I have to start by saying that I absolutely love this site!!! I had nothing but my Haynes manual when I first worked on these cars (pre Internet days). I am now fully addicted again; have the car I am restoring & 2 parts cars.

I am trying to decide which direction to go, and looking to you guys for some input. I have pulled a few engines, and have to decide which one I want to get one running for the Spring.

Here are my options;

1973 2.0 FI complete & unmolested, shows 78k miles on the odometer. It seems real clean but it has not been running since 1988. Car sat in a barn for the past 19 years (this one is still sitting in the car)

1970 1.7 with Weber 44's. The PO stated that he had it running a few years ago & decided to rebuild the carbs. He completely disassembled one of them & stopped there. I have the rebuild kit for them. THe engine seems real clean & the car had a bunch of mods done to it. Someone spent a bunch of $$$$ and time on this car and showed it lots of love (this is the car that is getting saved).

1975 1.8 with Weber 44's. Engine is kind of a rusty, crusty mess & does not turn free. It is complete, but the car sat outside & was a rotbox.

I am leaning towards getting the 1.7 running first as it seems to be the cleanest one and I have two sets of identical carbs to rebuild.

I would love to get the 2.0 going with the FI, but don't know where to start with it. All the parts are there but are over 33 years old. Is there a manual/book on how to test the various components, etc. The HE's are rotted beyond saving, and have read here that 1.7/1.8 SSI's work on them. Would running this setup have any negative affects on a stock 2.0?

Go for the 2.0.

Check the plugs, and while you're in there, squirt a teaspoon of oil into each cylinder. Turn it over a few times by hand.

Then, drain the oil and check the valves. Replace filter and fill it up... 3.7 quarts.

If you're industrious, clean the ground strap at the transmission and the connections at the starter.

If the hoses are suspect, replace the vacuum lines (AA sells a concours-perfect set or go to your local Bug shop for some proper metric lines).

Check the short curved fuel hoses to the injectors - if they're degraded or covered in cloth - change them out. I can't stress this enough - you don't want an engine fire!

Make sure you have FRESH GAS... and fire that baby up!

-Rusty

send the 2l injectors out for a cleaning,
replace all of the fuel lines with proper FI hose and new clamps
replace all of the vacuum lines

run it

Get the 2.0.

Is there gas in the gas tank? If so, you will have to drain it and likely clean the tank. You will also likely need to swap the fuel filter. You might want to add one before the pump too.

44 idfs are big carbs. Not sure how well they will work on a 1.7 or 1.8. I have them on my 1911 and they're a little big for that too.

Good luck and:

After you verify the oil level is right. You could try starting first to see if it has a horribly loud knocking noise, that way you didn't waste a lot of time. You may say screw it and move on. But which ever path you take good luck.
CCL

I agree with Craig. No sense spending time and money if the motor is already screwed. You won't have to run it long to tell. If all sounds good inside, then spend some time with it.

2.0L all the way. If it doesn't start, disconnect and reconect all the injection harness points, including ground contacts to clean off any corrosion.

I am concerned with attempting to run the 2.0 as is. It appears that it is all there, in good shape, but is over 33 years old. Everything is origonal; doesn't look like anything has been modified or hacked into. All of the vaccuum lines & fuel lines are the oem fabric covered ones.

The story from the seller was that it was his Grandpa's car, and was stored in a barn with a bunch of other cars that he was planning on restoring. It was a good running car, but was parked in 1988 and never moved after it was stuffed in a corner of the barn

Fuel system is still full of 20+ year old gas. Everything needs to be replaced.

Where would I get the fuel injectors cleaned/tested?

I suppose that I could replace the fuel lines & try to run it. It would be easier to replace fuel lines & inspect everything out of the car. I know that quite a few guys have run an engine outside the car. Is this a complete pain, or should I just attempt it whith the engine still sitting in the parts car (need to search past posts for this one).

I will post a few pics as I move forward (none on this computer)

If your stuck on a four sillywinder I'd ditch all 3 cores for whatever $ you could get and buy a massIVe from Jake...

Why spend time/money/effort on somthing that may not even run right, may cost way more than you expect, may be unreliable, may have very little servicable life left and will leave you wanting more if it does happen to work out right. It's a recipe for dissapointment.

Make the investment....then ENJOY it!
If you can afford a MassiIVe motor, you may also consider a six transplant.

These cars are NEVER done, and if you have the sickness, you might as well skip a few steps and save some money.

I just had mine done by Rich at Cruzin Performance. Fast turn around. He replaced the screens and pintel caps, cleaned and tested each one for $16.00 each. You get a report emailed to you with the results of the testing before and after cleaning.

My '73 2.0 sat for years before I started it. I was shocked when it just fired right up and idled. Drain & replace the fuel, replace the injector elbows (a pain, but not expensive), add oil to the cylinders to lubricate (as recommended already), new spark plugs and fire it up. And have a fire extinguisher on hand. Really.

Fix the 2.0! Not hard really to determine if you have a viable powerplant. Replace the fuel lines, get a known good battery, drain and replace the fuel in the tank, new fuel filter. Check the oil level. Take out the spark plugs squirt some oil in the cylinders, turn over by hand a few times. Crank with the plugs out to bring up the oil pressure. Replace the plugs. Try to fire it up. If it runs with no bad knocks, shut it down, and get to work replacing the wear items such as tuneup parts, vacuum lines, etc.

Just did this with a 71 1.7 and would say just spend a little time, you may be surprised how well it will run, even after sitting all those years.

Jim

Thanks for all the advice.

I will plan on having the injectors serviced, replacing the fuel lines & firing it up before pulling the engine out of the car.

Here are a few pics for ya, Kapt. I will document my progress as I go forward.

1975 Parts Car
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1973 Parts Car
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Replacing the fuel lines is a good idea - as well as the old rubber issue you may find that a lot of that old gas has turned to varnish. You need to deal with that possibility before you send gas to the injectors.

Before spending money on the new hoses though I would suggest you check that the MPS can hold a vacuum. These things are getting very rare if you have to replace them. You might also want to check the state of the vacuum pot on the distributor. Another rare part. Without these two working well you are probably going to be looking at a carb conversion. Nice to have the parts already at hand