Chris,
Thanks for the info; as for the heads, from what I understand, they were machined to accept the larger cylinder and pistons but no other changes were made to either of the valves.

The cam is the stock original cam for the 1.7 motor; the crank and pistons are 2.0 and balanced.

Maybe the option is to just replace the existing carbs with the 1.7 FI and then maybe rebuild the existing tranny. #1 tends to be a bit tricky and #5 has been giving me some problems as of late.

I am heading over to a local guy here near Stuttgart that caries used 914 parts to see what he has. If I can find the side shift tranny et al. for a reasonable price I may pick it up.

The larger question is when to start; I am still trying to figure out where the Army is sending me next and have a job lined up to stay here in Stuttgart but that may change.

In an effort to get the car running SMOOTHLY I decided to rebuild the pedal cluster as that was causing some issues with the motor running at high rpms.

I used Erics write up to do the job and all was well until today; I had not removed the brake light indicator switch when I initially disassembled the cluster so I took it off this morning. Boy was that sucker dirty! OK, time to clean it up; the goal was to get the rebuilt cluster in today and everything adjusted so I would have the car this coming week. It's supposed to snow again so I can't ride the bike in.

Well, some days your the hammer and some days your the nail. I was the nail today ...again. My wife pointed out that I was usually the nail when it came to this car. I had dropped the switch in the sink and the metal tail on the bottom of the switch broke right off! Dangit!

Well, nothing I can do about, so I ordered a new switch, they ain't cheap, and went out to the garage and cleaned the area up in preparation for the eventual installation of the cluster. Just another day in my ongoing saga with this car, eventually the entire car will be brand new! Guess I'll go work on my MBA paper the rest of the day.

OK, so I got in the brake light indicator switch. Will get that installed along with the pedal cluster this weekend I hope. I was in Vicenza all last week so wasn't able to get to it. Now, next question for the brain trust, Fuel Injection.

I have a line on a 1.7 FI system but I have some questions since my main experience is with carbs and British vehicles that also ran carbs.

Distributor. I am pretty sure I have the original dizzy but the vacuum advance is no longer present since it was transferred to carbs and a petronix ignitor was dropped in. So, I understand that I will need the vacuum advance component and a set of 'trigger' points. Will the trigger points work with the petronix or do I need to convert back to the old points set up to run the FI?

What I want is to understand what I will need and make sure I have all the components before I replace the carbs for the FI system. Is there a write up anywhere on how the FI system works and how to convert back to the old system?

I'm afraid i cant help you with the petronix question (though i look forward to hearing the answer as i was wondering the same myself)

This is a good article for starters on the FI system:

http://www.rennlist.com/techarticles/djetronicfuel.htm

The distributor runs the igniton system in the top of the dizzy, and the trigger points in the bottom of the dizzy. The ignition system is advanced/retarded by centripital weights and vaccuum, and needs to be in place for the fuel injection. The trigger points control the injection of fuel, and are not connected to the advance/retard mechanism required by the ignition system. They open and close as the dizzy shaft rotates to squirt fuel.

The trigger points control the squirts of fuel and they are not timed to squirt precisely as the valves open and close, they merely squirt into the intake so that the fuel is peresent when the intake valve opens.

Attached is a schematic of the 1.7 EFI parts and sensors. You will need all the stuff in the schematic the black center manifold and grey manifold pipes, the air cleaner and hoses, and a high pressure fuel pump. Probably some more stuff but that is a quick list.

Hope this helps.

Ken

Ken,
Thanks, it does help. Hopefully someone has an answer on the petronix question of course, I may just have to figure it out once I get all the parts and pieces in.

I found the article earlier doing a google search, should definitely come in handy while I wrap my head around the FI system, thanks.

Sounds like you have a 009 or 050 dizzy, you will need the stock one with the injector trigger points at the bottom of the can. The pertronix will work very well with the D-jet, since the Djet does not use that for the FI.

hmm, that doesn't look anything like the dizzy currently on the car!

Here's a 1.7 dizzy.

It has a tall can to hold the trigger points in the bottom and the igniton stuff in the top.

Pertronix will work great. But, the fuel injection requires a special ignition curve to work properly and that is why the ignition parts include the pivoting weights 33 and vacuum can 13.

