'73 2.0, a yellow storage unit find Options

[Jason74914]

Welcome to 914 World!
I always love the "it ran great when I stored it" comment.
Me: "well then why did you store it?" Ha!
Keep us posted.

[Minerva's 914]

Fantastic find! I read thru your original post and your moving from the silver ghost to your "ran when parked" barn (storage bin) find and I must say it's tempting me to keep looking for that next fix. As I read your advancement it reminds me of all the trials and tribulations from my own 7 year reclaim on my wife's '73 2.0L (original owner BTW) with the short story thread here Please keep us informed with LOTS of pictures (we love pictures)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/welcome.png)

[Olympic 914]

Other work continues. I've been reassembling all the bits that the prior owner took apart while the car was in storage, primarily lights at this point. I now have all rear lights other than the back-up lights, and all front except high beams and fogs. The high beams are a bit odd, the bulbs are good as they would flash briefly sometimes when I pulled the stalk, but now they don't even do that. More digging....

I had a similar issue with the lights, Fuses looked good but must not have been making a good contact. took them all out and polished up the fuses and fuse box connectors and everything works fine now.

Check the easy stuff first.

[arne]

Welcome to 914 World!
I always love the "it ran great when I stored it" comment.
Me: "well then why did you store it?" Ha!
Keep us posted.

Actually, there was no claim made on how well it ran, just that it did run. I found two manifold pressure sensors under the hood. The original was still bolted to the bracket, but not hooked up at all. Another one was laying loose but was all connected, as if it had been temporarily installed for testing. Best guess is that someone tracked a poor running problem to a possible manifold pressure sensor problem, and installed the new one to see if it fixed it.

I'm guessing not. I decided to mount the new one correctly and keep the original just in case. During the process, I found what was likely the true cause, the hose that connects the sensor to the intake plenum was rotted at the manifold end and obviously causing a huge vacuum leak. I corrected that, and then reviewed all the rest of the vacuum hoses as well. Still awaiting the new fuel lines and pump before I can try to start it.

[arne]

Pulled one of the wheels off today to see how it would respond to a bit of cleaning. Oh my!

I'm not a stranger to Fuchs, I've owned my 911 for more than 5 years, and even had its black centered Fuchs re-anodized so that I could paint them like the early wheels. So I know how durable these wheels can be.

But after just a bit of mild cleaning, I was floored. This 44 year old wheel looks fantastic, no stains, abrasions or even tire machine damage. The other three look like they should clean up the same, they have no scratches, scuffs or rash. What I thought might have been mild staining looks like it is just dirt. I'm impressed.

[JRust]

Congrats on the find Arne. I'll have to make a point to stop by & see it in person. Look like a great starting point. It's all about the rust but hopefully it's just surface stuff & not into the longitude. Be great to see you bring this back to life & restore it. I will be watching this thread closely (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[arne]

Congrats on the find Arne. I'll have to make a point to stop by & see it in person. Look like a great starting point. It's all about the rust but hopefully it's just surface stuff & not into the longitude. Be great to see you bring this back to life & restore it. I will be watching this thread closely (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Yes, it is all about rust, which is why I paid more for this yellow car than I would have paid for the silver one. There is some rust, but it appears to be manageable on this car.

I hope to have it drivable by the end of May. If you want to see it before that you'll need to come to my place. Which you are certainly welcome to do, just drop me a line.

[arne]

One of my local PCA buddies saw the post with the wheel picture and texted me saying it would look even better with a center cap. I told him, no worries, I've got that covered too. But since they are so easily damaged when removed, I don't plan to install them until the car is done.

[mepstein]

One of my local PCA buddies saw the post with the wheel picture and texted me saying it would look even better with a center cap. I told him, no worries, I've got that covered too. But since they are so easily damaged when removed, I don't plan to install them until the car is done.

Very hard to find nos. congrats.

[arne]

Very hard to find nos. congrats.

True. Since my goal is a clean driver, I don't really need NOS, a set of repros from Mark at 914rubber would have been fine. But since I found these in the trunk of thei car... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)

[Minerva's 914]

Very hard to find nos. congrats.

True. Since my goal is a clean driver, I don't really need NOS, a set of repros from Mark at 914rubber would have been fine. But since I found these in the trunk of thei car... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)

(Center cap envy) Trade ya and throw in $$$ (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[arne]

(Center cap envy) Trade ya and throw in $$$ (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Hmmm. I guess I might consider that, if someone made me a great offer. But I'll happily use them once the car is complete if not.

Cleaned up a second wheel this afternoon, same result as the first. Best parts of the car, so far.

[rgalla9146]

The lugs still have the green goop.
Great find.

[arne]

My wife and I went on a PCA drive in the 911 today, so no progress on the '14. The new fuel pump is here, but the fuel line kit from Tangerine isn't due to arrive until next Friday.

I've received several offers to buy my NOS center caps. I knew they were a nice find, but didn't know just how much in demand they were. I've decided I'm going to keep them for now, not make a decision to sell until farther along in the project. If the car turns out as nice as I think it might, I may go ahead and use them myself. So for now, not for sale.

[arne]

Attempted to drain the fuel tank today in preparation for the arrival of the new fuel lines later this week. Failed.

Disconnected the supply line from the old pump. Got nothing but a dribble. Reconnected to pump, disconnected the output line and ran the pump. Still only a trickle. Tried to blow back through the supply line with air to see if I could clear the line. Nope, the line actually holds pressure. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/WTF.gif)

Not sure where the blockage might be, but in the tank itself is a high possibility. I guess I'm going to need to hoist the tank out half full and see what I can do from there. Either that, or I need to go buy a siphon hose and suck it out from the filler.

[arne]

Spent a good part of the day yesterday with the car. I did siphon the tank from the top. Didn't get it completely empty, but close enough to get it light enough to lift out.

While disconnecting the lines below, the return line flowed freely - all down my arm, of course. The supply line, not so much. Which I expected given my failure to drain the tank using that line.

After getting the tank out and on its side, I pulled the supply nipple to replace the sock with the new one from Tangerine. Here is what I found (top one is new, obviously, bottom is the one out of the tank):



That explains a few things.

At this point, my exploration tends to lead me to believe the car was parked due to poor running, both clogged fuel supply and a big vacuum leak at the hose to the manifold pressure sensor. Hoping that addressing these two items will get the engine running decently once the fuel lines are completed.

Took out the driver's seat and both consoles so that I can see inside the tunnel, will attempt to pull and replace the tunnel lines either today or tomorrow.

[914_7T3]

Wow! Mystery Solved.

[rhodyguy]

Possibly the worst tank sock I've ever seen. How bad is the tank interior rust?

[arne]

How bad is the tank interior rust?

Amazingly clean. I don't understand why, but the inside is actually really nice. The old sock was not clogged with rust, but simply brown crud.

[ConeDodger]

Arne,
McMark and jcd914 and I discovered during a tuning of Jims (jcd914) Dwight Mitchell motor that you cannot let the MPS sit on top of the motor. Ran like crap until we put it in its proper place. Not sure if it was grounding or EMI, but it cleaned up after we put it where it belongs.