Timing

[Neal Colingham]

My 76 2.0 stock motor with a Weber conversion (40's). I don't know what distributor I have
but the conversion was done by porsche gods
Bayside Motor's in Redmond Wa. My question is
I have read a 914 with carbs needs to be timed at 3500 rpm, I recently put a light on
mine idling at 800 rpm and the timing lined up with the notch on the flywheel. The car was recently timed and the mark was new. I reved the motor to 3500 rpm and saw no evidence of any marks. The car runs great, whats up !

[John Rogers]

I wouldn't worry about it since you answered your own question as it runs great, but you sound like me, just got to know. There should be the normal marks on the fan and if you look real hard they can be found. I painted each one a different color on our 2.0l so I would know which was which. There is a new tech article about timming with carbs in the "new" section here and 34 to 36 degrees seems good. I use 36 degrees on the race motor and use 103 octane gas too and it doesn't ping. The RPM timming is done at has to be high enough sso that full advance of the weights occurs. Good luck.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

The RPM where the timing is set can vary from distributor to distributor. The timing on the D-jet 914s with stock distributors are set at 3500 RPM just to make sure that all the centrifugal advance is there when you take the reading. The centrifugal advance tops out, in theory, just before or just at 3000 RPM.

The stock L-jet 914 (the 1.8), on the other hand, is timed at idle. The designers thought that, in this case, that the timing at idle was more important than the timing with full centrifugal advance.

The timing marks on a 914 are on the fan, not on the flywheel. Can I assume that you meant the fan in the original post?

The timing marks can be a PITA to see on that fan. I finally just painted the top of the fan blade nearest the stock timing mark. That makes it much easier to see!

Anyway, if you're happy with the way the car runs, then *write down* (or make a drawing) of where the fan blades/timing marks are right now. Then if you ever find you need to check the timing, you can refer back to this current setup. Don't just try remembering it unless you have a photographic memory--all those fan blades look the same after a while.

--DD

[PeteD]

Full advance with carbs should be about 35 deg btdc at 3200 rpm. To see a photo of where that timing mark should be, check out the tech article on this (which I added a few weeks ago) at: http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/914_timing_carbs/914_timing_carbs.htm

Also, refer to the article directly above it in the 914 Tech Articles on timing in general. http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/914_timing/914_timing.htm

That other article lists all of the stock 914 distributors and their characteristics. The last 3 digits on the long number on the can of the distributor tell you the model. Some are followed by one or usually two letters.

For some reason, mostly because they are cheap I think, lots of folks recommend and install an 009 distributor on carbed 914's. Big mistake. While it will run, it has very little total advance and it all comes on at once. The 205AA is a great distributor for carbs. It has vacuum advance and thus reduces the advance when you stomp the pedal. This prevents predetonation and gives you a very smooth ride from idle to 5500rpm. (go beyond at your own risk). The 205AA is a 1.8L stock distributor.

I believe it is worth knowing where your timing is at full advance (eg around 3200rpm). This will allow you to reset to that timing whenever you work on the engine. Also note that too much advance will cause pinging and too little seems to make the engine run hotter. I noticed that my 1.8 (se at: http://home.earthlink.net/~dublerfamily/914.html) ran cooler right away when I switched to the 205AA dizzy at the timing noted above.

[This message has been edited by PeteD (edited 02-06-2000).]

[This message has been edited by PeteD (edited 02-06-2000).]