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I've heard that you need a gasket for the transmission end cover that is
specifically matched for the ring & pinion. Is this correct?
On the gasket for the end cover, they are just one size. Removing
the end cover does not affect the R&P at all. The gasket on the other side of the
intermediate plate comes in three different thicknesses so it can be shimmed for correct
backlash. Also, if you take the transmission completely apart, and use the same
R&P and the same case and intermediate plate, you can just replace the gasket with the
same thickness gasket and the backlash should remain as original.
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| I am looking for the following parts for my 1973 2.0: Front and
rear factory sway bars/mounts, it is unclear to me if these were a standard option fitted
to all two liter cars, can you shed some light on this?
I’ve always heard that all 73 2.0 cars came with front and rear
swaybars installed at the factory. That is usually one of the first things I look for when
looking at a 73 914 2.0. I don’t know that this is absolute, yet I can’t
remember ever seeing an original 73 2.0 without them. I have seen a couple of 1.7’s
that were changed to 2.0’s that did not have bars....... parts:
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| I'm having problems with
backfiring on my 914. I don’t hear any exhaust leaks. I’ve always owned
VW’s (5) and 914 (3), so I’m very familiar with exhaust leaks. I took a
compression test when I first got the car (almost two years ago) and if I remember
correctly I was surprised to find that the cylinders were all above 100 psi and within 10
psi of one another. I keep forgetting to ask what is the proper way to do a leak-down
test? The dwell has to be a non-issue because I installed a smog legal CompuFire
electronic ignition. I will double check the timing. It’s supposed to be set with the
vacuum line disconnected from the distributor on my ‘74 2.0L, isn’t it?
Aren’t 914 problems fun? In no
particular order, here are some answers/suggestions:
Adjust the fuel pressure up to 34 psi.
This should be the pressure while the engine is running, not just cranking (although they
should be almost the same).
Rebuilt injectors aren’t bad, but
from past experience we ran into a problem with rebuilt components every once in a while -
injectors, fuel pumps, pressure sensors, and AFC boxes. So I guess I’m saying
the there is a possibility that the injectors are not 100%. (It could be that the rebuilt
injectors need 34 psi to work properly - 29 psi may not be enough).
Test the injectors by pulling out
two (one complete side), and letting the spray onto a glass or clear plastic container.
Watch the spray pattern, and see if the both spray about the same - a fine mist, like a
shower head. Compare the spray pattern of all four, and see if one is obviously worse than
the others.
Pull the spark plugs out and see if one
has a completely different color than the others. This would narrow it down to a
particular cylinder. Or see if the are all too lean (white), or too rich (black).
Triple-check the timing. If it is set to
specs and runs okay, try both advancing or retarding the timing up to 10 degrees and drive
it and see what happens. Also, make sure the distributor advance is working okay. What
else? I don’t know. Try the above and see what happens.
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I need some information on refinishing Mahles for my 914. Mine are bead
blasted and ready to paint or polish. What can I use to fill small hammer dents? I started
polishing the rims, but the surface is so coarse I now doubt this choice.
The Mahle wheels don’t polish up
real well. The original finish was usually paint. I would use Wurth silver lacquer paint
to make it look original. Filling hammer dents will usually require a welder to fill in
the low spots, and the someone to grind/polish down the filler to the original height.
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| My problem on a ‘73 914 1.7L fuel injected California engine. Engine
was rebuilt about 2500 miles ago. It has a missing problem above 2000 rpm that I just
can’t get rid of. Replace all the vacuum lines, plugs, distributor cap, rotor,
pressure sensor, and injectors. It has electronic ignition..Allison XR700. My next thought
is the fuel injector trigger points in the distributor or maybe a bad ground in the
distributor itself. My first
thought on your missing problem is to get a timing light and check the advance on the
distributor. If you are getting too much or too little advance you will end up with a
miss. The If the trigger points are going bad, you will usually get two cylinders with a
problem as the points work two at a time. Pull the plugs and see if there is one
particular cylinder (or two) that look like they are firing worse than the other. Is the
miss at 2500 - 3000 RPM only? If so it could be the throttle switch is worn. Is the
mixture okay (at both idle and 2500 RPM)? You can have a system that runs lean at idle,
and then runs very rich above 2000 RPM. That problem could be a pressure sensor, head
sensor, the brain, temp sensor II, or ?
One other thing is to take off the
Allison and put back in standard points, and then see what happens. I have seen electronic
ignitions fail more often than you would imagine.
