The German Chaptor (Beetle, 944s and a BMW)
Discussion
Year ago my lust of all things automotive and German started. Naturally at a young age it made sense for me to buy a car I wanted. A Beetle.
This example turned up.
It was offered at a 4 figure price from a local painter that I knew where his son had owned the car for 10 years ; however it had spent 5 of those years outside the painter's workshop. After alot of consideration a deal was struck and I became the owner of a 1970 VW Beetle 1200.
It did not really look that bad on top and underneath!
With a 1300 Twin Port engine on a 009 distributor, refurbished carb, adjustable beam, new shocks and so on I was quite pleased with the deal. However I at this point had yet to learn than a dormant car would not easily pass an MOT.
Indeed this one did not! Where the car was solid before (despite me, a friend and painter checking it there with all sorts of tools) the tester managed to find/make holes we did not previously consider! Furthermore it seemed that all of the brakes would need refurbishing! Some new wheel cylinders later and it went back for a retest. At this point a balljoint miraculously developed play. Suffice to say, after issues with another car for the test I did not use him again! Whether I was being harsh or wise I cannot say
.
So, I had a tidy VW Beetle with an MOT. Things would be peachy after this right?
This example turned up.
It was offered at a 4 figure price from a local painter that I knew where his son had owned the car for 10 years ; however it had spent 5 of those years outside the painter's workshop. After alot of consideration a deal was struck and I became the owner of a 1970 VW Beetle 1200.
It did not really look that bad on top and underneath!
With a 1300 Twin Port engine on a 009 distributor, refurbished carb, adjustable beam, new shocks and so on I was quite pleased with the deal. However I at this point had yet to learn than a dormant car would not easily pass an MOT.
Indeed this one did not! Where the car was solid before (despite me, a friend and painter checking it there with all sorts of tools) the tester managed to find/make holes we did not previously consider! Furthermore it seemed that all of the brakes would need refurbishing! Some new wheel cylinders later and it went back for a retest. At this point a balljoint miraculously developed play. Suffice to say, after issues with another car for the test I did not use him again! Whether I was being harsh or wise I cannot say
. So, I had a tidy VW Beetle with an MOT. Things would be peachy after this right?
Edited by SebringMan on Wednesday 11th October 18:10
I guess you could see this coming!
In short it was not. The 'B of mine was very dependable, and this proved itself to be anything but. It developed a strange problem of it losing power under throttle after around 20 minutes of driving before it dying on any application of the throttle. At this point I went to a number of specialists with each of them offering their services. The first specialist changed the dizzy cap (it had a transparent item fitted before) as well as the points. He also set the engine up. To be fair the car did drive far far better. But it was still no better in terms of the cutting out issue. Another felt that the carb was icing up. At this point I went and wasted some cash on a shabby looking IMDU unit with no improvement. Another specialist felt that the heater tubes on the inlet manifold were blocked. After deblocking them (they were not great but not horrific) the matter remained but it was not solved.
Of course at this point I let myself become a victim of the forum experts. Blocked fuel lines, carb, and an iffy fuel pump were all pointed out as issues. One of the issues the newly fitted tank had was the breather setup being incorrect, so this was soon rectified and got rid of another issue the car had (it wreaked of fuel inside until this point). I also cleaned the petrol tank out and saw that a few of the awkward fuel lines had been changed. Everything seemed to be free flowing. The carb was cleaned and things seemed fine there.
Things finally came to a head when the Beetle completely cut out on the corner of London Road on the A45/A46 junction in Coventry during rush hour. I did not fear much for my life (a few cars did come close to hitting me hard!). I never swore at the car, much. I certainly did not consider throwing a match to the cursed car.
By some miracle the car got going again and it went on its own way until Leamington where it finally died again. This time it would not start at all for weeks. By this point I had enough and the car was put up for sale. However, I would still need to fix the car in some fashion.
A number of checks were made. In the end by some strange miracle I checked the rotor arm. I also at this point recalled a article in a well known magazine about duff arms entering the market and causing almost incurable issues. The rotor arm had an open circuit present. I then decided (being a Sunday!) to solder on some coat hanger onto the rotor arm. Despite the battery almost being flat from cranking, and the engine smelling of fuel it fired up first time and ran better than it ever had done in my ownership.
The strange thing was that the arm was new! Since that day I have tried to be careful with what brands of arms I buy (I think that arm was an Intermotor item). Whether the car had two cheap rotor arms on with the same issue is unknown but it never put a foot wrong after the rotor arm swap (it was also an issue a friend's Dolomite had).
Not too long after the car had been sold.
And so it's time to move on a few years (of tinkering with various BL tin and hot hatches) to come back to all things German. This time in the form of a Porsche.
Whilst the 944 is not adored by many I really quite liked the look of them, even over a number of 911s I hate to say (I'll run and hide now!), bar the 911 Carrera RS and 930 Turbos, which looked the business and went like it too! This was back in my youth until very recently. Maybe it was the flamboyant interiors (with the eye hurting Pascha interior) of the early cars or mean wide arch look. Insurance put me off buying one for years however, although they would now be considered to norm to many people now.
I saw a few 944s which were not in the best of condition for under £2k in 2.5 form. This was over 5 years bear in mind. Eventually I found what I thought was peach of a car for the price (albeit stretching my funds too). It was a 1989 944 S2 3.0 with 10 owners (but the last owner having the car for 10 years) with plenty of history and other handy features too:
It was a lovely shade of Baltic Blue which IMO is one of the best colours for Porsches of that era, with handy features including a CAT 1 alarm, genuine 968 Cup mirrors, Boxster/Carrera 2 (996) alloy wheels and a leather interior. Oh, and it had 120,000 miles too. The only fly in the ointment was a noisy tappet which seemed to become quieter at 3,000RPM+ and a minor oil leak. Small potatoes I thought. Of all the other 944s I saw it was head and shoulders over them in terms of condition (there was very few (if not almost no) bodges present with the electrics, the history was the best and it looked better than all of them in terms of it bodywork.
With 12 months MOT things should have been great! This seems to be a recurring theme. What did George Santayana once say about "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned..."?
In short it was not. The 'B of mine was very dependable, and this proved itself to be anything but. It developed a strange problem of it losing power under throttle after around 20 minutes of driving before it dying on any application of the throttle. At this point I went to a number of specialists with each of them offering their services. The first specialist changed the dizzy cap (it had a transparent item fitted before) as well as the points. He also set the engine up. To be fair the car did drive far far better. But it was still no better in terms of the cutting out issue. Another felt that the carb was icing up. At this point I went and wasted some cash on a shabby looking IMDU unit with no improvement. Another specialist felt that the heater tubes on the inlet manifold were blocked. After deblocking them (they were not great but not horrific) the matter remained but it was not solved.
Of course at this point I let myself become a victim of the forum experts. Blocked fuel lines, carb, and an iffy fuel pump were all pointed out as issues. One of the issues the newly fitted tank had was the breather setup being incorrect, so this was soon rectified and got rid of another issue the car had (it wreaked of fuel inside until this point). I also cleaned the petrol tank out and saw that a few of the awkward fuel lines had been changed. Everything seemed to be free flowing. The carb was cleaned and things seemed fine there.
Things finally came to a head when the Beetle completely cut out on the corner of London Road on the A45/A46 junction in Coventry during rush hour. I did not fear much for my life (a few cars did come close to hitting me hard!). I never swore at the car, much. I certainly did not consider throwing a match to the cursed car.
By some miracle the car got going again and it went on its own way until Leamington where it finally died again. This time it would not start at all for weeks. By this point I had enough and the car was put up for sale. However, I would still need to fix the car in some fashion.
