Tonight Julie and I are hosting a Halloween gathering at Kent Station. We got our Rotary club to sponsor part of the trick or treat part and to make it more fun we got the bar at Agave restaurant for our party. Starts at 4:30. Ends at 7:???? We have 3000 prices of candy to hand out and the bar has windows we can lean out of to distribute the goodies. What a great way to spend the holiday. Drinking and handing out candy! Costumes are optional. I think I'll be wearing my superman cape.

This 1970 2.4 will arrive via truck transporter in Pacific, WA November 14 or 15, just in case you'd like to check it out with me. I'll be seeing it for the first time also. Wise decision? I guess we'll find out.

As noted elsewhere, in the 1980s I had a pair of 2 liter 914s with the stupid single carb setup. Lovely cars, but I always wanted more power. When I saw this dual Dellorto 2.4 for sale my emotions took over. I haven't had a 914 for 25 years. Thought about a Boxster -- even rented one in Arizona.

I'm driving a scratched up 91 Miata now, which I'll keep if I can find a safe place to park it.

So ... who do you recommend for dialing in carburetors? New engine hasn't been on a sniffer or a dyno before. Also it has a racing harness instead of street-legal seatbelts, which may get old quickly.

looks nice and should be fun. I'd probably look for a VW shop with some old guys who can remember working on carbs. there should still be some of them around.

There's a shop in Kent called Franklin's. They can help you

You'll know if there is an issue with the carbs during the first drive. Snapping back thru the carbs, backfiring, going on it's nose during throttle tip in, etc, will require further investigation. If it runs well don't worry about the carbs.

Thank you. I've added them to my to-do list.

For what it's worth, I live a bit north of downtown Seattle. Doug Chase (chaserace.com) in Duvall did a good job looking over my Miata last year, but I don't know if he's set up for 914s.



The seller reported a bit of roughness at part throttle, but felt it was smoothing out as the new engine breaks in.

Pretty sure I'll want conventional seatbelts. I'm not geeky enough to drive around Seattle in a racing harness.

Congrats, that looks like a good car and if the motor is done right it should have some good scoot.

I’m meeting up today with another PNW teener to check out his conversion, then headed to SoCal next week to drive my other 3.2 conversion for a few days. I thought about driving or trailering it back but it has no side windows, heat/defroster, and would probably sit most of the winter. So leaving it in SoCal is a better proposition.

Like 98101, I am curious for the 2.7 project if I need to invest in heat exchangers to power the defroster.

Shorten your 2.7 heat exchanger hunt. Contact Mb911 about the units he produces.

We've been in touch - I bought his nicely made tank and am in the que for his stainless exhaust. The issue for me is his unit vs. no heat exchanger. I am leaning toward "heat" mostly for the defrost capability (because let's be serious - this car will rarely/never see snow/rain, but will see cold crisp days where the window fog may be an issue.

Sorry if this is a dumb question: has anyone investigated electric heat for our mild winters? I used to see ads for this in the 1980s VW/Porsche magazines.

My wife used to wear an electric jacket liner on the motorcycle. My car also won't have heat exchangers (not possible with the custom exhaust), so I'm wondering if I could just heat the seats and crack the windows to reduce fogging.

Or take the Miata, if I can find a place to park it.

--Michael

nothing better than crisp drives with the top off, get heat. And nothing beats the heat exchangers, once the car is up to temp you can melt your shoes!!

Multitudes. There isn't enough electricity in our cars to make real heat. An Eberspacher works well if you want a solution without heat exchangers.

The simplest solution is to dress for the weather outside. It's not colder inside the car. A little down goes a long way. I don't want to step outside a toasty car into cold weather anyway. I love the mindset of not having creature comforts in the car. I don't ever want my 914 to be a luxury vehicle.

The little 12v heaters can help with defrosting though.

Really??? Googled this -- didn't know such things still existed.

Yesterday drove the Miata with the top down and heater on. Enjoyed it. This morning it's snowing where I am. Looks like I picked the right time to buy a car without heat exchangers!

--Michael

I hope I'm not being a pest.... I'm excited about getting back into this. Another newbie question:

Mechanics that you'd recommend in/near Seattle? I heard about John Walker's Workshop for 911s, and also that he's picky about what he would work on.