Thanks.

Well, after procrastinating and some other things like schoolwork and regular work, I finally got off my ass and put the pedal cluster back in the car. I'm not sure which was the bigger PIA taking it out or putting it back in.

I still need to adjust clutch play and the accelerator cable then make sure the brakes are good to go; will do that next weekend. I should have had this done yesterday but I decided to go riding in the Schwarzwald (black forest) with some other buddies of mine. We did about 200 miles through the area and hit everything from 60 degree temps to 35 degrees and 4 feet of snow still on the sides of the road.

My back end tried to highside me on a decent down a hairpin; I think she hit some black ice. Had to throw my food down like I was dirt trackin to keep from going down. Scared the bejeebus out of me!

Next project, fix the damn exhaust leak!!!! Then make sure the heater is working for the next winter.

Your car has come along way!

OK, friggin Murphy strikes again!!

So, get the initial clutch cable adjustment done, put the pedal board back in, adjust the throttle cable, now lets start her.

She's been sitting for a bit but she starts, gotta rev her to warm her up but she is running. So, as I sit there suddenly there is a loud BANG!!!

And she sounds very, very strange, not good, not good at all. OK, look around the underside, in the engine bay...still So, off I go to get the camera and record the sound more than anything to post for insight from the collective expertise of the group. Well after a bit of recording I go back to the engine bay, hey, what the hell? The spot marked 2 on the tin is missing something, yup the damn #2 plug basically blew out of the motor!

OK, maybe it shook itself loose, lets see if we can put her back in, did I mention trying to put a plug back into a cramped space is a PIA? So I get it started, and start to tighten it, so far so good....damn! Yep, threads are stripped.

Before I get into my options, some history, all the plugs are the same size except the #2 plug, it is larger. I was under the assumption that the PO stripped it before and hand it re-threaded to a larger plug, is this the case or is this the way it is supposed to be?

So now, what are my options? Take the head in and get it machined and fixed to allow a new plug or is it toast and I need to get new heads entirely? Thoughts from the collective? My German neighbor suggested dynamite...

depends... I'd have a machinist check it out and see if it can be properly repaired. if not, then I'd say new heads are in your future. sounds like it may have been time-serted once already, may not be wise to do it again

A good machinist can weld and redrill and tap the hole to the correct size plug.

Well gents, thanks. After I got over the initial shock I began to investigate what you were talking about. I will drop the motor tomorrow so I can pull the head and take it over to a machinist who is almost literally next door to me. Hopefully it can be saved. The worst part is some corrosion and rust is forming because I haven't been able to clean her from my rides to work this winter! I'm gonna have to figure something to get all the crap cleaned up. Hopefully this is just another minor bump on the road to restoration.

Annoying but fixable.

I've use a helicoil to fix stripped spark plug holes and it worked fine. Lasted 200,000miles in a type I.

OK, I got the car up, motor down, still trying to get the motor past the CV joints. Quick question; can I remove the joints to replace the boot and flange without pulling the entire axle assembly out? I can't find anything that mentions this just info on removing it after the whole assembly is out.

OK, got the motor out and the head off. Initial inspection shows no damage to the cylinders, pistons or head itself. Looks like I will just need to have the spark plug hole fixed. I will take it to the machinist on Tuesday. In the meantime, I have some other things that I will work on while the motor is out.

Well, after dropping off the cylinder head with a shop that specializes in aluminum and cylinder heads, I headed off to Vicenza, Italy. I got back yesterday and picked up the head and the problem with the sparkplug is now resolved. These guys filled in the hole and then re-drilled and threaded it to the correct size.

Now I just have to re-assemble the head, put it back on the motor, re-install everything, adjust valves and I should be back in business. Hopefully this weekend cause I won't have much time after this weekend with some trips planned to Africa and North Carolina the rest of this month.

Axles are re-assembled and waiting to be put in, head is cleaned up and ready for re-install.

Question, will it be an issue if I put in the motor first then install the axles? It would be much easier to get the motor under the car and into place without the axles installed but I am sure if it will cause a problem when I have to put the axles back in or not. Maybe a noob question , got that, any helpl is appreciated.

