Help - Search - Members - Calendar
Full Version: Spoke's 71 2.056L 914 Progress Thread
914World.com > The 914 Forums > 914World Garage
Pages: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Spoke
Like Zach said before, just what the World needs is another progress thread. So here it is for my 71 1.7L red ride.

I'm working on an engine swap for my leaky 1.7L with slipping clutch to a non-leaking, unknown GEX rebuilt 1.8L so I decided to concatenate several threads on this car into one progress thread.

Eventually I will sell the red 71 and keep the green 74 as my only 914. For now the plan is to get the new 1.8L engine in the car. The 1.8L has SSHE where the 1.7L in the car has very much corroded stock HE's.

Here's pics after last year's rear end accident that totaled the car and the finished product after many months of rehab.
KaptKaos
Whoa! What did I miss??? When did that happen?

Didn't you do an assload of bodywork already for that car?

Aw man, that's a major bummer.
Spoke
One of the first threads I started on the 914club/914world was a tongue-in-cheek CSOB bandaid thread for the leaky 1.7L in the 71.

Skid plate

My goal was simple. Contain the 4-10 drops of oil each day with as little $$$$$ input as possible.

So I added a skid plate (one of my wife's cookie sheets) under the engine to catch the drips.

As can be seen from the link above, the responses from my "solution" were all over the map.

QUOTE(MattR @ Nov 15 2004, 11:12 PM) *

LOL!!! Thats great.

QUOTE(Series9 @ Nov 15 2004, 11:19 PM) *

That's the funniest thing I've seen in a while. laugh.gif


^^^ These are the responses I was looking for.


QUOTE(Dave Bell @ Nov 16 2004, 03:09 PM) *

This is why Jake doesn't get many 914 owners buying his engines... lots of CSOB's out there.


^^^ This one was the catalyst for my sig below (CSOB of PA)


3 years after this "solution", the 1.7L hasn't dropped a drop of oil in my garage or anyone's driveways. I would wipe out the contained oil about once every 2 weeks.

Some responses worried about overheating the engine with the plate. This was not the case as I would drive the car then check the oil temp (normal) and temp of the plate itself. The plate would be warm but not hot at all indicating that it did not affect the temp of the engine.

Spoke
Threads about the rear ender and repairs:

Short Trip to Home Depot

Pounding Out A Dent

On The Road Again
Spoke
Here's some pics of the donor engine with tin removed. My plan is to clean up the engine and tin and put the Weber IDF40's on the engine.

I have the original FI from the 1.7L but during testing of the components, 6 of the 8 injectors that I had were leaky so I've decided to stay with the Webers.

Spoke
Besides cleaning up the engine and tin, I'll check the compression and do a leakdown test.

I noticed on cylinders 3 and 4 that the fins from the 2 cylinders were not exactly adjacent to each other. Not sure if the pic captures the offset of the fins.

I was thinking that the cylinders may have a different height leading to leakage at the cylinder/head interface. Leakdown and compression tests should reveal if there are any issues.
Twystd1
Is that a GEX tag on this engine...????????????


Clayton
Spoke
QUOTE(Twystd1 @ Dec 29 2007, 01:09 AM) *

Is that a GEX tag on this engine...???????????


Yep. I tried contacting GEX to find out what work was done on the engine but since the guy I bought the engine from had bought it from someone else, GEX couldn't (or didn't want to) find the build sheet on the engine to see what work had been done. They needed the name of the owner at the time and the name of the 1st owner (assuming I'm the 3rd) didn't come up in their database.

I've had the engine running out of the car and it didn't leak oil and seemed to run fine given that I haven't loaded it down yet. It looks as if the case was opened as I could see some blue sealant on the inside of the oil breather opening. I assumed the blue sealant was not from the manufacturer.

So, what's the scoop on GEX? Good? bad? Indifferent?

