Maybe we should change the title of this thread to "old Porsches."
Speaking of which, I now have my 1973 911 running again. My brother was here a week and a half ago, and helped me get the engine cranking over by hand, and then put the engine/tranny back in the car. Last week I fired it up, and found that the old bad gas had pretty much gunked up the whole fuel system. The ethanol-contaminated fuel just doesn't last like the pure dead dinosaur juice. It absorbs water, breaks down, and leaves crud everywhere if you let it sit for very long.
So I drained the tank, blew out the lines, had to squirt carb cleaners into and tap on the fuel pump a bunch of times to get it freed up and put it back in the car. Then I had to take off the CIS fuel distributor and squirt it liberally and blow compressed air through it to free up the metering plunger, and the same with the injectors.
Then it was running on 4 or 5 cylinders, which turned out to be too high resistance in a couple of the spark plug wires, but it took me hours to trace that down. Yes, I ordered a new set of spark plug wires and will put them in tomorrow. After all that messing around, it is finally running smoothly.
Next project is to clean and rebuild the brakes if necessary. After that, I will install the oil-fed Carrera chain tensioners. Then I can start putting back on the bumpers and the glass and last, the interior. Lots of work, but it's a fun driver with a 3.0 SC engine and about 230 ponies in a 2300-lb car.
It was the last model of the pre-safety-bumper 911's--that's why I bought it in 1992. A lot of people replace the CIS with carbs, but I actually like the CIS. I think it's pretty easy to troubleshoot and work on and it gives more even consistent performance and drivability, however, the carb setup greatly simplifies the engine compartment. Carbs also can make use of more aggressive cams and produce more power, whereas the CIS is sensitive to too much valve overlap.Excellent car to own that is for sure, the 73.5 t cis was certainly the best of the breed back then for a smooth daily fun driver, and is now highly sought after (the S models of course selling for the most) Porsche really wound up ruining the car in 1974 with the case stud hot running 2.7 and the crash bumpers!
I assume from your handle that you have been a 914 connoisseur. I went through 3 of those and beat the snot out of them. Now even those are becoming collectible--probably because there are so few left in decent shape.It is actually nice these days to have one you can drive. The cars are worth so much now that they are virtually museum pieces and with the fact that you can purchase a low mile 2000s 911 for a fraction, we all buy and drive the hell out of those and keep our through 73 models for display and car shows.
Much like what happened with our Ford GTs, I bought mine originally to drive every day and did in the beginning, then the prices went out of sight! So now the 2000s 911s are the "beaters"