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.

[Van B]

I wonder what it sold for? And do you know if the owner is a forum member?
For sure the underside of that car shows the benefit of the zeibart coating applied by the first owner of my car. I would say we’re it not for a low budget mechanic and painter, my car would rival the condition of that one.

Only a hunch, but I suspect you’re right that the 1.8 was meant to hit a price point in the US market. While we were entering the malaise era of cars in the US around this time, they were still making far more power than even the 2.0.

[wonkipop]

I would say we’re it not for a low budget mechanic and painter, my car would rival the condition of that one.

you got yourself a good car then if its up to that one.
an awful lot of 1.8s bit the dust along the way.
back in the late 80s when i was buying mine not a lot of folks were interested in them.
generally seen as troublesome injection/lowly model. lowest on lists of most desirable.
i figured it out doing my shopping in chicago. they all seemed to have anti roll bars and they all seemed to be in some kind of version of appearance group spec.

yellow one looked very very clean.
perhaps a little surface corrosion on the underside.
not sure when it was sold. possibly pre recent hikes in value.
someone probably got thenselves a real bargain.
fortunately at this point in time it will continue to be preserved?
rather than hopped up to a 2 or converted into a six.

mine is dealer undercoated.
that can be a good thing and a bad thing.
in my case it has been a good thing.
it only did 2 winters i was told by original owner.
the undercoating did its job and nothing got in behind it.


nice thing about yellow car - confirms there was a colored hose on the decel valve.
red brown color.
hoses i pulled off mine 2 years ago and renewed had the same brown red hose.

a red hose and a green vac retard line from the dist to t/b.
rest were grey/black color.
i have retained the green hose on the dist.





hoses i pulled off my car.