Spoke
Spoke
I've decided to put the original D-Jet FI from this car on the donor 1.8L engine. I've tested the brain and all its inputs and all seems to be working. Here's the link to some of the tests I've done on the brain:

Brain tests

Here's some test results from the MPS. The MPS was leaky as hell so I took it apart, cleaned it, and resealed the unit. Here's the leakdown results for the MPS. This leakdown is better than the leakdown of the MPS on my 2L 74... Horizontal units in minutes.
Spoke
With the MPS connected to the brain and with the engine running at 3000RPM (I used an oscillator to simulate the contacts in the distributor), here's the injector pulse width versus vacuum. High vacuum @ 3000RPM is like coasting with the throttle closed. Low vacuum @ 3000RPM is like accelerating with the throttle open. Injector pulse width is in milliseconds.

Spoke
Finally got around to sandblasting the engine tin and painting. Not doing powdercoating for this engine. The car is a salvage title and my interest in the car is for it to run good so I can take my 74 off the road and work on it & still have a 914 to drive. Just want the engine to look good.

Engine rear tin had some stress fractures which needed welding.
Click to view attachment


These 4 pieces also needed some welding. I painted the engine tin before welding. Duh.
Click to view attachment


Assorted engine stuff painted. I even painted the fan surround. Hopefully no issues painting these pieces.
Click to view attachment


FI runners. Which is the left and which is the right?
Click to view attachment
Spoke
Putting the tin back on the engine. The CHT sensor on cylinder 3 was snapped off by the PO or previous rebuild. I couldn't get the remains out so I'll put the CHT sensor on cylinder 2. I closed off the hole in the #3 tin with fender washers and cut a hole for the CHT sensor on #2 tin.
Spoke
Question about #2 "Seal". This is the 1/4 inch spacer between the head and the intake runner.

Is this thing a gasket? It seems more like a spacer. It is a hard material. Do I need paper gaskets on both sides of this "seal"?
fitsbain
Where are the pictures of that sheet metal I sent you being installed?
Spoke
QUOTE(fitsbain @ Aug 7 2008, 11:49 AM) *

Where are the pictures of that sheet metal I sent you being installed?


Oh yeah. Almost done with that repair. The duct tape is temporary while the glue dries...

I'm so damn slow doing things. Still working on the engine to put in w/newer clutch so I can drive the car. Then I'll do some major body/Longs work.
watsonrx13
Man, I hope you used that 2-part expoy.... w00t.gif

-- Rob
Spoke
Got the plenum cleaned up and painted. Checked supplemental air valve, cold start injector, ambient air sensor; all OK. Checked out the throttle switches, cleaned and adjusted. Unit ready to be installed.
Spoke
Plenum is bolted on. Tin is mostly in place. Ready for intake runners.
Spoke
Decided to make gaskets to put between the intake spacers and the runners/heads.

I used 2 extra intake spacers, a couple of nuts&bolts, some gasket material, and a razorblade knife.

Cut the gasket material larger than needed then using the spacers as a template, cut holes for the 4 bolts and sandwiched the gasket material between the spacers.

With the razorblade knife, I cut along the spacers until I cut through the material for the intake holes and outer shape.

Making the 4 gaskets took about 20 minutes.
neo914-6
QUOTE(Spoke @ Dec 28 2007, 10:16 PM) *

One of the first threads I started on the 914club/914world was a tongue-in-cheek CSOB bandaid thread for the leaky 1.7L in the 71.

Skid plate

My goal was simple. Contain the 4-10 drops of oil each day with as little $$$$$ input as possible.

So I added a skid plate (one of my wife's cookie sheets) under the engine to catch the drips.

As can be seen from the link above, the responses from my "solution" were all over the map.

QUOTE(MattR @ Nov 15 2004, 11:12 PM) *

LOL!!! Thats great.

QUOTE(Series9 @ Nov 15 2004, 11:19 PM) *

That's the funniest thing I've seen in a while. laugh.gif


^^^ These are the responses I was looking for.


QUOTE(Dave Bell @ Nov 16 2004, 03:09 PM) *

This is why Jake doesn't get many 914 owners buying his engines... lots of CSOB's out there.


^^^ This one was the catalyst for my sig below (CSOB of PA)


3 years after this "solution", the 1.7L hasn't dropped a drop of oil in my garage or anyone's driveways. I would wipe out the contained oil about once every 2 weeks.

