I know I haven’t posted shit in a long time (save a couple of YT picks, but things have been wall to wall for me for the past couple of months.  Still moving.  I find it harder and harder each day to make that trek into town.  Seems like everyone is so pissed off all the time.  You can see it in the way they drive.

So much has happened since my last serious post, I don’t know where to begin.  My old Chevy Silverado got totalled, got a replacement.  Got water and security, and am doing all kinds of things to get the new place in order.  Slowly replacing the screening on the porch (yes, I do love sitting on this one listening to the frogs and stuff).  Working on getting the road back in shape, which is a task in itself considering that it’s a solid half mile from the gate to the house.  Finishing and fitting my new workshop (I’m not even going to detail that escapade into spackling).  Moving my planes and tooling.  And more, so much so that I’m not going to try.

The 914 is not running again.  I think it’s the fuel pump, though I haven’t really gotten the chance to wrench on it to find out.  Hopefully I’ll get my garage in order so I can work on it in there, but that may be a while.

Kinsee really loves it here.  She has a ton of freedom, and I know it must seem confining when I take her back to Mom’s for the week.  She still hates car rides, and that is the biggest issue on the weekly sabatical.

So far this year I’ve killed two black racers and saw my first copperhead snake.  I know when Kinsee barks, and especially if she growles, there’s something bad in da hood.  She spotted the copperhead while it was feeding on a lizard right next to the stairs outside.  By the time I got google images to show me what one looks like, and loading rat shot in the .22, it had disappeared.  I always wear snake guards when I’m out in the yard, and I’m glad Kinsee has the sense to know bad shit when she sees it.  I do worry about her though.  And yes, I do pack the .22 when I’m out as well.  Only thing is, the rat shot doesn’t make it cycle and I have to rack it after each shot.  Last 5 are regular .22lr.

There’s more, but honestly, it’s all a blur.  If you had the chance to see the place before I started working on it and moving, you almost wouldn’t recognize it now.  And if you’re waiting on an invite, don’t.  Just call me so I can have the gate unlocked for ya.

A fun, but kind of creepy on-ramp to really get you foot into.  I was more testing the new HD camera and mount I scored at BestBuy today.  I still have not gotten a good weekend day to replace the half shaft seals, so I’m trying not to dog it too much.  I need a garage with some heat.

I also got the chance to install the bushing replacements for the rear sway bar.  The mount plates were a real hassle, but I got them swapped out with new ones.  The drop link busings took a little more effort.  I know the bars are aftermarket Weltmeister (sp?), and the bushing set I got was from the same company.  Unfortunately, The busings were tapered and were too big for the links.  I had to fabricate a mandrel and turn them down on the lathe.  It took some wrestling, but I got the drop liks done as well, and the rattle is no more.  I honestly cont remember the last time the 914 sounded this solid.

I have to mod my wipers though.  They rest to the left on the stock setup.  That’s not really a problem most days, but the right side wiper slings rain to the left when it returns home.  Maybe I’m just wired funny, but I find water going sideways when it normally doesn’t is kind of distracting.  There’s a mod article on Pellican that switches the home position over to the passenger side.  I’ll have to pull a bunch of stuff out of the tank compartment to get to the wiper assembly, but what the hell, right?

I know it’s been a while, and you guys may be wondering wtf is up.  To tell the truth, I’ve been having a blast driving this car.  A bunch has happened since I last posted.

Mad props to NoFuel for lending a hand and a driveway changing out the master brake cylinder and helping find the gremlin making the engine run rich.  Thanks bro.  I got the power bleeder in and bled the brakes last Saturday.  I just have to adjust the free play in the pedal to finish that system.  Woot!  The bronze pedal cluster busings are pure butter compared to what we pulled out.

I got the branch piece on the passenger side properly clamped up and now the heat will nearly burn you up.  I found the perfect material to secure the heat exchanger end where my clamp just wouldn’t fit right.  Copper roof flashing.  I didn’t make any measurments on the piece, but it extended about 3/16ths on the branch side, and ~1 1/2″ on the exchanger side, and as wide as I could conform to the U shaped clamp.  The flashing was easily flared on the branch side.  I used a flat head screw driver and a vise to stamp a locking ridge on the exchanger side.  At any rate, it clamped up great.  I still have to finish the drivers side, but it’s pretty solid as it is now.  The passenger side was loose on the exchanger side and was the cause of much squeaking.   No squeaks now.

Oh, I got a Hula girl just behind my left ear in the read window.  She never stops grooving, only when it’s parked.