Not that I am an expert or anything, but I put my engine in first and then put
the axles in later. I had some issues fitting them around my exhaust so you
may want to check the order of those two.

John

When putting together my conversion six, I had put the eng./tranny up into the car with no axles attached. I went ahead and installed the headers only to find out that the axles wouldn't go on with the headers on. Had to remove the headers to get the axles in.....It's easy to get ahead of yourself at times.....

John, JT, thanks. I will probably try to put the engine in first. It is a royal pain go get the motor in and out with the axles hanging down especially given the fact that I am tool and equipment challenged here in Deutchland. Will do that after my myriad travel adventures.

Well ladies and gentlemen, after a couple of business trips I am now back and began working on the car again. I'll post some pictures later but I have the motor back in and will tackle the valve timing with other things tomorrow after work.

So, after I got the motor in and the axles hooked back up I decided to call it quits for today so I could get some dinner and do some other things. As I began to push the car back out of the garage in order to make room to get my bike back in, it wasn't rolling smoothly.

It would roll about an inch or two, stick then, after rocking it a bit, roll back some more. I could hear the piston's building up compression but that shouldn't affect it rolling in neutral should it?

Anyone have any idea what it is doing this? It feels like trying to turn the flywheel, you hit that sticking point where the piston has built up compression in the cylinder then it gives.

Would an improperly assembled CV joint do this? I am pretty sure I assembled all joints properly, I checked and rechecked before I put the joints and axles back together.

Thoughts?

CV's assembled wrong give you instant feedback, as they are locked in place and offer no angular or annular misalignment. If they moved, you're OK.

If you can feel compression as you roll, the transmission is -not- in neutral...

I was thinking that might be an issue, I must have somehow managed to put her in gear when I disassembled the shift rod. I will check tomorrow. Thanks for the feedback; I'm just happy I didn't dork up the CV joints.

I can see the finish line!

I didn't get a chance to work on it last night; my new job actually has me doing stuff so I am back to the 12+ hour days that I was running before I got to Europe.

Nevertheless, I skated out relatively early and did some work for about an hour. Sure enough, I had the sucker in gear, amazing how smoothly she rolls when you take it out of gear! I am hoping that I can have everything but the exhaust put on by Friday.

I may post some questions on electrical connections, my weakest area, but I am going to try to figure it out first before I ask the question! If all goes well, I'll be taking her for a spin on Saturday and give her a good wash down!

Well, today has been a looooooooong day. First things first, IT'S ALIVE!!!!
I got the muffler on this morning, hooked up the battery, checked things over and fired her up. WOOHOO! Hey why isn't the tach moving? hmmm, let me re-connect the 'white' wire that I and some other people thought was to the FI system. Yup, that was it, go figure.

So, I took her out for a spin and wash. Spitting oil from the crankcase at the #2 cylinder push tubes. Need to fix that. Got her back, let her cool down and sealed the living shit out of the pushrod tubes! I'll crank her up again tomorrow to see if that helped fix the oil problem. I had to do this last time as well. So here are some pictures that I am finally getting around to posting. Still more work needs to be done but as long as she is running and I get her registered, I can take my time on the minutia stuff.

Almost ready; this would be the offending Zylinder Kopf


The problem hole, the guys did a good job of fixing this.


OK, time to put her back in!


Thar she goes!!


OH! This is why you put the axles on BEFORE you mount the motor!


Wound up having to pull the exhaust off to get the axle back in. I re-adjusted the throttle cable as I think it was a bit tight and not letting the mechanism fully return. I will check it again tomorrow to make sure she isn't idling too high. Also need to make sure I have the clutch adjusted properly, she seems to be shifting fairly smoothly but I want to make absolutely sure. Hope to get her registered on Monday then I can relax for at least another year.

Rats! Failed inspection, kinda thought I might but I had hope! Yeah, I know, hope is not a method. Three problems that I have to fix, two just recently manifested themselves.

1) Oil leak, push tubes are not the issue nor is the cylinder head cover and gasket. Will have to do more digging to find out where the oil is coming from.

2) Brakes are spongy and don't fully lock the wheels. This is the bigger concern. I will check fluid levels and then bleed them; I think maybe air is still in the lines?