Redmond European or European Autowerke in Fall City if you don’t mind the drive. I would prefer you use Redmond Euro since I have a hell of a time getting my cars into the EA schedule.

Bradtho, your 914 is going on a European Vacation...
https://www.facebook.com/groups/21945860515...76802832756237/

yeah, the new owner reached out to me here, he said its bound for Lithuania!

wow...

Long, LONG, boat ride.

Is the car still arriving next week?

Yes, that’s the plan. We planned it next week because this week I’m in Brazil for some reason. Pretty excited to see the car, whether it’s in good shape or not, and what it’s like to drive a 2.4.

UPDATE:
Here it is being loaded on the truck:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/xfLsYzM4J3yEUBwj2

It was originally yellow, but from the photos it seems to look fine in black. It's not the sort of car you'd bring back to stock anyway.

If anyone's interested in checking it out, feel free to come see it, or I can bring it by your place.

While looking for secure parking, I stumbled on these buyable storage units:

http://www.garagetownfederalway.com/seattl...car-storage.htm
So I could protect my $14K car for only $140K.

I guess this could make sense for Jay Leno aspirants with a bunch of classic cars and motorcycles.

I finally got John Walker's attention by banging on his garage door. He said he doesn't see many 914s anymore, most of them are rust buckets, Dellortos aren't his favorite, and he's pretty busy right now. He said to try again mid-December.

The 2.4 motor with the cam and headers sounds wonderful! I hope I can do something about this coughing. Also I think the clutch is slipping sometimes, though it's hard to tell for sure when the roads are wet.

In case anyone's interested I started another thread for cold running:
California 914-4 2.4 with front oil cooler runs too cold in Seattle

Does it seem to be coughing out of one carb more than the other?

No experience with the oil cooler stuff.


On a slightly different note I find myself taking some vacation time from work this week. Anything going on for tomorrow? South? North? My garage in Tacoma? Planning on bolting the engine/trans back in my car to make room in the garage until I can get to painting some repair spots. Anyone that wants to come down/up is welcome. Good bit of room in the insulated garage, and depending on weather could break out the grill if needed.

When did the T-3 show up? Let's see it.

Hmm, now I'm tempted to mount an iPhone in the engine compartment so I can see which carb is acting up while I drive.

Forecast is "rain throughout the day" so I would be coming with my Miata if there's a get together today. It would still be educational for me to see the guts of other people's cars.

I grew up with a dark blue squareback. I'd love to have one of those if I could find one that's not a mess... and a dry place to park it.

The fasty is Val's car Kevin. Now we both have TDI's and air-cooled cars!

So it only coughs under load? Too bad the weather is terrible today. Would be interesting to check plugs, jets, and linkage. From what I understand, Dell's are very close relatives to Webers. Took a little bit of trial and error to figure out where my carbs were happy.

Pics later when I get back home. My phone is not cooperating.

Pics as mentioned. Has a fresh 1776cc CB motor in it put together by Nate. Advertised power rivals a 2056.

nice looking pedrini's!

tell Val we approve but that she needs to drive her car and make you sit in the passenger seat on the next outing!

Hopefully the next outing will be with both of our cars present!

The wheels came with the car, and are true early 914 wheels. Polished up decently and have very little damage.

I like that! It reminds me of riding in our (similar) squareback as a kid. Does it have the castle on the steering wheel?

My wife insists on driving an automatic, and also rejected my idea of a used police car. So our family car is a boring LS400.

It had the factory wheel in it, but she doesn't like it much. Will probably change it to a Formuling wheel I have.

Sounds like you need to find yourself an automatic Square! The type 3 automatics were much more like a regular auto than the auto-stick stuff they did with the bugs. Too bad they aren't the best DD anymore with values going up and SUV's multiplying like mad with more and more terrible drivers.

Yes, the backfires -- which may be sometimes through the carbs, or sometimes "afterfires" through the exhaust -- happen when driving but don't usually happen when the car is idling. The distributor does not appear to have any vacuum advance, so I'm not even sure how it's supposed to work for ordinary street driving.


