I am feeling more confident, but there is still an invisible line around town that I am a lil worried about driving outside of it. Haven't stalled, or had a suddenly rich condition in about 10 hard drives.

It's become obvious to me that I am not going to be able to use this car as a daily driver.. I guess the injection is just 5-10 years outside it's service life. This is my last Type-4 motor, I wouldn't do it again for free.

I need a second car, again.

I can't believe I have so much money in this thing, and still needs basically everything, to make me happy.

Sorry for the whine, if not here, where?


M

Buy a turn key motor from Raby or gasp.....Bergman....he is advertising T-4 motors for 5k in the VW magazines. I'm sure someone here will chime in with a Bergman story. I remember his name from back in the 70s.

I bought one. This is number 2, only has around 1100 miles. You remember one going bad, prolly..

I should have done things alot different, I could have bought an unreal V8 teener for what I have in this thing, way big, with a Pantera transaxle.

I still have $12k to go.. I may dump this thing.

Sour grapes.


M

Truely sorry to here your not happy with the teener. If you have a bitch this IS the place to do it. Start giving us the play by play and maybe we can help.

I've been driving used original cars, and saved up my money to have one built that was newish, and that just cost as much as 4 good cars.. it's still going to cost 3 good cars to get the paint right, the suspension modded up a little, and do the interior.

I dunno, seemed like a great idea when I thought the car was nice.

You can buy a pretty nice car for $15-$16k. I don't want to own a modified $30,000 2.0.

The more I have to dig, the more I have to find, the more I have to do.

Seeing Britain's new teener makes me feel ill all over.

M

that is not the solution if the supporting parts are not up to snuff.........the motor can be brand new, but if the wiring or FI is messed up, he'll always have problems

IMHO, these cars have no black magic or anything mysterious with them, the key thing is to have patience and figure out what works with what and if something is not working, find out why..............


even brand new cars can give you problems, and believe me, there is nothing more frustrating than having a newer car crap out on you when you are still making payments

good luck and don't give up.......

I won't give up, completely, I am just coming down from the dream.

#12 has turned out to be a pesky bastard, I understand injection now, I wish I had been sold a working system.

I kind of expected it to be rebuilt, and working.. at least some of it.. ?

On the one hand, I am lucky the builder shipped me a second motor, no money down... on the other hand, I should have never bought the car.


M

generally, i agree... but then i hear some people's stories. like Dave Darling's... and it makes me want to take my car to a witch doctor instead of a mechanic.

that said, it sounds like you've resolved at least some of your more major problems, miles?

Miles, you need to look at every piece if FI and make sure it matches up and is in working order. If your wiring harness is all f'ed up, it will F your world up. These engines and FI systems are very reliable, its just that so many people have rigged up some bullshit trying to solve an issue, the car wont run right unless the car is tuned to the original idiots ways.

If you dont want to do that get a Mega Squirt

The harness checks out fine. The numbers on everything were checked against the list, it's all right..

The car runs ok, I won't be doing a trip like Christmas in it again though, I can't afford 2 days in the wild, without an internet connection, in a town without metric tools..

Do you think you could find a nice 2.0 with chrome bumpers for $15k, that would be dependable? It's got a color change I didn't know about, and started out as a 1.8.. you know what I mean?

Hey, it's my fault.. I just can't figure out how to get out of it, if I can't find a working AAR out of 3, I'd imagine hell is right around the corner.


M

redshift, my motto is that it is only money and you can't take it with you.

So now that we have got that all straightened out, please build a $45,000 2.0L (go ahead and paint it Aubergine) that I will purchase from you for $3500 in three years.

Dood, what symptoms are you experiencing? Does your pressure sensor hold a vacuum?

Hey Miles,

Go look at the first three pages of my rusto thread. Look long and hard at all of that rust. That might work.

I'm just paranoid Chris. I hope. It runs ok, the stalling of a few days ago seems to have gone away with the CHT connector work. It's time for the third scheduled service soon, I hope I can get it all smoothed out with that.

Ginty, looking at your rustoration thread can only make me wonder what's up under that black paint that is peeling off my car..



