Having some trouble need help(long)

[914curt]

I am having trouble with my 914. I have a 1974 1.8L that is bored to a 2.0L with dual 40mm carbs on it, that is about all i know about the motor. I purchased the car with this engine in it and was told it had a 1.8 turned in to a 2.0. The problem i am having is that it has completlely run out of power it was running good last summer but at the end before i put it away for the winter it got really bad. it will not accelerate at all. But sometimes it does. it is intermitent. Today i tool it out and it ran fine at first and them went to crap. it had no power and was back firing like crazy. I have put a new ignition system in the car, and changed the plugs today. when i checked the plugs all of them looked good except cylinder three. It was completly black, like covered in oil. the rest of them looked great like they were supposed to be. after changing the plugs there was no difference in the performance in the car. i was thinking that the problem could be the rings in cylinder 3 but i am a very novice mechanic. this is my first time trouble shooting a car by myself. Could anybody give me some advice or ideas on what it could be or if i am right about the rings.

Thank you
Curt

[Ron Roberts]

Looks like #3 was not fireing. Putting in a clean plug didn't help, so it is not just plug fouling. It sounds like #3 sometimes stops fireing and then fouls everything. Since it is intermittent, my guess is that it is not the rings but rather #3 sometimes stops getting a spark, or the #3 carburator circuit has gotten too rich, but I am not sure that is possible. This would cause the fouling. Since you say it backfires that indicates a possible lean condition, which could be a clogged jet. When it is misbehaving, disconnect the #3 plug wire and see if it runs worse. If it doesn't than for sure #3 is not getting a spark.
Ron

[yetibone]

Make sure the fuel filter/pump is OK. I had another car do that
some time ago because the filter would stop up so it wouldn't run.
After shutting down, gravity would make foreign material fall out of the filter, and down thru the inlet pipe. When I started it up, the pump would push the dirt back into the filter, and stop it up.


Yetibone