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]

@wonkipop how many US spec ‘74 1.8s do you think we’re made? Ball park

[wonkipop]

@wonkipop how many US spec ‘74 1.8s do you think we’re made? Ball park

ok i could get close with 74 but not exact using annual production figures from this website. it surprised me. fewer than i thought.

i could get an exact number for 75*.

reason i can't get an exact number for 74 is the production totals given here on the website are including euro spec 1.8s and no matter what cannot determine how many of those there were.

here is the breakdown for the 1.8.

74MY (made 73CY) = 3903

74MY + 75MY (made 74CY) = 11415

75MY (made 75CY) = 2455.

--------
can work out total 75 MY cars as 1.8 engines were only in 914s*.
number of EC 1.8 75 engines = EC0 037552 ---> EC0 045072 = 7520 cars.
number of AN 1.8 75 engines = AN0 008798 ---> AN0 008899 = 101 cars.*

total = 7621 cars.

7621 (TOTAL) - 2455 (75CY) = 5166 75 MY 1.8 made in CY74.
---------
for 1974.
11415 (TOTAL) - 5166 (75MY) = 6249 (74MY) made in CY74

total 74 MY = 6249 + 3903 = 10452 1974MY 1.8 in total.

don't have a way to break down between EC engines and AN engines in 74.
a total of 37551 EC engines were made for 74 MY and the bulk went into USA VW 412s.
a total of 8797 AN engines were made for 74MY and again the bulk went into euro VW 412s.

but what you can say is there were less than 10,452 74 1.8 L jets made.
probably around the 10,000 mark.

its only about 2/3 of my over optimistic guestimate.

of that how many survive reasonably intact today.
i'd say well less than half.

the VIN numbers for 74MY run up into about the 21,000 number looking at the members VIN list here.

its roughly 50% 2.0 and 50% 1.8 numbers for the 74 MY.
unless my maths is wrong.

i do think the bulk of 1.8s went to the USA.
you can see the hint in the 1975 production numbers for euro 1.8s.
they barely make any and its probably a similar story for 1974.
the europeans by and large bought the 2.0 L cars.
so USA numbers on 2.0 L to 1.8s is probably a 1/3 to 2/3 split.



*footnote.
there is a question mark around that.
i wont go into it.
but VW legend is there was a odd batch of 412s produced in 1975.
disconnected from the production run after the car was terminated.
but its shrouded in fog.
i can recall the stories from the 1980s.
a 411/412 VW enthusiast from new zealand had the info.
that might throw numbers out on AN engines.
we are only talking 100 cars at most.
who knows?