A number of checks were made. In the end by some strange miracle I checked the rotor arm. I also at this point recalled a article in a well known magazine about duff arms entering the market and causing almost incurable issues. The rotor arm had an open circuit present. I then decided (being a Sunday!) to solder on some coat hanger onto the rotor arm. Despite the battery almost being flat from cranking, and the engine smelling of fuel it fired up first time and ran better than it ever had done in my ownership.
The strange thing was that the arm was new! Since that day I have tried to be careful with what brands of arms I buy (I think that arm was an Intermotor item). Whether the car had two cheap rotor arms on with the same issue is unknown but it never put a foot wrong after the rotor arm swap (it was also an issue a friend's Dolomite had).
Not too long after the car had been sold.
And so it's time to move on a few years (of tinkering with various BL tin and hot hatches) to come back to all things German. This time in the form of a Porsche.
Whilst the 944 is not adored by many I really quite liked the look of them, even over a number of 911s I hate to say (I'll run and hide now!), bar the 911 Carrera RS and 930 Turbos, which looked the business and went like it too! This was back in my youth until very recently. Maybe it was the flamboyant interiors (with the eye hurting Pascha interior) of the early cars or mean wide arch look. Insurance put me off buying one for years however, although they would now be considered to norm to many people now.
I saw a few 944s which were not in the best of condition for under £2k in 2.5 form. This was over 5 years bear in mind. Eventually I found what I thought was peach of a car for the price (albeit stretching my funds too). It was a 1989 944 S2 3.0 with 10 owners (but the last owner having the car for 10 years) with plenty of history and other handy features too:
It was a lovely shade of Baltic Blue which IMO is one of the best colours for Porsches of that era, with handy features including a CAT 1 alarm, genuine 968 Cup mirrors, Boxster/Carrera 2 (996) alloy wheels and a leather interior. Oh, and it had 120,000 miles too. The only fly in the ointment was a noisy tappet which seemed to become quieter at 3,000RPM+ and a minor oil leak. Small potatoes I thought. Of all the other 944s I saw it was head and shoulders over them in terms of condition (there was very few (if not almost no) bodges present with the electrics, the history was the best and it looked better than all of them in terms of it bodywork.
With 12 months MOT things should have been great! This seems to be a recurring theme. What did George Santayana once say about "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned..."?
Edited by SebringMan on Wednesday 7th January 18:54
Whilst I did enjoy this purchase it did not come without its faults, with it being a daily for me. There were a few. These included:
-the front end changing direction violently on uneven roads with markings
-the engine having a loud knock coming from it
Something had to be done. With that in mind I began to get down to business.
The wayward handling had been down to a few things. The lower arm had play present in the balljoint. On a 944 this is not good news ; it generally means that the arm requires machining and a new balljoint pressing into the place. In other words a new arm is required for most people out there. Cheap this was not. It did look pretty mind you:
The bushes in the arms were at the same time replaced for 968 castor mounts. These are meant to be used on a 944 with 17" wheels according to a technical bulletin. But OTOH the old bushes had seen better days. Maybe this was why the car had become a ditchfinder:
With some new tyres up front in the form of Kumho KU31 Sports to replace the P6000s things improved quite a bit up front. Not quite perfect but it was getting there. The alignment was checked as well after performing this work. The service history revealed that the car had been subject to steering work previously with a new steering shaft and track rods being fitted.
The previous owner put in Mobil 1 5W40 to silence the "tappet". It did not work. I changed the oil again, but there was no change in the noise. Joy. After which it was time for me to take it down to a specialist in the Midlands. Over the phone he thought that I had a timing chain issue (which can be noisy on these) and advised on possibly towing the car down. On the basis that I had been driving it like this for quite some time I figured I would take my chances.
This is the noise that greeted him; the noise was worse when it was cold:
http://youtu.be/HnQwkcIsVAg
Initially he felt that it could be a failed big end bearing but the good oil pressure perplexed both me and him. After a test drive he wondered whether the piston had seized in the engine at some point, possibly due to overheating or the car going low on oil. With a boroscope put into each of the cylinder holes the culprit was found : No.2 had very severe scoring (on many threads that I have seen not one bore has been as bad as that bore was (over half of the bore had deep black marks present covering the surface of that side. Whether the car had been left standing for a very long time or something else we will not know. At this point the specialist felt that the car had been severely overheated to cause such damage.
Naturally this was not the news I wished to hear, especially with S2 engines going for a minimum of £1k. I felt like quite a fool at that point truth be told, but OTOH one needs to learn from their mistakes. So whilst it was a reliable daily driver the engine was a ticking time bomb in addition to the fact that it was going to cost quite a bit of cash to rectify.
The way I saw it was that I had a few choices:
-Scrap the car for spares (even then S2 spares were not cheap)
-Rebuild the engine (I was quoted £5k on the original engine on the basis that it would almost certainly require piston liners putting in, thus new pistons and so forth). Even then good S2s and Turbos could be had for that cash.
-Source a secondhand engine and chance my luck. The specialist was keen for me to take this route, with the above scenario.
On the basis that I felt the rest of the car was good (it was at this point about the best classic car I had owned in addition to it looking great) it felt like a shame to admit defeat and to break it. Also, I did not wish to lose! Ah well, time to look for another engine!
This would take some time. Funds were tight and I really did not wish to pay over £1k for an engine. Eventually my searching paid off in the form of an 80,000 mile engine from an S2 which had been stood up for quite some time:
Whilst it was below the £1k mark it was not much less. On first glance the engine did not seem too bad either! Of course the truth would only be known when I came to change the engine and fire it up.
During this time I also gathered a couple of other spares including a new cambelt kit of the Dayco variety, Porsche seals for the cam cover of the engine amongst other things. The time was coming close to changing the engine. At this point I decided to take it back to the specialist to have their do their magic. At the same time I specified that I would also have the clutch changed. Porsches of this Era came with rubber centred clutches which break up over time leading to a clunky drivetrain in addition to a horrific shuddering upon pulling up the clutch in traffic with worn ones looking like this example:
Naturally, this bill was beginning to build up a touch!
Upon preparing the engine an unexpected obstacle came in the way of things however.
-the front end changing direction violently on uneven roads with markings
-the engine having a loud knock coming from it
Something had to be done. With that in mind I began to get down to business.
The wayward handling had been down to a few things. The lower arm had play present in the balljoint. On a 944 this is not good news ; it generally means that the arm requires machining and a new balljoint pressing into the place. In other words a new arm is required for most people out there. Cheap this was not. It did look pretty mind you:
The bushes in the arms were at the same time replaced for 968 castor mounts. These are meant to be used on a 944 with 17" wheels according to a technical bulletin. But OTOH the old bushes had seen better days. Maybe this was why the car had become a ditchfinder:
With some new tyres up front in the form of Kumho KU31 Sports to replace the P6000s things improved quite a bit up front. Not quite perfect but it was getting there. The alignment was checked as well after performing this work. The service history revealed that the car had been subject to steering work previously with a new steering shaft and track rods being fitted.
The previous owner put in Mobil 1 5W40 to silence the "tappet". It did not work. I changed the oil again, but there was no change in the noise. Joy. After which it was time for me to take it down to a specialist in the Midlands. Over the phone he thought that I had a timing chain issue (which can be noisy on these) and advised on possibly towing the car down. On the basis that I had been driving it like this for quite some time I figured I would take my chances.