Some responses worried about overheating the engine with the plate. This was not the case as I would drive the car then check the oil temp (normal) and temp of the plate itself. The plate would be warm but not hot at all indicating that it did not affect the temp of the engine.


Not a bad idea, the Mercedes 300E was designed with a plastic "tray" under the engine that happens to catch oil from the leaky engine. Someone even created a "diaper" to make sure it didn't over flow... laugh.gif
Spoke
Started to reassemble the distributor and noticed the grounding wire for the advance plate was broken off. I couldn't figure out how to reattach the wire to the advance plate so I made a little wire connector and used a small length of flexible teflon wire. The wire connector will go under the screw for the points and the other end under the hold-down fastener for the advance plate.
Spoke
When I installed the distributor, I noticed that when at TDC, the distributor was not pointing to the #1 spark wire. Turns out the distibutor drive was off by about 180 degrees. So to double check TDC, I had to pull the valve cover.

Once at TDC, I used a dowel rod to remove the distributor drive and set correctly.
Spoke
Got all the FI stuff on the engine that is needed to fire it up. I'll use the red 914 to provide the fuel from its tank. I have long hoses to run the feed and return to the engine which is sitting beside the car.

I connected the return line to the pump and it started leaking badly. So I tried a second pump that had a marginal leak (a drop an hour) and it too leaked badly. The leak in both came out through the electrical connector.

On both pumps, I had just the return line connected, not the feed. Dammit. Looks like I'm in the market for a new fuel pump.
Spoke
Woo Hoo! piratenanner.gif

it is alive. Running on FI now and sounds good. Still have an issue with the points as I think I installed a used set and they were dirty and/or not adjusted properly. No spark at first. Readjusted and cleaned them and it runs good. Starts right up and idles nicely.

Haven't run it for more than a minute for a good reason: The engine exhaust is pointing to an interior wall and I get gassed out quickly. Open all doors and windows and leave for 1/2 hour or so. Got a box fan in the window pointing in but still got to move the engine.

I'll put the engine back on a furniture dolly so I can move it around and point the exhaust out the garage door.


Here's the current setup. The Optima powers the engine. The jumper cables provide heavy current to the starter. The battery charger keeps the battery charged as I haven't installed the alternator yet. I'll pull the alternator out of the car and decide which alternator to use at that time. The orange wire leading to the engine power the FI brain. This is the same harness I used to test just the brain and FI equipment.

Click to view attachment

The brain is sitting on a bucket right now. The bracket for the brain is heavily rusted so I don't know how I'll mount it yet. I don't want to do much work like grinding on the brain as to cause internal damage.

The fuel pump takes fuel (and returns it) using the existing connections in the red car. I'll be putting in SS center lines when the engine comes out. The pump is powered by the brain through a relay sitting on the floor in front of the fan.

Click to view attachment

Installed the stock muffler from the red car. Initially I had run the engine with no muffler and it was loud. Installed the muffler hanger too to hold the SSHE in place.

Right behind the starter is a toggle switch to energize the coil and a push button switch to turn the starter on.

I didn't connect the FI brain input to the starter so when I hit the starter, I have to also press a pushbutton on the FI temporary harness so the injectors fire longer during starting. Benefit of having a separate "starter" switch on the FI harness is I can press the FI harness "starter" button if the engine starts to die, giving the injectors a longer duration and keeping the engine running. Sort of like choking a carbed engine.

Click to view attachment

The only items left to mount for the FI are the decel valve and air cleaner.

Click to view attachment
Spoke
Put the engine on a furniture dolly today. Now I can move it towrds the door and do more long term running.

Ran the engine for 5 minutes today. Starts right up. Idles nicely. Revvs good. Ran it long enough to burn some of the residual oil off of the SSHE. Both smoked at first then stopped after a few minutes.

Got the red car ready for its lobotomy.
Spoke
Started removing stuff from the engine. These IDF40s and hardware will be for sale now that the new engine is running good on FI.
Spoke
My first engine drop. Piece of cake. Put my floor jack under the bottom rear of the engine, removed the front and rear bolts and drop. One hand turning the jack handle and the other hand balancing the tranny.

