For those that know us, know Huey, and/or were at RCR, you know some of our trials and tribulations about the engine "issues" we were having in the past year or so.
As refresher: Nadine and I have 2 914/6 conversions - Papa Smurf the pure racer, and Huey, our Targa Newfoundland/street/show car. However, we only had 1 engine - a 2.2 liter high compression motor that needed race fuel. Great for Papa Smurf, lousy for Huey and street use. So...we bought a friends 914 race car because we THOUGHT the 2.5 engine in it was a better street motor than race, to use for Huey.
Well, you all know we wrecked Huey at Targa 2007... and this happened before we had a chance to swap engines. So....the 2.5 engine stayed in the black 914 race car until we decided to rebuild Huey. Which we ended up doing in time for Porsche Parade 2008.
We put the 2.5 engine in....and ..... it never really ran well in Huey. Sure it's got agressive cams, and sure it's more a "racey" engine, but it just never felt like it had all the power it was suppose to have, especially at low rpm's. At higher RPM, it seemed fine, but that's not great for a street car.
Those of you that saw us at RCR know I was always having issues witht he engine, and we thought it was carb related (oh, and a disconnected plug wire - more on that later). then we thought it was inside engine problems. then...well we didn't know what then.
So...we went about finding another engine (found a 2.7 this time), and put the 2.5 back into the black race car. Now, here's where it gets weird (or frustrating, you pick) When we put the engine back in the black race car, it runs PERFECT. Very good at low, medium and high RPM. You can spin the rear tires from a start (no chance of that in Huey. ) It accelerates amazingly well. It started right up, no back firing, no choking, just perfect. WTF???
Then, we put the 2.7 in Huey for a quick test run, and ....it runs OK, but not great. Backfires, chokes, decent but not great power.... but I put that off to it needed a good refreshing. We take the 2.7 out for a good reseal and cleaning, and I notice that one of the long plug connectors on the wires is cracked and comes apart. hmmm.... OK, maybe we had a bad plug wire, but that shouldn't make the car run REALLY bad right.
Then on Thursday this week, I'm moving some of the parts around the shop and pick up the coil from Huey. It's covered in oil. hmmm, must have spilled oil on it somewhere. I clean it off and put it down on my desk. few minutes later, there's a puddle of oil on the desk?!? So I look closely at the coil, and IT'S CRACKED on the top! If I hold it upside down, it drips oil everywhere. DAMN.
So now we're thinking that the whole time, the 2.5 engine worked just fine in Huey, except it had a bad coil and bad wires. After thousands of dollars tearing engines apart, swapping engines like they were candy, and buying another engine all together, I now find that it was probably just a small part that was causing all this aggravation!!! With a bad coil that still actually works, and bad wires, we think it's getting some spark, but not full spark and losing a lot of power in the combustion chamber. makes sense because no matter what we did, it always smelled like unburnt fuel behind the car. We were getting a very weak spark and not an efficient burn.
Lesson learned: NEVER assume all your parts are good, and always check EVERYTHING, even if is seems too odd. When everything SEEMS to be working right and it's not, it's probably just something small screwing up the works!
Well, at least now the Black 914 that we're selling has an engine...a VERY GOOD engine I might add.
and 8 months later, Huey sits with no engine... but the 2.7 should be in it soon....
Nice job spotting that cracked coil. I wonder if that happened when you wrecked Huey at the Targa? 
Don't feel too bad about missing that coil crack. I missed a broken cam. It broke 200 miles after a rebuild and destroyed my euro "S" engine. Then it destroyed the second engine while cranking it on the starter. Never even fired up and trashed a block, piston, and head again! 