This is the noise that greeted him; the noise was worse when it was cold:
http://youtu.be/HnQwkcIsVAg
Initially he felt that it could be a failed big end bearing but the good oil pressure perplexed both me and him. After a test drive he wondered whether the piston had seized in the engine at some point, possibly due to overheating or the car going low on oil. With a boroscope put into each of the cylinder holes the culprit was found : No.2 had very severe scoring (on many threads that I have seen not one bore has been as bad as that bore was (over half of the bore had deep black marks present covering the surface of that side. Whether the car had been left standing for a very long time or something else we will not know. At this point the specialist felt that the car had been severely overheated to cause such damage.
Naturally this was not the news I wished to hear, especially with S2 engines going for a minimum of £1k. I felt like quite a fool at that point truth be told, but OTOH one needs to learn from their mistakes. So whilst it was a reliable daily driver the engine was a ticking time bomb in addition to the fact that it was going to cost quite a bit of cash to rectify.
The way I saw it was that I had a few choices:
-Scrap the car for spares (even then S2 spares were not cheap)
-Rebuild the engine (I was quoted £5k on the original engine on the basis that it would almost certainly require piston liners putting in, thus new pistons and so forth). Even then good S2s and Turbos could be had for that cash.
-Source a secondhand engine and chance my luck. The specialist was keen for me to take this route, with the above scenario.
On the basis that I felt the rest of the car was good (it was at this point about the best classic car I had owned in addition to it looking great) it felt like a shame to admit defeat and to break it. Also, I did not wish to lose! Ah well, time to look for another engine!
This would take some time. Funds were tight and I really did not wish to pay over £1k for an engine. Eventually my searching paid off in the form of an 80,000 mile engine from an S2 which had been stood up for quite some time:
Whilst it was below the £1k mark it was not much less. On first glance the engine did not seem too bad either! Of course the truth would only be known when I came to change the engine and fire it up.
During this time I also gathered a couple of other spares including a new cambelt kit of the Dayco variety, Porsche seals for the cam cover of the engine amongst other things. The time was coming close to changing the engine. At this point I decided to take it back to the specialist to have their do their magic. At the same time I specified that I would also have the clutch changed. Porsches of this Era came with rubber centred clutches which break up over time leading to a clunky drivetrain in addition to a horrific shuddering upon pulling up the clutch in traffic with worn ones looking like this example:
Naturally, this bill was beginning to build up a touch!
Upon preparing the engine an unexpected obstacle came in the way of things however.
The issue came in the form of the engine not turning over correctly! Basically, the belts had been fited but when it came to turn the engine over it was locking up at TDC. Not what you want. Before the head was removed I suggested to use the Endoscope to check the bores out. Sure enough an issue was found. It was found in the form of a......
injector clip. Yup, you read that right. Basically, when the engine had its ancillaries stripped a strap clip had dropped into the engine. Talk about a lucky escape!
After all of this the car was good to go and boy the new engine certainly did sound sweet! So to cap things off the following was done to the car at the garage:
-Engine was swapped
-Belts and rollers were changed (supplied from me) with the cam timing being dialled in.
-Clutch was changed for a sprung centred clutch and supplied by the garage
-Radiator support was welded up (it was previously glued on!)
-The old engine was kept in part exchange for a bit of a deal
.
All in all the price was not too bad for what I had done but it was still not what one would call a bargain. However, the car did not walk away with a clean bill of health. I was informed of a few things:
-The coolant hoses were swollen (many of them were). Before Spring I was advised to change them ASAP
-The radiator was also condemned for being rusty. I did not remember it being excessive but that was also advised to be changed for a new item.
Upon further investigation I found out that the previous owner had at some point changed the engine. With this engine being the third clearly there must have been an underlying fault with the car, with either his maintenance or something within the car that was having a clear detimental issue on the engine's health.
At this point I really was enjoying the S2 ownership. The car seemed to be handling nicely (nicer than it ever had!), the engine no longer sounded like something was going to escape from it and I was generally enjoying the experience. However, such experiences can only last for a limited amount of time and the car did not dissapoint, when I got a couple of drips of water onto my leg. No problem I thought, I'll throw in some Radweld, many say to do this, everything will be lovely right?
I could not have been more wrong. Sure, the leak did not, but a month later I had water erupt from behind the dashboard with steam coming out from the dash with the stench of coolant! Putting the heater onto cold during January cured the leaking. Yes, the heater matrix had seen its day and had terminally failed. Not a quick or simple fix to do on a 944.
At this point I decided to take the car off the road. With no heater during a cold January I simply could not drive the car around. Steamy windows etc. would make life too tricky! At this point the excutive decision was taken to put the car off the road and fix a number of issues in one go; the entire cooling system.
At first I changed the radiator. As you shall see the old one did not look too bad at all (IMO) but it did have issues of its own anyway. A hole at some point had been punched through the tank and sealed up again with Araldite. Enter stage left:
New hoses were sourced for almost all of the system in addition to a radiator. Despite me buying from a variety of sources (ECP for the rad, Beryln/OPC for the hoses and thermostat) the bill was not cheap for all of these. But I was determined to make the car reliable. The thermostat was changed since over the winter with the new 'pattern' thermostat the car's temperature gauge would not stop swinging about! I was tempted to make this stop with a better thermostat. The OPC item certainly looked beefier than the pattern item.
Old rad vs. new.
It appeared that the rad I bought for the car was for a 951 (Turbo). However the only difference I could see were the end tanks. It did all fit and so I carried on with putting it all in. The rad seemed to be a Porsche item as well on closer inspection. I wonder where that insignia went...:
{img]http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a68/randhawac/Cooling%20Transplant/DSC_0910-1.jpg[/img]
Once the engine bay bits was done it was time to tackle the inevitable. The heater matrix. In essence most of the car's interior up front was required to be removed:
I sort of forgot to take pictures after this but I'll be brief. I basically took the entire dash out and moved the heater box in order to move the matrix. I was shocked at how the coolant seemed to got in a few strange places (I guess thats condensation for you). Judging by the state of the matrix, it had been leaking for quite some time.
The opportunity was taken to rectify the radio wires. These had Bullet connectors all round and a large excess of wire. I soldered all of the wires and got them an acceptable length. Much tidier behind the dash not to mention easier to put a Stereo into. Oddly enough, the speakers don't seem to crackle anymore either.
These clips however did provide much amusement (or rather cursing for me) when I came to reassemble but I did get the clips on in the end on the matrix connections.
At this point I also changed the HT leads for OEM Porsche ones. At least they looked nice, made a difference to performance in addition to fitting well, better than all of the crap offered by Magencor if I am honest!
With the car getting closer to being better my daily decided it deserved some of the limelight. And so it was time to get rid of the Porker. However, the car has been quite sturdy I am glad to say since it last left my hands
Many years would go until I came back into the fold. This was in part due to my flirtation with Triumphs, but eventually I would come back to the fold, and in something pokier and to some people more special.
injector clip. Yup, you read that right. Basically, when the engine had its ancillaries stripped a strap clip had dropped into the engine. Talk about a lucky escape!
After all of this the car was good to go and boy the new engine certainly did sound sweet! So to cap things off the following was done to the car at the garage:
-Engine was swapped
-Belts and rollers were changed (supplied from me) with the cam timing being dialled in.
-Clutch was changed for a sprung centred clutch and supplied by the garage
-Radiator support was welded up (it was previously glued on!)
-The old engine was kept in part exchange for a bit of a deal
.All in all the price was not too bad for what I had done but it was still not what one would call a bargain. However, the car did not walk away with a clean bill of health. I was informed of a few things:
-The coolant hoses were swollen (many of them were). Before Spring I was advised to change them ASAP
-The radiator was also condemned for being rusty. I did not remember it being excessive but that was also advised to be changed for a new item.