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| I’ve
only driven this car in the rain a couple of times, but each time i have i experience this
problem. The car runs fine in the rain but god forbid that you turn it off because it will
not start again until it’s been given sufficient drying time (sometimes a day or
more). My best guess is some sort of electronic device (possibly in the fuel system). The
car will turn over and run for a few seconds and then die. It will continue to do this as
long as the battery holds out. Could there be a device that sends info to start the fuel
pump and then switches over to provide a constant fuel flow to keep the engine running?
I’d appreciate any help in this matter.
Try isolating the problem by wrapping the two most important
electronic pieces in a plastic bag (the relay board and the EFI Brain). I would first
guess at the relay board since it sits in an unprotected area (should have a plastic
cover), and it controls the fuel pump via a relay. There should be a plastic cap
over the circuit board which keeps water off of it (do you have the same problem after you
wash the car?).
A couple of things to try:
Take the cover off the circuit board and
clean the circuit board connectors (take the relays and connectors off to clean under
them). Make sure the plastic rain catch (on the engine lid) is attached correctly, and
that the funnels that catch the water are intact and mounted correctly. If the one on the
left is askew, it might be sending water on to the circuit board.
If your not sure if it is a fuel problem, than take the
distributor cap off and make sure there is not moisture inside of it.
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| Regarding the 911 adjusting screws, I remember an article, I
think it was in European Car, that overhauled a type 4 and they recommended the 911
adjusters. The regular ones I put in last year came from someone else and I think the
problem is they are too soft as they are showing significant wear after only one year.
I’ll go with your advice though. About the 911 valve
adjusting screws, they are not a simple bolt on addition. The pushrods need to be
shortened, and the rocker stands need to be spaced, and the whole valve train geometry
needs to be set up again. It is a worthwhile addition if you want to go through the
expense and have a good machine shop that can set it up for you, but I’m not sure you
get that much added value out of it.
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| I am working on a 914-6 conversion and have a question concerning the
brakes. In the front I have a 911S setup with slightly wider Carrera rotors and machined
alloy calipers for clearance. I want to upgrade the rear brakes as well. Automobile
Atlanta suggests several options, one of which involves installing spacers in the rear
calipers and using vented discs. Can you explain how this works, or who might have more
info on this option. Do you use 911 or 914-6 rear rotors? (Are 914-6 rear rotors vented?)
What is involved in modifying the rear hubs to accept 911 rotors?
Is it even feasible to stick with the stock 914 rear calipers, or should these be the
first to go. I don’t need anything fancy, so this option interests me if it is works
reasonable well, especially since it seems like the easiest and cheapest.
As a side note/question, I have talked to a few people
with –6 conversions who have installed vented rotors and 911 calipers on the rear of
their 914s, and said that this isn’t that much of an improvement over using the stock
914 rear calipers and removing the factory proportioning valve. Would this be an
economical way to go, and just install vented discs and space the calipers in the rear?
Again, I don’t really understand what is involved with these spacers-whether the
caliper is just spaced out to fit the different offset of the 911 rotor, or whether the
caliper itself if actually spaced apart to fit over the 911 rotor. Any information would
be greatly appreciated.
While on the subject, I also have one more question
concerning wheel backspacing. I would rather not flare my car for various reasons, and I
have read in several places that the widest wheels you can use in the factory wheel wells
are 6" (in the rear), unless you use ‘67 911R wheels (chuckle, chuckle). Unless
I’m mistaken, the backspacing on all other 911 wheels and most 944 wheels is 4
7/8", whereas the backspacing on the 911R wheel was 5 1/8". I realize trying to
remove ?’ or even 1/8" from the wheels could considerably weaken them, and thus
is probably not a good idea. But what about removing material from the aluminum hubs on
the car? Has anyone tried this? Is it a bad idea? At least in the front, the hubs seem to
have plenty of material, though I haven’t looked at the rears yet. Sorry for asking
so many questions. Thanks for your time.
Wayne writes:
The front brakes do most of the work at
stopping the car, the rears really don’t do much. Anything you do usually results in
the loss of the parking brake. The best solution would be to find some 914-6 calipers. Not
very common. 914-6 rotors are solid like the 914-4 ones (I’m 95% sure, Tom check me
on this one). I would stick with the stock 914-4 rotors, and just look for a set of 914-6
rear calipers.
Hmm, on your wheels questions, I agree
that you probably shouldn’t remove metal from the wheels. On the other hand removing
material from the hub doesn’t really sound like a good idea either. I’ve never
heard of this being done. I suppose that you’re trying to put 7" wheels on the
rear. If you use a wider profile tire on a six inch wheel, then doesn’t the problem
become actually fitting the tire in the fender, versus fitting the wheel on the hub? Your
overall goal is tire patch on the road, I assume? I would go with a six inch wheel, and
put a wide profile tire on there.
