1983 Porsche 944 - Time for some restoration
Discussion
mikey P 500 said:
Great effort. Having just bought a 944 I am hoping it doesn't involve as much work as yours has.
If the sills are intact, the engine hasn't blown a conrod and it hasn't been stationary for 8 years then you'll be fine! The blue car is still feeling far from finished, it's still very rough around the edges.Current plan is to have the S as an everyday car when done and then turn the original car into something a bit more track focused.
As for the Golf (just because I know you all love it) I'm currently pootling about in it and enjoying the fact it is a bit point and shoot. It's quite good fun near the limit even if it is a bit vague.
Made a little bit of progress on the 944S. I've replaced the crusty brake pipe on the nearside front, rebuilt both front brake calipers but both rear calipers are shot and need replacing sadly. I've also put a new cam cover gasket on so that leaves me with a sump gasket to replace, new belts, clutch and engine mounts before I can put the engine back in.
While I had the car jacked up and was working on the brakes I had a little look at the sills and they're not looking good at all, I think the pictures say it all.
So it looks like both sills are pretty much completely shot and will need removing and new metal welded in. The jacking points were also kindly removed at some point in the past and the rear of the sills are patched together so badly that it's just caused them to rust away even worse than normal to the point where the mount for the rear suspension is attached to some rather thin steel.
Bugger.
While I had the car jacked up and was working on the brakes I had a little look at the sills and they're not looking good at all, I think the pictures say it all.
So it looks like both sills are pretty much completely shot and will need removing and new metal welded in. The jacking points were also kindly removed at some point in the past and the rear of the sills are patched together so badly that it's just caused them to rust away even worse than normal to the point where the mount for the rear suspension is attached to some rather thin steel.
Bugger.
I know nothing about welding so it'll be going off elsewhere to be fixed. I'm expecting it to cost a bit. I'm aware that the sills are no longer available from Porsche which is a bit odd considering that it seems to be in the last few years that they've really started rusting and needing new sills. Perhaps the decision to stop making them was made before demand ramped up?
Still a while away yet as I've got to get the engine back in and running first which I haven't touched for a while now due to other projects getting in the way.
Still a while away yet as I've got to get the engine back in and running first which I haven't touched for a while now due to other projects getting in the way.
I haven't asked about it on the PCGB forums but have over on TIPEC. I've spoken to a couple of local Porsche garages and although they'd be happy to take on the work it's not something they've done much of. I'm expecting to have to trailer the thing somewhere but I don't mind as long as it gets done properly. The last thing I want is to have to get it done again a few years down the line.
I still need to get the engine back in the thing first which I shall do when I get the damn Golf back out of the garage and can afford a new clutch and belts.
I still need to get the engine back in the thing first which I shall do when I get the damn Golf back out of the garage and can afford a new clutch and belts.
Been a while since I've udpated this but so far on the 944S I've fitted new belts, replaced all front seals, sump gasket, oil cooler gasket, cam cover gasket and I have a clutch sitting here waiting to be fitted once the replacement rear main seal and assorted bearings arrive.
A friend also kindly stitched up my steering wheel that was falling apart
So I decided to clear out all of the crap that was sitting in the boot and give the battery a charge. First problem with that is that the boot struts are dead (I nabbed the good ones for the other car) so a quick bodge to sort that problem out
And once given a bit of a charge I was greeted with a nice array of warning lights, not that surprising considering the lack of engine.
It also appears to have a fair bit of fuel in it which doesn't smell like it's gone off too badly, certainly not as bad as the 8 year old stuff in the other car. This stuff has been in there for at least 4 years though so I'm not expecting it to be any good.
Next weekend I should be in a position to put the engine back in and then trying to remember how everything connects up, it's been a while!
A friend also kindly stitched up my steering wheel that was falling apart
So I decided to clear out all of the crap that was sitting in the boot and give the battery a charge. First problem with that is that the boot struts are dead (I nabbed the good ones for the other car) so a quick bodge to sort that problem out
And once given a bit of a charge I was greeted with a nice array of warning lights, not that surprising considering the lack of engine.
It also appears to have a fair bit of fuel in it which doesn't smell like it's gone off too badly, certainly not as bad as the 8 year old stuff in the other car. This stuff has been in there for at least 4 years though so I'm not expecting it to be any good.
Next weekend I should be in a position to put the engine back in and then trying to remember how everything connects up, it's been a while!
Good to be back! It's been nice to finally make some progress on the car.
A week ago I pulled the flywheel off ready to fit a new rear main seal as the condition of the current one was unknown and from looking at it I'm pretty glad I went ahead and ordered a replacement. It was looking pretty grubby.
And cleaned up ready for the new seal
New clutch fitted
Bellhousing reattached
And gently jostled into place in the car
When I say gently I mean it put up a hell of a fight and needed to be shaken about and given a good shove and then a bit of a kick from the gearbox end for the torque tube to actually line up with the engine. When it was finally in place the torque tube bolts continued to be a right PITA but after a few hours of lying on my back getting bits of rust in my eyes from the torque tube and using a combination of extension bars, universal joints and swearing I got them tightened up.
