[Dave Bell]

.... Coming out of lurk mode.....

When I first purchased the 914 about 6 months ago, I had it smogged and the guys there did some "tune-up" work to get it to pass. So I haven't bothered much with it until now.

I have had some problems until this time with idle dropping out, i.e. stalling, after the engine was fully warm... the quick fix... turn up the idle screw...

Well now I got the dwell meter out and timing light and have a few questions.

First, I have a 75 1.8 liter with L-jetronic FI. The dizzy looks like a combination of mechanical and vacuum advance. I have put in new points, set the dwell and the timing, 7.5 deg BTDC at 850-900 rpm. I am idling a little better now but still getting some drop out after warm up.

I pulled the vacuum lines off the diaphram device attached to the dizzy and found that sucking/blowing into the lower one connection I could not get much resistance... air flowed to freely.

Sucking air out of the top vacumm line, I could feel the resistance, see the little arm coming out of the advance mechanism into the dizzy, begin to move, but there was no movement of the plate on which the contact breaker sits.

I believe I should see some movement of that plate, right?....

And what about the lower vacuum line having little to no resistance to air flow? Doesn't seem to right to me. Is this one used for spark retard during idle?

Someone please educate me here.

OK... final question... for now...

It might be nice to pick up a spare dizzy that I can rebuild... How do I make sure what version I have right now so I can look for the right spare or the correct spare parts for my current dizzy?

Thanks all