1983 Porsche 944 - Time for some restoration

[madrob6]

I've posted this in the Porsche section but I'm still waiting for my chance to go and collect the car a month later so to take my mind off the fact I thought I'd introduce the chaps in here to it.

Story behind this one is that the previous owner bought it purely so say that they owned a Porsche by a certain age, had the engine rebuilt and then left it in their mother's garage to rot. My Mum was having a conversation with the owner of the garage and mentioned that I liked fixing cars up and the car was offered to me to save the poor thing from the scrap heap.

On with the pics:















The bodywork on the car seems to be in great shape with no rust that I can see. The paint is flaking up on one of the wings but shouldn't be too bad to sort out.

Interior is a bit shabby in places but nothing that can't be sorted by stripping it out and giving it a damn good clean and a bit of a retrim on the drivers seat.

Don't really know much about the condition of the rest of it but the car hasn't moved for at least 5 years and is going to need some nice new parts like a timing belt to avoid disaster before firing it up.

Now I just need to finish work on my Passat so I can sell that on and make some space.

Edited by MadRob6 on Thursday 12th September 21:39

[madrob6]

No thanks the Fuchs are staying.

[madrob6]

sniff petrol said:

madrob6 said:

No thanks the Fuchs are staying.

In that colour?

Not sure yet, need to get the car back on the road before I decide what to do regards to the appearance. They seem to have been refurbished at some point (can see some overspray on the silver rim) so they're in good condition, might strip them down for a different colour but that's a problem for later.

[madrob6]

surreystyle said:

I was gonna say, if you didn't want the rims, you would get a lot for them from the vw beetle communities!

But I love Fuchs wheels as much as they do so I'm happy keeping hold of them

[madrob6]

Finally picked the car up at the weekend after having to dismantle one of the brakes to get it unstuck and push it out of the garage.

Here it is out in the sun for the first time in 8 years




And after a good wash






The interior is a bit of a mess at the moment and half of it hasn't been put together properly by whoever went in there last

This amp was in there with what was the worst wiring I've ever seen so I spent a bit of time stripping it all out

Edited by MadRob6 on Thursday 12th September 21:42

[madrob6]

I see what you mean, I don't think I'll be turning it into any crazy pickup conversions though, boot is small enough as it is.

[madrob6]

I've always had a soft spot for anything with flared arches (excluding Novas) so I'm loving it.
Now if only I could get the engine to start

[madrob6]

Not planning on doing much to it this weekend as I've got a CV joint to replace on my VW.

Going to have a look into the electrics, fit some of the fuses that are missing and see if the fuel pump is working and maybe try and clean some more mould off.

Really need to get the VW sold but this thing is causing a bit of a distraction

[madrob6]

Didn't end up doing the VW in the end and pulled the centre console out of the 944 to see what was behind it. Wasn't hard as for some reason it had no screws in it.

I discovered one plug was disconnected which powered the handbrake and brake warning light and the back light for the heater controls had a cable that was just pushed on instead of having a spade connector on it. Heater still doesn't work but things are much tidier back there now and less likely to start a fire. Handbrake warning light still doesn't work as the switch doesn't have a wire connected to it, oh well.

Also had a go at cleaning the seats up a bit despite their sorry state and I've not run out of interior cleaner. I wouldn't mind so much but the interior is still filthy. I sprayed the stuff on and this grey liquid just ran off and promptly turned any cloth I used grey and left them with an almighty stench. The inside is looking better slowly but surely and the glovebox is now actually screwed in instead of flapping about.

Just ordered some new bonnet struts and some boot pins from a shop on ebay. Should mean I can do away with the bit of wood wedged between the bonnet and the intake manifold and that the boot will stay shut. Then I just need to replace the boot struts too but given the price of the whole set I thought I'd do them later.

Must sort the VW next week and get it sold to release more Porsche repair funds

[madrob6]

Bonnet struts have now been fitted so the bonnet will stay open without the dodgy block of wood wedged between it and the intake manifold.
Boot pins were a lot of hassle to change, offside one was done in no time but had to drill the screws out for the nearside one as they were in such a state. Boot now stays shut and is nice and firm, just need to get it so it can stay up now.

Anyway since the bonnet stays open I took a pic of the engine after giving a few bits a bit of a clean up.


I also noticed that the car used to be black as the engine bay is black and so is the bodyword underneath the rear lights. Bit of a shame as I really like the look of a black 944 with black Fuchs.

[madrob6]

Jon944S2 said:

It has certainly been resprayed as the rubber strip on the rear bumper has be painted over too

That and the fact that this colour was never available on the early models. Seen a few S2s and Turbos in it though.

Scho said:

shame,

might as well just give the fuchs to me.

You never give up do you?

[madrob6]

Been having a go at the interior lately while I'm waiting for the new starter motor to arrive. Here are some pics of how it looks now, just have to excuse the fact that the drivers door card is not on at the moment and the passenger side has no speaker or grille.