Upon further investigation I found out that the previous owner had at some point changed the engine. With this engine being the third clearly there must have been an underlying fault with the car, with either his maintenance or something within the car that was having a clear detimental issue on the engine's health.
At this point I really was enjoying the S2 ownership. The car seemed to be handling nicely (nicer than it ever had!), the engine no longer sounded like something was going to escape from it and I was generally enjoying the experience. However, such experiences can only last for a limited amount of time and the car did not dissapoint, when I got a couple of drips of water onto my leg. No problem I thought, I'll throw in some Radweld, many say to do this, everything will be lovely right?
I could not have been more wrong. Sure, the leak did not, but a month later I had water erupt from behind the dashboard with steam coming out from the dash with the stench of coolant! Putting the heater onto cold during January cured the leaking. Yes, the heater matrix had seen its day and had terminally failed. Not a quick or simple fix to do on a 944.
At this point I decided to take the car off the road. With no heater during a cold January I simply could not drive the car around. Steamy windows etc. would make life too tricky! At this point the excutive decision was taken to put the car off the road and fix a number of issues in one go; the entire cooling system.
At first I changed the radiator. As you shall see the old one did not look too bad at all (IMO) but it did have issues of its own anyway. A hole at some point had been punched through the tank and sealed up again with Araldite. Enter stage left:
New hoses were sourced for almost all of the system in addition to a radiator. Despite me buying from a variety of sources (ECP for the rad, Beryln/OPC for the hoses and thermostat) the bill was not cheap for all of these. But I was determined to make the car reliable. The thermostat was changed since over the winter with the new 'pattern' thermostat the car's temperature gauge would not stop swinging about! I was tempted to make this stop with a better thermostat. The OPC item certainly looked beefier than the pattern item.
Old rad vs. new.
It appeared that the rad I bought for the car was for a 951 (Turbo). However the only difference I could see were the end tanks. It did all fit and so I carried on with putting it all in. The rad seemed to be a Porsche item as well on closer inspection. I wonder where that insignia went...:
{img]http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a68/randhawac/Cooling%20Transplant/DSC_0910-1.jpg[/img]
Once the engine bay bits was done it was time to tackle the inevitable. The heater matrix. In essence most of the car's interior up front was required to be removed:
I sort of forgot to take pictures after this but I'll be brief. I basically took the entire dash out and moved the heater box in order to move the matrix. I was shocked at how the coolant seemed to got in a few strange places (I guess thats condensation for you). Judging by the state of the matrix, it had been leaking for quite some time.
The opportunity was taken to rectify the radio wires. These had Bullet connectors all round and a large excess of wire. I soldered all of the wires and got them an acceptable length. Much tidier behind the dash not to mention easier to put a Stereo into. Oddly enough, the speakers don't seem to crackle anymore either.
These clips however did provide much amusement (or rather cursing for me) when I came to reassemble but I did get the clips on in the end on the matrix connections.
At this point I also changed the HT leads for OEM Porsche ones. At least they looked nice, made a difference to performance in addition to fitting well, better than all of the crap offered by Magencor if I am honest!
With the car getting closer to being better my daily decided it deserved some of the limelight. And so it was time to get rid of the Porker. However, the car has been quite sturdy I am glad to say since it last left my hands
Many years would go until I came back into the fold. This was in part due to my flirtation with Triumphs, but eventually I would come back to the fold, and in something pokier and to some people more special
.So, where was I? Ah yes, my S2. I am fairly sure that the cause of the last engine going was found with the iffy cooling system and possibly using super thin oils (It came to me running 0W40 Fully Synthetic.
Many years would pass with most of that attention going towards the MGB Sebring I had. My replacement at the time was an ex-SOCA Mondeo 3.0 V6 Ghia X in Jewish Racing Gold. Despite what was said that was a lovely car to drive with enough toys for me truth be told. I eventually gave this to my dad after I took it up to 260,000 miles. Its fate hangs in the balance now however for other reasons.
Furthermore, one of the reasons I sold the S2 was because my daily at the time was very troublesome. By the time I had sold it almost nothing under the engine bay was original (95% of the cooling system had been changed, as had the engine, the gearbox, many driveshafts and other bits.
After some time however, this came into my hands:
A 1991 Porsche 944 Turbo 250 ; one of the later 944s to be built. This one as a bonus came with many fancy tricks under the bonnet. These included:
Engine:
2.5 Turbo chipped to 290BHP. Further mods included a Bailey DV30 recirculation valve, Lindsey racing Stage 1 Intercooler and a Wortec single box exhaust with a solenoid operated flap in the rear box to bypass all of the silencers altogether.
Suspension:
This IMHO was the car's party piece. KVv3s all round with M030 ARBs. Cup 1 Wheels with Michelin Pilot Sport wheels all round
Brakes:
928 GTS 'Big Black' Brake conversion up front with smooth calipers at the rear.
The car also came with the bonus of having two brand new front wings fitted in addition to the sills. Perfect stuff.
However, the car did require tidying up albeit in terms of minor details. The rear arches had a slight amount of surface rust present (and I do mean a little) in addition to some chips etc. catching up with the car.
One thing which surprised me over the previous 944 was the pace. OK it was a little lame off boost but wow it was superb when on it! I will have to buy a car one day to replicate that, if not push the boundaries further.
Also the suspension setup was superb with the grip being beyond what I thought a 944 could ever do. I may have once scared an owner of a low mileage (75,000 mile) S2 in this car. It is a small wonder that a car of the same spec as mine (but with R888s) managed a time of 8 minutes around the 'ring .
Things were about to take a turn for this car however from initially being a weekend toy. Due to this car presenting me to with plenty of issues:
The Porsche entered daily service.
Well, what can possibly go wrong?
Many years would pass with most of that attention going towards the MGB Sebring I had. My replacement at the time was an ex-SOCA Mondeo 3.0 V6 Ghia X in Jewish Racing Gold. Despite what was said that was a lovely car to drive with enough toys for me truth be told. I eventually gave this to my dad after I took it up to 260,000 miles. Its fate hangs in the balance now however for other reasons.
Furthermore, one of the reasons I sold the S2 was because my daily at the time was very troublesome. By the time I had sold it almost nothing under the engine bay was original (95% of the cooling system had been changed, as had the engine, the gearbox, many driveshafts and other bits.
After some time however, this came into my hands:
A 1991 Porsche 944 Turbo 250 ; one of the later 944s to be built. This one as a bonus came with many fancy tricks under the bonnet. These included:
Engine:
2.5 Turbo chipped to 290BHP. Further mods included a Bailey DV30 recirculation valve, Lindsey racing Stage 1 Intercooler and a Wortec single box exhaust with a solenoid operated flap in the rear box to bypass all of the silencers altogether.
Suspension:
This IMHO was the car's party piece. KVv3s all round with M030 ARBs. Cup 1 Wheels with Michelin Pilot Sport wheels all round
Brakes:
928 GTS 'Big Black' Brake conversion up front with smooth calipers at the rear.
The car also came with the bonus of having two brand new front wings fitted in addition to the sills. Perfect stuff.
However, the car did require tidying up albeit in terms of minor details. The rear arches had a slight amount of surface rust present (and I do mean a little) in addition to some chips etc. catching up with the car.
One thing which surprised me over the previous 944 was the pace. OK it was a little lame off boost but wow it was superb when on it! I will have to buy a car one day to replicate that, if not push the boundaries further.
