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Posted by: Queenie Jul 14 2003, 12:56 PM

Greetings to all.

One of the guys at Rennlist pointed me in your direction & I'm hoping to get some advice...

It's soon going to be time to rebuild my engine and I'm looking for a reliable supplier for a long block. As the title above says, I have a '76 2.0 liter. I was thinking of ordering from GEX but having recently done some research, that isn't sounding like a very good idea.

Any suggestions, advice, comments? Thanks much.

Posted by: Brad Roberts Jul 14 2003, 02:00 PM

I'll help draw some attention to your post.

Welcome to the board !!

I used to recommend GEX until they screwed over a couple of friends.

I honestly build my own bottom ends... so I dont really know of a "supplier" per se.

B

Posted by: Queenie Jul 14 2003, 02:29 PM

Thanks, Brad. Looks like there's lots going on here, so I plan to stick around. I'm not just here to beg for help

To give a little more information about this project: What I most likely need is valve guides - a big pain in the butt from what I understand.

So, in order to save me some cash, my ex-husband has graciously offered to do this rebuild for me for the cost of parts and some tools - not a bad deal. But I'd rather save him the headache of splitting the case, so we were thinking to just get a new long block and be done with the hassle (as if there's any such thing as a hassle-free engine rebuild).

The car is my daily driver, so I can't afford to be without it for a very long time, especially not during the school year. I can walk to work, but school is a whole different story. I need the rebuild to be as painless as possible, although having been through several other air-cooler rebuilds I know that that's a laughable concept. I guess I should say "as painless as possible - all things considered."

Maybe it would be a better idea to just do the valve guides and only deal with other problems if they show themselves in the process of that job?

One thing is for sure: I'm not getting rid of the car. I love it to distraction

Posted by: Lawrence914-6 Jul 14 2003, 02:30 PM

Are you sure that you want a new long block.. or will a good used one do? Posting an add in the classifieds might find you something that would work for you.

-Rusty

Posted by: Queenie Jul 14 2003, 05:35 PM

No, I'm not dead set on new. I'm not even dead set on getting a long block - if there's a better way to go about dealing with my poor sad oil burner, I'm all for it. Used is certainly an option as long as logistics don't get too hairy. Time will be of the essence with this project. I've got until at least October to get it all figured out, maybe even December.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll confer with The Mechanic and let him know what I'm finding out.

Posted by: Brad Roberts Jul 14 2003, 05:42 PM

I'm betting a good complete (smog legal engine) can be had for 1200$ plus shipping. Your almost dead center of the "Republic of California" soo... finding one here in the bay area or in SoCal should be pretty easy.

Have you spoken to Dave Shepard at GPR ?? He is a 914 guy and used to have several parts cars behind the building.

If you buy a complete engine.. your mechanic could swap it out in 2-3 days for you.


B

Posted by: seanery Jul 14 2003, 05:43 PM

Having a '76, you need to be concerned with smog, right?
Or do you "have a guy" ?

Posted by: Queenie Jul 14 2003, 06:00 PM

I have to smog it one more time, for which I'll put the cat back on...and promptly remove it once I get my certificate. After that I'm home free - it will be of an age that doesn't require biannual smogging.

I basically have three mechanics: the one I work next door to (who costs me money but does great work), my exhusband (who works cheap but is in Bolivia 9 months out of the year), and the guy who FINALLY got it to pass smog last time (it was a bitch and a half).

Posted by: Queenie Jul 14 2003, 06:02 PM

$1200? That cheap? Wow. Now you've got me thinking.

And no, I haven't called the boys at GPR yet but it's on my list of things to do this week.

I really can't thank you all enough for your responses. It helps so much to sound out other folks and get ideas. I'm really grateful!

Posted by: Brad Roberts Jul 14 2003, 06:06 PM

This is why we put this board up: To help other 914 owners around the world.

We have a lot of fun here. As long as you can put on your thick skin.. you'll get along fine here.