I installed the fog light flasher module.  That is a definite must if your 914 can’t do this.  The hardest part was removing and reinstalling the fog light dash switch.  Other than that is was plug and play, srsly.  Now, when I hit the high beam switch, the fog lights flash, and they stay on as long asI hold the lever in.  It works like this until you actually pop the head lights, then the lever acts like it normally would.  Also, I can now turn my fog lights on with the dash knob without poping the head lights, works with the running lights on as well.  Perfect for near dusk lighting.  I have to angle both of mine up a tad.

Oh, I installed a foolie switch for the radio.  I found a retro looking switch (DPDT I think) and the dash already had the hole I needed.  The common connection goes to the AUX power lead on the radio, one side goes to the constant 12V, the other to the cig lighter fuse port (which powers on with the key set to “ON).  When it’s switched down, it’s on the switched power lead.  When it’s up, the constant 12V lead fools the radio into thinking the car is running.  That’s pretty much all it does.  It does however keep the coil from burning up if the engine isn’t actually running.  Don’t ask how I found out about that.

I’m making a replacement for the center cushion.  What this car really lacked was cup holders.  That may at first seem kind of stupid, but trust me, try going about your day without using the cup holders.  I found a pic on the webz that got me inspired.  I don’t have too much woodworking experience, and no box making skills, so I got to looking at the center seat box/cushion assembly.  The seat and box are connected with a piano hinge with three screws on the seat.  The box I wanted to use for storage.  I found a basic formed plastic cup holder, change cage, knick knack front box and an area for about 10 music CD cases.  It was small enough, but would require some trimming for what I needed.  Currently I have the base seat replacement laminated with a center dado channel on the top piece facing down.  I then drilled an access hole underneath of where the plastic tray would be mounted.  More on that later.  I’ll be veneering the ply with walnut.  I have the top aft portion covered in  an 1/8th of matching grain walnut, but it’s only rough sanded.  I was working on this this past Sunday.  It was getting late, so I decided to stop and try what I had to see if I pursue this line of work.  As it turns out, I think I’m starting to get used to the new feel.  Two is all that’s going to get this this car at any given time.  The cup holder works great.  Best to put it on the passenger side, a medium kind of starts getting in the way.  I think I’m going to finish this project, and I’m looking forward to seeing the dark wood finish of the walnut.

If it’s not cold this weekend, I should be getting inthe rest of the sway bar bushings.  I’m hoping this will eliminate the annoying rattle whenever I hit any bump in the road.  Just have to see.

One gremlin that came up was the fact that my output shaft seals are leaking.  I’m going to need to drain the tranny, pull the CV joints and half shafts to replace the shaft seals.  I got the tools and parts to get it done, but I just havent gotten a good day to dive into that.  I hear it’s pretty common, and fairly easy to fix.  I just need to get motivated.  I keep an eye on the oil level, and I carry more oil and the tool to pull the plugs.  A 17mm allen.  That’s a pretty big allen wrench.  A big shout out to Dave and his son.  We met at the Advance store and talked 914’s for quite a while.  I now know that the CV bolt tool is not a 12 point torx.  It is however an 8mm triple square.  And it’s a very high torque wrench design.  It also is the CV tool for the 911’s and 944’s.    At any rate, I gotta get those seals swapped out.

Finally found what was making the hot idle pop so much.  I thought it was a stuck open cold start valve, and went so far as to put a cut off valve on the cold start valve fuel line off the driver side rail.  But that wasn’t it.  At least now I have a way of testing it.  A main manifold pressure sensor would make it rev idle, and it wasn’t doing that.  I checked and verified a number of other things, but it boiled down to adjusting the throttle switch and retiming the ignition.  As it was initially set, the throttle switch was right on the break point when the throttle was fully closed.  That point should be at 2 degrees open on the butterfly valve.  Essentially, at idle the brain thought the throttle was opening and increased the fuel flow to accommodate more air flow, and thus making idle run rich and chuff alot when idling at temp.  It also dropped the idle to between 400 and 900 rpm (cold to hot).  I’ll have to put a good tack on it to get firmer numbers, but it idlea stupid slow now.  Makes the hula girl dance a bit.  Retiming it also made a world of difference.  I’m pretty sure it was horribly advanced, judging from the steroidesque rumblings of something more like a beast of a cam, and sporting another pair of cylinders.  Although that kind of sounds cool, but try ordering lunch at the drive through.  I’m still getting a little chuff every so often at a hot idle, but nothing to bitch over.  I’m not so sure about a couple of spots though.  Some throttle settings seem to richen up at point that they shouldn’t.  I’d love to find another throttle switch to test.