Also the suspension setup was superb with the grip being beyond what I thought a 944 could ever do. I may have once scared an owner of a low mileage (75,000 mile) S2 in this car
. It is a small wonder that a car of the same spec as mine (but with R888s) managed a time of 8 minutes around the 'ring .Things were about to take a turn for this car however from initially being a weekend toy. Due to this car presenting me to with plenty of issues:
The Porsche entered daily service.
Well, what can possibly go wrong?
Edited by SebringMan on Thursday 29th December 08:57
Many thanks for the comms .
. Indeed whilst there is plenty of bad press for the 944s there are many which run fine, but they do require the owner to truly keep on top of them, changing anything suspect .
As for missing the 951 I do indeed. The handling of it really did surpass my expectations to the point that I 'got' why people vouched for KWv3s ; my current daily on Konis does not come close if I am honest. But then I missed the S2, and after all of the effort I put into it (less than many others have on their examples) I thought I would never get a better example for my money. I soon come to learn how wrong I was there. I shall not lie, but the two cars above and from what I have seen of others is what has formed my opinion of what to look for when buying a 944. Likewise, I always like to try different things. Mmmmm, E36 M3, R32 GTRs, plenty of stuff.
Anyway, to come back on track the Passat had not been an easy ride for me. The issues with it included (being purchased from a friend without a test drive (a cardinal sin)) between two people owning it (me being one of them) included:
-The camshaft being worn down to the nub
-Various bushes being so worn that it has to be the most dangerous car I have ever driven (how the guy did 200 miles a week in it was beyond me!)
-Various electrical faults, including the dreaded 'steering lock' starting fault (this can be Googled).
-Other stuff.
Eventually most of the above was fixed to the point the car was no longer a deathtrap before another bit of bad news came with it. The gearbox self destructed 2 months after ownership. Ah well.
Clearly, this left me with an issue. I was now without any form of transport. It was time for the 944 to step up to the plate. After all, it's only 20 years old with 175k on the clock and the 'fragile' Turbo version, surely it would not go more than 100 miles without blowing up from when I spoke to some Porsche specialists nearby (well, their works)?
In truth, it was great for the best part. The KWs really made the car an easy proposition in terms of day to day usage bar some speed bumps. Even the fact that the car was doing low to mid 20s MPG did not bother me massively unless I took long trips out. But at least I could enjoy the car!
Naturally, it did start to play up. On some occasions the car was not start with the boost gauge bouncing around with the ignition on from 0.6 to 1 (1 being atmospheric pressure in a 944, so 0 on a normal boost gauge). The cause of this will be familiar to some:
What would a 944 thread be like if the DME relay was not mentioned? Indeed, this was playing up. To keep the car going I kept on top of the oil changes with Mobil 1 10W60 Motorsport oil, which seemed to do the trick!
Indeed I was quietly enjoying the ride (bar being skint from the Passat) except in the summer. A lack of working A/C, dark blue leather seats and one of the hottest summers in recent times (2013) meant that I was literally dripping in sweat on long journeys in the 944! Not great. But, who cares? I had a daily driver with Boooooost!
Driving it about so much meant that I was not scared to take it out to various events. Such an event included a dyno day. On the basis that I had yet to give the car a full service and that I was unaware of the power it was making (I suspect it was beyond the factory 250, but was unsure of just how much) this was the result. I may have told the dyno operator that the car was standard bar an intercooler, DV30 valve and exhaust. It was a nice surprise.
Considering that a 220 got 221 on the day with an S2 seeing 189 and Boxsters generally seeing factory figures I was quite pleased with that result. The operator may have commented that the car was not standard!
However, the daily run was not doing the 944 many favours with the rust progressing despite going at a slow rate, and with the semi shabby interior becoming a little shabbier. It was time I invested in making it tidier. With a few simple touches like a gear knob to replace the tired item and mats (it came with none!) I did just that.
Whilst the above aided the creature comforts inside the car there was no escaping the fact that the heater controls had dyno tape on them, and that the clock (how 944 owners love their clocks!) did not work, with even the HU slowly dying!
However, doing this work did show one thing. Despite the intitially tattiness in some areas the car did have many new bits on bit, including refurbished clocks, new cooling system throughout, new cylinder head built by EMC (I bought it partly due to this), brand new brakes all round and wheels refurbished by Pristine wheels. It was true peach of a car IMHO despite the mileage on the clock.
However, doing 10k a year in a 20 year old car does require you to keep an eye on things. One casualty of the car when I took it down to the rolling road included the rear lip spoiler making a bid for freedom on the trip down. Yes, the car was undressing itself.
I was quite gutted at this point. Bridge spoiler items on 944s are horrifically expensive for what they are. The tailgates change hands for the price of MOT'd (but sheddy) 944s with the individual bits being expensive on their own! This called for a bit of research on my part.
After some searching through the usual suspects I came across the lip spoiler from a known character in the business for quite a cheap sum, a bargain if I am honest! It did not come without its faults mind you.
It was covered in overspray and had minor chips on it. There was no way that I could put this onto the car! With some trickery (well bodgery to some) some G3, and T Cut Colour Fast along with some wax soon had the lip looking lovely.
One of those 'during' the restoration.
The final result:
Yes I did cheat with my method for sure. But it was very long lasting was the finish, and it also left me with two other issues:
-The reason for why the old one came off was because one of the seals had become too hard, which caused the spoiler to break it adhesive.
-The other parts of the spoiler now really did look very tired! I would have to give the rest of the tailgate the same treatment as the lip part (including the main spoiler). Ho hum...
However it was time that I treated the car to some niceties after trying to keep it in good shape. When a ClubSport wheel turned up at the right price I could not refuse. IMHO these really do transform the driving experience of a 944. It was easier to grip than a stock item, although it did make the car feel more modern (which can be taken in a variety of ways), in terms of how it turned etc. Simple things eh?
However, the car was not getting any tidier...
.Fat Albert said:
Nice 944s!
I ran a 951 for 3 years as a daily Driver and it only went wrong once.....
I shall come onto this shortly I ran a 951 for 3 years as a daily Driver and it only went wrong once.....
. Indeed whilst there is plenty of bad press for the 944s there are many which run fine, but they do require the owner to truly keep on top of them, changing anything suspect .Hallsy01 said:
Chas - is that you?? 
Nice write up - sounds like you might be missing the old girl!!
Aha, I should have know that you would be on here Andy! How are things treating you?Nice write up - sounds like you might be missing the old girl!!
As for missing the 951 I do indeed. The handling of it really did surpass my expectations to the point that I 'got' why people vouched for KWv3s ; my current daily on Konis does not come close if I am honest. But then I missed the S2, and after all of the effort I put into it (less than many others have on their examples) I thought I would never get a better example for my money. I soon come to learn how wrong I was there. I shall not lie, but the two cars above and from what I have seen of others is what has formed my opinion of what to look for when buying a 944. Likewise, I always like to try different things
. Mmmmm, E36 M3, R32 GTRs, plenty of stuff.Anyway, to come back on track the Passat had not been an easy ride for me. The issues with it included (being purchased from a friend without a test drive (a cardinal sin)) between two people owning it (me being one of them) included:
-The camshaft being worn down to the nub
-Various bushes being so worn that it has to be the most dangerous car I have ever driven (how the guy did 200 miles a week in it was beyond me!)
-Various electrical faults, including the dreaded 'steering lock' starting fault (this can be Googled).
-Other stuff.
Eventually most of the above was fixed to the point the car was no longer a deathtrap before another bit of bad news came with it. The gearbox self destructed 2 months after ownership. Ah well.
