Today was the first chance that I could really dig into the 914 today. First order of business was to tackle the sagging rear springs and the totally rusted out original exhaust.

The exhaust was surprisingly easy to remove considering its age. Now Ive ran into a problem with its replacement. I got a Bursch that I think is wrong because its tail pipe misses the cutout by a good 4-5 inches. Do I have to bend the pipe ?

As for the springs. I was able to remove the pass side wheel no problem and was shocked to find very dirty Koni reds on the car. Unfortunately its no good though and the have to be replaced as well. Do you guys like Bilstein is a good replacement ? Id love konis but there so freakin costly.

Heres the BIG problem we cannot get one lug bolt off the drivers side. We broke 3 sockets and tried using an electric impact. One pull of the lug wrench actually put my helper right through the dry wall in my garage. Please give advice for me on this.

Overall working on this car was a blast !

There is only one solution to a teener headache:


The solution works best with company:


Just ask any teener-haver.


Zach

I agree all you need are two things.

Not sure what torque an electric gun has but ive never run into a bolt/nut my air gun couldnt remove.

I'm guessing you dont have that though. Try a nice 6 foot pipe and slide that onto your lug wrench. You will most likely have to wedge something into the rim to stop the tire from spinning though.

Yeah we tried using a breaker bar and wedged a crowbar into the wheel still wont budge.

What type of wheel do you have? Steelie? Use some heat. A couple three cycles, then spray some PB Blaster between the wheel and the hub. Use a good impact socket and a 4-5' pipe.

I disagree. A teener has a multiple solution matrix:

Yep its a steel wheel, also sprayed so much PB I smell like I took a bath in it.

By breaker bar do you mean a little craftsman breaker bar. You need a big pipe. Leverage is your friend. I have a 5 foot pipe in the corner of my shop just for things like that

Yeah its like a 2 foot bar.

Not long enough.

3/4 inch drive, breaker bar with a pipe slipped over end, set the 19mm socket and bar at 9 o'clock and jump on the end.....my pipe is my oldest tool. Probably from the 50s.....an old friend left it and then got KIA in 'Nam.

Hit the head of the bolt with a big hammer a few times to loosen the threads.

heat

Ok I will try again tommrow on the lug bolt. What about the muffler and shocks ?

Shocks can be sent out to Koni to get rebuilt. Dont know the cost might be cheaper then Bilsteins. Last time I check bilsteins were around $100 a piece

spray the backside of the lug bolts, the inboard side, too. a pneumatic impact is handy. no compressor? check your local rental store for an electric version or buy one. ed is spot on with smacking the heads of the bolts. helps to break the rust bond and vibrate the penetrating fluid in.

You guys put far too much faith in power tools. Over the years, I've encountered a LOT of lug bolts an impact won't touch. Sturdy socket, big bar, and a long piece of pipe always get it done. The Cap'n

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what exactly is wrong with the exhaust? is everything from the heat exchangers on the head to the transmission mount bar all correct, and it still misses?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the Bursch muffler systems come with a space between the pipes that come from the headers and the muffler itself. This space is reserved for a catalytic converter or bypass pipe.

What year is your car? What does the rear valence look like? There are three different valences.

Show us the muffler. This will help ID the problem.

Sagging springs are a characteristic of old age. You didn't mention if you thought the shocks were bad.

Once I got the coil off of the shock I could press down on the shock with little resistence.

Taking a pic of the muffler now.

When I encounter a fastener or bolt that won't budge, after I've sprayed it with a penetrant, I try to tighten it about an 1/8 of a turn to break the threads loose before turning to remove it. That has always worked on the 914 and my old motorcycles. Also, when it comes to refastening bolts or my 914 wheel studs, I always put a tiny bit of anti-seize grease on the threads to facilitate removal at some later time.

Paul

Here it is you can see something isnt right.

looks like a 1.7 muffler on 2.0 liter HE's

The 1.7 HE's have a bend that moves the muffler up higher..thus the drop in the tailpipe.

the 2.0 liter has straight HE's

Looks like the wrong part to me.

Rich

The Car does have Stainless Heat Exchangers So maybe there not right for this car because when the muffler was bolted on it sat up way higher then the stock one. Almost touching the heat shield.

I'm amazed no one has mentioned this yet....

loosen your lugnuts BEFORE you lift the car off the ground. something about the car putting force perpendicular to the plane you're working in makes them SUPER easy to loosen compared to doing it after the car is off the tires.

Posted above is a picture taken of the end of the heat exchanger. Is it a 2.0 or 1.7 ?

That's a 1.7L exhaust. Besides the curve, the flange is a different size, so a 2.0L Bursch won't bolt up to a 1.7L exhaust at all.

Those are the right HE's , they are 1.7/1.8.

Show a pic of the tranny bracket for the back muffler, a pic of the muffler out of the car and a pic of the tranny mounting in the rear (how the tranny is mounted to the car)...sumpin aint right.

I have the same setup and its 1/4 inch from the valence hole, nice and tight.
post Three pics.
Rich

Heres the latest update. Lug bolt is off ! As soon as I bought an impact socket it took it right off. I installed the new Bilstein shocks with 100lb weltmeister springs.

As for the exhaust I put it on anyway b/c atomotion wasnt going to take it back b/c I bought it 3 months ago and was saving it for when it got warmer to work on it. Im going to look for a different (original) rear valance next week in Hershey.

Next project Master Cylinder !!!

Are you keeping the exhaust like this??

no once it mounted it looks 95% better