Phase II of my Restoration of my '76 914, 2nd part of my restoration work first started in late 2017 Options

[Gatornapper]

My son who can bench press 400 lbs. and cycle 100 miles in mountains got it off.

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GN

[Gatornapper]

NTM brown door vinyl transferred to new door cards from 914rubber - looking nice....lighting in pic makes them look a different color - they are same.

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Brown seats all ready to go in as well. Waiting on carpet & transferring brown vinyl to rear mouldboard that goes behind seats which needs some minor patching.

I think the brown interior and Malaga Red will make each other pop.

Or did I already say that?

GN

[Gatornapper]

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HALLELUJAH! After engine going bad in November of 2021, dropping engine on August 4 of 2022, getting engine back in the car on October 11, 2023, my sweeet Ruby 914 got back on the road YESTERDAY RUNNING AND SHIFTING LIKE A DREAM about 4 pm EST!

Rick & I were just too excited to drive the car to take time for pics or videos - maybe tomorrow. Rick has an almost Concours '72 914 with rebuilt 2.0 and he admitted he was a bit jealous both of how the engine idled, ran and shifted. He's now planning a tranny rebuild after helping me do mine. Will be downhill for him.

I could not be more pleased. New paint, new interior (part-way), new engine, new carbs, new 123Dizzy, new tranny........what more could a 914 lover ask for? Essentially - I HAVE A NEW CAR!

Rick B. & I each drove the car for almost 10 miles each carefully breaking in new top-end. Just need to tweak the idle adjustment screws when the engine's good and hot to get the idle speed down. Surprised at great throttle response, power & smoothness when carefully not reving or loading the engine - speaks for great things to come once engine is broken in.

As aways, many thanks to all here who have helped me along the way.

GN

PS: Yes, I was very busy from Nov. '21 with 924 Turbo restoration, getting & driving my 944 S and 5-speed '81 928, and building a 2-car garage. Why the 914 did not have top priority - and at my age it was wonderful being able to take my time.

[Gatornapper]

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Well, all was well for about 20+ miles of twisty road driving & shifting under "break-in" restraints ........when quite suddenly......

4th & 5th gear DISAPPEARED COMPLETELY! Like going into neutral. Zip. Zero. Nada in both.

Nursed her home in 3rd keeping RPM low.

No noise. Checked linkage - new bronze/brass bushings & tighter than ever. No problem there - shift lever going exactly where it should.

Only think it can be is that I forgot to tighten the bolt on the 4/5 fork shaft leaving the shaft to slide without moving fork.

So have to pull the tranny and go inside it before I can continue the joy of driving my new 914. At least the engine is running perfectly.

A warning: Beware of tackling complex projects when you are in your late '70's, regardless of how much experience you have! We forget & miss things! But at least I'm still wrenching........

Wondering how many have dropped their tranny without dropping the engine? Mike Lesniak (Dr. Evil) does it most of the time & think I have the proceedure pretty well planned with my lift. Special designed support for rear of engine and special cradle for tranny to fit on top of my motorcycle lift table.....will take pics once they are built.

GN

PS: What totally does not make sense is that tranny shifted perfectly in all gears for about 1/2 hour's driving with almost non-stop shifting. Was not a gradual loss, but sudden. If 4/5 fork bolt was loose - how did it do so many shifts flawlessly? Then go suddenly instead of gradually? Seems it first would have failed to engage gears totally, then get worse. Anyone have any ideas?

[dax1969]

Wondering how many have dropped their tranny without dropping the engine? Mike Lesniak (Dr. Evil) does it most of the time & think I have the proceedure pretty well planned with my lift. Special designed support for rear of engine and special cradle for tranny to fit on top of my motorcycle lift table.....will take pics once they are built.

Sad to hear this, hope you have no further internal damage.

I removed tranmission last year without dropping the engine to replace the seal (and installed new clutch etc). I also used a motorcycle jack and a few blocks. Went in and out pretty easy

good luck

krgds
Dax

[Gatornapper]

Dax -

Thanks for the encouragement - glad to hear it is easy. It does look so simple. 3 bolts on engine after I remove starter, 2 on tail of tranny. SO GLAD I don't have to drop engine - it is doing so well right where it is.

I do have the motorcycle lift you showed, but I have always used my HF lift table to drop the engine and will do same with the tranny.

Still love to hear from anyone who has an idea of what happened. Can't see that it is anything except the locking bolt on the 4/5 fork that holds the fork tightly to the 4/5 slider rod.

Good news is there are no noises coming from the tranny. We put the car on the lift yesterday and while I watched & listened, Rick (Richb45) was in the car, engine running, putting it through all gears.

