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]

great stuff @StarBear

looks like you guys had a good get together judging by the photos up in the thread about the gathering. am envious.
you car looked great in the photos steve.
where you responsible for the special beers?
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handy to have that K number.

so that ones a monday week 46 car (12 Nov) and definitely frunk.

the derelict one with an engine bay can in the backyard unfortunately did not have a K number. it was vin --08765. thats 512 cars after the monday car you have posted.
the monday car looks like it was 68th car for day and they were building approx 100 per day at that point so.......maths says the derelict car might have been a friday 16 Nov or Monday 19 Nov car as previous guess.

but just to throw things out.
there is the blue car which shows evidence of being a frunk car on the basis of the fuel tank. and its a later vin. ---09096. but no K #.
and member ferg's car. later vin ---09104. but no K#.
using other cars with nearby vins and known k#s these two might have been Tuesday Nov 20 cars but they could just as easily be earlier commencement build cars with later completion dates when they got their Vins.

so we got some overlap still.

i suspect you can't go off Vin #s for this change, but have to use K# to get the day and date.

what is interesting is the red car you have posted up has a K# 4619568 which is day before R. Rietman's car K#4629552, (RR's maybe 100 cars at most later = a days production?) but the red car is Vin ---08253, which is 537 after R. Rietman's car V# ---07716. !!! we can see how much the K numbers (commencement of build) are out of synch with the vin numbers (completion of build). the red car is a great bit of information for showing the degree of that out of synch-ness
so you would definitely expect there could well be what looks like a smudge or overlap if you went off Vin numbers.

you could pinpoint a date for sure with K#s.

pity there was no K# with that derelict car. or those two later frunk can cars that come after the derelict car.

its still all pointing toward the end of week 46/start of week 47. 16/19 Nov 73.
but can't get much closer than that still.

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