I was replacing the front-trunk springs with gas shocks a few weeks ago and discovered a hose running from behind the gas tank that just dead ends to nowhere. Can somebody tell me what its for? The second pic shows where the hose is strapped down, behind the gas tank. She's a '74 2.0.

Thanks!

Numero dos.

Would it be safe to assume that the overflow tube connected to the tray by the gas filler neck is attached?

the small dia hose is for the gas recerc to the charcoal canister, yours might be gone.

Molotov cocktail hose bro and where you put the wick.

My charcoal canister might be gone? Where would I look? And if you've got a moment or two to explain, what's it for? I did a search on the forum and found lots of mentions of it, but no description of where and what for.

**** EDIT ****
My Clymer manual doesn't mention it anywhere that I can see, either.

thanks

Lava,
Check out the "nailed" front trunks, '72-'74 portion of the Concours Forum and see if your front trunk looks like any of those pictured. My '70 doesn't have a canister, but I know later models did. The charcoal canisters that I've seen have been located just to the left of the brake fluid reservoir(if your standing in front of the car, looking in the trunk).

The car is a 74. That means that the charcoal canister was moved to the engine compartment. That hose should connect to the expansion chamber that surrounds the fuel tank filler neck. The other end connects to a plastic line that runs down the tunnel and comes up next to the battery tray like the fuel lines. Then it hooks to another small vacuum line and that hooks to the charcoal canister.

Some 74s had the canister on the battery tray, and some were mounted to the rear trunk pan, depending on build date.

All that makes me glad I don't have to fool with that plumbing.

That is not completely true. Many 74s (particularly early ones) had the cannister above the fuel tank, just like the 70-73 cars did. Mine does, for example.

--DD

Dave,
My 1970 4 cyl never came with a charcoal cannister. Perhaps that's yet another "running change" that the factory made, or perhaps something that only Ca cars got initially.

The last 5 #s on my '74 VIN are 00700 and my canister is above the fuel tank.

Good to know. Soooooooo....what's a charcoal canister look like? I'd really like to get this stray hose hooked up properly, but I can't seem to find any pics of it installed. <hint, hint>

Lava,
The concours forum is really a handy, informational place to see the way the car was originally put together.

AFAIK, the cannister has been required US emissions equipment for longer than the 914 was around. I do know of at least one other 1970 car that never had one at all--did not even have the holes cut in the sill supports for the hoses. The owner got a COA which said that it did have the cannister, though.

Best guess is that it was a mistake from the factory. Perhaps the guy who installed the cannister system was out that day, or perhaps he thought that car was European spec and did not require a cannister...

--DD

My 74' has the canister above the gas tank. Here's a pic and location:

Thanks guys, I appreciate all the feedback. The tip to look at the concours forum was a good one, too.

Based on the attached pic of my ride, it looks like my charcoal cannister is in the front as well, and I believe the small diameter hose that Mike D. mentioned is hooked up correctly (below, indicated by arrows...right)?

If I've got that right, any other ideas? I outlined the mystery hose in the picture, on the left. It runs out from underneath the washer fluid reservoir. The green circle indicates where it dead-ends. Its appearance is identical to the hose indicated by the arrows. (All of the other hose-looking mess is a CB antenna installed by the PO ).

I suppose the next step is to get in there and dig, but I wanted to post this update in the event that anyone else had an educated guess.

Thanks again!

My spin is if you are running carbs, all them things are dead weight and not of importance. If you have a running FI system, hey, that all looks great and soooo clean!

Hey all,

I'm coming back to this now that I've had some time to look into it a little bit more. Thanks everyone for your feedback. A couple points:

Yep, it's connected at both ends as it should be.

The hose connecting the fuel tank expansion chamber to the charcoal canister is intact.

I did a little bit of digging, and with the help of my wife was able to track down where the hose originates from (at least, where in the visual sense...I didn't actually find the other end). It disappears into the chassis ("crosswall"?), paired with a black rubber hose with a brown stripe, in the spot circled in the pic below. You can't quite see it in the picture because it's behind the _______*, but the circle indicates the location.

* And what the hell is that thing called, anyway?!? I've been trying to figure it out for an hour. I wish I could find a labeled diagram somewhere. A collection of diagrams in the '914 Info' section sure would be useful to us novices.

Whew. Hopefully this'll be enough information for somebody to help me figure out what it is. I've read through my (new) Haynes manual and my Clymer manual form cover-to-cover and haven't had any luck. I've learned a lot along the way though...

As always, thanks in advance!

Lava

Anyone? Oh please?

the rubber hose is for your windshield washer system. i don't recall ever seeing one of the braided hoses going into the passanger cabin ...

maybe something that the PO thought up? for sucking in gas-fumes while driving?
Andy