One strange thing: when he was in 4 or 5, the wheels spun....but not at 4/5 increased RPM. Very slowly, more like 1st gear. But clearly engine and tranny were not connected.

GN

Wondering how many have dropped their tranny without dropping the engine? Mike Lesniak (Dr. Evil) does it most of the time & think I have the proceedure pretty well planned with my lift. Special designed support for rear of engine and special cradle for tranny to fit on top of my motorcycle lift table.....will take pics once they are built.

Sad to hear this, hope you have no further internal damage.

I removed tranmission last year without dropping the engine to replace the seal (and installed new clutch etc). I also used a motorcycle jack and a few blocks. Went in and out pretty easy

good luck

krgds
Dax

[Cairo94507]

@Gatornapper - I hope you get this addressed and it is exactly what you believe. But the great news is your engine is running great. You are my hero and I pray I am still playing with my Six when I get a few more years on me. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[Gatornapper]

Thanks bro!

The best news is how the engine is purring, & starting like new.

Today in low 50's here, rain, but dry in garage.

Even w/o chokes or enricheners, engine starts on 1st rev, & even cold it purrs in 1 minute! How do it do that? Yes - the engine and how it's running is a joy right now.

Tranny issue cannot be major - just fairly simple unbolting/re-bolting things. More time you do it, less time it takes the next time!

And I love fixing things that are broke. Not as much when I broke them, but still IT FEELS SO GOOD WHEN YOU FIX SOMETHING THAT WAS BROKEN! There is more joy in something working - no matter how simple it is - after you fixed it than there ever was before it was broken!

Words of a 78 year old Wrench Philosopher!

Not unlike finding something that was lost. Not appreciated until it is lost. Then, when found, it is of far more value!

Even came up with new way to support rear of engine prior to removing tranny I think that may be a real find for others if it works. We'll see.

GN

@Gatornapper - I hope you get this addressed and it is exactly what you believe. But the great news is your engine is running great. You are my hero and I pray I am still playing with my Six when I get a few more years on me. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[Gatornapper]

Nothing wrong with linkage - new brass/bronze bushings in several places, really tight:

1st:
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2nd:
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3rd:
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4th:
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5th:
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GN

[Dlee6205]

I'm not saying its necessarily related to your problem but I believe that bronze side shift console bushing is facing the wrong direction.

[Gatornapper]

Doug -

AH! Thank you! Circlip goes on outside of box?

Pulling the rod as I am dropping tranny so easy to correct now.

Thank you.

Don't think it has caused a problem tho. Seems like the extended brass is equal on both sides of the box.......

GN

I'm not saying its necessarily related to your problem but I believe that bronze side shift console bushing is facing the wrong direction.

[Gatornapper]

My Bad! I see it here and can't wait to correct it!

I can see how that would hinder full engagement in 1st, 3rd & 5th......

I'll correct that tomorrow and see if it effects anything. Don't see how it would affect 4th tho......

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GN

[quote name='Gatornapper' date='Jan 9 2024, 08:42 PM' post='3122770']
Doug -

AH! Thank you! Circlip goes on outside of box?

Pulling the rod as I am dropping tranny so easy to correct now.

Thank you.

Don't think it has caused a problem tho. Seems like the extended brass is equal on both sides of the box.......

GN

[worn]

Good luck! You have been inspiring. I hope my ‘76 will follow soon. Now, where to strap in the alligator? My mother was an artist. She took hundreds of photos from Life magazine to make collages on my bedroom wall. One of these showed an alligator safely strapped in to the back seat. I miss her, but hope you have a gator approved ride.

[Gatornapper]

Thanks Worn!

Haven't messed with alligators since 1965. Once was enough. We were both lucky we were not hurt as we were not sober - especially my buddy Chris - he could barely walk. Sadly I'm the sole surviving Gator Napper as Chris fell asleep at the wheel when in his 20's. And thankfully all the court records of our conviction seem to have disappeared.

In 1970 in Naples, FL where I used to live I was sitting on a dock in inland waters with my feet dangling in the water. Nearly too late I spotted a medium sized gator - just 2 eyes and a snout above water - about 10' away from me making a beeline for my feet! Jumped up on dock not a second too late!

Later in 90's my nephew took me out for an Everglades tour in his 472" Cadillac engine-powered airboat & showed us many huge gators sunning along the waterways. We actually spent the night on a tiny island in a tiny cabin where the gators were also at home. I was amazed how he knew every inch of the Everglades when it all looked the same to me. He took us to the remains of several airplane crashes too.

Good luck on your '76. Some say it was the best 914 ever.

