1985 Porsche 944

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Discussion

Therumbandit

Original Poster:

101 posts

84 months

Sunday 17th May 2020
quotequote all
Electrics is the part i dont like! luckily my dads more than competent with it all having been a mechanic for the last 30+ years! i spent yesterday afternoon ordering lots of parts for this and some bits for my 911 so i think i will be busy next weekend!

Pope

2,641 posts

249 months

Sunday 17th May 2020
quotequote all
Good start so far OP!

While you have some time waiting for bits take a look at Clarks Garage - plenty of 944 related stuff on there last time I looked. Re: the sunroof; the mechanism is a fairly non-complicated/complicated affair of cable and gears - before you use it too much take the little gearboxes apart and check the teeth on the gears; not renowned for their integrity.....

Therumbandit

Original Poster:

101 posts

84 months

Sunday 17th May 2020
quotequote all
clarkes garage has been my bible the last few weeks! step by step guides on how to check everything and where to look at problems!

BigMon

4,310 posts

131 months

Sunday 17th May 2020
quotequote all
Jeepers that sounds like a project and a half.

Good luck with it though. You'll have a lovely car if you see if through, with the added kudos of rescuing and bringing it back to life.

Therumbandit

Original Poster:

101 posts

84 months

Sunday 17th May 2020
quotequote all
Have been back at it, removed the front seats and carpet to check the extent of the rot! the floor pans and inner cills are sound from what i can tell! which is a relief!





My dad inspecting the worst bit of rot on the car!



The seat runners especially the drivers side were very stiff which made it nearly impossible to get to the bolts to get the seat out! so i removed them from the seats and gave them a clean up and a grease



Therumbandit

Original Poster:

101 posts

84 months

Wednesday 20th May 2020
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New Parts!



gathering parts for the 944! Including

bonnet struts
boot struts
spark plugs
wiper blades all round
brake light switch
sunroof wind deflector hinge
new antivibration mounts for fuel pump bracket
bits of wire! and jubilee clips and nuts!

just waiting on the fuel pump itself, a sun visor clip... Electric window motor and sunroof micro switch were also posted today! and i have it booked in for the rot/fiberglass to be cut out and metal welded in in July!

GC8

19,910 posts

192 months

Wednesday 20th May 2020
quotequote all
Be careful with the hatch struts. They’re sided and fitting the wrong parts can cause a fire at one extreme, or indicator malfunction at the other.

Therumbandit

Original Poster:

101 posts

84 months

Sunday 24th May 2020
quotequote all
Todays work started with the fuel pump! as you can see in the picture the bracket and old mounts have seen better days! i manged to get some new rubber bobbins off ebay



Fitting it on the car was a bit fiddly but i got there! in the mean time dad replaced some damaged wires where the alarm had been removed



Car started pretty much first turn of the key with the new fuel pump, put fuel pressure gauge on and pressure is good, had it running for a while all got up to temperature and ran ok! fan kicked in when hot! still havnt fitted the new thermostat tho,

A good view from when i was fitting the new brake light switch



new struts fitted to the bonnet and it finally holds itself up, i left the ones for the boot as i need to take the catches and boot lock off and unseize them and grease them



After running for a while i turned it off and it refuses to start now! it has fuel and spark so god knows whats wrong

Therumbandit

Original Poster:

101 posts

84 months

Sunday 31st May 2020
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Small update today! mainly fault finding and repairing wiring as im still waiting for some new engine sensors to be delivered

The car is still awaiting a wash! which might happen this afternoon


I removed the passenger door card to check the wiring to the electric mirrors as it wasnt wired up on the drivers side which i believe sends a feed to the passenger side! luckily the wiring is all there and intact so can be tested once we have made a loom for the drivers side




One of the issues i have noticed is the horn wasnt working, i thought it could be down the aftermarket and nasty looking steering wheel and push horn but the relay was clicking when the horn button was pressed, i went under the car and removed the wires to the horns and when pressed we have 12v feed to both horns, so these are off to the bin!



One thing that has bothered me about the car is the state of the wipers that can be seen in the first picture! i have new blades to go on so took to arms off gave them a clean up with a cup brush to get rid of the rust spots and gave them a coat of etch primer and then paint





the rear hatch mecanism has also been stripped as the boot lock is seized, some new anti vibration mounts are on order for the sunroof motor as they had perished and came apart, i checked the washer motor works which it does but there is a leak from the headlight washers when they run! so that will be investigated!

Therumbandit

Original Poster:

101 posts

84 months

Sunday 31st May 2020
quotequote all
looks more like a car now!




