Please help before I sell my baby!!....(long!)

[dj393]

Okay, I’ve about had it with my car! I have a 76 911S Targa w/ a 2.7 ltr engine.
I have spent over $1500 trying to solve a mixture problem??
The day I bought the car, it ran like a dream. I bought it from a shop in New Jersey and drove it home (well…almost.) On my way home, the car started making a metallic noise from the engine.
Turned out some of the teeth broke off of the distributor shaft. Found a shop in Dayton Ohio where an extremely
Generous PCA member/mechanic saved my tail. Installed a new distributor (Euro distributor) and I was on my way. The car ran ok, but was bucking pretty good between 2200 and 3000 RPM’s. Got home (Oklahoma) and took it to A reputable wrench here in town. Had the timing/mixture set and had the valves adjusted. Left from the shop and the car still was bucking like crazy and the valves were now ticking. To make an EXTREMELY long story short, I have invested a year and close to $2000 trying to solve this damn bucking problem and I am at the end of my rope! I have had the mixture set repeatedly. Timing adjusted repeatedly. I have had mechanics tell me to plug my decal valve and timing advance (which I have since done) and the car runs like CRAP! Starts ok, idles a little high at about 1200rpms, runs like a striped-ass ape up to 2200 rpms and then….Bonanza syndrome! This is my first Porsche and I am not afraid to work on things myself. I bought Wayne’s 101 projects book and tried adjusting (barely) the mixture myself as a lot of posters on this board have said bucking is caused by rich mixture or vacuum leaks. But changing mixture has no effect on the bucking. I’ve had the car on a smoke machine to find vacuum leaks and there were none. I have used the search function on this board about a million times and read almost every post and tried almost every suggestion and I still seem to get nowhere. My dream come true of owning a Porsche is starting to become a “costly” nightmare and I don’t know what else to do. I still have a lot of other things to do on the car that I can’t afford because I keep sinking money into getting it to run right. I would buy endless amounts of beer for any pelicans interested in coming over on a weekend and lending assistance in my quest for a ‘smooth’ ride!!

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

This could be fuel delivery. Have you changed the fuel filter and fuel accumulator? These are fairly cheap. Also, have you tested the fuel pump?

I'm no expert, nor do I play one on the internet...

[na2ub]

Just from what you wrote, there was no "bucking" before the distributor was replaced. But after it was replaced the bucking started occuring? I am not an expert by any means, but is it possible you have the wrong / faulty distributor, with possible incorrect / non-functioning mechanical or vacuum advance. That would seem RPM consistent, and also consistent with the timeline you described. Just a guess to stir things up with. I am no mechanic!

Doug

[hoosierdaddy]

Could the distributor be installed 1 tooth off ? I know its possible with alot of cars .
Jim

[cyprusx]

dj393... You live in Tulsa and can go to Tom Charlesworth. He has a shop and is the PCA Tech Committee Chairman... I guess he is good, at least my friend in Tulsa says so... Give them a shot...

[feelyx]

My first question is.. did you get all the broken teeth out of the Engine??
Second, sence it started with dist. replacement I would start there.
Third, I have the correct dist. I can send you, if it doesn't work out send it back. If it does send $50 or the Euro dist back.

Hope it works out
Tim in Sac
911driver@comcast.net

[Kevin Stewart]

did they hook the vacuum back up or is pulled off the opposite end of the distributor, also those old brittle hoses suck, Kevin

[Ho Hum 74]

Just a quick thing you may want to check if not to rule out. I thought I had a valve adjustment issue because I heard a loud ticking. I set the valves but they were all good. I couldn't work it out. Finally I was under the car looking for the sound and found out it was a gasket blown from the exhaust manifold (could see the carbon). It was also causing some backfiring issues. Car runs like a beast though.