Were Webers ever on the car from the factory? I thought they were all fuel injected.
Disclaimer: Back when we were mechanics (and before we became technicians) I earned a living working on these, but I seldom had the opportunity (?) to work on one this old.
They were interesting beasts - actually more Porsche then the later 924. Except for the /6 which had a real Porsche engine, the engine was the flat four adapted from the Type 2 (bus) and Type 4. Suspension, transmission, electrics and so on were all Porsche. (For better or worse.) The 924 had a lot of parts that would have been comfortable on a Rabbit/Golf.
I actually think the reputation of early Bosch FI systems being horrible is pretty overblown. I haven't had a hard time diagnosing L-jet issues (I haven't touched D-jet). It's pretty simple and while you can't plug a scan tool in, you can use an oscilloscope to see what's going wrong. Also it's so simple, there are really only a handful of things to check. Some friends and I do endurance racing in a Fiat with the original L-jet system and it has been reliable.
I can understand a shop not wanting to touch them because you'll likely lose money tracking down issues as opposed to plugging in a scan tool, but for a hobbyist it's really not that hard.
It's also a matter of who integrated it. In the Volvo's they are rock solid because of the way the wiring is routed (and the quality of the wiring), in the DS they are nothing but trouble and you're better off assuming it's all gone and completely rewiring and re-calibrating it than to try to fix it as is because that will almost always be a very temporary job.
That system had a flap in an air passage that metered air flow. If the car backfired, the flap could change position relative to the indication that went to the control unit and that threw off the air/fuel mixture. They were also more sensitive to air leaks than a carbureted car.
I owned a 914/4, and at one fully overhauled its engine and so had a close look at its transmission and drivetrain.
A small correction on point of fact: On all the 4s the entirety of the drivetrain was VW, down to the CV joints and lug bolts. You can see this in photos, with 4s having a four-bolt pattern. 914/6s OTOH had five bolts, as on the contemporaneous Porsche 911s.
There was a further wrinkle with some six-bangers being badged as "914/6" and others as "916" -- but I was regrettably never in the market for either of those, so have forgotten details.
The synchros in the 914 transmission were the same as in the 911 (and other Porsches.) Not like the brass ring and cone that is more common (and used in VW transmissions.)
You're probably right about the half shafts. However if I search for parts, all of the ones I can find show a 6 bolt CV joint for the 914.
Oh. In that case the hub assemblies are probably VW, but the spindle itself would probably be Porsche (since I don't recall VW ever using 6 bolt CV joints.)
But the overall point that the 914 was a mix of VW and Porsche bits is absolutely correct and in fact some pretty significant parts such as the engine were VW. I suppose that goes back to the first Porsche which was derived from a VW.
Disclaimer: Back when we were mechanics (and before we became technicians) I earned a living working on these, but I seldom had the opportunity (?) to work on one this old.
They were interesting beasts - actually more Porsche then the later 924. Except for the /6 which had a real Porsche engine, the engine was the flat four adapted from the Type 2 (bus) and Type 4. Suspension, transmission, electrics and so on were all Porsche. (For better or worse.) The 924 had a lot of parts that would have been comfortable on a Rabbit/Golf.