Clearly, this left me with an issue. I was now without any form of transport. It was time for the 944 to step up to the plate. After all, it's only 20 years old with 175k on the clock and the 'fragile' Turbo version, surely it would not go more than 100 miles without blowing up from when I spoke to some Porsche specialists nearby (well, their works)?
In truth, it was great for the best part. The KWs really made the car an easy proposition in terms of day to day usage bar some speed bumps. Even the fact that the car was doing low to mid 20s MPG did not bother me massively unless I took long trips out. But at least I could enjoy the car!
Naturally, it did start to play up. On some occasions the car was not start with the boost gauge bouncing around with the ignition on from 0.6 to 1 (1 being atmospheric pressure in a 944, so 0 on a normal boost gauge). The cause of this will be familiar to some:
What would a 944 thread be like if the DME relay was not mentioned? Indeed, this was playing up. To keep the car going I kept on top of the oil changes with Mobil 1 10W60 Motorsport oil, which seemed to do the trick!
Indeed I was quietly enjoying the ride (bar being skint from the Passat) except in the summer. A lack of working A/C, dark blue leather seats and one of the hottest summers in recent times (2013) meant that I was literally dripping in sweat on long journeys in the 944! Not great. But, who cares? I had a daily driver with Boooooost!
Driving it about so much meant that I was not scared to take it out to various events. Such an event included a dyno day. On the basis that I had yet to give the car a full service and that I was unaware of the power it was making (I suspect it was beyond the factory 250, but was unsure of just how much) this was the result. I may have told the dyno operator that the car was standard bar an intercooler, DV30 valve and exhaust. It was a nice surprise.
Considering that a 220 got 221 on the day with an S2 seeing 189 and Boxsters generally seeing factory figures I was quite pleased with that result. The operator may have commented that the car was not standard!
However, the daily run was not doing the 944 many favours with the rust progressing despite going at a slow rate, and with the semi shabby interior becoming a little shabbier. It was time I invested in making it tidier. With a few simple touches like a gear knob to replace the tired item and mats (it came with none!) I did just that
.Whilst the above aided the creature comforts inside the car there was no escaping the fact that the heater controls had dyno tape on them, and that the clock (how 944 owners love their clocks!) did not work, with even the HU slowly dying!
However, doing this work did show one thing. Despite the intitially tattiness in some areas the car did have many new bits on bit, including refurbished clocks, new cooling system throughout, new cylinder head built by EMC (I bought it partly due to this), brand new brakes all round and wheels refurbished by Pristine wheels. It was true peach of a car IMHO despite the mileage on the clock.
However, doing 10k a year in a 20 year old car does require you to keep an eye on things. One casualty of the car when I took it down to the rolling road included the rear lip spoiler making a bid for freedom on the trip down. Yes, the car was undressing itself.
I was quite gutted at this point. Bridge spoiler items on 944s are horrifically expensive for what they are. The tailgates change hands for the price of MOT'd (but sheddy) 944s with the individual bits being expensive on their own! This called for a bit of research on my part.
After some searching through the usual suspects I came across the lip spoiler from a known character in the business for quite a cheap sum, a bargain if I am honest! It did not come without its faults mind you.
It was covered in overspray and had minor chips on it. There was no way that I could put this onto the car! With some trickery (well bodgery to some) some G3, and T Cut Colour Fast along with some wax soon had the lip looking lovely.
One of those 'during' the restoration.
The final result:
Yes I did cheat with my method for sure. But it was very long lasting was the finish, and it also left me with two other issues:
-The reason for why the old one came off was because one of the seals had become too hard, which caused the spoiler to break it adhesive.
-The other parts of the spoiler now really did look very tired! I would have to give the rest of the tailgate the same treatment as the lip part (including the main spoiler). Ho hum...
However it was time that I treated the car to some niceties after trying to keep it in good shape. When a ClubSport wheel turned up at the right price I could not refuse. IMHO these really do transform the driving experience of a 944. It was easier to grip than a stock item, although it did make the car feel more modern (which can be taken in a variety of ways), in terms of how it turned etc. Simple things eh?
However, the car was not getting any tidier...
Edited by SebringMan on Monday 26th January 21:10
With all of the niggling little jobs I decided it would be time to tackle them even if in my mind they would not make a massive difference. The first item to get some attention was the clock. On 944s the display bleeds making the clock unreadable. Secondhand clocks go for £100+. Whilst I may have begrudgingly paid that I decided to attempt to repair the clock myself using a kit off eBay through a known 944 enthusiast.
With the display I also decided to change the heater controls which also looked shabby; they have to be removed in a 944 in order to remove the clock anyway, so that was no big issue:
My old display:
During the process:
The rally labelled heater control and iffy display had left the building!:
And fixed! The clock did take a couple of goes and assembling/dissembling before it worked, but I got there in the end. The interior seems a better place for it inside now IMO with those two issues fixed. C&C welcome:
I have no idea why the camera makes it look as if only half of the display illuminates, since it looks fine in reality.
Have a moody nighttime shot. Forgive the high ISO, I was trying to combat the shakes (yes, I really should have dug out the tripod!).
A small touch I admit but IMO it made quite a difference to the interior of the car.
Over winter I felt it was time that the exterior of the car received some attention too, with the rear end having some metalwork, paint along with the front being resprayed. A few other bits on the car did not look their best so I set to work with a mini shopping list. Part of this list included:
The additions came in the form of dealer-esque number plates of the older type font to replace the tired old Euro items. Small details to some but I have never really been a fan of modern plates on old cars. I also obtained some clear lenses since my old lenses were not that clever along with the fact that the seal was very tired around them Plus, the lenses were cheaper than replacing corroded indicator units. Truth be told, it was a change I fancied trying out:
A comparison of the lenses:
The old seals were very brittle and quite past it (I was losing my indicator in one side due to the water being let in:
These may not be to everyone's tastes but I prefer the look of the car now it has to be said:
And some night time shots. Better shots shall arrive at a later date!:
Furthermore I had plans for the audio of the car. Purists and non car audio folk may as well look away!
The radio in this car has never been fantastic truth be told. It did not sound too great in addition to the Head Unit (HU) generally looking tired and worn out. That is before you get to it skipping more than MC Hammer's beats and the fact that only half of the buttons illuminated at night time. Not something that one wants in a Porsche! This was something that required amending. Naturally, the photos flatter the appearance of the CD player:
Modern technology has spoiled me though. I wished to have a HU which did the following:
-Had CD MP3 Playback
-The ability to work effectively with iPods and Bluetooth devices
-Allow Bluetooth audio streaming
-Have the ability to account for future audio upgrades (Equalisers, flexible crossovers, time alignment etc.)
This is what I ended up with:
The issue. Around 15 years ago when the Pioneer was installed, someone had used crimped connectors with no ISO block in sight. Great for powering an outdated Pioneer, not so great for running anything else without taking some time. That and crimped connectors have never been that great IMO (with the old Pioneer having connectively issues to boot). I set to make the loom more of a plug and play affair:
Before:
With a spare ISO loom and the soldering iron fired up this was the final result:
After which I decided to sample the new setup. So much so that I have yet to tidy the wires behind the dash (there are now many boxes and wires present, but I shall tidy this later on in the week!) and to remove some of the tools:
These changes IMO really did help improve living with the car in all honesty.
In these poor shots my car met its twin! A MY1991 S2, but stock. Suffice to say mine did look a little different:
From this point on I decided that it was time to enjoy the car. It went to a few places along the way including a 924 day:
I also decided that the car needed a major service. I was in for quite a surprise with this. Some parts were filthy (the air filter being the main culprit and it was a 15,000 mile old filter going by the date stamp), yet others were very easy to change for a 944 (the rear fuel filter where I was also greeted with new fuel lines. The spark plugs were also changed along with the usual oil and filter change, as well as checking over the rest of the car.
