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-   -   Time to un-DAPO the "new" car (https://dorkiphus.net/porsche/showthread.php?t=40541)

BillC 07-02-2020 08:42 PM

Time to un-DAPO the "new" car
 
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Subtitled: Bad things happened to a nice car.

Last month, I bought a new-to-me '73 914 2.0, in Alaska Blue Metallic. The car is in reasonably nice shape for a 47 year old car with at least 107,000 miles. Not sure of actual mileage, since the odometer hasn't worked in years. The car has surprisingly little rust. Unfortunately, though, it did suffer at the hands of at least a few of its previous owners.

Important side note: if someone offers you a rust-free 914, it just means that they aren't charging you for the rust! Probably applies to early 911s, too.

Anyway, this is not going to be an Engelbert-style full restoration thread. My plan is to fix the worst of the damage and get the car back on the road so I can drive it before the winter weather arrives.

Here are a few pics of the car from the seller. The paint is in rough shape, but they did make an effort to prevent more rusting -- all that grey paint is primer added at some point.

BillC 07-02-2020 08:47 PM

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So, when the car arrived on the transporter, it didn't run well. It idled poorly for the first 10 minutes or so, then it ran up to 2000 RPM and wouldn't drop below that. So, first issue identified.

Then, I started looking around the car, and discovered the seller was very artful about what was and what wasn't shown. Here are some of those discoveries:

BillC 07-02-2020 08:52 PM

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At some point, the fuel pump was relocated to the front, under the tank. Normally, this is a good thing; in fact, this is what Porsche did starting with the '75 model year. However, this particular implementation left something to be desired.

First, rather than running the pump wires through the center tunnel, they drilled a hole high-up on the firewall (no grommet, either) and ran the wire along the passenger side door. Then, the pump was installed by running a sheet metal screw through a hose clamp and clamping the pump in place.

BillC 07-02-2020 08:54 PM

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The seller did mention that the car ran well at low RPMs but lost power at higher revs. I believe I have discovered the cause:
Attachment 62560

That crimp also explains why it took so long to pump out the fuel tank. It took over 30 minutes to pump out 11 gallons, should have taken less than 5. I originally thought there was something wrong with the pump, but it turns out the pump was being starved.

BillC 07-02-2020 08:59 PM

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On an good note, the car came with the proper matching spare wheel. And, it looks like it still has the original bias ply spare tire, which doesn't hold any air pressure anymore.
Attachment 62562
Attachment 62563

Anyone into Concours and want an original spare tire for your display? It is a Continental 165R15. If so, just let me know and you can have it for free, after I get a new tire installed.

BillC 07-02-2020 09:02 PM

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I found this little mystery mounted under the dash, with that big lump of wire hanging down. Did some digging, and found the other end of the wire spliced into the tach lead from the coil. As near as I can figure, it was a shade-tree anti-theft device, to ground the coil and stop the ignition from working. Unfortunately, all it seems to have done is keep the tach from working.

BillC 07-02-2020 09:04 PM

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And, this was mounted in the firewall, just above decklid release. I think it was a remote trunk release, but haven't found any other signs of what it may have been used for. But that didn't stop them from drilling another large hole in the firewall.

BillC 07-02-2020 09:06 PM

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Also, they installed heat exchangers and a muffler for a 1.7 engine. But, instead of getting the matching muffler hanger, they made these goofy little adapter brackets to bridge the gaps.

HoodPin 07-02-2020 09:07 PM

Congrats on the acquisition. But I hope the price was commensurate with what was delivered to you. None of it seems insurmountable, but it will be fun to see your solutions.

BillC 07-02-2020 09:12 PM

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On Sunday, Chris N. came over and helped me pull the engine and trans from the car. Once it was out, I poked around the engine a bit to see if I could find the source of the high idle. Again, the DAPO(s) did not disappoint.

The picture shows what should be a decel valve. A decel valve looks a lot like a fuel pressure regulator. However, it has three vacuum line fittings, whereas the regulator has two fuel line fittings. As you can probably guess, they just left the third vacuum line open to atmosphere -- the mystery of the high idle is solved.


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