First time it's looked this tidy in there since I've owned it
There's still a fair bit to do and I think I need to remove the intake manifold again in order to access some of the more fiddly stuff that needs reattaching at the back of the engine. I've also managed to misplace the tensioner bar for the power steering pump, the coolant return hose and the king lead for the distributor/coil.
Once I find those and get the other bits attached it'll be time to see if it fires up after 4 years of owning the thing!
Oh and the other car has become a bit cosmetically challenged lately after finding some patches of rust that I wanted to cure before they could spread
A week ago I pulled the flywheel off ready to fit a new rear main seal as the condition of the current one was unknown and from looking at it I'm pretty glad I went ahead and ordered a replacement. It was looking pretty grubby.
And cleaned up ready for the new seal
New clutch fitted
Bellhousing reattached
And gently jostled into place in the car
When I say gently I mean it put up a hell of a fight and needed to be shaken about and given a good shove and then a bit of a kick from the gearbox end for the torque tube to actually line up with the engine. When it was finally in place the torque tube bolts continued to be a right PITA but after a few hours of lying on my back getting bits of rust in my eyes from the torque tube and using a combination of extension bars, universal joints and swearing I got them tightened up.
First time it's looked this tidy in there since I've owned it
There's still a fair bit to do and I think I need to remove the intake manifold again in order to access some of the more fiddly stuff that needs reattaching at the back of the engine. I've also managed to misplace the tensioner bar for the power steering pump, the coolant return hose and the king lead for the distributor/coil.
Once I find those and get the other bits attached it'll be time to see if it fires up after 4 years of owning the thing!
Oh and the other car has become a bit cosmetically challenged lately after finding some patches of rust that I wanted to cure before they could spread
So after a weekend of more battling with the car I got the exhaust hooked up along with the starter, clutch slave (which needs replacing), intake manifold, AFM, airbox, and power steering.
Looks a bit more complete in there now (ignore the ignition leads that aren't plugged in, they are now)
So with that all done I filled it with oil and coolant and tried to start the old girl up.
Obviously with these things nothing is that simple and on turning the key I was greeted with a *click* and not a lot else. No attempt to crank, no fuel pump, nothing! I looked down at the plug for the immobiliser and put the fob in to be greeted with nothing from the LED. I tried to start the car again...
After a few hours of poking around and tracking down the fuses for the alarm and immobiliser combo I discovered that the fuse for the clock had blown and that does indeed work (yay!) but the immobiliser was well and truly dead. I'm guessing 4 years of no electricity was enough to upset it.
At this point it was 8pm and I was pretty shattered and in need of a beer or several so I pushed it back into the naughty corner while I went to have a think about it and do a bit of research into the system
Sit there and think about what you've done!
The system was a Meta system consisting of an M99 (with no fobs from the previous owner) and an M36T immobiliser complete with fobs but no life. The same system was used in TVRs so there's quite a bit about them on this very site, the general consensus seemed to be "If it doesn't react in any way you want a new one".
So on Sunday I went back to the car, pulled it back out of its corner and went at it with some wire cutters and a soldering iron returning the wiring back to its OEM state and after a few hours of lying upside down in the footwell and then bent over the wing messing around under the fusebox I had the immobiliser removed and a back that refused to go straight for rather longer than I was proud of.
Time to jump in the car again and see what happens! Not feeling too hopeful after my previous efforts and the fact the fuel in the tank is 4 years old, I figured it would be good enough to at least get a cough and enough hope that the thing will work.
So yet again I jump in and turn the key. WAHEY IT CRANKS! Tacho needle bouncing around like a madman and lots of cranking later the battery stopped play, hardly surprising given its age and level of neglect so I hooked a battery charger up to it, gave it a while I jumped in again.
Cue more cranking...lots more cranking...some more cranking...bit more. I stop for a moment and jump out to check things out wondering if the fuel pump is working. As soon as I jumped out I was pretty sure the fuel pump worked as the whole garage smelt of petrol (and not gone off petrol either strangely).
Excited I jumped in again and carried on cranking the engine over until it burst into life with a lovely rattle coming from the tappets and a lovely note from the exhaust and then a very high idle attempting to get to 3000rpm before I shut it off again. I hadn't readjusted the throttle cable and it was still set for the old engine. Sorting that out and checking oil levels and coolant and I fired it up again.
It idles nicely now but was still pretty noisy. It's blowing from the manifold to the downpipe because I was fed up of lying under the car practising my contortionist act so they could do with a tweak. For a while it did resort to running on 3 cylinders as it seems where it was on the engine stand there was a leak in the garage roof and rain water dropped directly onto the ignition leads of cylinder 1&2 and 2 got the worst of it. After the strange act of sucking the water out with some washer pipe it was back to 4 cylinders and now sounding wonderfully smooth and quiet (apart from the nice exhaust note).
I'm pretty damn chuffed with how well it runs to be honest and have since refitted all of the bumpers and rebuild the interior. Next step is to get hold of a couple of new CV joints (I nicked one for the other car) and a new clutch slave cylinder so I can get it to move under its own power.