-runs screaming-

It's not so bad, I fixed everything so far.. uhhgg.. I never should have sold the other cars..

It runs great.. I think... I just don't trust it... my new mechanic is not very experienced.



M

I think your looking at this thing with blinders on. If it were about money we'd all be in the booby hatch. The only way we can justify throwing good money after bad is by admitting were all nuts!

Look at my project. I'll work on this thing for 15 years, spend thousands of countless hours and tens of thousands of dollars for a ride around the block! Is that sane? My way out of admitting I'm plum loco is by not admitting I had anything to do with the work. You just need a cover story.

Maybe you need a break from the car. Sometimes a hobby gets old. I can tell you have a passion for the little car. And we all know you belong here. I wish I had the part you need I'd send it to you. Good luck, it will come around.

Thanks so much Rich, this place is more about moral support than anything.

I couldn't do this anymore without you guys.. and you are right, it's about/not about money.. I never felt like I spent too much, really, you just wish that throwing money at it would make it perfect, and it does not.

I seem to have a clue at least... it is running.


M

I hear ya brada! I just went through the same thing with a BMW 530I. I rebuilt everything! I mean everything! Couldn't get it to run correctly. I fudged it and it ran ok but it wasn't right. I asked questions all over the place and never got the answer. I shipped it out to two local import shops and niether one figured out the problem. I put the car up for a few months and gave up on it. I recently dug back into it and BAM! Problem solved! Things have a way of working out. Just another car I spent crazy foolish money on. But you know what Exxon say's " spills happen!"

my feeble opinion. i have no car payments and hope to keep it like that for as long as i can. i justify a couple of $100 on the 914's to be less than the payment for one month for a lease/purchase. i could spend alot more on the cars than i do. jeanne green lights everything. car payments suck, LARGE.

kevin

Megasquirt???

Plug and Pray!?



I dunno, thought about it..


M

We need a Self abuse Smilie for Miles.

Miles I think you should do the setup we talked about. It would be really cool. If you can get that ZF axle....

Can't today, but I can next month???

Guitars for sale! Guitars for sale!


M

If it makes you feel any better here are my current money pit stories:

Bought a 1987 RX7 Turbo. Had shop rebuild engine for approx $5000 with some upgrades. Engine did not make break in period. Had it rebuilt again under warranty. Still did not make break in period. Rebuilt a third time under warranty. Also had engine management system installed. Car given back to me running but very poorly. Spent a year trying to get car to run - had it at the track a few times but not reliably. Over $20K invested and currently has been sitting in my garage on blocks for last 2 years. Have been going over the work that was paid for and found a million things that were either were not done or not done properly. Have put on less than 10,000 miles in last 4 years. Have friends who did the work themselves at the same time as me and have a) less money into the car and been on the road running fine for the last 2 years. Lesson learned.....do it yourself if you want it done right.

Bought 1989 944 Turbo because I was tired of the RX7 problems. Let friend borrow car to drive cousin to bus station. He spins in the rain, jumps a curb and hits a fence. Get car completely repainted on my dollar as did not have collision coverage and friend has no money to pay. Sits at body shop for 1/2 year. Next year had a few issues that I fixed but when the clutch went after the first year decided to "do things right" and have engine rebuilt at the same time as putting in a new clutch. In January booked my tickets/rooms/events for Porsche Parade coming in August. Car sits at rebuilders from February until early August during which time it was broken into and $9000 in parts were stolen (and later recovered). Car gets running day before leaving for Parade. Head off to Parade in Porsche making sure to be carefull to break in the engine. On the afternoon of the second day timing belt breaks. Have to get car hauled back to mechanic. Over the next year car has a clutch failure that is blamed on the torque tube and not covered by warranty, 3 oil pressure spikes blamed on oil pressure relief valve and sleeve in block. Get car fixed and ready for the road. Make little road trip and car runs OK. Take to work the next week and the car breaks the timing belt again pulling out of the parkade. Original shop says probably my fault but says will look at it. I suggest having a second mechanic there verify findings. I end up taking to dealership and invite original mechanic to come watch. Original mechanic refuses to come to dealership. Find out it was a workmanship problem that caused failure. Now have bent valve on cylinder #2. Original mechanic refuses to warranty so must get fixed and then take legal action. Car currently in garage not running. Have put on approx 15000 miles in last 3 years. Estimate having over $30k invested in car. Friend who was rebuilding his own 944 Turbo engine the same time as mine was getting done has had very few problems and got the entire job done for around $4000. Lesson learned......do it yourself if you want it done right.

