should I part it, sell it, or keep it?
 

Well I just spent the last 6 frustrating hours replacing my speedometer right angle drive (that was easy and uneventul) and then I replaced the seals on my oil cooler using the method in one of the tech articles. I'd be thrilled if all that work payed off, but instead, the dripping oil continues. When I had it up on the ramps it was dripping from the passenger's side corner of the cooler, towards the front. Having checke very carefully, the pressure switch, and now having replaced the oil cooler seals, I'm thinking more and more that the problem is my oil cooler. Changing the oil cooler requires an engine drop as far as I know.

How long does an engine drop take realisticly, and what sort of problems am I bound to run into, as in parts that I need to replace that I don't have, etc. Is this something that a shop could do easily (my guess is no)?

If this car was in great shape I wouldn't give it a secodn thought, but this is a rusty 73, (just noticed the flaking off rust inside the longitudinals which I can see because of a large rust hole :) ) with a 1.8L '75 engine, that hasa bad oil leak. Add to that, the body is coated in a layer of bondo, in an apparent attempt by a pervious owner to make the car smoother. Oh also, the body is warped such that only the passenger side door really closes nicely. Everything else has some clearance problem.

So given these conditions, should I sell the car and look for another 914, or should I part it out? I've got a decent amount of nice parts in the car, so its not worth driving off a cliff as I so badly want to do. On the other hand I can keep adding oil (about a quart a week with my short commute) and be happy for a few more months (what I will probably end up doing).

-Tony <frustated and greasy> AKAVW

Hi

Just curious.....are you working on your car in a garage?

Ed

I'm working on it in my garage at home.

-Tony

I wish I had a garage.

Engine drop? More than a few people here will say an hour or two. It would take me all day, or maybe all weekend.

Keep it, part it, or sell it whole? Depends on what you personally want out of it, I guess. Most likely problem you'll run into if you drop the engine is the "while I'm in there" syndrome.

It's tough to make good decisions while you are feeling frustrated and disgusted. Ask me how I know ;) I'd say take a break from wrenching, throw a quart of oil in it and go for a drive. See how you feel then.......

Ed

With 2 people? Mike95125 and I dropped the engine and tranny out of my 1973 (So Herb could have an Engine) in about 1/2 an hour. Of course I do have all the tools and air wrenches....And another guy disconnecting things on top while I was disconnecting things below.

James

I'm working on it in my garage at home.

-Tony

It depends...
 

on how careful you want to be.

Motor drop solo took me just over 2 hours, but I wasn't being extra careful.

I then took quite a while to prep the motor James brought me, but the replacement process took just about 4 hours. I also did it in 2 stages. I like to remove the tranny first and then do the motor, and as Haynes says 'installation is the reverse of removal. Motor goes in first then the tranny went in.

I really like the harvest mode idea. I think in a few months I can save up enough to buy something in better shape.

I also can't imagine selling this heap to someone. Basically I will use it as my own personal parts car :)

I haven't dumped a lot of money into it. I bought it a year and a half ago for $2700 and it came with the factory manuals, 140 lb KYBs in the back, I've put in new carpet, new wheels and did the BMW brake conversion myself, and I've aded a few other small things like a new starter. So luckily, most of the money into this car has been invested in things that I can easily transfer to another car. If I had a new paint job, or something like that I'd be unhappy.

-Tony AKAVWValdez

with a single person, the drop is not as bad as the install! with a garage, you're lucky/fortunate. i'd try to keep it running, but it's a financial question you'd have to answer

I had a similar issue with a persistant drip on the passenger side front corner. Looked like the oil cooler or filter housing but turned out to be the o-ring on the distributor.
Sell or part must be up to you.
A car in better condition will still require work; it seems like you don't mind doing it and are capable and equiped.

Karl

Or the oil pressure sensor is leaking, same general area. If its that rusty look for another car!
Geoff