3) E-Brake needs adjustment, it doesn't fully engage especially on the right hand side.

Unfortunately, I can't tackle these issues now as I head to Italy in the morning. It will have to wait until I get back. I think I will tackle the braking problem first as those issues are easier to resolve. Then I will dig into where the oil is seeping from. I'll get some pictures of the problem area when I get back and throw them up for the collective group to opine upon. Until then, I'm just gonna have to put it to the back of my thoughts and enjoy the motorcycle ride to Italy!

I'll be running down the Fern Pass then Timmelsjoch on the way down and running up North through Stelvio on the return. Also plan on taking a weekend trip over to Bohinj, Slovenia, this should be fun!

for your brake issue try some Porterfield pads. what side is the oil leak coming form? The pressure sender can be a source of a hidden leak.

Pads are new but I don't know the manufacturer, I'll inspect them. The oil leak is on the driver side. I thought it was originally coming out of the pushrod tubes but that doesn't seem to be the case. I'll post pictures and maybe a short vid on what she looks like when I get back.

One of the thermostat bellows bolts goes straight through the case, and could be leaking.

Zach

That has been mentioned before and I will give it a check. I had hoped to work on the brakes this weekend but AAFES is out of DOT 4 brake fluid. I can get it on the economy but, instead of paying say $6 for a gallon of DOT 4 at AAFES, I would have to pay almost 30 Euro, about $35 USD for the same amount on the economy. I think I'll wait till they get more fluid in at AAFES.

Needless to say, I guess I'll tackle the oil issue this weekend; need to get the bike into the shop as well to get a damage estimate done. Laid her down on the backside of a mountain in Italy on the trip down last week. Minor damage to me and the bike.

Wish me luck tracking the oil problem down.

Hopefully not much damage to either you or the bike.... Any picts of your bike trip?

Dave

You're amazing Steve. This has been a long running saga filled with drama, suspense, heartbreak, euphoria, perseverance and humor. Just one question:

When will the movie version be released?

Good luck getting to the finish line. You deserve some quality time with that 914.

I am trying to get my act together and do up a ride report; I'll post the link when I get it done. I have some pretty good pictures of the trip to Italy and my side trip to Slovenia.

Been raining all day today so haven't done much with the car; had to focus on schoolwork instead. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny...yeah right. It's June and when I walked outside this morning I could see my breath. I just love Germany weather.

OK, I got out and started the car, of course she never does the leak thing when you just start it. So, I took it out for a 5 minute drive and got her good and warmed up. I am trying to load the vid I took to Youtube but they are not cooperating at the moment. Here are the pictures I took; as soon as I can upload the vid I will. I think I know where one of the leaks is coming from.

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Wouldn't let me upload more than two pictures; here are some more.
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last picture.
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Obviously, or at least in my mind, the oil screen cover area is leaking; easy fix. I think the shift mechanism towards the back may need some re-sealing as well.

The harder nut to crack is where the oil is coming from on the cylinder head. I know it isn't the push tubes, maybe the gasket isn't sealing right and letting some oil through?

I'll let the car cool down and then do some maintenance on what I think are obvious areas of leakage. Hopefully I can load up the video and post the link here soon.

Well, finally got the video uploaded; whether it helps or not I am not sure. Those of you who have way more experience and training than I may be able to pinpoint the suspected areas that are leaking.

Oil Leak vid

Not sure it will help much, kinda crappy, es tut mir leid.

Well, I took the teener to the autocraft shop yesterday and lo and behold...they have a power bleeder! Talk about making it a lot easier! So, after bleeding, world of difference! No more sponginess. Still got oil though and I am pretty sure I know where it is coming from transmission wise.

This morning I tackled the emergency brake. Got the passenger side to work however, a caliper rebuild is in my future. I won't go into detail but Eric Shea's write up was quite helpful.

So here is the plan; I parked it in front of the inspection station. First thing Monday morning I will have her checked and hopefully pass. Since she doesn't really start to spit oil until she is nice and warm there should be no issues. Once it passes and I get it re-registered, I will bring her home and drop the motor...again.

