Introduction, and some questions

[BBShriver]

Hello All,
I am the proud new owner of a 1973 911T Targa. In decent "driver" shape, but needs some work. Will be a fun driver/project.

Anyway, I have 2 "problems" with it right now that I'm trying to figure out.
1. No heat. The dealer I bought it from is telling me this is normal for air cooled cars... but it's not even coming out luke-warm. Anything I can check to see what's up here?

2. In the trunk area, there is a little black canister that sits in front of the driver side battery... I'm told it's a gas fume tank, but curious if it's really neccissary.. never seen anything like it before and it looks suspiciously like unneccessary weight. Any ideas?

3. My tach doesn't seem very believable (sounds like the engine is revving much faster than indicated). Is this a common problem? What should I look for to get it right?

Misc, other questions... the over-size black rubber pillows that serve as bumper over-riders in the front... is there a way to remove/replace them with something a little more tasteful? Install chrome ones from an earlier car?

[Rot 911]

1. Not normal. Check to see if the flapper valves back by the rear shocks close when you pull the red handles between the seats up.



2. Yes it is a charcoal cannister. I would keep it for originality.

[SCWDP911]

Originally Posted by BBShriver

Hello All,
I am the proud new owner of a 1973 911T Targa. In decent "driver" shape, but needs some work. Will be a fun driver/project.

Anyway, I have 2 "problems" with it right now that I'm trying to figure out.
1. No heat. The dealer I bought it from is telling me this is normal for air cooled cars... but it's not even coming out luke-warm. Anything I can check to see what's up here?

2. In the trunk area, there is a little black canister that sits in front of the driver side battery... I'm told it's a gas fume tank, but curious if it's really neccissary.. never seen anything like it before and it looks suspiciously like unneccessary weight. Any ideas?

3. My tach doesn't seem very believable (sounds like the engine is revving much faster than indicated). Is this a common problem? What should I look for to get it right?

Misc, other questions... the over-size black rubber pillows that serve as bumper over-riders in the front... is there a way to remove/replace them with something a little more tasteful? Install chrome ones from an earlier car?

Welcome! Where are you from and got any pics of your new find!? Gotta share...

As far as the heat question, that dealer has no clue. These things put out all kinds of heat... to the point that you have to cut it back. You might have a stuck vent (I think this is fairly common on the older cars, but get a second opinion as mine is an 83). You might also have heater tubes that are disconnected, or, maybe someone put headers on it (i.e. no heater boxes)...

Good luck and welcome!

[BBShriver]

The red lever between the seats that says defrost... this is for the heater as well?? I've just been using the red lever on the dash.
Speaking of which, any clue where I might get a good price on an owners manual (factory service manual would be nice too).

I'm not all that concerned with "originality". My plans involve eventually vintage racing/club racing, etc, so weight is a premium (I know Targa wasn't the best choice from that standpoint, but I like it!)

Lets give the pictures a go...

[Zef]

Hoooooly...what a nice classic 911...Welcome aboard...

[SCWDP911]

As far as your front bumper goes, there are aftermarket fiberglass ones that fit and have no rubber bumper pads. In fact, there is a guy here in my area that is selling one for around $200 I think. It is an early S style. I would post apicture for you but do not have time to look it up. Basically looks like yours without the pads and with a little bit of chin spoiler along the bottom. If you got something like this, you could keep yours somewhere in case you wanted to go back to stock, or sell it.

Nice car!

[Rot 911]

Originally Posted by BBShriver

The red lever between the seats that says defrost... this is for the heater as well?? I've just been using the red lever on the dash.
Speaking of which, any clue where I might get a good price on an owners manual (factory service manual would be nice too).

The red lever on the dash just controls where the air goes. Left is towards the feet, right is for defrost. The red levers on the floor between the seats control the heater flapper boxes in the rear of the car and either allow the heat into the cabin when needed or dumps it out into the atmosphere when not needed.

The factory service manuals are outrageously expensive, in the hundreds of dollars. Try and get the Haynes and Chilton's manuals.

[David E. Clark]

Originally Posted by v8_ranch

... As far as the heat question, that dealer has no clue. These things put out all kinds of heat... to the point that you have to cut it back...

V8 is right! Sometimes previous owners put heat block off plates in to clean up the engine bay and save a little weight - especially on warm weather weekend drivers. I'd check this since you ought to have gobs of heat. Now A/C is another story. As for getting a manual, the very expensive factory workshop manuals, are still available as is the Haynes Manual. If I were you, I'd check Ebay or local swap meets for any of the currently out-of-print manuals pictured below as they are all inexpensive and, in my opinion, substantially better than the Haynes Manual. Great looking car - welcome!

[BBShriver]

There are 3 levers on the dash.
Top appears to be fan
Middle adjusts where it goes
lowest (red knob instead of black knob) does nothing as far as I can tell.

