I have a 1976 914 2.0 L with some serious oil leaks. The engine has about 130,000 miles. Some smoke when I decelerate but otherwise runs strong. Question: Do I rebuild or fix leaks and go on? Also, any recomendations on a good 914 shop in east bay (N. Calif.)? Thanks, John

Its not that big of a big to fix the oil leaks, new o ring seals, new oil cooler seals. The engine will have to be cleaned either by steam cleaning or a case of brake cleaner.
The shop I would recommend is All914 if Brad can get to it.
Geoff

John,

It depends on the location of the leaks, but I'd venture to say it's the push rods tubes. The '75/'76 cars see more heat due to the exhaust.

Parts are

Brad would be a good choice, but if he is too far (Novato) or too busy, there is Honest Bill in Danville that works on 914's at a good price.......or so I have heard, I've never used him, I do all my own work, which would explain why my car does not run, LOL

Thanks, I'll check them out. The car is coming out of the body shop with new malaga red (original color) paint job on tuesday. I've had this car since 1976 so its part of me. At what point should I consider rebuilding the engine or having it rebuilt (i.e. 150k, 200k, ... miles)? John VS

Welcome to this BBS John...be sure to post pics of your car when its ready...and join us for the monthly 9:14 breakfasts. We'd all like to meet ya...and see your car.

An Original Owner!!!

when the (non-leakage) oil consumption exceeds 1 qt in 600 mi (officially, it's a liter per 1000 kms), when the cylinder-to-cylinder compression varies by more than a certain amount (20%?) or is overall too low, when the valves won't hold an adjustment, when you no longer have sufficient power to maintain speed in a highway driving condition, or at the onset of Expensive-Sounding Noises.

these things -do- wear out, but if you've been religious with oil and filter changes and valve adjustments, it might push 200,000.

all miles are not created equal - steady highway cruise in the region of the posted limit (i.e. - not overheated) miles are way easier on an engine than lots of stop-n-go.

Thanks for the welcome bowlsby! I'll try to make it to a breakfast.

Thanks for the info ArtechnikA, non leak oil consumption is minimal. I'll check on the compression. Good hwy power, so looks like fixing the oil leaks is #1 priority. John VS

john
i also have a 76 2.0 . im the second owner and although the speedo has been replaced i am confident of the stated mileage of 136,000 . nothing has ever been done to the major components of the engine except maint. my engine still develops hp figures within a few percentile of new .
also fixed my leaking pushrod tubes for about 25 bucks and a couple of well placed curse words ! oh and a couple of hours of time .
unless you are well down on power and/or smoking badly or using oil i vote for DRIVE IT .

jt

Thanks jt, I like the sound of that. Where are you people getting 914 parts? Ive used automobile atlanta, performance products and some time back stoddard. Any others? John VS

Ive also had good experience with EASY for used parts or hard to get parts. John VS

I get parts from Pelican, Paragon, swap meets, other 914 club members.

'the usual suspects' are Pelican, Paragon, Performance Products, and GPR.
then there are the others that sometimes have stuff we need -- Otto's, Mittelmotor, Zims -- and the fabrircators like Perry Kiehl, Rich Johnson, Brad Meyeur - and the 'recycler' places such as High Performance House, PartsHeaven, and EASY. Maybe SIlver Star if you're close to Sacramento.

i'm on the East Coast, i'm not close to anything... the UPS and FedEx guys know my house tho ...

'my momma done tol' me, ya gotta shop around'

the big places have websites - mostly they'll tell you not everything they have - or can get - is on the website. mostly that's true.

partly it depends on what you're looking for - OEM replacement parts, reconstruction parts, restoration parts, performance parts... there are lots of options for a reason...

Has anyone had any experience with automobile atlanta-914 specialists?

Lots of people have had experience. Do a search on their name (auto atlanta) on this forum, and you will see that they get good marks localy and ocasionally bad marks this side of the Rocky's. (I say occasionally because most people who have had a good experience dont post.. )
I have not heard anything bad (except Rusty's quarel) with www.Pelicanparts.com
I have personally delt with Pelican and just made a big order through Jason at www.paragonproducts.com .. There websight does not have hardly any of the things he sells, and he is normally the cheapest dealer (if you dont like the price, ask if he can go lower!)

Like I said, do a search and see what you find!

Good luck!

Recently, I've used Paragon twice, Pelican twice, ebay a couple times, AJ-USA, and our classifieds for the parts I've needed.

Don't forget about the Classifieds, they're pretty effective. Even the "parts wanted" segment netted me some parts I was looking for!