Does anyone want a 1.7L engine? I have no use for this lump.

Spoke
The while-I'm-in-there syndrom will include SS fuel lines and clutch tube repair. You can see in this pic how I supported my rusted out firewall around the clutch tube. A little angle iron and U-bolt kept the clutch tube from joining me in the interior. This repair held for 2+ years.
Spoke
Started work on reinforcing the longs. The repair done before was basically overlay a piece of steel over the bottom and outside of the rusted out long. The bottom of the outside piece is seam welded to the added bottom piece but the top was mostly left unattached to the top of the existing rusted out long.
Spoke
Cut the lower part of the fender off. The door jamb was rusted out so I have a replacement piece to put back on.

The bolts where put on by me when I realized that the top of the long was not welded. The bolts tightened up the longs a good bit. The top of the outside long is completely rusted away under the door jamb.

The inner fender is a replacement piece. The original inner wall was rusted away and this piece was welded only from inside the engine compartment.

The suspension console has been replaced too.
barada
QUOTE(Spoke @ Apr 7 2009, 08:34 PM) *

Cut the lower part of the fender off. The door jamb was rusted out so I have a replacement piece to put back on.

The bolts where put on by me when I realized that the top of the long was not welded. The bolts tightened up the longs a good bit. The top of the outside long is completely rusted away under the door jamb.

The inner fender is a replacement piece. The original inner wall was rusted away and this piece was welded only from inside the engine compartment.

The suspension console has been replaced too.

Nice thread. I am trying to pick up a non running 1.7 car now, interesting to see your rebuild.
Spoke
There is basically nothing left of the lower part of this long from the front to the rear. In this area there was nothing left of the top outer long. This will be replaced with a new piece.

Click to view attachment

Here is the hell hole from the outside looking in. The black metal inner fender is a replacement piece that was welded from the inside but not outside. So I cut off the bottom of the piece to rebuild all of the metal of the inner fender and weld all seams that I can.

Notice the rust through on the outer suspension pickup. This is before I started poking it with my screwdriver.

Click to view attachment

This is the front of the 16 gauge plate that replaces the outer long panel. It is attached to the chassis only about 1/2 way up the plate as the previous work was done with the sill plate still attached. This will all be welded up.

Click to view attachment

Here is the plate looking straight down. The entire top of the plate was not welded to anything. The top of the original long was basically loose on the outside.

Click to view attachment
Spoke
Preparing to weld the steel plate to the existing long metal. The plate will be welded at the rear and on each of the ribs of the existing outer long. The bottom of the outer long is gone so the vertical clamp is setting the height of the long before I weld.

Before doing any welding, I replaced the door to make sure it closed properly. When welding on the steel plate, I welded in one place and waited for the plate to cool as to not deform the long.

Click to view attachment

This plate was welded from the hell hole but not edge welded from the cabin. I edge welded it from the cabin.

Click to view attachment

The rear of the plate is now welded. Notice the suspension pickup after poking with a screwdriver. Not sure what I want to do with this yet. The inner suspension pickup has already been replaced with a new piece.

Click to view attachment

The new plate is being welded on. I welded a small section then let it cool so as not to deform the metal.

Click to view attachment
Spoke
I would make more progress on the 914 if I didn't play with this toy as much. It says "turbo" on the back but it should really say "WOW". This car has some giddyup with its 282HP when the turbo kicks in above 3K RPM.
Spoke
The replacement plate is welded in. Like the steel plate, this is 16 gauge steel. I have an Engman's interior long kit to install also.

Click to view attachment

Now all the ribs are welded on top to the steel plate. Also made small fill plates and welded them. I will add ribs on the steel plate from angle iron next. It doesn't look pretty but it sure is strong now. Luckily I have rocker panels to cover this mess.

Click to view attachment
Spoke
Here's a fix I did a while back when I was refurbishing the packpad. 3 of the 4 clips were gone and the fourth was just hanging on. The PO had used some screws into the backpad and into the firewall to hold the backpad in place.