Edited by MadRob6 on Thursday 12th September 21:45

[madrob6]

I also removed all of the sound proofing from the underside of the bonnet today as I was getting fed up with it flaking off and leaving deposits on the engine every time I opened the bonnet. Thing just crumbled away if touched so was time to get rid, must remove the adhesive part of it at some point.

Another thing was to strip out the nice 80s car phone kit which let me remove a few wires from the battery post which is nice as a few of them were looking a bit tight against the bonnet.

Hopefully should have my replacement starter motor early next week so if all goes well and the fuel pump hasn't given up it should be running by the end of next weekend.

Then the next things on the list are to do are check the fuel and brake lines for rust, rebuild all 4 brake calipers, replace windscreen, get some new tyres and chuck it in for an MOT.

Still got some issues with the electrics. The mirrors refuse to do anything but got some new parts coming which may solve that and the heater blower isn't working and I can't figure out how to remove the switch yet. All the essentials are working like the lights so it's not the end of the world.

[madrob6]

Thanks for the tip, will give that a shot. I think I even have some of it lying around somewhere as I found it in the boot of a previous car I bought

I can live with the glue for now as that's less likely to leave annoying chunks everywhere.

[madrob6]

Would be nice to have the under bonnet everything the same colour again but the blue also looks very nice out in the sunlight (even if I have only seen it in the sun once). Paint isn't too bad just covered in small scratches with a few cracks so I need to investigate why it's cracking and hope there's no filler under there.

Gave the bonnet a good polish with a cheapy electric polisher I had lying around and it started looking better but needs a few more attempts to get it looking less scratched.

Looking forward to getting the engine running so I don't have to push it everytime I need to move the thing which gets pretty annoying when you have slow punctures in both front tyres. Not heard the engine run at all yet so might be a nice treat or could just leave me realising why it was abandoned, still the engine was supposedly rebuilt by a local garage before it was left to rot so it should be fine.

Now I just have to sit through a whole week of work waiting until I can do anything to it again, grr.

[madrob6]

Thanks Scho, that's the main thing that's tempting me with the return to black. I already have one black car at the moment that I couldn't be bothered to wash though.

Would love to polish the lips up myself but I need to get rid of the kerbing on the rears before that. Plenty to do before I worry about the finishing touches yet though.

[madrob6]

Decided to go digging today to get to the bottom of a few problems.

First thing was the electric mirrors. After last week getting the heater blower working by putting the fuse in the right place due to reading a wiring diagram which said fuse 9 instead of the handbook which listed fuse 9 as "not used". Figured I'd pull some trim off and look behind at whatever is going on with the wiring and couldn't see anything wrong (apart from the state of my interior afterwards) so I tried putting some fuses in the two spaces that were empty due to the handbook listing them as air conditioning (which has been butchered). Sadly still no life so going to try and get hold of some wiring diagrams online and get to the bottom of it.

Second thing was investigate the front bumper, I've had a feeling that the car has had a knock at some point and had the bumper replaced. I found out last week that it is meant to have headlight washers and discovered the pump and wiring in the washer bottle so this week I did this whilst the car was jacked up from removing the duff starter motor




Turns out the bumper is a fibre glass copy and not a particularly good one as the mounting holes don't line up with the car at all, it's a miracle the lights haven't fallen out of it as they were barely screwed in. Also discovered that the passenger side wing has been replaced and a few mounting brackets are missing from down there. Nice to see people have treated my little Porsche with such respect in the past.

Hoping to have a new starter motor next week so with any luck it'll be able to move without the aid of ropes

ETA: Just had a call to say that my starter motor is finished so I can pick it up later on today, just a shame I can't fit it until saturday grrrrr.

Edited by madrob6 on Wednesday 26th November 09:03

Edited by MadRob6 on Thursday 12th September 21:47

[madrob6]

Small update. Starter motor works now but it doesn't work off the key, going to have to investigate the ignition switch and see if it is the problem. Also found out that the fuel pump is absolutely dead so need to replace that first and then maybe the engine will run!

It did attempt to fire but I'm not sure what on as there was no fuel pressure and what was in the fuel line certainly didn't smell much like petrol any more.

[madrob6]

You'll probably get sick of seeing this car between here and TIPEC

Colour seems to be a 88-89 colour called Tahoe Blue, not confirmed that yet but it certainly needs some touching up at some point including needing a new drivers door and front bumper.

[madrob6]

Tired and frustrated that I need to save money so can't splash out on a new fuel pump.

Moving house at the end of next week so need to save some money in order to pay the rent and sort out all the utility bills, also means I don't get to see the little 944 at the weekend like usual.

How much more work does yours need before an MOT?



Just remembered my other car needs retaxing by the end of the month and a new MOT in Feb, that'll teach me for not selling it yet.