Here are a couple videos from today. Please let me know how you'd interpret them.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AC53RRrXOU


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

If it will work get a wrapped 914 wheel.

Sounds like it is at least idling okay. Hard to tell what distributor you have installed. I had a 009 dizzy in mine for a bit. Ran like garbage when I rolled on the throttle under load. I have a factory cam still, so I put my old Djet dizzy back in and hooked up ported vacuum for the advance. Smoothed it out quite a bit. Not sure what kind of advance curve that engine would like, but if it has a standard 009 it may like a factory dizzy more. Hard to say without really doing some hands on test and tune. There are a lot of factors that can be in play like spark plugs, valve adjustment, float settings, jets, linkage, and timing. I'm still relatively new when it comes to dialing in the carbs.

Kevin: That would look really cool. The hub splines are the same IIRC, but the hub depth and how it meets with the column is wrong.

It been way to long since we all got together for some teener time. This weekends the weather looks good so I'm proposing we do a gathering. Saturday or Sunday. North or south. Let's see who's got the time in their schedule and then figure out the details.

There's a cars and coffee Saturday in Puyallup at the Starbucks on meridian. I'm going to check it out. 10-12

I can make this one. See you there billy.

Which Starbucks? There must be a half dozen of them on meridian.

4423 S. Meridian

Sort of across the street from Best Buy. Dress for the weather. Pretty cold on south hill this AM. 26*. Good day to have functional heat exchangers.

Me and my boys will be there.

Super. See you there jack. Prob would'nt recognize the boys these days.

I hope you guys had fun this morning. Nice winter day for it.

Will anyone take my final parts off my hands? I got most of an early 4 bolt front suspension. it's too heavy to hassle with shipping and I just need it gone.
- powder coated early pinch bolt struts for 4 lug
- rotors with plenty of life left
- nice set of stock calipers with good brake pads left
- I've got a fresh air box with a working fan and a bunch of overspray from a bad paint job. you know the overspray is gold!

I know you're all CSOB's so this is FREE, FREE, FREE! You could even try to talk me into delivering. I need the space, I only have a 2 car garage, and...

I got a new car last week. I went down to portland and bought an 86 targa. it's in incredible condition, I'm loving it and have had the top off all week long.

I don't have any pics yet but you know what they look like it's a stock guards red targa.

Interesting group of cars. 1 914. Mostly hopped up american late model. 30ish yo group? Cadillac CVTs sedans sure are a popular item. Quite a bit of car for not a lot of money.

I think they are salting the freeways in the Seattle area, so I'm not taking the 914 out much.

The famous John Walker had told me to check back with him mid-December, when he thought he might be less busy. So today I did. He did not literally say "F*ck you and your Dellorto-infected 914," but that's kind of how it felt. He was particularly turned off by the Dellorto carbs that came with my car, which I am not especially attached to myself.

John suggested Gerber Motorsports in Ballard might have time for me and my amature hod rod. So I went there, high-lift Web cam going "badabadabadabada."

I felt encouraged to see a beautiful 1973 914 for sale outside Gerber Motorsports. Inside the pristine shop (cleaner than the Swedish Hospital Emergency Room in downtown Seattle I visited last month for different reasons), I saw technicians working on late model Porsches up on fancy lifts. The shop manager apologized and explained that his technician with the most air-cooled experience had recently retired. They really didn't know what to do with my 1970 914. But they'd be willing to do a safety inspection. That's better than nothing, so I agreed to drop the car off next Tuesday for that.

*****************

This sounds like a complaint but it's not. Perhaps all 914 drivers today are nonconformists. This is the price we pay for not being boring. Still, I could use a local mentor so I don't screw this car up worse than it has been already.

I'm surprised by that response. I thought that John was known for working on the older cars.

If you're willing to make the trip to the east side, you might check with Chris Powell. He definitely works on the early air cooled cars. Don't recall seeing any 914s in his shop, but I'm sure his team is capable.

Walker is not a 914 fan.....I like John Walker, its rare he even looked at it..

The weber carbs on my 914 cough and sputter a lot at idle and part throttle ... but run GREAT at WOT. I'm happy

I would be happier it I did not have to drive to all over town to get ethanol free gas

Too many carburetors begging for pure-gas!

Eddie