Projects on my new, to me. 1974 914-6 Options

[jerhofer]

Covid-19 strikes again. About two months ago, Marty and I decided that we should have the heads ported to 46mm and have them done. To that end, we sent the heads to EBS. EBS uses a local machine shop that had a number of Covid-19 cases. Enough that they had to shut down to protect the rest of their employees. They were shut down for quite while and are now just getting back to work. They were already behind from an earlier state wide shutdown and are now further behind. Last week we were told it would be 4-6 weeks.

The good news is that Marty's school has been relatively Covid-19 free and they are attending classes. They are assembling as much of the motor as they can.

I have certainly learned patience with this car!!!

I did buy a one owner, 79K mile, 1989 944S2. As I have seen before with cars with long time ownership, some deteriorating items are not noticed as they deteriorate so slowly over time. I just finished installing new motor mounts and new struts and shocks. I also replaced the cam chain guides and the timing belt. And I have actually driven it!!!!

[jerhofer]

There wasn't room to open the ports to 46MM. The max would have been 43mm. It would have cost about $1500 to open up the ports. Since I am not building a race motor, I asked Jon at EBS whether the gain in HP would be worth the additional cost. He didn't think it would, so we are leaving the ports at 40mm. We finally got the heads back the first part of January.

So Marty was all set to proceed. And then things turned around in a hurry. Marty's wife had a bout with cancer about five years ago. She was due for her annual checkup back in November but, due to COVID, that checkup did not happen. She was feeling poorly the first part of January with back issues. They saw a doctor who thought she had a slipped disc and was medicating for that. But her health deteriorated to a point that Marty took her to the emergency room last month. The cancer had come back and her kidneys were shutting down. Three days later she passed. As you can imagine, the last thing on Marty's mind is building a motor. And that is the last thing I am concerned about as well. I feel so sorry for Marty. He was devastated.

Better news is that my son has taken a new job. He has worked for Toyota Racing Development for the past 10 years with his latest promotion was to head of vehicle dynamics. About a year ago, he was approached by a head hunter. Great Wall Motors, located in Baoding, China, primarily builds SUV's and trucks. They want to get into racing and were looking for someone to build a racing program from scratch. Matt was their choice and, had it not been for COVID, he might have moved to China last spring. They are paying him big bucks and furnishing him with an apartment.

As it was, he flew out of Charlotte to LA on January 24th where he had to pass a COVID test before flying to a port city in China. He then was quarantined for 14 days in a government owned hotel. After he flew from that city to Baoding, he had to quarantine for another 21 days in another government owned hotel!!! They are super serious about COVID in China!

Last week was his first week of work!! He is very excited about the opportunity to build a race program from scratch. Long days as they go in at 8:30 and leave around 8:30 in the evening. However, they do have nap time in the afternoon. There are mats spread out and everyone lies down. He said it reminded him of kindergarten but it is refreshing. He says the people are super nice and very polite. So far, so good.

We visited with him just before he left and the told me that I was not to sell the 914 until I gave him a chance to buy it. He has always loved 914's and wants to own the car. His contract is for three years with renewal options, so it will be awhile before he is back. So no pressure to finish the car.

[Cairo94507]

Very sorry to hear about Marty's wife, may she rest in peace and hopefully he will take comfort that she is not suffering. Horrible way to go.

Great news re your son and his new job in China. Sounds like a dream job. He will hopefully be home before you know it- 3 years can fly. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[jerhofer]

My good friend Dave and I both turned 75 abut three weeks apart this spring. One of Dave's two sons bought four tickets to the vintage races at Road America and rented a four bedroom house. They asked me to be the fourth person. As you can imagine, I said yes to that proposition. That all happened this past weekend and we had a great time. We also bumped into our old friend Ben whom we had not seen for some time.

After accepting, I called Marty to let him know I would be in Indiana and wondered how he was coming on the motor and if I could be of assistance while I am there. He said he was close on the motor and that I should bring work clothes.

This morning we picked up the car from my friend Harry's building and took it to the Elkhart Career Center. I hooked up the alternator and installed the other shroud wiring. Marty then did the cam timing. We are meeting tomorrow morning to button up the motor and may put it in the car if all goes well. Progress!!

[jerhofer]

We have the engine all buttoned up. We were about to remove it from the engine stand when we noticed the pilot bearing was missing from the flywheel. It must have been knocked out when the flywheel was removed at John's shop. I needed to get back to NC. Marty is ordering one. His students will be there in a couple weeks and he will have them help him with the grunt work of attaching the tranny and installing everything in the car.

