914 help please - engine related
Discussion
Hi All
Unfortunately my father passed away a month ago very unexpectedly. He owned a 914 which has passed to my brother and I. The problem is that none of us knew it is a 1.7 that has been messed about with and made in to a 2.0l but it hasn't gone well at all! The bottom end had a rebuild before pop bought it but it was blowing a lot of white smoke shortly after he bought it.
It seems the pistons are the wrong size (94mm instead of 96mm) and the head is cracked. We have been quoted circa £2k in parts alone to get it right.
I am thinking about options really:
1. Swallow the bill and pay £2,000 - £2,500 to get it sorted but still have an engine with questionable provenance
2. Find a reconditioned engine and put that in
3. Import one from the states (a 2.0L) and slot it straight in and sell the current engine for parts. I am worried if the gearbox will work with a 2.0L
We are on a tight budget and really want to get the car to as pop wanted it (2.0L) but need to keep an eye on costs.
Can anyone help/point me in the right direction?
Thanks
Unfortunately my father passed away a month ago very unexpectedly. He owned a 914 which has passed to my brother and I. The problem is that none of us knew it is a 1.7 that has been messed about with and made in to a 2.0l but it hasn't gone well at all! The bottom end had a rebuild before pop bought it but it was blowing a lot of white smoke shortly after he bought it.
It seems the pistons are the wrong size (94mm instead of 96mm) and the head is cracked. We have been quoted circa £2k in parts alone to get it right.
I am thinking about options really:
1. Swallow the bill and pay £2,000 - £2,500 to get it sorted but still have an engine with questionable provenance
2. Find a reconditioned engine and put that in
3. Import one from the states (a 2.0L) and slot it straight in and sell the current engine for parts. I am worried if the gearbox will work with a 2.0L
We are on a tight budget and really want to get the car to as pop wanted it (2.0L) but need to keep an eye on costs.
Can anyone help/point me in the right direction?
Thanks
Sealine South said:
Hi All
Unfortunately my father passed away a month ago very unexpectedly. He owned a 914 which has passed to my brother and I. The problem is that none of us knew it is a 1.7 that has been messed about with and made in to a 2.0l but it hasn't gone well at all! The bottom end had a rebuild before pop bought it but it was blowing a lot of white smoke shortly after he bought it.
It seems the pistons are the wrong size (94mm instead of 96mm) and the head is cracked. We have been quoted circa £2k in parts alone to get it right.
I am thinking about options really:
1. Swallow the bill and pay £2,000 - £2,500 to get it sorted but still have an engine with questionable provenance
2. Find a reconditioned engine and put that in
3. Import one from the states (a 2.0L) and slot it straight in and sell the current engine for parts. I am worried if the gearbox will work with a 2.0L
We are on a tight budget and really want to get the car to as pop wanted it (2.0L) but need to keep an eye on costs.
Can anyone help/point me in the right direction?
Thanks
Firstly, Sorry to hear about you Dad.Unfortunately my father passed away a month ago very unexpectedly. He owned a 914 which has passed to my brother and I. The problem is that none of us knew it is a 1.7 that has been messed about with and made in to a 2.0l but it hasn't gone well at all! The bottom end had a rebuild before pop bought it but it was blowing a lot of white smoke shortly after he bought it.
It seems the pistons are the wrong size (94mm instead of 96mm) and the head is cracked. We have been quoted circa £2k in parts alone to get it right.
I am thinking about options really:
1. Swallow the bill and pay £2,000 - £2,500 to get it sorted but still have an engine with questionable provenance
2. Find a reconditioned engine and put that in
3. Import one from the states (a 2.0L) and slot it straight in and sell the current engine for parts. I am worried if the gearbox will work with a 2.0L
We are on a tight budget and really want to get the car to as pop wanted it (2.0L) but need to keep an eye on costs.
Can anyone help/point me in the right direction?
Thanks
Secondly, I dont have any advice about the engine but I do know that an Indy I use in Exeter has built several of these engines and knows his way around these cars and might be a good person to talk to.
Crispen Manors at Oak Tree Garage in Newton Poppleford.
01395 568498.
Depending on where you are he may be able to give you a second opinion if nothing else.
Sorry to hear about your dad 
First question, what engine did it have in it originally? If it was a 1.7 I would ditch the 2.0l and look for a replacement 1.7 - these share pretty much all the parts with the VW engines of the same size and are a lot cheaper to source. You would also be putting it back to original which ought to help value too. The 914 2.0l engines don't share anywhere near as many parts and much more expensive to rebuild - a replacement for your cracked head (for example) could cost you the same as a whole 1.7l engine 2nd hand.
There are a handful of specialists that deal in T4 engines and the rebuilding of them, I don't suppose I can name them here but Google will do the job.
If it were me I would be looking to remove the 2L, sell it and use the money to source a decent 1.7L - might even get the whole job done and have change in your pocket. The type 4 pancake engine is a good unit, but they are NOT cheap to rebuild, not like a type 1 engine - I would avoid having to rebuild one if you can as you can pretty much guarantee that if its bad enough to need pulling apart it will need a whole load of internals that you haven't budgeted for..... From your description it sounds like whoever did the first rebuild didn't have a clue what they were doing....
First question, what engine did it have in it originally? If it was a 1.7 I would ditch the 2.0l and look for a replacement 1.7 - these share pretty much all the parts with the VW engines of the same size and are a lot cheaper to source. You would also be putting it back to original which ought to help value too. The 914 2.0l engines don't share anywhere near as many parts and much more expensive to rebuild - a replacement for your cracked head (for example) could cost you the same as a whole 1.7l engine 2nd hand.
There are a handful of specialists that deal in T4 engines and the rebuilding of them, I don't suppose I can name them here but Google will do the job.
If it were me I would be looking to remove the 2L, sell it and use the money to source a decent 1.7L - might even get the whole job done and have change in your pocket. The type 4 pancake engine is a good unit, but they are NOT cheap to rebuild, not like a type 1 engine - I would avoid having to rebuild one if you can as you can pretty much guarantee that if its bad enough to need pulling apart it will need a whole load of internals that you haven't budgeted for..... From your description it sounds like whoever did the first rebuild didn't have a clue what they were doing....
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