New owner 914/4, 2.0, 1973, 50k miles.
I am a weekend driver. Not racing.
Getting familiar with her and making efforts to have a cooler running engine which I suspect may be running hot.
Symptoms:
Starts up great. Idles fine. A little rough running/missing until warm at 5 minutes into the drive. After 5 minutes it runs more smoothly with less missing. During acceleration there is no miss, it pulls fine. Once back on steady pace, it starts to miss.
Engine temp seems fine for 20 minutes and then climbs after 40 minutes when it can stall when idling at a stop light. When hot, the gears begin to grind when shifting as well. Seems an unrelated combo of symptoms???
Status, questions and remedies I am working on:
1] What is the normal running temperature?
Where should my temperature gauge reside? Mine goes to above halfway, maybe to 5/8s when 40 minutes into a drive. No numbers on gauge.
2] Currently there are no plug boots, which allow air to pass around the plug wires. I plan to install those plug boots, to get it to run cooler, to reduce escaped air. Does this seem right? >
a) There are two mystery holes on top right tin. One between two spark plugs and another small one on top > Should these be plugged/sealed? (see images)
3] Fixing broken cable to original german temperature bellows which is contracted when cold - so I believe it will be functional (see image)
4] Mounting 2 airflow flaps under car.
5] Engine cooling fan shroud/housing is clear and engine oil cooler appears to be new and free of any external debris.
6] On-engine oil cooler is newish, clean, silver, and dirt free. Don't see any other oil coolers.
7] Engine oil level fine.
Oil preference? (Brad Penn 20w50 partial synthetic or Castrol 20w50 with Zinc ZDDP)
8] Transmission fluid level needs checking, getting 17mm male allen socket.
Does anyone recommend flushing the transmission fluid? if so, how often?
Fluid preference? (80/90w GL5 Dino non synthetic gear oil; Coastal GL-5 85/140W; or full synthetic)
9] Gasoline
(Premium 90-91 octane) to run cooler.
10] Timing/Valve adjustments > Have not been done since I bought the car 6 months ago. How often > Once a year / every ?k miles?
Thanks for patience with my "jumping off point" here. Feedback is invaluable.
Cheers
