1974 914 1.8, the mystery of the EC-A and EC-B Options

[wonkipop]

i'll be dropping the information we have gathered over Dec 2021 in with a set of posts.

the material was prompted by mr b ( @JeffBowlsby ) who observed that for the 74 MY there was an EC-A and an EC-B engine. mr b's thought was that the EC-A was a 49 states car and and EC-B was a californian car for emissions.

mr b's view was rational and reasoned. 73 EA engines are 49 states. 73 EB engines are california. 75 engines are documented in factory literature as EC-a (49 states) and EC-b (california). the logic should follow?

BUT

as per the mystery of the 914, the truth about 74 1.8s turns out stranger than fiction (or common sense?).

the material is not necessary to running a 1.8 or having fun with a 14. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

its for historical purposes and as information to 74 1.8 owners to assist with restoration if they want it.

[wonkipop]

EC-A / EC-B THROTTLE BODY AND DISTRIBUTOR WITH VAC HOSE SET UP.



--------------------


EC-A

note. few if any EC-A set ups seem to have survived intact.
or if present on very original cars as found in well documented BAT sales photo galleries the images did not present clear views of the throttle body.

the cars were known to wear out throttle bodies so many could have been replaced with throttle bodies either from EC-Bs or other model VWs with similar dimensioned throttle bodies. it is also possible that EC-As were revised by owners to EC-B set ups (more on that later).

what is known is that the 49 state 1975 1.8 had a similar set up to the 1974 EC-A california car. it utilised only the vac retard side of the distributor. (refer factory workshop manual regarding distributors for 1975).

a photo of an intact 1975 1.8 is used here.
the 1974 EC-A 1.8 either used this throttle body or it utilized the 74 EC-B throttle body with the vacuum advance port capped by the factory with a seal.



1. Throttle body.

(75 EC-a 49 state car).




2. Distributor and vac hose set up.

74 EC-A california. from known EC-A cars documented with either an EC-A emission sticker visible or with a matching EC-A single hose tune-up sticker visible in documented images.








-----------------------



EC-B

images are of known original condition EC-B cars.
(StarBear car & wonkipop car).
all member EC-B cars matched.
all well documented recent sales with extensive image galleries had matching set ups.


1. Throttle body




early throttle body (StarBear car) nov 73






slightly later throttle body (wonkipop car) jan 74
part number stamping location altered.





2. Distributor and vac hose set up