I guess that this has been kind of epic.  To those that are still reading, thanks.

Went to visit a friend that’s about an hour and a half south of me.  I’m going to be picking him up next Saturday to head to NC to visit another firend.  It was a good day to really road test the 14.  I have to say that I’m on the shy side of ecstatic, 26.2 mpg average over ~150 miles.  Leaning it up has really improved driveability and fuel economy.  It’s amazing what three or four psi difference can do.

I’m sure this is the first car that I’ve ever had that I actually enjoy driving.  I’ll tally up the miles at the end of the month, but I’ve put a few miles on it in a very short time.

I’d like to bust some shout-outs to some folks.  First to the guys at Goodfellas, it was good to talk cars with you.  Also, to the family that git me up at the gas gas station, thanks for asking.  Funny thing about those folks, their boys in the back seat said they knew that car from the Need for Speed video game, they were digging it big time.

I scored an EFI pressure tester today at Harbor Freight this morning.  The kit has all kinds of hookups for different makes, but I found the inline fitting and a spare length of hose to work great when spliced into the cold start tap.  Once I got it clamped up and running, the gage read 34 psi, way too high.  I got the regulator adjusted down to about 29 psi, and the idle speed dropped to around 900 rpm (right where it’s supposed to be).  After running it up to temp, I took it out and tested the decel and idle backfiring.  It still pops every now and then, but it’s nearly eliminated.  Also, leaning it up seems to have resulted in more horsey s  and less busking at mid throttle.  All in all, a big improvement.

I also tested the cold start temp sensor, and it was open at temp.  I’ll have to check in the morning to see if it’s closed when cold.  I’m fairly sure the cold start system is working nominally, since it starts fine when cold, and now apparently runs better at the proper fuel pressure.  I’m still going to test the MFC vacuum sensor and the decel valve, just to make sure everything is cool.

I’ve found some very interesting pages on the 914, and related pages in regards to Bosch D-Jet injection systems.  I’m going to post a static page on here with these links.  Hopefully it will be of use to others.

It was kind of warm today, though it felt otherwise while I was giving the 14 a good wash and detail.  It still had a failr ammount of grime from ibeing in the garage for so long, and it took a couple of passes to get it really clean.  I even got to do some spot detail removing surface blemishes with polishing compound.  With the exception of a few minor spots it looks like it just rolled of the line in Germany.  I still need to work on some of the rubber, but it’s a beaut.  The interior looks almost new as well.

I gassed up again this morning and the numbers run slightly over 15 mpg.  Very disheartening, but this was prior to tuning the fuel pressure.  I’ll have to drive it more and run the numbers again.  I would live with 20, be happy with 25, and anything above that I’d be ecstatic.  I have a link to a review of a 73 2l that claimed 25-35 mpg.  Time and tuning will tell.

I think it’s running rich.  I’m going to have to find a fuel pressure test gage and see what psi the injectors are regulated to.  The regulator is OE and I really don’t know what pressure it’s set to.  It idles cold at 1K, but once it get’s up to temp it idles at 1500.  And though it accelerates up an interstate hill, it feels like it’s running rich and it isn’t putting out 100%.  Timing is spot on, so it has to be the regulator, or something in the vacuum system.

Found out why my brake light is flashing.  There’s a switch I have to reset on the master brake cylinder.  It might be a hassle to get to it while it’s this damned cold outside.  Otherwise the brakes are working fine.

I have discovered something odd, and I think it has something to do with the fuse block, or maybe the relay board that’s attached to it.  Seems that when the car get’s in the low twenties (f), or colder, the power to the cig lighter is off, as well as the head lights not popping up or the fog lights to come on.  I don’t think it’s in the ignition key switch, the car will start and run, other lights work, radio comes on, and the horn toots.  Once it warms up a tad in the cabin, everthing will come on.  The only problem is I think the blower fan for the heat is kind of weak.  That, or I haven’t “gotten” the heating system strait in my head yet.  I need more forceful hot air when I max out the heat lever.  I’ll still end up upgrading the fuse block.  When it gets warmer.

Nah, hit the jump.

I hope you ladies at Exxon didn’t dump the DVR footage and post it to YouTube of my little dance I did for ya, I know it made your day.

Here’s one for all you drivers that will not pass me, please watch the road, short glances.  Drive safe.  To the haters, bite me.

Pam, thanks for listening to me randomly babble during the day.

Maydog, I showed you mine, get on that dude to get your 911 finishizzled.  I gotta get in touch with J.U.  I emailed him yesterday.

Michell and Haley, thanks for noticing, honk next time.  =8-)

See, no 914 babble.