My wife's mother passed last December and, because of Covid, we did not have a service. Sharon's sister has organized a memorial on Labor Day weekend. We will be traveling to Indiana in the motorhome so I will be able to check everything out then. Hopefully, it will be running. But, if the past three years have taught me anything, it is to not assume!!

These are some photos taken when the motor was apart by Marty.

[Root_Werks]

Since I've been absent since before this thread started, read through the whole thing. Wow! What a story!

Looks like a happy ending is in sight. Keep at it, so close!

[Cairo94507]

Man, I am so looking forward to seeing this car on the road and you with a huge smile on your face. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[jerhofer]

As an aside, Marty has built one other motor for me. Way back in 1989, I bought a 1983 944 with the intent to make it a track car. It had 89,000 miles. After prepping the suspension and doing other things to make it track ready, my wife and I drove it that first year. At Blackhawk in Rockford, IL, one of the turns had a high curb on the outside. I got a little wide and straddled that curb. That resulted in wearing off some of the fins on the oil pan.

That winter I decided to replace the oil pan. However, the only way to get it off was to take out the motor. Marty helped me do that in my garage in MIddlebury, In. Since I did not have any records or much history on the car, once we pulled the pan, we did check out the bottom end. At this point, the while we have it out syndrome, hit. We decided to pull the head to check out the head gasket. One thing led to another and ultimately we decided to rebuild the motor.

I did the grunt work of removing the accessories and cleaning everything. It remained stock but Marty did make sure everything was exactly on spec during assembly and I did have the crank balanced and magna-fluxed. The result was a smooth, strong running 944. In fact it was strong enough to have someone question that it was stock.

In 1991, my friend Phil, who had a 928, and I decided to club race. This was the first year of club racing. The second club race was held at Summit Point. Neither of us had ever been there but we were game to race. I drove there pulling my 5x7 trailer with track tires, tools, fuel, lawn chairs, etc.

Come qualifying time, I was on the pole by 1.5 seconds for the class that the 944 ran in. As it was my first time racing, I predictably screwed up the start and finished third.

The next race was at Pocono. I had never been there either and would not go back as I did not like the course. However, i did again qualify on the pole for my class by 1.5 seconds. After qualifying, a fellow racer from Vermont, who was racing a 1987 or 1988 924S, approached where we were pitted and proceeded to accuse me of having a cheater motor. My wife was incensed at this accusation.

I asked him what made him think that I had a cheater motor. He replied that at both Summit Point and Pocono I was pulling him on the straight. So I asked him what, besides horsepower, determines the speed at the end of a straight. He answered correctly that it would be entry speed onto the straight. My reply to him was that, during practice when I was following him, I had to lift at both of those entry corners as he was going through them much slower than I was. So, I replied, before you accuse someone of having a cheater motor, you might want to learn how to drive your car better. (There might have been a four letter word in that reply!!)

While my wife never raced, she and I drove that car for five years at six or seven events per year. She was usually only a couple seconds slower than me so the car had a lot of fairly intense track time. When we were finished with it, my son drove the car for another four years. Due to time and money constraints (has had just graduated from college), he only did a couple track events but he drove it much harder on the street that I did. Neither of us ever had the first issue with that motor.

So I feel very confident that this will be a strong and durable motor in the 914.

[jerhofer]

https://jerryforthofer.files.wordpress.com/...ith-trailer.jpg

[jerhofer]

Progress!!

I got this message from Marty this afternoon. Today was the first day on the dyno.


"The preliminary pulls so far are 252- 255 RWHP"

I am feeling good about those figures. Should be sufficient in a 2200 lb. car. He says if you jump on it in second gear, it will break the tires loose. He says it is quick!!

It's been a slow process this fall getting to this point. Marty was having a starting issue. The computer showed a crank fire fault. While Marty could not see anything physically wrong, he speculated that when the engine was pulled at John's shop, they may have forgotten to unhook the crank sensor. That could have damaged it internally. I called Richard Clewett to order one and discovered that this is another part affected by the general shortage of parts. He sent one as soon as he received one. This time it is a Hall Sensor so it had to be wired to a 12V ignition source as well as to the computer.