GN

Good luck! You have been inspiring. I hope my ‘76 will follow soon. Now, where to strap in the alligator? My mother was an artist. She took hundreds of photos from Life magazine to make collages on my bedroom wall. One of these showed an alligator safely strapped in to the back seat. I miss her, but hope you have a gator approved ride.

[Gatornapper]

Bushing corrected. Made no difference in 4/5.

When I shifted gears manually with my hand on the shift lever in the tranny box, I did feel resistance in 4 & 5 like the fork sliding on its rod rather than moving the rod. So I think it is a loose bolt on the 4/5 fork.

GN

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[Gatornapper]

DROPPING TRANNY WITHOUT DROPPING ENGINE

As I said before, I was ecstatic when Mike Lesniak told me 9 out of 10 times he does not drop the engine to drop the tranny. I am blessed to also have a nice lift to make the work easy.

Knowing it could be done, I then set about to plan a safe way to support the rear of the engine, then support the tranny in a way that it could be unbolted and simply slid backwards a few inches to get it off the engine studs and the rear brackets.

I mentally devised a number of ways to support the front of the engine safely, and then was hit to try something imaginative.

I wondered if one of my 20' tow straps would go over the front edge of the trunk and be long enough to support a 2x4 beneath the engine? Instead of supporting the engine from below, I would try to support it from above.

First I was going to use a piece of 1 1/2" rigid conduit, then a piece of steel. But the weight on the front of engine is less than half the 276 lbs. of the engine weight as most is on the front support. I realized that a simple 2/4 would be strong enough.

I was shocked when I tried it. It truly looked like the strap had been specifically designed for this purpose! I padded the top of the trunk generously to make sure I didn't damage my new paint. That would be a disaster!

I tested the setup and it seemed perfect. Strongly believing in redundancy, I hung a heavy chain between the swingarms to catch the engine if my 2x4 rigging failed.

Here is what it all looked like - Note how the length of the strap was perfect for the job:

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In the last pic, you'll see the blocking that I had on top of a box on top of my Harbor Freight motorcycle lift table.

I lowered the car to the correct height to where if I jacked up the lift table, it would support the tranny perfectly.

We then jacked up the table & blocks putting the tranny weight on them, then unbolted the tranny. With its weight on the blocks, and the lift table having wheels, we simply rolled the table backwards to pull the tranny away from the engine.

When all was clear, we raised the car out of the way, then lowered the tranny to where it was the perfect height to lift off the blocks and set on the floor vertically to begin disassembly.

Hope some others can use this approach in the future.

GN

[Gatornapper]

Tranny out last night, pulled apart this AM. Bolt on 4/5 fork is tight.

Bummer. Now no idea what the problem is and why 4 & 5 disappeared! All looks pristine in tranny gears.

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In 4th gear:

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In 5th gear:

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Perhaps fork is a tiny bit off center between 4th & 5th???

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Any advice from the Brain Trust is appreciated.

Again, strange thing is all gears shifted perfectly for 1/2 hour of non-stop shifting on twisty back roads. Then suddenly with no noise 4th & 5th gears disappeared. Like being in neutral. Shift position and feel up front felt normal.

GN

[Gatornapper]

90% sure I've found the problem.

Angle off a bit between the 4/5 shift fork and the 91430316100 Contact arm - just enough to place the arm end that is moved by the Shift Finger beyond its reach.

Mlindner is loaning me the Jig that holds the gears and slider rods in place for rebuild so I can accurately re-position the Contact arm - thank you Mark.

Good news is I can re-assemble the tranny and test it for correct shifting before putting it back in the car. Waiting for new gaskets from AA.

Very encouraging. I'm a happy 914'er even tho she's still on my lift.

GN

PS: I will make a template of the Jig before I send it back to Mark, then make my own Jig - probably out of 3/4" solid plastic that I have. Something every 914 mechanic must have. IMHO.

[Gatornapper]

HALLELUJAH! TODAY WAS THE DAY!

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"RUBY 914", aka "Ruby" got back on the road today for many problem-free miles in the twisties working the gears and varying the RPM to break in the engine, and she is running like a new engine and shifting like a new tranny!

Rick B. joined me in the drive today and enjoyed it as much as I did! I drove out, he drove back. Soon our red & yellow 914's will be hitting the road together!

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Now it's on to finishing a lot of details like putting the brown interior in complete and getting new brown carpet.

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Pics will come when the interior is finished, but no hurry on that - I'm taking my time.

New paint in much-preferred & desirable Malaga Red - new engine - new carbs - new 123ignition Dizzy - new tranny - new bronze shift-linkage - new interior.........

'Bout as happy as a 914 owner can be......

GN

[dstudeba]

Looks great! Congrats on getting back on the road.