Whilst it may have been a placebo the car did feel quite a bit pokier, almost as if it had gained another 10BHP! It pulled harder, slipped the wheels a little more when accellerating and as a bonus for chavs it even started popping from the exhaust on upshifts when giving the car some stick. A service where a difference could be felt? Superb. Whilst it may have simply have been a placebo I am surprised at just how dirty that air filter was.
The centre console was also tidier up:
Besides servicing my car I managed to get down to one of the UK Porsche Transaxle meets local to me. While there were a large array of stock 944s present there were some lovely modified examples present as well. One of which was Mark Koeberle's '88 Turbo S making in excess of 400BHP after having the Lindsey Racing catalogue and ProMax's expertise thrown at the car. That is before you get to the suspension modifications and fancy brakes he can somehow fit under the stock wheels! The bronze wheels were a great touch on the car IMO.
That said, there were a few other modified examples present. The Silver Turbo S had been mapped by the owner and was at one point his daily driver. It may have had some questions asked about it, regarding the exterior mods from a few owners, but such is life:
There were a couple of other cars there, albeit it minor mods:
With the display I also decided to change the heater controls which also looked shabby; they have to be removed in a 944 in order to remove the clock anyway, so that was no big issue:
My old display:
During the process:
The rally labelled heater control and iffy display had left the building!:
And fixed! The clock did take a couple of goes and assembling/dissembling before it worked, but I got there in the end. The interior seems a better place for it inside now IMO with those two issues fixed. C&C welcome
:
I have no idea why the camera makes it look as if only half of the display illuminates, since it looks fine in reality
.
Have a moody nighttime shot. Forgive the high ISO, I was trying to combat the shakes (yes, I really should have dug out the tripod!).
A small touch I admit but IMO it made quite a difference to the interior of the car.
Over winter I felt it was time that the exterior of the car received some attention too, with the rear end having some metalwork, paint along with the front being resprayed. A few other bits on the car did not look their best so I set to work with a mini shopping list. Part of this list included:
The additions came in the form of dealer-esque number plates of the older type font to replace the tired old Euro items. Small details to some but I have never really been a fan of modern plates on old cars. I also obtained some clear lenses since my old lenses were not that clever along with the fact that the seal was very tired around them Plus, the lenses were cheaper than replacing corroded indicator units. Truth be told, it was a change I fancied trying out:
A comparison of the lenses:
The old seals were very brittle and quite past it (I was losing my indicator in one side due to the water being let in:
These may not be to everyone's tastes but I prefer the look of the car now it has to be said
:And some night time shots. Better shots shall arrive at a later date!:
Furthermore I had plans for the audio of the car. Purists and non car audio folk may as well look away!
The radio in this car has never been fantastic truth be told. It did not sound too great in addition to the Head Unit (HU) generally looking tired and worn out. That is before you get to it skipping more than MC Hammer's beats and the fact that only half of the buttons illuminated at night time. Not something that one wants in a Porsche! This was something that required amending. Naturally, the photos flatter the appearance of the CD player:
Modern technology has spoiled me though. I wished to have a HU which did the following:
-Had CD MP3 Playback
-The ability to work effectively with iPods and Bluetooth devices
-Allow Bluetooth audio streaming
-Have the ability to account for future audio upgrades (Equalisers, flexible crossovers, time alignment etc.)
This is what I ended up with:
The issue. Around 15 years ago when the Pioneer was installed, someone had used crimped connectors with no ISO block in sight. Great for powering an outdated Pioneer, not so great for running anything else without taking some time. That and crimped connectors have never been that great IMO (with the old Pioneer having connectively issues to boot). I set to make the loom more of a plug and play affair:
Before:
With a spare ISO loom and the soldering iron fired up this was the final result:
After which I decided to sample the new setup. So much so that I have yet to tidy the wires behind the dash (there are now many boxes and wires present, but I shall tidy this later on in the week!) and to remove some of the tools:
These changes IMO really did help improve living with the car in all honesty.
In these poor shots my car met its twin! A MY1991 S2, but stock. Suffice to say mine did look a little different:
From this point on I decided that it was time to enjoy the car. It went to a few places along the way including a 924 day
:I also decided that the car needed a major service. I was in for quite a surprise with this. Some parts were filthy (the air filter being the main culprit and it was a 15,000 mile old filter going by the date stamp), yet others were very easy to change for a 944 (the rear fuel filter where I was also greeted with new fuel lines
. The spark plugs were also changed along with the usual oil and filter change, as well as checking over the rest of the car.Whilst it may have been a placebo the car did feel quite a bit pokier, almost as if it had gained another 10BHP! It pulled harder, slipped the wheels a little more when accellerating and as a bonus for chavs it even started popping from the exhaust on upshifts when giving the car some stick
. A service where a difference could be felt? Superb. Whilst it may have simply have been a placebo I am surprised at just how dirty that air filter was.The centre console was also tidier up:
Besides servicing my car I managed to get down to one of the UK Porsche Transaxle meets local to me. While there were a large array of stock 944s present there were some lovely modified examples present as well. One of which was Mark Koeberle's '88 Turbo S making in excess of 400BHP after having the Lindsey Racing catalogue and ProMax's expertise thrown at the car. That is before you get to the suspension modifications and fancy brakes he can somehow fit under the stock wheels! The bronze wheels were a great touch on the car IMO.
That said, there were a few other modified examples present. The Silver Turbo S had been mapped by the owner and was at one point his daily driver. It may have had some questions asked about it, regarding the exterior mods from a few owners, but such is life
:
There were a couple of other cars there, albeit it minor mods:
Nice work! Having just changed the Head Unit in my SAAB, it was the first one I have done with ISO connections and was amazed how easy/quick it was compared to crimping wires and blowing fuses!
I must try and get to another Rutland meet, the one I attended they put my car at the back for the group shot as it was so dirty!!
I must try and get to another Rutland meet, the one I attended they put my car at the back for the group shot as it was so dirty!!
Edited by Fat Albert on Friday 30th January 16:13
Many thanks for the comms .
.
With the car shaping up nicely for once it was time I did what I originally intended with the car ; use it!
However I would need an MOT before that. It ended up getting an advisory on the front tyres. The car came to me with Michelin PS2s. I ended up changing the fronts to Michelin PS3s up front, which seemed fine.
Now it came to using it I took it a few times down to London. One of the events was the 924 OC event, where an Ace bod asked me to park up with them, despite my pleas of it not being a 924, and thus gatecrashing the event! Still, the meet was good fun with a bit of decent material about the place:
A Paul Stephens 911:
All in all, it was good fun finally enjoying the fruits of my labour.
Oh, I finally finished tidying up the centre console.
Now that the main issues of the car were dealt with it was time to do some housekeeping. The rear hatch kept on rattling with the bootlid being quite hard to shut. Upon looking at the pins this was not surprising They had certainly seen better days:
Furthermore my sunroof seal was not too hot either!:
With the new one in place the interior was more leak free for a change:
I continued with taking the car out to various places and generally maintaining it:
[img]http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a68/randhawac/Cars/951/2014/Spring/Shuttleworth
/2014-05-24180118.jpg[/img]
After making all of the interior changes I have to admit that it did make for a better experience inside the car:
Then the Coventry MotoFest arrived. This car made its appearance both on the Ring Road and the static display stands:
It also made an appearance at the Retro Rides Gathering:
DSC_3361 by dbizzle_, on Flickr
My launches were poor admitedly, although I did not fancy destroying a clutch (and a rather pricey one at that (Is it around £1300 these days to change a clutch on a 951?) over a few hilclimbs. Sad or prudent I shall let you decide:
http://youtu.be/P_EGtgLljXY
I think you will agree that the Wortecs are quite loud! Here's a video of going from 'loud' mode to quiet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5rmCKehFQ8
It was great to see that the fruits of my labour had paid off. People who previously thought this car looked tatty thought it looked superb now ; not bad for only touching up a few bits on the car!