Bought 914 widebody off e-bay. Accumlating parts and considering engine choices. Considering different shops to get car built. Friends remind me that money lost so far in car projects would have bought me a used Viper. Decide to rebuild 914 myself to get it done right. Lesson learned.

They say misery loves company. Feeling better now?

Hey, you sound almost just like me..

I had a run-in with a 944 timing belt, on a car I bought from a distressed friend for a semi-undistressed price. I was in distress, I gave the car away.

I just drove around town fairly happy... stopped at lights without stalling, third day in a row.. still can't cross the line around Bagd... I mean Savannah, I hate walking.


M

Jeeze, that just makes me want to shoot myself...sad stories!

But you gotta do as much as you can yourself!!! Just know when to push pride aside and stop when you're in over your head and let a pro or more experienced friend do it. Don't underestimate yourself, with a good shop manual there are a BUTT-LOAD of things you can do yourself or end up teaching yourself while you do it.

Being low of income for most of my life, I learned to do everything I could myself...being a highly independent person helps, too My baby (the VW Squareback) is a good example of me doing as much as I can myself. My previous 914 and now my current one are also testiments to my do-it-yourself attitude. Yours will be as well

I find that I had to take a break from the cars for a bit because they were starting to wear on me. I kept thinking about the fact that I own 5 cars and for long trips I would end up renting a car because I did not have one in my fleet that I considered reliable enough to take. (RX7 - dead, 951 - dead, 914 - dead, Honda Prelude - on life support, 1953 Kaiser - runs but only about 2/3 done the restoration) So I made up my mind to fix a few, sell a few and buy something I could drive year round. I sold the Honda, started selling some of the aftermarket pieces off the RX7 and bought myself a 1999 Chev 4x4 truck. It's been a few months and the truck is running good and I'm even starting to reconsider my decision to put the RX7 back to stock and sell it. One of the guys in the RX7 club has a car identical to mine that is a rocket and the more I see it the more I think that my car could be just like his. After all, the 914 won't be done next year and I would still like to make it to the race track a few times.

Here is a pic of the RX7:



Some of my RX7 buddies are even trying to convice me to put a 350 rwhp rotary engine in the 914. One of them has a 13B RE twin turbo engine that him & I could rebuild with a street port, converted to run the turbo's parallel instead of sequential and then I could utilize a lot of the pieces I've accumulated for the RX7 to safely push the boost up. I have a buyer for the MR2 turbo engine and still would like to get a Porsche 6 for the 914 but am finding a lot of merit to my friends rotary engine swap proposal. Sound like a good idea or do you guys think it's just going to move my "wasted money on cars" total from Viper to Ferrari level?

Oh well... back to zero confidence.

This really sucks.


M

Hey Miles,
Wanna talk about a money pit?
At least you can do some driving even if it is aggravating.
My project has sucked down 12-15k over the last 5 years,and all it is,is still a garage ornament.Looks good,but I can't go anywhere yet.
My wife shook her head in horror when I brought it
home.I can just imagine if she found the drawer that I have for all the receipts for everything I've bought for the car.I've kept everyone man.
I look at as my own little car payment.2-300 every month,every month.
I'll never see the money outa the car,but man the learning experience I've gained is invaluable.
All ya can do is keep plugging along.


Ron

You've been messing with my car, haven't you? Damned you, and Karl Ellzey!

At least it runs ok cold... it's cold.



M

I've got a money pit. Project started in 99 when I lived on a boat, so I had to be a checkbook mechanic. I haven't seen the car since May, and it's still not done. When I pick it up in June it won't be done and I'm way deeper than 15 large! Don't tell my family, they won't understand