Between the seats there is one red lever that says "defrost" with an arrow up that says on, and an arrow down that says off.

But on the dash there's also a pull switch that has a defrost logo on it, and on the control box on the dash it says "max defrost top levers left, bottom lever right"??

[Rot 911]

Originally Posted by BBShriver

There are 3 levers on the dash.
Top appears to be fan
Middle adjusts where it goes
lowest (red knob instead of black knob) does nothing as far as I can tell.

Between the seats there is one red lever that says "defrost" with an arrow up that says on, and an arrow down that says off.

But on the dash there's also a pull switch that has a defrost logo on it, and on the control box on the dash it says "max defrost top levers left, bottom lever right"??

Three levers on dash:
Top: control fresh air coming in through the cowl. Full left closes outside vent. Sliding to the right opens fresh air inlet and starts fan.
Middle lever: directs where the fresh air goes: left is down, right is up.
Bottom red lever: Heated air from heat exchangers in rear of car: left is down, right is up.

Pull switch on dash is for rear window defroster.

[BlueSideUp]

Other than the wheels and those bars under your front bumper the car looks pretty original.

You won't get any heat until you pull up the red lever in between the seats. I'm not too familiar with the MFI cars but the other lever on my carb'd 1970 model is a hand throttle.

Your tach could have an internal problem or it could be an issue with the dwell setting on your distributor (that's what the tach reads off of). There are some great shops that can check/rebuild your tach if it is having problems, Palo Alto Speedometer or Hollywood Speedo. Depending on where you are located you can probably find a local Pelican willing to check it out.

[Christien]

Originally Posted by Kurt V

Bottom red lever: Heated air from heat exchangers in rear of car: left is down, right is up.

What do you mean by down and up? I've been told the red slider on the dash controls fresh air flow from the front vent (as opposed to heated air pushed by the fans), though I can never really feel any appreciable difference.

As said above, the red lever between the seats opens and closes the flapper boxes - when open they allow the heated air in the heat exchangers to escape to the outside, when closed they retain the heated air so it can be directed to the vents inside the car. I'm not sure why it would say "defrost" on it - maybe the original knob broke, and someone replaced it with some completely different knob that happened to have the same thread size? Sounds strange, but I've found some mighty strange "substitutions" on my car. Lots of things can happen in 35+ years!

Beauty car, by the way!

[oregonmon]

My two levers say defrost, I thought they all said that. Not that it makes a whole lot of sense.

[Gene Wilkes]

Not to clear but if you enlarge it and squint, you can make out what they are saying!

[ossiblue]

Originally Posted by BBShriver

Hello All,
I am the proud new owner of a 1973 911T Targa. In decent "driver" shape, but needs some work. Will be a fun driver/project.

Anyway, I have 2 "problems" with it right now that I'm trying to figure out.
1. No heat. The dealer I bought it from is telling me this is normal for air cooled cars... but it's not even coming out luke-warm. Anything I can check to see what's up here?

2. In the trunk area, there is a little black canister that sits in front of the driver side battery... I'm told it's a gas fume tank, but curious if it's really neccissary.. never seen anything like it before and it looks suspiciously like unneccessary weight. Any ideas?

3. My tach doesn't seem very believable (sounds like the engine is revving much faster than indicated). Is this a common problem? What should I look for to get it right?

Misc, other questions... the over-size black rubber pillows that serve as bumper over-riders in the front... is there a way to remove/replace them with something a little more tasteful? Install chrome ones from an earlier car?

All your questions have been answered, the simplest being #2 and the most difficult to put into words is #3. Bottom line--the dash controls do not turn on the heat. No heat until the lever between the seats is pulled up. If that fails, follow the advice of v8-Ranch and look under the car for missing parts or connections. If you're not sure what to look for, post pictures of the rear underside of the car from the engine to the wheels so we can see what you have (or don't have.)

There is a simpler solution to the big rubber bumpers. They can be removed and replaced by early 73 or even earlier model bumper guards. They are bolt on items.

Your car's a beauty and there's plenty of free advice here. Welcome aboard.

[gerard vaglio]

I had this dream last night, I'm standing at the pearly gates of heaven but before I can get in St. Peter says I have to answer one question.

Then he holds up this diagram and asks, "how do you defrost the windshield on a 911?"

[BlueSideUp]

Ha! It is great because no one who rides in the car can screw around with the temperature. Mine only has three knobs, not four like that. I think certain combinations can launch ICBMs but that's in the factory shop manual.

[Jays72T]

Welcome and nice looking car. FWIW, I'd remove and keep those big black bumpers, they're only on '73s and run no bumperettes on the front makes for a nice clean look.

[C4 Pazzo]

I wouldn't ditch the charcoal cannister. It really works when hooked up properly. But if you are intent on getting rid of it, let me know because I'd like it for my car.