From there I plan to completely tear her down and see if I can find where the oil is coming from. Then, clean everything up and re-assemble. I will have to replace some of the transmission gaskets so will do that as well. I don't plan on rebuilding the trans as it has caused me no problems. I want to make sure that their is not a single leak ANYWHERE in this car!!!

On another note, the engine lid bracket will have to get replaced as it is cracked, had it welded today but it didn't hold. Will work on that while I have the motor out. Also took the time to trace the wire from the electronic trunk release to find out why she wasn't working. Well, when you run a wire to ground and another wire just to the switch, you're kinda missing that important element known as...ELECTRICAL POWER! No, I didn't put it together; I'll work on that as well.

Finally, I was wondering why the defroster got no air, thought maybe the blower was bad. Still don't know if this is the case but, if there is a big hole where the air goes and then a hose that isn't connected to anything it kinda defeats the purpose of having heat exchangers. Yep gonna fix that as well. I love this car...really I do!

Of course, I will get everything torn down but will then have to wait until September to work on putting it back together since I'll be in Africa the entire month of August. Oh well, it is what it is. Wish me luck on Monday!

WOOHOO!! Passed inspection this morning! Of course, it helps that I know the guy fairly well and help him add to his military patch collection

So, the car is back in the garage, time to drop the motor and tear her back down again. Quick question; I read through Eric's brake rebuild thread and I have rebuilt brakes before however, the parts that I really need are not in the kit.

The outside adjuster screw and clip along with the inside screw in metal cap thingy are what I need for the rear brakes. How do I or can I get these parts?

Push come to shove, I'll send em off to Eric but I would prefer to do the job myself, you don't learn by having someone else do it. Anyone?

And it begins...again. Phase one of operation, 'find the F@#$%^@ oil leak' has commenced.

Looks purty don't she? Too bad it won't stay that way.
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Hey look! I got my ass in the air! WOOHOO!
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Phase one done, tear down starts next.
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Couple of things that occurred during the drop. 3 exhaust studs came out, not stripped just unscrewed on me and the inside nut that holds the gear shift rod support bracket was stripped. I fiddled with it for an hour before I could get the actual bolt to unscrew out of the transmission. Guess I gotta fix that one.

Other than it being hot as hell here in Germany, we went from cold to damn near a heat wave It was fairly uneventful. I am unfortunately getting good at this.

I'll start initial tear down tomorrow and start trying to see if I can find out where the oil has been coming from. Unfortunately, I probably wont' start re-assembly until September as it looks like I'll be spending a month in Africa starting the end of July. Oh well, things happen, no sense getting uptight about it. I'm in no rush, want to make sure I find the problem and fix it once and for all. Wish me luck.

Well, things haven't progressed much on my end , have had a slew of other things to work on that have precluded me from doing anything on the motor.

I've also been in a battle with Christoph over money. Long story short, the German equivalent of the IRS audited his books and caught a discrepancy. He is now saying I still owe him about 2000 Euros. I have been going round and round with him and I am hoping that this last set of emails has resolved the issue. He stated that the 2000 Euros is for work done from July to December of 2009. Uhh, I picked the car up on 17 July and it has never been back to his shop!

I have the last invoice he sent me which was for all the work done up to the point I got the car back and I began checking numbers. He needs to fire his accountant! Not sure what he uses to to track his work expenses but what he billed me and what is actually reflected on the invoice don't match. I am thinking his people made a serious clerical error somewhere but I know I don't owe him any more money! Hopefully I can resolve this soon as I take off for Africa for a month here shortly. I can never seem to catch a break with this car

look for a oil leak on top of the engine as when it is blown out both bottom sides the fan is sucking oil on top usually and blowing it across the cylinders down across the pushrod tubes. Could be the oil filler tower gasket, the oil pressure sender...when you pull it apart look inside to see if its oily wet behind the fan housing on the case.

Thanks, will check that as I start the tear down.

Don't feel bad about not having time to get the work done. I am sitting in Afghanistan again and my engine is still apart in my basement. I have put it together twice and had to tear it down to fix problems that I caused during assembly. Hopefully next year is the year for touring the EU in my 914. Do you still need the Historic plates for yours? I will send you an email when I get back about the inspection stuff.

Chris