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]

@Van B + @StarBear

speaking of walking up to the car and never feeling tired of it.

something out of the blue just happened which is worthy of report.
its been unbelievably cold here.
record low temps. other side of global warming???!!
last night dropped down to well below freezing (under 0 deg C).
never happens.
been cold and clear all day. my garage is as cold as a tomb.

i decided to take the 914 out for an errand - didn't get to run it on the weekend.

started it up and.........
it went to fast idle. around about 1400 rpm.
it stayed that way for about 3-4 minutes and settled down to 1000-950.

had a pleasant drive. roof off. heater on. clear blue skies and rugged up.

WTF

all i can think is the super cold weather must have somehow opened up the AAV or caused it to contract past a position it must be stuck in due to perhaps always having been sitting in one position for 16+ years and maybe there is a bit of surface corrosion it sticks on.
i did pull it out and clean it properly when i recommissioned 2 years ago but it didn't seem to do much except close when you warmed it up with current.
but this is something else - its never done it before since recommissioning.
a perfect warm up. it had to have opened up to a much larger orifice that it normally is resting at?

the more i think about it, this is what it used to do. hard to remember clearly, but i do think it was more or less just as it did today.

----guess all it took was for it to think it was back in maryland or chicago in the middle of winter and it came back from the dead. no doubt when its warmer it will go back to its old aussie habits and stop thinking its an american.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif) but (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)