Alive

Well how de do. The Porsche Lives. The guy I purchased it from was having trouble starting the car but it turned over and got fuel. I checked and it got spark too. Now, mind you its an old fuel injection system of California Vintage and utilized a vacuum advance for the distributor. Typical of the old VW engines the cloth covered rubber vacuum lines got brittle and lost the ability to hold a vacuum. There was no fuel leakage so I knew that the fuel lines were good. But the crazy thing would not start. Today I took off the distributor cap and checked the cap, points and wires. All pointed to being good and it was. The one thing these old suckers need is a good vacuum when you start up for the distributor or you don't get the proper advance for proper starting. I did not have a new line but was able to trim the ends just enough to give some good vacuum for the distributor. Once I did that I gave the key a twist and got it to chug, then chug again and then again then it just fired up and stayed running. For not running for like 3 years it did pretty darn good. No smoke, No missing and it actually has good power for a 1700 cc VW Type 4 engine. One quick trip on the road and all is good. Now to check out the brakes. Another easy fix. It does stop but I do need to have a look at them. So for now the Porsche gets to keep its engine and will get some more road time with it. Not that I like gasoline but since I have projects on the table already that need finished first I will enjoy the 914 for a bit more with the engine in place.

Pete  : )