B

Posted by: Queenie Jul 15 2003, 09:19 AM

I've survived five or so years on Usenet, I doubt there's much y'all can do to scare me

Posted by: fuch toy Jul 15 2003, 09:27 AM

GEX motors suck....I've seen many over the years that have been torn down after they faiiled and then checked for parts.....cranks that have not been turned, mismatched rods, bad valve jobs....they re-use parts and do half assed rebuilds. Run away.

The biggest hassle on the 76 is the heads. They have the air injection ports. If they can not be rebuilt you need to find 76 style heads or tap a set for the injectors. Arghh....but only one more smog test.....

Posted by: Alfred Jul 15 2003, 10:11 AM

You can get this

- 039 100 031 X SHORT ENGINE EXCHANGE
74 KW, 100 DIN-PS WITH CYLINDER HEAD
OIL COOLER FLYWHEEL MODEL 039.GB

directly from your local Porsche dealer but it will cost you $3724.60. See http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?act=ST&f=2&t=2849&hl=interesting+parts+on+pet .

Alfred

Posted by: Queenie Jul 16 2003, 03:50 PM

Am I reading this correctly? A brand new engine for $3k?

If so, it's a serious contender. I can afford it (as much as I can afford any of this, which is to say thank dog for my sterling credit rating), and it very much appeals to my "solve every last little fscking problem in one fell swoop whenever possible" personality.

Posted by: Alfred Jul 16 2003, 05:32 PM

Phone your local Porsche dealer and ask them but it probably doesn't include all the fuel injection stuff. Don't let them tell you it's not available ... I contacted the Porsche dealer here too and they said it's retail price is $ 5773.14 (Cdn) exchange.

Posted by: Bleyseng Jul 16 2003, 09:55 PM

Hey Queenie, Glad you made it over here from the Rennlist Webforums.. Post a pic of your car when you get a chance..

Geoff

Posted by: Bruce Allert Jul 16 2003, 10:32 PM

Welcome Queenie,
I just picked up a complete 73 2.0 so they are out there if you keep your eyes open and let it out that you're in the market. Posting here is the best thing one can do when looking for parts. They seem to come outta the walls
One will come along soon. Good luck & happy hunting.
bruce

Posted by: vsg914 Jul 16 2003, 10:39 PM

Hey Bruce, if we're on time, who the hell cares where we're going?

Posted by: Bruce Allert Jul 17 2003, 12:20 AM

VSG...
exactly... my thoughts exactly besides,
no matter where ya go...
here you are, right?
bruce

Posted by: Mark Henry Jul 17 2003, 11:20 AM

Geeze!

I'm not charging enough for my longblocks!

My price is a bit better than half that price.


I bet it's not a "new" engine but a rebuilt.
Do they ask for a core?

They rebuilt all of the North American VW T1 and T4 (including 914) engines in Toronto for years. They don't rebuild them anymore, but they have a whole bunch of them in the werehouse in Ajax. (Ontario, Canada)

Posted by: Queenie Jul 17 2003, 12:48 PM

Couldn't I just swap out the injection stuff from my current engine? It all works just fine - in fact, the car runs perfectly. It just burns oil.

Of course, it leaks too but it's supposed to do that, right? Heh. It leaks too much now; it definitely needs to be rebuilt or replaced.

Posted by: Queenie Jul 17 2003, 12:52 PM

Thanks so much for the tip, Geoff. Much more action here - not to dog Rennlist, but there just isn't a lot of activity on the 914 forum there.

I did try to post a picture here the other day but I got rejected. It tells me I'm not allowed to post the file type - it's a standard .jpg, so I'm not sure what the problem is. Maybe I'll try renaming the file and uploading again, just for fun.

Posted by: Queenie Jul 17 2003, 01:01 PM

Thanks, Bruce!

I'm sure I'll find a solution to this problem. I'm a very determined and resourceful girl, and I have good mechanical support in the ex-husband (bless his pointy little head).