Some of you may have noticed at the rear that the rear script decal is missing. In truth I was debating between three things on that front ; going for a genuine decal, a good copy or no decal at all. Whilst no decal was present on the rear and I did not mind so much it always seemed like something was missing. Considering that the pattern decals had a reputation for not quite fitting right I decided to go for a genuine Porsche item, albeit at quite a cost for a bit of plastic!
On the car however it did complete the tidy up of the car I have to say!:
At the same time the boot latch was becoming awkward to open with the new pins! Upon taking the locks off the problem became apparent ; the grease had congealed and had semi seized the locks on. After stripping them down and cleaning them up this really improved matters.
However, things at home were not quite as rosy. Being self employed at the time work was becoming quiet (quieter than it ever had been for quite a number of years!) and I simply could not justify having 3 cars on the go. The Porsche despite being reliable certainly was not a cheap daily driver, the Stag seemed to always require cash throwing at it, and with the last gearbox connundrum backfiring on me (despite it being a refurbished unit) I decided that I had enough of that car, and the 205 which was shared between a few guys was not really being used ; my friends decided it was also the right thing to do! In a wierd twist of fate I put all 3 cars up for sale.
The first car under the hammer was the 205. It was sad to see it go but it did go to a good home and it would at least be used!
With that gone I was no longer quite so fussed about getting rid of the Porsche. However, I was made quite a good offer on the car, one which I thought long and hard about and so that went as well. It was gutting to see the car drive away, but OTOH I had my fun out of it and in all honesty it probably saved me crashing the car!
This left the Stag in my possesion. I really did not know what to do with this car. Go through the pain of fixing it (again) and throwing even more cash at it, continue to drive the car with the gearbox issue and simply plan my journeys with plenty of time whilst funding the Sheikh's pensions (it took 10-20 minutes before it would engage any gear upon being started) or cut my losses and be rid. With a half decent offer on that car that also went. I missed the styling of that car, but OTOH it was good to see it go to someone who truly would give it more attention that I would after the hurdles it have presented.
Naturally this left me carless for a short while. This however would soon be rectified. I have to say that owning a nice (ish) classic and a cheapo daily is certainly less stress free, and easier.
.Max M4X WW said:
Very nice, looks good in white
Where did the number plates come from?
They came from DMB Graphics (www.dmbgraphics.co.uk). I have previously ordered stickers from them (as in old car dealer stickers) and their quality has always been top notch.Where did the number plates come from?
Fat Albert said:
Nice work! Having just changed the Head Unit in my SAAB, it was the first one I have done with ISO connections and was amazed how easy/quick it was compared to crimping wires and blowing fuses!
I must try and get to another Rutland meet, the one I attended they put my car at the back for the group shot as it was so dirty!!
Aha, I figured you were a 944 owner ; the name seems familiar. Which '44 did you own and what is your name on the forum? There is another meet happening in late March I must try and get to another Rutland meet, the one I attended they put my car at the back for the group shot as it was so dirty!!
Edited by Fat Albert on Friday 30th January 16:13
.With the car shaping up nicely for once it was time I did what I originally intended with the car ; use it!
However I would need an MOT before that. It ended up getting an advisory on the front tyres. The car came to me with Michelin PS2s. I ended up changing the fronts to Michelin PS3s up front, which seemed fine
.Now it came to using it I took it a few times down to London. One of the events was the 924 OC event, where an Ace bod asked me to park up with them, despite my pleas of it not being a 924, and thus gatecrashing the event! Still, the meet was good fun with a bit of decent material about the place:
A Paul Stephens 911:
All in all, it was good fun finally enjoying the fruits of my labour.
Oh, I finally finished tidying up the centre console.
Now that the main issues of the car were dealt with it was time to do some housekeeping. The rear hatch kept on rattling with the bootlid being quite hard to shut. Upon looking at the pins this was not surprising They had certainly seen better days:
Furthermore my sunroof seal was not too hot either!:
With the new one in place the interior was more leak free for a change:
I continued with taking the car out to various places and generally maintaining it:
[img]http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a68/randhawac/Cars/951/2014/Spring/Shuttleworth
/2014-05-24180118.jpg[/img]
After making all of the interior changes I have to admit that it did make for a better experience inside the car:
Then the Coventry MotoFest arrived. This car made its appearance both on the Ring Road and the static display stands
:It also made an appearance at the Retro Rides Gathering:
DSC_3361 by dbizzle_, on FlickrMy launches were poor admitedly, although I did not fancy destroying a clutch (and a rather pricey one at that (Is it around £1300 these days to change a clutch on a 951?) over a few hilclimbs. Sad or prudent I shall let you decide
:http://youtu.be/P_EGtgLljXY
I think you will agree that the Wortecs are quite loud! Here's a video of going from 'loud' mode to quiet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5rmCKehFQ8
It was great to see that the fruits of my labour had paid off. People who previously thought this car looked tatty thought it looked superb now ; not bad for only touching up a few bits on the car!
Some of you may have noticed at the rear that the rear script decal is missing. In truth I was debating between three things on that front ; going for a genuine decal, a good copy or no decal at all. Whilst no decal was present on the rear and I did not mind so much it always seemed like something was missing. Considering that the pattern decals had a reputation for not quite fitting right I decided to go for a genuine Porsche item, albeit at quite a cost for a bit of plastic!
On the car however it did complete the tidy up of the car I have to say!:
At the same time the boot latch was becoming awkward to open with the new pins! Upon taking the locks off the problem became apparent ; the grease had congealed and had semi seized the locks on. After stripping them down and cleaning them up this really improved matters.
However, things at home were not quite as rosy. Being self employed at the time work was becoming quiet (quieter than it ever had been for quite a number of years!) and I simply could not justify having 3 cars on the go. The Porsche despite being reliable certainly was not a cheap daily driver, the Stag seemed to always require cash throwing at it, and with the last gearbox connundrum backfiring on me (despite it being a refurbished unit) I decided that I had enough of that car, and the 205 which was shared between a few guys was not really being used ; my friends decided it was also the right thing to do! In a wierd twist of fate I put all 3 cars up for sale.
The first car under the hammer was the 205. It was sad to see it go but it did go to a good home and it would at least be used!
With that gone I was no longer quite so fussed about getting rid of the Porsche. However, I was made quite a good offer on the car, one which I thought long and hard about and so that went as well. It was gutting to see the car drive away, but OTOH I had my fun out of it and in all honesty it probably saved me crashing the car!
This left the Stag in my possesion. I really did not know what to do with this car. Go through the pain of fixing it (again) and throwing even more cash at it, continue to drive the car with the gearbox issue and simply plan my journeys with plenty of time whilst funding the Sheikh's pensions (it took 10-20 minutes before it would engage any gear upon being started) or cut my losses and be rid. With a half decent offer on that car that also went. I missed the styling of that car, but OTOH it was good to see it go to someone who truly would give it more attention that I would after the hurdles it have presented.
Naturally this left me carless for a short while. This however would soon be rectified. I have to say that owning a nice (ish) classic and a cheapo daily is certainly less stress free, and easier
.Edited by SebringMan on Sunday 8th February 14:17
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