Therumbandit

Original Poster:

101 posts

84 months

Sunday 7th June 2020
quotequote all
Went out to the garage this morning, put the key in the igntion and the car started instantly! which was a suprise as i never usually leave the battery on it due to having most of the interior stripped out! so i took the opportunity to turn the car around so we can at least work under the bonnet in the garage in the rain! i left the 944 running and finally managed to get my 911 next to it for a pic!




as the car was still running i decided to take it for a little drive to the end of my close and back! on passing my neighbors house who has been taking the mick as it doesnt run i beeped the horn! and it cut out instantly so i coasted back to the garage



back into the garage and i fitted the new rear hood props



after sitting for a while the car fired straight up and was happily idling, the rain stopped so we pushed it to the garage door so i could open the car door and climb in easier to back it out... as soon as i got in it cut out again and wouldnt re start! again i let it sit and it will start and idle and turn off and on like there is no issue!

Therumbandit

Original Poster:

101 posts

84 months

Saturday 13th June 2020
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Back at it this morning, thought it could be a fuel pressure issue to tried to test it



made a jumper to rule out the DME relay being the problem despite it being new



put it in instead of the relay and the started the car, it ran fine for a bit but then the fuel pressure spiked and it cut out, so i pulled one of the injector plugs which means they have enough ampage to run open with the higher pressure and it ran on 3, i then removed the damper and cleaned it and re fitted it



after this the car started instantly and ran fine for 30 mins i kept watching the fuel pressure gauge waiting for it to cut out but nothing it sat bang on where it should be! which is typical



however... despite never having an issue before and the fans kicking in when they should all of a sudden it decided to dump water on the drive



it was at this point i decided to give it a rest and fit the new coilpacks and spark plugs to my 911! once i had done this i jacked the 944 up and had a look where the leak is coming from now the water is cold! it appears to be from the oil cooler area, i started the car and it was running rough and a bit rich and eventually cut out and the pressure gauge was showing high! so will try to order a new regulator hopefully for next weekend

Therumbandit

Original Poster:

101 posts

84 months

Wednesday 17th June 2020
quotequote all
well my oil cooler gasket kits and new oil filter arrived today! so thats a job for this weekend if the weather is nice




I also ordered these to replace the raid (i think) steering wheel that is currently fitted! a totally non essential purchase but nevermind




this is the old one with the cover on and off



Therumbandit

Original Poster:

101 posts

84 months

Saturday 20th June 2020
quotequote all
Ok so todays first job was to swap the sunroof runner for the new one so it would close tight and be ok if left outside when at the welders! however it turns out i ordered the part for the wrong side... so that job is now off until next weekend probably once i have exchanged parts



next up was to investigate the water leak which was hopefully from the gasket on the oil cooler housing, housing off



which revealed a crack in it! which sure enough water dripped out of when cold and once hot was pouring out





as it was off i decided to use the last of my free primer and UHT paint on the heatshield






Also managed to get the boot lock re fitted and working off the key! now to order yet more parts!

Therumbandit

Original Poster:

101 posts

84 months

Sunday 21st June 2020
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well after unbolting one side of the ARB yesterday to get the oil cooler housing out the bottom i decided to whip it off and give it a little lick of paint today and order new bushes,





cleaned the parts up with a cup brush on the angle grinder to get rid of most of the loose paint and rust, then some primer




whilst waiting for the primer to dry



finally a coat of satin black





also tested the electrics mirrors off the car and the motors in both appear to work! so once the interior is back in fingers crossed i can wire them in and that will be one more thing off the list

Therumbandit

Original Poster:

101 posts

84 months

Saturday 27th June 2020
quotequote all
long story short i have been spending again! some essential items some just cos i want them! first up the new oil cooler housing and bushes for ARB and some parts for the boot locks arrived yesterday, however todays weather has been rubbish so i havnt had chance to get the car jacked up and have a go at fitting them, while it was in the garage there was room to fit the replacement boot latch and new rubber bush



i was then distracted by my neighbor who was having a new windscreen fitted by auto glass



My recent purchases have been a set of Toyo Proxes sport to replace the cracked and leaking tyres that are on it, A set of Alpine speakers to replace the old ones that i currently have removed from the front and and the rears are missing! and a new headunit! the head unit arrived today and despite the high cost i bought it mainly for the classic look but with up to date features





as there are no connectors on the wiring in the car for the stereo i made a a start by tracing the 8 brown wires back to the individual speakers with the multimeter and then set about crimping them to the plug for the Blaupunkt! i got a bit distracted by another neighbor appearing with his new puppy!




Therumbandit

Original Poster:

101 posts

84 months

Saturday 27th June 2020
quotequote all
Weather permitting i will get the oil cooler back on tomorrow and the ARB and then it will be going to get chopped about and welded next weekend!!

GC8

19,910 posts

192 months

Saturday 27th June 2020
quotequote all

Therumbandit

Original Poster:

101 posts

84 months

Saturday 27th June 2020
quotequote all
GC8 said:
that could come in very handy! thanks mate

GC8

19,910 posts

192 months

Saturday 27th June 2020
quotequote all
You are welcome. Series one wiring is horrible.