I also found this plaque on the exhaust, I'm assuming Prototechnik were the OEM supplier for exhausts.
Hope that account hasn't bored anybody still reading this thread to tears. Nobody wants to hear my tales of Porscheyness so you guys have to have it unloaded on you. You love it really!
Looks a bit more complete in there now (ignore the ignition leads that aren't plugged in, they are now)
So with that all done I filled it with oil and coolant and tried to start the old girl up.
Obviously with these things nothing is that simple and on turning the key I was greeted with a *click* and not a lot else. No attempt to crank, no fuel pump, nothing! I looked down at the plug for the immobiliser and put the fob in to be greeted with nothing from the LED. I tried to start the car again...
- click*
After a few hours of poking around and tracking down the fuses for the alarm and immobiliser combo I discovered that the fuse for the clock had blown and that does indeed work (yay!) but the immobiliser was well and truly dead. I'm guessing 4 years of no electricity was enough to upset it.
At this point it was 8pm and I was pretty shattered and in need of a beer or several so I pushed it back into the naughty corner while I went to have a think about it and do a bit of research into the system
Sit there and think about what you've done!
The system was a Meta system consisting of an M99 (with no fobs from the previous owner) and an M36T immobiliser complete with fobs but no life. The same system was used in TVRs so there's quite a bit about them on this very site, the general consensus seemed to be "If it doesn't react in any way you want a new one".
So on Sunday I went back to the car, pulled it back out of its corner and went at it with some wire cutters and a soldering iron returning the wiring back to its OEM state and after a few hours of lying upside down in the footwell and then bent over the wing messing around under the fusebox I had the immobiliser removed and a back that refused to go straight for rather longer than I was proud of.
Time to jump in the car again and see what happens! Not feeling too hopeful after my previous efforts and the fact the fuel in the tank is 4 years old, I figured it would be good enough to at least get a cough and enough hope that the thing will work.
So yet again I jump in and turn the key. WAHEY IT CRANKS! Tacho needle bouncing around like a madman and lots of cranking later the battery stopped play, hardly surprising given its age and level of neglect so I hooked a battery charger up to it, gave it a while I jumped in again.
Cue more cranking...lots more cranking...some more cranking...bit more. I stop for a moment and jump out to check things out wondering if the fuel pump is working. As soon as I jumped out I was pretty sure the fuel pump worked as the whole garage smelt of petrol (and not gone off petrol either strangely).
Excited I jumped in again and carried on cranking the engine over until it burst into life with a lovely rattle coming from the tappets and a lovely note from the exhaust and then a very high idle attempting to get to 3000rpm before I shut it off again. I hadn't readjusted the throttle cable and it was still set for the old engine. Sorting that out and checking oil levels and coolant and I fired it up again.
It idles nicely now but was still pretty noisy. It's blowing from the manifold to the downpipe because I was fed up of lying under the car practising my contortionist act so they could do with a tweak. For a while it did resort to running on 3 cylinders as it seems where it was on the engine stand there was a leak in the garage roof and rain water dropped directly onto the ignition leads of cylinder 1&2 and 2 got the worst of it. After the strange act of sucking the water out with some washer pipe it was back to 4 cylinders and now sounding wonderfully smooth and quiet (apart from the nice exhaust note).
I'm pretty damn chuffed with how well it runs to be honest and have since refitted all of the bumpers and rebuild the interior. Next step is to get hold of a couple of new CV joints (I nicked one for the other car) and a new clutch slave cylinder so I can get it to move under its own power.
I also found this plaque on the exhaust, I'm assuming Prototechnik were the OEM supplier for exhausts.
Hope that account hasn't bored anybody still reading this thread to tears. Nobody wants to hear my tales of Porscheyness so you guys have to have it unloaded on you. You love it really!
Not a great deal of progress last weekend but I did manage to bleed some of the nice milky coloured fluid from the clutch cylinder and get that functioning while I wait for the replacement slave cylinder to arrive.
I also slapped a bit of paint on the driveshaft that I pinched a CV joint from when the other car was in desperate need of one, fitted 2 brand new joints and stuck it on the car and now the thing moves under its own power for the first time since I've owned it!
Not a spectacular picture but it was pretty late by the time I got it back together
The brakes don't work at the moment as again I have to bleed them but don't see a great deal of point until I've replaced the shot flexi hoses and replaced the dead rear calipers.
After the brakes are done I can sort out a few of the other little issues like rear hatch seal, hatch struts, hatch release and free up the rusty rear suspension mounting bolts before I send it off to be welded up properly.
I also slapped a bit of paint on the driveshaft that I pinched a CV joint from when the other car was in desperate need of one, fitted 2 brand new joints and stuck it on the car and now the thing moves under its own power for the first time since I've owned it!
Not a spectacular picture but it was pretty late by the time I got it back together
The brakes don't work at the moment as again I have to bleed them but don't see a great deal of point until I've replaced the shot flexi hoses and replaced the dead rear calipers.
After the brakes are done I can sort out a few of the other little issues like rear hatch seal, hatch struts, hatch release and free up the rusty rear suspension mounting bolts before I send it off to be welded up properly.
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