New Member & Cracked FI Elbows

[avocadotom]

Greetings!

After years of looking for a 914 off and on, I finally took the plunge and bought a 1972 914 last night!

It's a failed project and doesn't (at present) run, so I'm going down the checklist and have some questions. I'm a fairly accomplished air-cooled VW tinkerer - so I'm not starting from scratch - but FI and the 914 are new to me.

First on the docket - for a winter project - is getting the engine to start. Apparently it ran for the 2nd to last owner, but he didn't have the time to put everything else back together. I checked the oil, hooked up the loose oil-pressure sender and another wire, then turned it over for a few seconds. It did that much, but the battery needs more juice before I can do anything else.

That said, in looking over the engine last night, it would seem that I have a lot of cracked or splitting rubber elbows and connectors where either PVC or vacuum lines connect. (see picture below) I know I'll want to replace these to prevent inadvertent leaks, but I didn't see a source for them on the website.

Are these NLA? Or does Pelican source them directly? Any help would be appreciated....

Cheers,
Tom

[beatnavy]

Welcome to the club. I basically started the same project last August: '72 914 (1.7L) that hadn't run in 12/13/14/? years. I also had to get up to speed on FI after tinkering with my Ghia. It took a while, but I've come a fair way up the learning curve. After replacing essentially the entire fuel system (including pump, reconditioning tank, replacing all lines, pressure reg, reconditioning injectors, etc.), replacing defective ECU, replacing all the vacuum hoses, the cylinder head temp sensor, reconditioning the AAR, etc etc....it now runs pretty darn well.

Some advice from my experience: clean all the grounds well. I finally noticed my tranny ground strap wasn't connected. I couldn't figure out why the starter always cranked so slowly.

I think the part you are looking at is p/n 022133083. I need one as well, and I've got one in my shopping cart at Auto Atlanta, but I wanted to see if I could find one somewhere else. They are describing it as "not in stock but pre-production." Fixing that would be helpful in terms of preventing vacuum leaks, but it won't stop your car from running.

Good luck!

[avocadotom]

Sweet! Thanks for the sage advice BeatNavy...

I guess my next step is to catalog all of the elbows and lines that look like they need to be replaced, find their part numbers, and start buying or pre-ordering where applicable.

There's salt on the road and lots of work to do in the meantime, so waiting a while won't hurt any.

[beatnavy]

No problem. I'm with you -- snowy day in Virginia makes it easier to put the car on jack stands, as I won't be driving it today. Good day to try to fix that pesky valve cover oil drip.

Another piece of advice (while I'm thinking of it): when you DO replace vacuum connections and lines, make sure to take multiple pictures of the current layout (assuming it's correct) before disconnecting things. There are lots of references out on the internet about both fuel line and vacuum line layout, but I was surprised how many variations there can be based on year, engine, whether it was from California, etc. I spent many hours piecing the clues together. I did take some pictures, which helped, but then I'd find a hose diagram that looked different than mine. I like puzzles, but not when I'm excited to get a car running.

Let me know if you need any other info.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

I believe that Mikey from 914rubber is making many of the rubber elbows now.

You don't necessarily have to have them, though. Remember, the FI system pretty much just cares about vacuum. Some hoses go to the intake manifold and get manifold vacuum, others go to the air cleaner and get ambient-pressure air. They don't come from any "magic" locations in the manifold or the cleaner, so it's not hugely important where exactly they go. So if you can plug a hose onto the manifold fitting and route it so it gets where it's supposed to go, that's really all you need. If you have to use some plumbing supplies to make right-angle bends, that's fine too.

--DD

[avocadotom]

Originally Posted by beatnavy

No problem. I'm with you -- snowy day in Virginia makes it easier to put the car on jack stands, as I won't be driving it today. Good day to try to fix that pesky valve cover oil drip.

Originally Posted by beatnavy

Another piece of advice (while I'm thinking of it): when you DO replace vacuum connections and lines, make sure to take multiple pictures of the current layout (assuming it's correct) before disconnecting things.

...
Let me know if you need any other info.

Duly noted...and thanks!

[avocadotom]

Originally Posted by Dave at Pelican Parts

I believe that Mikey from 914rubber is making many of the rubber elbows now.

You don't necessarily have to have them, though. Remember, the FI system pretty much just cares about vacuum. Some hoses go to the intake manifold and get manifold vacuum, others go to the air cleaner and get ambient-pressure air. They don't come from any "magic" locations in the manifold or the cleaner, so it's not hugely important where exactly they go. So if you can plug a hose onto the manifold fitting and route it so it gets where it's supposed to go, that's really all you need. If you have to use some plumbing supplies to make right-angle bends, that's fine too.

--DD

Ah, good stuff to know.

I'm sure my brain is partially in "FIX ALL THE THINGS AND MAKE THE PERFECT" mode, since I'm new to all this and figuring everything out. I'm sure that will be tempered with time, but it's good to have those perspectives now.