I guess the only place to start with this thread is the beginning... I have a friend who purchased a 914 to toy with, and he talked me into getting one also (didn't take much talking to peak my interest ). Well I ended up with four 914's in a package deal ('70, '72, '72, '74). Only one of them actually runs ('74 1.8 FI).

I am not very mechanical, but I have found the best way to learn something is to do it!

I was advised by the person I bought the vehicles from that the '70 had ~ $4,000.00 worth of work done to the motor. The problem is the prior owner removed the carbs and for some reason did not protect the openings from the weather and water got into the motor. I dropped the motor and transmission and took the motor to a friend's house who has had some experience with VW's. We took the motor apart and cracked the case.

My questions.... What is the recommended procedure for removing rust from cylinders, jugs (?), valves, etc... I will post pictures shortly of the specific areas of rust... I tried attaching a pic to this post, but I was prompted that I reached the maximum allowed size for the post and to reduce the size of the pic. Reccomendations to reduce the size of pics?

Thanks,
Brad

From looking at the cam, it has engravings that state "Replaces 021 109 111C". Can anyone tell me if this is the standard size cam for a 1.7?

Thanks,
Brad

Any old or worn cylinders that are going to be reused should be honed and new rings put on the piston.

Thanks McMark! I notice you are part of the Admin Group... I am trying to attach 1 photo (a little over 1m) and I am receiving the message:

"The total filespace required to upload all the attached files is greater than your per post or global limit. Please reduce the number of attachments or the size of the attachments."

The photo is digital from a Cannon Powershot SD300. Ideas?

Brad

I think the limit is somewhere around 400-450 Mb per post... you'll need to resize the photo. 800x600 pixels, or 640x480, are good sizes that will get you in the right range.

Click to view attachment

Here is a lovely example of water in the motor.

In this case, the cylinders were not worth saving and we definitely replaced all the bearings.

The best thing to do would be to pull it all apart, clean every spot/bit of rust and then measure everything.

Anywhere that the cleaning was significant is a place to concern yourself with the most.

I've found this very interesting jelly like goo in the bottom of crank cases in engines that sat and had water intake. I have a mild interest in what formulated it.

Good luck!

I don't have any leads on the goo/slime/jelly, but I've seen it in other motors. Like the water soaked 1.7 I just tore down.

If you're going for a full rebuild, just replace the pistons/cylinders with a 96mm set, but you'll have to do a little machining to the 1.7 heads or get 1.8/2.0 heads.

Clean everything really well.

Geez! you took that thing apart already? Aren't you the go-getter? Do a how-to on replacing that dipstick tube. I bet other engine cases have been thrown because of that.

[/quote]
I think the limit is somewhere around 400-450 Mb per post... you'll need to resize the photo. 800x600 pixels, or 640x480, are good sizes that will get you in the right range.
[/quote]

Thanks Todd! What should I use to resize the photo? Is there a freeware or shareware I can download to accomplish this?

Brad

Google for "irfanview" for a program that will resize pictures.

--DD

I think the size limit per image is around 300k, which is PLENTY for a JPG ...

Reduce your images in size to 1024 x 768 and save them as JPG, compress to 5 (medium) ...

Btw. we also have a FAQ that answers all those questions.
Andy

If you're running Microsoft, paint works. Just copy and paste the photo into paint once it's been saved to your hard drive. OR, right click and select edit- depending on the other programs you have this will take you straight to paint.

Then, select all, and I think the shortcut command is control + W, but you want to go to the image drop down menu, select the Stretch/Skew option. In that window there's a way to shrink or increase photo size by percentage. So to shrink, for example, you'd enter 50% for both horizontal and vertical values, hit enter, and the photo will automatically shrink without losing any of the detail. You'll need to manually resize the border of the work area, otherwise you just end up with a tiny photo inside a gigantic white background. Then just save the photo again and it will automatically replace the ginormous original.

It's quick and easy and you don't need your internet connection to do it. I've taken 600 kb photos and shrank them down to 40-50 kb without losing any detail using this method.

Oh, and by the way, the goo in the bottom of your engine is a combination of rust, oil, and water that's been brewing for a long time. They say oil and water don't mix but when you add rust it comes out looking like that.

Also, just a thought, but I don't know if those cylinders are junk. You might try honing one just to see how it turns out.

Good luck with your project.

Thanks to all for the help! If I needed this much help with my pics, just imagine how much help I will need with my cars Pics coming soon...

Brad

Click to view attachmentClick to view attachmentPics...

Click to view attachmentClick to view attachmentmore pics

and more...

and last...

Any suggestions on cleaning up the heads?

Thanks,
Brad

Take a caliper and measure the diameter of the pistons and report back.

Case and crank look good from here. Cylinders will need serious cleaning and probably re-honed. Knock off thebig stuff and let a machineist do the rest.

Pistons will clean up, but will need new rings.

I don't know enough to make reccomendations on the heads.

If it were me, I'd have the cylinders punched out to 96mm, get a new set of pistons to match, and ahve a nice 1911cc engine.

Zach

Are those pistons flat topped?

Thanks Zach! It will take a few days before I can get back to you on the measurements. I don't have any measuring tools, and by the time I get off work all stores are closed (Oh the joys of living in a small town ).

Brad

They appear to be... If so, is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Brad

Ha! I figure if I don't jump in and start working on it, it will just sit in my garage collecting dust! Thanks for the heads up on replacing the dipstick tube, I would not have even thought of it... I am open to any other tips you or others have during my rebuild!

Brad

Where is a good place to price out a 96mm set of pistons/cylinders?

Thanks,
Brad

I'm sure Jake has a few sets on hand...

BTW, the 96es that fit into the 1.7 heads are very thin at the top. It is recommended that you use the 96es that are set up for the 1.8 motor, and have the registers in the heads cut to fit them.

I don't remember if Pelican has any 96es available or not. We carried them at one point, but I'm not sure about now.

I have read elsewhere on-line that the best 96mm cylinders are old used stock 1.8 or 2.0 ones (same OD) that have been bored out on a torque plate. Since the cylinders have been heat-cycled a zillion times already, they are very stable and don't change shape when run. The brand-new ones evidently can change shape a little bit when heated.

--DD

Good news! I purchased a caliper and the pistons measured 96mm.

Brad