacuum leak), and it has less power than when I dropped it off (potentially timing advance issue due to vacuum).

Is there any shop in the Seattle area that has a mechanic who is actually skilled and experienced at Type IV/914 wrench turning? Or any backyard mechanic even?

Slow down don't be a Karen and try to have them fix one thing at a time. Starting with vacuum leaks. If all else fails you could hire a front yard mechanic

Rich @914werke

Contact Monte at Redmond European? On the east side.

I was a big fan of Chris’s several years ago when either he or his head mechanic worked on the cars. The head mechanic left, and Chris no longer works on the cars. I had similar interactions at the end, and some integrity issues that forced us to pull our cars from their storage and stop doing business there.

Rich ( @914Werke ) knows these cars well and would be happy with his help, but is a busy fellow!

That said, I go to Redmond European (Monte) for anything 914 or air cooled 911, after working on these cars as a dealer mechanic he spent 10+ years fine tuning his engine rebuilding skills on all types of air cooled including race Porsche motors. Redmond European also has all of the old diagnostic and tuning equipment.. when this fellow is done with a 914 it runs like new. Not cheap but worth every penny!

Get a hold of Rich, he's local and 914's are what he does.

Rich speaks 914 fluently. Don't hold your frustrations against the 914. It's not the car's fault. Once sorted, they're well worth the effort. Every time I drive mine, at some point I find myself saying, "I love this car!"

Chris' ended up taking care of me and I have been able to get the car running well. Not a great experience along the way though.

Surprised Chris is still turning wrenches...or still has a shop and not retired. Good guy.

Yes, pictures please!