Tom writes:
Spacers on the rear calipers is
exactly that. The calipers are taken apart and spacers are put in to allow for the wider
vented discs. Early 911’s came with either solid (911T) discs or vented (E or S)
discs. The calipers were the same, just with spacers on the vented ones. All 914-6’
came with solid rear discs standard. That should tell you that the calipers are identical
(except spaced) and that the discs are the same (except vented, which only provides for
better cooling).
Wayne is right as far as upgrading the
rear brakes doesn’t give you much added braking power. If you have good 914-4 rear
calipers, and the rest of the braking system is good, you should be in good shape. The
914-4 rear caliper works fine with a 914-6 rear brake disc. The rear hubs need to be
changed or modified to accept the rear 5-bolt discs. You can drill the hubs and put in
studs, but I don’t recommend that - the 914-4 hubs are thinner than the 914-6/911 hub
where the stud is held in place. We like to change the rear to this combination: 914-6
rear stub axle, 914-6 rear brake disc, and early 911 hub. This is a bolt-on upgrade, and
essentially gives you a 914-6 rear end, one that uses standard replacement parts.
One other comment, if you use a 911 rear
caliper you lose the parking brake.......
About the wheels, my attitude is keep it
simple, and use the 6" 911 wheels.
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| I am trying to get some information on converting
my 914 rear brakes to a 5 bolt pattern and get some better braking out of them.
There are plenty of articles about how the 911 front brakes bolt directly to the 914
chassis but there is little information on the rear conversion. What can be done
with the rear setup. I don't want to redrill my current rotors because that will not
improve braking. I also do not want a setup that can not be used with a parking brake
because that's dangerous!
In order to change to a 5-bolt pattern and retain your
parking brake is to retain your 914-4 rear calipers (or find some non-existent 914-6
calipers). You can do this by drilling your hubs for 5-bolt and changing the rotor to
914-6 (I don’t recommend drilling the hubs - they are thinner than the 914-6/911 hubs
where the studs are mounted). Or you can change the rear to a 914-6 setup with: 914-6 stub
axles, 914-6 brake rotors, and early 911 rear hubs. This allows you to retain the 914 rear
caliper and the parking brake -and it is a bolt-on conversion. Hope that helps.
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| What I’m about to ask is not a regular problem you
may have. A friend an I are changing a 1977 911S 2.7 CIS to a 2.4 Webber setup. A
pulled head stud led to the 2.4 motor which he is happy with .When he sold the 2.7 he let
the wire harness go with the motor.He said that the 2.4 has one on it all ready!
Well I started to look at the pins an I’m not sure that they are in the same place!
This motor has a harness out of a 914/6, Will it work?? Or will it be "A" I
think it goes here, no here, you get the drift. We only need a bare bones harness, which
we already have.
The wiring for all the 911 motors are fairly similar. The
wiring to the alternator is pretty much the same, depending on whether there is an
internal or external regulator. There were a couple of extra wires for the fuel injection
on those cars. The ignition wires (CD box and distributor), were the same, unless the 77
motor came with a 6-pin CD. All the color coding is consistent throughout the years. If
you have a Haynes manual, there are some wiring diagrams that can help. Just break down
the installation into one section at a time (alternator, ignition, etc.) and give it a
try.
How do I safely install replacement rollers on my 914
trunk springs?
Wayne,
Thanks for the confirmation of my diagnosis! By the way, I
recently ordered replacement rollers for the rear trunk from Pelican and found an easy way
to install them. Using a screw driver-type nut driver with a 6 or 7 mm deep well socket, I
slid the socket over the end of the tension spring in the engine compartment. By using the
nut driver as a lever arm, you can relieve the pressure on the roller and slide it off the
stud. I recommend two people for this operation but it works perfectly!
Miles
How do I diagnose problems with the 914 headlamp switch?
Perfect! I was working on a table,
but your info is more clear. If somebody with a tech reference type of site wants to post
that, I am sure it would come in handy. The only thing I would add is the state of the
rheostat:
full CCW = open
full CW = closed
Here is a table of the connections from terminal to
terminal in each switch position (unwired switch in your hand):
Off:
58a to 58b (through a rheostat controlled by knob
rotation)
30 to 30b
15, 58L, 58R, K, 57, 56 : all are open
Position 1: (half-way out)
58a to 58b (through a rheostat controlled by knob rotation)
30 to 58L, 58R, K, and 57
15, 30b, 56: all are open
Position 2: (fully out)
58a to 58b (through a rheostat controlled by knob rotation)
30 to 58L, 58R, and K
15 to 56
30b, 57: both are open
Brad Anders |