I love my 914 and I'm not giving it up for anything. I figure if I can get a good solid engine in it, I'm good to go for a few more years. (I know better than to slack on the routine maintenance, so all I need is a good starting point.)

I have known since I bought it that this repair was impending. And yeah, I probably could have bought a car that didn't need this kind of work but hey - have any of you EVER bought an early air cooler that didn't need some love and attention? I suppose if you have a big budget that's a possibility, but it's never happened to me and I knew this experience wouldn't be any different. I've put over 10K on the car already, and it's been extremely reliable.

So I'm gonna fix it, and keep driving the shit out of it. It makes me happy.

Posted by: seanery Jul 17 2003, 01:08 PM

Queenie, there is a file size limitation ~299 kb I believe.
Make sure your file is smaller than that and you should be ok. There used to be a 10 post minimum to post a pic, too, so maybe that was it.

Posted by: bernbomb914 Jul 17 2003, 01:14 PM

Queenie make sure that you are in the pic. with your car so all these guys dont have to use their imagination as to what your car looks like.

Bernie

Posted by: Alfred Jul 17 2003, 04:58 PM

According to Dave Darling's http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/914_Darling_FAQ/914_Darling_FAQ.htm there are induction (air pump, EGR) and exhaust differences between the earlier and later 2.0s so it might be problematic to add your f/i and exhaust to an earlier 2.0 (which, from the motor's description in the PET catalog, it sounds like it is). You might consider having your motor rebuilt or if you can wait a couple of years buy the 2.0 from Porsche and then add the '73/'74 f/i and exhaust and have yourself a strong 100 hp motor.

Alfred

Posted by: Queenie Jul 22 2003, 02:17 PM

Alas, waiting is not an option. I'm burning too much oil to put this off any longer than the end of the year, and the last time I had my oil changed my mechanic told me the leaks were slowly getting worse.

It looks like it's just going to have to be a rebuild. Which is fine with me - I don't care how the problem gets solved so long as it gets solved. I just wanted to avoid the hassle of doing the valve guides if at all possible (assuming that's what it needs, which is highly likely). I will continue to hunt around for rebuilt engines, or maybe I'll just let my ex-husband struggle through doing whatever needs to be done with the current engine.

As I said, it runs fine other than the burning/leaking issues.

Thanks for your advice.

Posted by: Mockmaw Jul 22 2003, 02:36 PM

I don't believe that replacing valve guides is as difficult as your making it sound.. my understanding is that any competent VW machine shop can rebuild a set of heads with new valve guides for not too much money. You can try talking to Headflowmasters in Southern California.. not close enough to drive, but shipping should be fast and relatively inexpensive. Of course, playing with your heads often leads to the vicious money pit characterized by the phrase "while I'm in there, I might as well.."

I'm in the finishing stages of my engine rebuild. Looking back, there's only one thing that I wish I'd done differently. I wish that I'd purchased an inexpensive 1.7 or 1.8 (fair running ones can be found for very little money) and then slowly rebuilt my old one (waiting for good prices on parts and whatnot, but most importantly to just be able to drive the thing around while the good one's being rebuilt.) Thinking about this now, though, I'm not sure that's really an option for you seeing as your car is smogged.

In any case, there are lots of ways to get your car back on the road.. and it sounds like you're doing a good job of weighing all the factors and looking into all the options.

Posted by: Part Pricer Jul 22 2003, 02:53 PM

Queenie,

I just went back and reread all of the posts in this thread and I have a question and perhaps a suggestion.

When will the car need to be smogged again?

If that is a little ways off, here is what I might suggest. Find a good running engine. You could probably pick up a 1.7 or 1.8 relatively inexpensively. Have your ex-husband pull out your 2.0, and install the replacement engine. Then, have ex-hubby rebuild the 2.0. He could take his time until you get close to the date that the car needs to be smogged again. When smog time comes, have him swap out the engines then get the car smogged.

You can then sell the replacment engine and you haven't been without your 914 for any lengthy period.

Me? I'm an idea guy!