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.

[Racer]

What a rather well documented thread.

Question.. what engine code was given the Euro 1.8 Carbed engine? EC-A or EC-B? or were those motor pulled out of what ever production line there was and simply had carbs slapped on the top vs FI ? What kind of emmissions, if any, did Europe require for the carbed 1.8's?

[wonkipop]

What a rather well documented thread.

Question.. what engine code was given the Euro 1.8 Carbed engine? EC-A or EC-B? or were those motor pulled out of what ever production line there was and simply had carbs slapped on the top vs FI ? What kind of emmissions, if any, did Europe require for the carbed 1.8's?

different internals. higher compression pistons to run on higher octane leaded fuel.
internationally only the USA introduced unleaded fuel during the early 70s.
early unleaded fuel had lower octane levels than leaded.
lower compression ratios for the USA.

europe still had higher octane leaded fuel = compression ratio could be 8.6:1.
higher horsepower than USA EC engines - 85hp v 76 hp.

different crankcase vent system to USA 1.8s - appears to use a filler cap set up similar to earlier D Jet EFI. no charcoal can vapor emission as far as i can work out.
may have had different camshaft but don't know for sure.
in terms of emissions all they would have had was a crankcase vapor system that fed fumes into the aircleaner.

engine serial numbers begin with AN0 - engine code is AN.
unsure if it had a hyphen and letter to signify it was a sub type of AN.

paint stamp number on engine tin is different to USA EC engines.

carbies were used on euro 1.8s to keep cost of car down and to simplify servicing?
if it had been produced with EFI suspect it might have made even more horsepower than 85hp it had with carbs. the carbs were not anything special. usual VW solex carbs.