914 Starting Problems

[roywb46]

Working on a 1974 Porsche 914 2.0L 4cyl engine. The battery was relocated from the engine compartment to the front trunk area prior to us receiving the vehicle. Unknown if the vehicle ran fine prior to relocating the battery. At this time the engine just turns over until one hooks up a battery charger and the engine fires right up. Checked continuity both at the battery and at the coil which is almost the same not showing any electrical drop in current from the battery to the coil etc. (probably a 6-8 battery cable from battery to starter. Distributor has been changed from points to pointless ignition which we have change back to points with no difference. We are planning on changing the battery back to the back with a shorter poitive cable to see if it makes a difference. Any suggestions or similar porblems let me know. Thank you

[John Rogers]

The shorter the batt cables, usually the better. I use 2 GA wire for mine in the race car but the batt is in the rear trunk. I imagine the previous owner wanted to try and equalize some weight.

[spoke]

Did you check voltage at the coil while cranking the engine? Sounds like you have some voltage drop from battery to engine.

[Rrrockhound]

I would check the body ground strap (the one attached to the tranny).

[roywb46]

Thanks for your help, we ended up just moving the battery back to the engine compartment which solved our starting problems. Obviously the vehicle had enough current drop between the battrey and the coil etc., causing the problem. There were other options we could of done to fix this problem but this was the easiest oone. Thank you Roy