D-Jet & #73 Web cam - Am I expecting tooo much!

[retro74]

Hello all. Most of you have not heard from me since October-2001. I took my 74 Guards Red 914 off the road for some engine compartment battery repair and found terminal rust. More on that later. I found a rust-free 74' Signal Orange car in Georgia and it is being poly painted and clearcoated now. The seller owns a body shop... another story for later.

When I got my 914 it was in bad mechanical shape and had frayed hoses, tons of engine grease all over, etc. I replaced all vacum hoses, plugs, wires, etc. Got a new CHT (I put a detailed post on that replacement on this board) and even cleaned the carbon from the intake runners. Had it running pretty good before I took it off the road.

One of the replaced parts was the distributor. I got a rebuilt Cardone unit for @ 65.00 (I think I posted that experience here too). Well I think that this is the missing link in this discussion.

I had emailed Paul about the importance of the distributor and everyone knows that Paul ALWAYS tells us that his comments assume that things like the iginition are in good order.

My replacement distributor had two new benefits. First, it had a functioning vacuum retard canister that actually worked. Second, the weights did not bounce all over the place and therefore it ran better.

Since that time, I have been in contact with Ray Greenwood of TypeIV Forum fame. Ray is a 914 fanatic and he has some interesting theories on all of these matters. But he knows a ton about these distributors and I rebuilt my old one with the rebuilt new one (the rebuilds are not ever the correct part numbers). I made a post here ( a while ago) about the rebuild process and I will share some of that here...

Remove the distributor at the timing mark on the distributor
Take apart the top under the cap
Does it pivot easily without the canister?
Is there a groove in the metal plate form the ball bearing? If so file it down and make it smooth again.

Does the vacuum retard hold vacuum pressure. Mine was toast!

Remove the springs with needle nose pliers or small tweezers.

Time to remove the center piece so that we can fix the weights.

Use a thin center punch and smack the center shaft nose. Do this in a tall box so that you don't lose the retaining clip.

Remove the Center post and pop off the weights. The washers under them are usually wasted. Nylon can be had from your local electronics supply house (white nylon panel spacers). But I used Stainless washers and just drilled them out a bit. The stainless is not subject to heat decay and they will never melt or wear out. The flat part should be installed down and the round edges up.

Reassemble with a tiny bit of oil.

The springs. This is the Key part... Put them on and then gently, patiently and slowly bend the metal ends of the spring perches (the outer ones not the pivot posts for the weights) until the springs are neither loose nor tight. Loose is bad. Tight is not as bad but there should be no movement if you were to shake the distributor like a paint can.

Reassamble the top plate and grease the bearing. Replace the bearing if you need to (it is metric and bicycle bearings won't work).

A tiny bit of grease on the vacuum retard arm is a good thing too. I painted mine with POR 15. In fact I painted the inside shaft with POR 15 and the weights too. But that is another story.

Seal the canister to the body with some flat gasket material (local FLAPS sells it in a roll). Bosch should have done that to begin with to keep the water out.

Reinstall, dwell it, time it, etc.

Ahhhhhhh, much better now!

You may just be amazed at what a difference this can make. Want to get crazy with this project. Press a bearing into the lower part of the distributor and get rid of the bushing. With less slop, your timing will be way better controlled.


That was easy right.

Joe C.


Will be on the road in a few months. Yahooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooo