914 nightmare

[mromines]

ok this has turned into quite the nightmare. silly me bought a 914 that suposedly needed a starter and was all good other than that. well a fuel pump, all new fuel lines, carb rebuild, throttle cable and bracket, and a ton of wire later it is finally running (kinda). i dont have a book on the car yet, not even sure if its the original engine, its almost impossible to find first gear or reverse, but the current issue is this, runs ok at low speeds up to about 40 mph soon as u go above 40 or hit 4th gear it begins to backfire and miss and lose power until u slow back down and go back to third gear. also makes a nasty whining sound at certain periods during acceleration. any ideas as to what may be causing the problem at higher speeds/gears? also anyone knowing y first gear is so hard to find would be helpful, ive only managed to get it into first gear 4x and it would grind all but one of those times

[Alfred1]

Are the dwell and timing within specs? The whining may be something internal in your tranny or it could even be something like a wheel bearing.

[velomann]

romines,
for the nasty whining sound and difficulty in finding your first gear gate, try to change the transmission fluid, and new shift bushings for your shift rod. these two little maintenance items can make a world of difference and are not terribly expensive. when you install the new bushings and realign the shift rod, first should be much easier to find. after that, the best thing you could do would start with new points, plugs, cap, and rotor if you have not done that yet. since you are running carbs, you are in luck that you do not have to try and figure out what is wrong with your computer and injectors! hopefully whoever rebuilt your carbs did the job right, since you also have a new fuel pump as well! good luck and hopefully it will not be too costly of a repair, these are really great cars to drive and have fun with!

[mtodd]

I can't help you with the carbed engine, but the shift fix may be as easy as new bushings and alignment of shifter, as mentioned above. I know it did the trick for me. Check out the tech article on this web site that explains it very well. There is also an article on replacing the syncros on 1st and Reverse without having to take the tranny out of the car. I bought the parts to do that, but after the bushing replacements, it wasn't needed, so if you do that let me know how it goes. Don't forget to check the valve adjustments after you make sure the timing is correct. If the back fires are not real forceful, then what you may be hearing is gas burning in the exhaust due to a leak in the exhaust system.

[mromines]

ok all thank you for the tips so far, tuesday is day off so i will try to do the shift bushings and adjustment then. the whining is only from like 3-3500 rpms and when u let off the gas it stops, come to find out the guy that so called rebuilt my carbs did nothing other than unstick a frozen piece in the bottom of the carb and dipped it in cleaner so i imagine ill have to re do it myself. as far as dwell and timing i was waiting for the book to arrive. ive tried to order cap and rotor 4x from napa and all the ones for the 914 dont fit, so i now have to try to figure out what engine is in it.im a porsche noob still but reading everything i can find.so far even with all the headaches ive driven the car 2x fairly short distances and already love it. i just want to get it running rtight so i can drive more

[Bleyseng]

Get on the 914club.com site for more info.
Order parts from this site, Pelican Parts as they provide the correct parts! NOT some stupid Flags, like Napa.
Read the Tech articles on this site as they are excellent and this kind of info isn't in any crappy Haynes manual.

Geoff