So I got some old steel from a junked PC case and mounted my own brackets made from some heavy steel straps. Then bolted on the PC case steel onto the backpad.
Spoke
Removed all the tar on the passenger side floor. It comes off real easy with a heat gun. This job is probably best done in the winter time as it gets real hot with the gun on.

The front floor pan is in good shape with minimal surface rust. The back pan is not so good with several rust through holes. The 2 putty knifes are sticking in the rusted out part of the lower firewall.
Spoke
The inside long has been patched from front to back. The patch has only been spot brazed. I'll seam weld the all the patches, then install the Engman's inner long kit.

Question: what is the best solvent to remove the remaining tar? I used a wire brush and mineral spirits to get it partially cleaned.
charliew
Where the door gaps still good before you started? Boy there wasn't much support there.
Spoke
Got the gas tank and center fuel lines out today.

I'll be replacing the plastic fuel lines with steel ones from Racer Chris.

Once out, I wanted to stress the plastic fuel lines to see if they were hardened. I proceeded to twist them, flex them, and bent them until they creased. These lines are very soft and supple.

Some have argued that the plastic tunnel lines are not a fire hazard. These fuel lines would tend to support that theory. At any rate, I'll be replacing them with steel lines.
Spoke
This pic was supposed to show the rust around the heater tube but the fuel pump pigtail got in the way.

The previous fix added extended the "web" that goes between the long and the body by the heater tube. This plate is coming out so I can access the rust around the heater tube.
Spoke
A while back I repainted the trunk and relocated the battery from the trunk to the original position in the engine compartment. I used an aftermarket battery tray and placed the tray in the original position.

At that time, I had a carbed engine and didn't care about locating the FI ECU between the firewall and the battery tray.

Now that I'm FI'ing this engine, I need place the ECU in its original position. If the battery try is too close to the firewall, the ECU won't fit.

To check the fit of the ECU, I made a mock ECU out of wood that is the same size and maybe a bit larger than the ECU.

As the pic shows, there is room to mount the ECU. Yea! piratenanner.gif

Spoke
I ground down the flange for the tailshift boot. I have a flange from a sideshift boot to weld into place.
Spoke
Ground off the previously added web and original web. The previously added web was covering a bit of rust through.

Click to view attachment

Here's a better shot of the rust around the heater tube. The plate on the bottom runs the entire length of the long and is now the bottom of the long. Between the heater tube and the engine mount, the bottom plate is not attached on the inside to the original vertical section of the long. This will be fixed now.
Click to view attachment
Spoke
This patch will join the bottom long plate to the original vertical long. It will go from the engine mount to just inside the cabin on the inside. The little plate will strengthen the long as it passes below the heater tube.
Click to view attachment

The patch & its stiffener are ready for mounting.
Click to view attachment
Spoke
The patch is now welded in place. Just the front tip is visible from the cabin.
Click to view attachment

And the bottom view. I had the car on its wheels so the long was stressed as it is normally. I welded a hole on one side, then let the piece cool, then another hole on the other side so not to tweak the patch.
Click to view attachment
Spoke
Also got the sideshift cover flange welded on.
Click to view attachment

The boot fits fine.
Click to view attachment
Spoke
Got the back of the passenger floor patch done tonight. Welded this one from under the car which is a load of fun. The hardest part of this job is not the rust but all the tar put on the car on the bottom and in the cabin.

Also some of the existing patches were braised on and that stuff seems to explode when hit with the welder.

Next up is a patch for the bottom of the firewall. This one will likely be 2 parts: one on the flat part of the firewall and one under and around the heater tube.
FourBlades

Those are nice looking repairs. piratenanner.gif

Should be nice and strong.

Keep the pictures coming... biggrin.gif

John
Spoke
Cleaned up the firewall around the heater tube. I'll use 2 pieces to go around the tube. The first piece has holes for spot welding as well as all edges are seam welded.

My welding still sucks but I am much more confident in my methods.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.
Invision Power Board © 2001-2024 Invision Power Services, Inc.