Since Marty is a teacher, teacher stuff also entered the equation. Like a week off for the kids, parent teacher conferences, etc. While the progress has been slow, I trust Marty and feel everything will be done correctly. They have a dyno at the career center, which is handy!! The guy who runs the dyno owed Marty a favor, which is why the car has been placed on it.

Marty has promised to take a video of a dyno run. I will share that when I have it.

[mb911]

Great to hear progress has been made. What a journey..

[jerhofer]

Earlier in this thread, I mentioned that my son had taken a job in China to start a racing program from scratch. He had been there about fourteen months when he decided he did not feel comfortable being in China due to the current world situation. TRD, his previous employer, had been wooing him to come back, and that is what he decided to do. He had some issues getting out of China due to Covid lockdowns, but, with the help of one his Chinese employee, was able to make a run for it to a smaller airport where he could fly to Singapore and then home. He got back late last week.

Marty had been having starting issues with the 914, to the point that it would not start al all. Once I knew Matt was home, I arranged to have the car shipped to Matt's house, as he is buying the car. The transporter picked it up on this past Monday, it arrived at Matt's house on Tuesday and yesterday he sent me this video.


https://discord.com/channels/@me/6703677223...403439910092890

As you can see, he got it running in a couple days.

Bad fuel was the main issue. He used his fuel injector tester to make sure all of he injectors were working properly. While doing that, he did not notice a strong fuel odor. I had only put about four or five gallons in it prior to taking it to Indiana. So that fuel was old and probably accumulated some water as well. Marty did add fuel to it but probably not enough to dilute the bad fuel. He also found one cylinder was cold. It was getting spark. He pulled the injector plug off and the idle did not change a bit. He put it back on and wiggled it and the revs increased. He pulled on the yellow wire and it came right out of the injector. He replaced the plug and it is now running on all six cylinders. Now he can begin tuning it.

Matt has always loved 914's so this is his dream car. Unlike me, he keeps his cars for very long times!

We are currently in Bryce Canyon, UT at the national park in our motorhome. We left on April 12th and will be home at the end of this month. I may actually get to drive it then!!

[jerhofer]

That video link may not work unless you log in to Discord. This Youtube link should work.

https://youtube.com/shorts/Rzov319xQws?feature=share

[Cairo94507]

Sounds so sweet. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[jerhofer]

Matt went over to our house today to pick up some 914 parts. I had the targa bar trim refinished but it won't go on until we are finished working in the engine bay. I also had a carburetor synchrometer that Matt is going to use to check that the throttle bodies are all the same. I had some custom heat shields made for the exhaust. He picked those up as well.

So progress is being made!!

[Maltese Falcon]

That video link may not work unless you log in to Discord. This Youtube link should work.

https://youtube.com/shorts/Rzov319xQws?feature=share

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif) Loving that flat six sound (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif)
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/marty914.jpg)

[jerhofer]

Matt, with the help of son Garrett (who just graduated with his bachelor's in computer science), have been fine tuning the car. When I installed the jWest shifter and rods (three years ago, believe it or not), I was having a problem engaging all the gears. I could adjust it to get third but not fifth or I could get fifth but not third. John Forbes worked on this as well but he also had the same issues. So he yanked the jWest gear out and installed a stock shifter...and still had the same problem!! Upon further investigation, he discovered that I had used too long a seat belt bolt on the inner belt for the passenger seat. The shift rod was hitting the bolt, thus impeding the throw. The jWest shifter never made it back into the car at that time.

Fast forward to the past week when Matt has finally been able to drive the car. The shifter was beyond terrible. Matt discovered a defective bushing. When that helped but was still not what he was looking for, he went over to my house and picked up the jWest shifter assembly. After receiving one bushing that had gone missing, he got the shifter installed...and was still having the third/fifth gear issues. He solved it be taking some metal of the bottom of the shifter so he would have more throw. Now it is staying engaged in all gears and is shifting about as well as a 914 can shift!!





Now that he had the shifter working, Matt could get on with the process of tuning the motor with the computer. To that end, he and Garrett took drives with Matt running the engine in various RPM ranges while Garrett monitored the computer. Matt sent me this video. I apologize for the wind noise but you will get the idea.


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sriFx7jmTT...iew?usp=sharing

I will be home at the end of next week. Can't wait to drive it.

[jerhofer]

Matt said the engine was getting some blow by so he installed a puke tank.

[Root_Werks]

Sounds great! Love the sound of carbs.

[Dion]

Nice to hear that engine scream. Quick.