Hello and need help
 

Hello out there. My name is Brad and I'm new to the 914 world. My grandpa has had his 914 since the late 80's and just recently gave it to me about a month ago. This is very outside my regular cars (Shelby dodges and turbo dodges) and I'm still try to figure out how certain things work.

The car is a 76' silver with 58,000 miles. It runs great it's start and runs great, but it over heats. I have taken the thermostat off and I believed it was fine, according to the Haynes manual. I bought the 700 914 tech tips book and it said in there that if it's taking a long time to warm up and once warm it gets hot quick then the bellows aren't opening. So I figured that was it and maybe the cable needed readjusting.Well I got a new cable plus other things from pelican and I reinstalled the thermostat and put in the new cable. Now the problem is when I adjust the cable and let it go the flap goes back and just stretches the thermostat. I believe it shouldn't do that, am I right. The return spring is over powering the thermostat. But I got to thinking if the thermostat wasn't holding back then they bellows flaps would be open and allowing the cold air through all the time. That would make sense for long warms ups and not over heating. Unless when you pull the flap down then it's open. I'm not sure.

Anyways that's my problem and I'd appreciate any feed back. Looking forward to talking to all you guys.

if the thermostat fails, the doors stay open all the time, I don't thing the thermostat is an issue with overheating much, but not too sure.

I would suspect a timing or fuel issue for overheating too. If it was sitting a long time, could be junk stuck on the cylinders too, which could make it overheat.