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]

@StarBear
production looks to go like this for 74MY cars.

commenced week 33 (aug 13 1973).

from week 33 to week 43 - exclusively 2.0L cars (at least for USA market).
(aug 73 to very late oct 73). it is possible that euro market 1,.8s were made in this period.

from end of week 43 - to at minimum week 04/05 74 (end of jan.start of feb 74) production is purely 1.8s.

after that production of 1.8s and 2.0s is more mixed in batches that are smaller in duration until end of model year.

refer members vin register here and other information affirming 1.8 production does not start until beginning of nov 73.

ideally the timing of the cannister would have been to match it to changing over to 1.8 production? but stocks of earlier panel pressings did not exactly co-incide?

nevertheless there will be two distinct batches of 74MY 2.0 L cars.
those made in 73 will have the can in the frunk.
those in 74 will have the can in the engine bay.
mr. b will know that stuff for sure.

and the 1.8s nearly all have the can in the engine bay and were intended to be so.
they are in between those two batches of 2.0 L cars.
the first 3-4 weeks of 1.8s have it in the frunk to use up the stocks of body panel pressings.
they would have been very keen to get those 1.8s rolling down the line as soon as the engines became available as these were the mass market car they shifted in the greatest numbers.


an interesting further check on this would be the 74 1.8 euro spec held in the porsche museum.need a vin # and a production date. see if it predates 1.8 USA spec cars and if so does it have a can in the frunk/or engine bay conforming to above dates switchover.
(though i do not think euro cars ever had evap system in those years?).
i know that japan cars had it and i know that because the australian design regulations required evap from 74 on (same as japan) that cut off private importation of 914s into australia. the last to come in via the uk were 73 models.