Oh baby it's ready...

[914GT]

My motor's all ready to go. Tomorrow it's going back into the car. Here's pictures for you folks who like to see 914 V8 stuff.

[skline]

Oh I just creamed in my pants, that looks awesome, tell me about your water pump setup. It looks interesting to say the least. Where did you get it and have you tried this out before? Info...... I need info.

[914GT]

Engine is back in and almost done. Have to finish my accelerator cable, I extended it about 18". The waterpump is a Dedenbear remote electric pump connected to their water header on the front of the block. I had it all running before I took it back out to rebuild and balance the block. I'd try getting it running tomorrow but I'm going to the Eagles concert. The car will have to wait.

[914GT]

It will be interesting to see how this 350 performs with pistons, valves, and bearings all friction and thermal coated. Maybe I can reduce the frictional losses a bit, maybe run a little cooler. The piston tops and headers were coated with the thermal reflective coating.

[AZ914]

C'mon... didn't work on the car after the Eagles concert?

[914GT]

No man, it was after midnight. What a great concert! Better than the Hell Freezes Over tour several years ago. I should be fully recovered today though.

[Amark]

Go for ride ??

[tat2dphreak]

please tell me those aren't KYBs under that beast ?!

it looks fantastic man, those valves and pistons are sweet looking!

[BigD9146gt]

I'm not much on V8's in these things, but thats a beaut, very clean.

Now if you could just spend some money on something better than Rivieras and brakes to match the power output....

[914GT]

Mark - not yet, hope by the weekend.

Tad2, BigD - the shocks and wheels are how I bought the car, brakes are all new parts, BMW calipers on the front. Further upgrades have to wait. Already spent too much money but it's been fun

[914GT]

The engine is up and running. Nice and smooth. Couple questions for you V8 folks. I'm running a mild cam with longer durations and some overlap. I installed the cam on the advance mark on the timing chain gear. Idles good, maybe slight rpm variation but still need to fine tune the idle mix screws. Timing at 12 deg BTDC, no vacuum advance at idle. Should I use full vacuum advance at idle and reset the idle speed? I don't think I have enough advance at idle.

Second question... what temps do you set your cooling fans to turn on? At fast idle, set mine to turn on about 190-200F. They run a couple minutes and shut down around 170 or so. They will just cycle on and off like this at idle. Thanks...

[JWest]

Timing at 12 deg BTDC, no vacuum advance at idle. Should I use full vacuum advance at idle and reset the idle speed?

I ususally try to - cleans up the idle nicely, but I have had it introduce an off-idle hesitation with certain combinations. It should work fine with your setup, though.

Your fans should bracket the thermostat temp more or less - so they are not fighting each other.

Are you sure you want the cam advanced? That makes more low end torque (harder on the 901 and small tires).

[914GT]

Thanks James. No, I'm not sure about the cam advance and I would have left it at '0' mark but my engine experts at the machine shop recommended advancing it. But they're not always thinking the same way I am when it comes to low-end torque requirements. Well it's done and I'll drive it and see how it performs. The cam has a power band curve above 2000 so maybe the extra low-end torque will be tolerable. If I don't like it, then the motor comes back out I guess.

[JWest]

Yep, you usually want as much low end as you can get in a street car, but as you know, this situation is a little different than the typical 3200 lb Camaro.

Something to try the next time the motor is out for something else.

[3D914]

Guy,

That is looking so sweet (read; druel, druel).
Are you planning to try and make the WCC this year?

If not, maybe some of us local boys can get together for a mini event of some kind.

Enjoy!

[914GT]

Hi Gerard
Won't make it to the WCC but maybe next time. I need to wait a few weeks before adding the car on the insurance policy, that's when we take our 19 yr old son and his truck off. Tomorrow I might head over to get my emissions test done and get my registration and plate at MVD. I took it over to the gas station to fill it up. This car is amazing! It is going to be so much fun. Punching the accelerator in 4th, even 5th, feels like 2nd. If I had more gears and the tires didn't fly off and don't know what it would top out at. And the cooling system with the electric pump it's not even working up a sweat. Granted it's not 105 out yet but seems I have plenty of capacity to handle it. A get together someplace sounds like a great idea.

[John2kx]

Guy,

Very clean install! Most don't go to this level of detail but your efforts have paid off.

Your water pump is unusual in a 914 v8 and I'd like to know how it turns out. I'll attach a pic of the fan thermo switch as installed in my RH radiator. The on/off temperatures are clearly marked. Do the math and you will see RH has their fans turn on a little sooner. If you can easily dial in your "on" position, I'd do it at first sign of running over 220F. The system will have a hard time playing catch up if the fans come on too late.

If that pump cools your car in 90+ weather, I'd like to know more about duration. Only time will tell here. A water temperature idiot light would be cheap insurance in the event a problem arises. Maybe a light to indicate power on at pump as well. I lost a aluminum engine several years back by only having a temperature gage. It was the smell that had me look over at the pegged gage. End result was two cracked heads. Engine seemed to only go down hill after repair.

A true test of the cooling system would be a 60 minute drive at highway speed with a couple of stops to idle engine for a few minutes. If you can cycle the engine in this manner and keep it under 220, I'd say you have a winner.

John

[John2kx]

asdf

[914GT]

John

Today I took the car over for emissions and got my license plate. My CO level was a little high and HC low, but it passed. I believe I'm just running a little too lean. I must have waited in line at emissions for 20-25 minutes keeping an eye on the temp gauge. I was starting to get hot sitting there in the sun but the engine stayed cool. If anything I'm running too cool at around 170. Driving the 5 miles at 45-55 mph to the emissions station, with the air blowing over the radiator, the engine never did heat up, not until I sat there idling for a long time. I think you have a good idea with that idiot light on a separate sender, just for back-up. I'd like the indicators for cooling fans and water pump too. I have my water pump and ignition wired to a common relay so if I lose voltage on one the other goes too. What I really need is to sense the current to the pump motor. Too low or too high it's either burned out or stalled. I want to drive this car so bad! I have to wait for two more weeks though. By the time I start driving it regularly it will be in the 100s here - a good test.

BTW - I have an adjustable fan controller on the radiator, the kind with a probe mounted on the fins on the downstream side. I'll be tweaking it when I can spend more driving time. Could mark a couple settings for summer and winter.

[John2kx]

Guy,

This is what I use for idiot lights. Green is used for fan status and red for high water temperature. Available at Radio Shack for a buck or so.

The second pic is a dual water sender. One prong for water temp., the other for idiot light. This one is calibrated for my VDO gage.

Really keep a eye on things when you start producing heat, ie 3000 or so rpm for sustained period of time. This really taxes the cooling system compared to long periods of time at idle.

John