Opinions on hot and thirsty 68 ?

[Greg D.]

Apologies in advance if I'm rambling: A while back I convinced a 356 friend to purchase a 911.. he ended up with a 68, sadly I wasn't here to help out check the car. Not an L, just base... All I remember is seing in the books that the engine was the least powerful ever made and teasing him about his 110hp car not being much more powerful than my souped up 912 ;-)



He's had nothing but trouble with the car and now I feel bad: Suspension pan was cut out and redone, one ill fitting window frame preventing glass from rolling up (we found out the door was replaced), some rust here and there - all fixed and no expenses spared, but the car will still not run 100% as we expect. I have a freshly rebuilt 72T, and while our engines are different (2.4 MFI vs 2.0 carbs) his car runs basically almost one entire temps gauge mark hotter than mine in *all* conditions. And he makes at most 12 mpg. Not that he minds, but for a 2.0 that doesn't make that much power, it's underwhelming.

The car was checked by 2 different mechanics of decent reputation who found nothing obvious. The gauge and sender were tested / replaced. The temps are accurate, it just runs about 20F hotter than any other aircooled 911 I've ever seen. 1/2 way on the gauge under normal conditions. It pulls well, feels strong, there are no rags, not obstructions, the oil cooler is clean, no misses, but it's hot. One shop replaced the jets with bigger ones and we suspect they simply tried to make it run cooler by making it richer - hence the appalling mileage. It worked, in that it used to run much hotter, 2/3 up the gauge in normal driving. Now it's 1/2. Where my car barely cracks 1/3.

We checked timing, valves, etc... I'm out of ideas. I think the rich running is a band aid... Ideas ? After the $$$ he put in it, he's getting tired of it and I fear he'll just sell it on...