My £750 1984 944

[Dax1995]

I have either just bought a bargain or a death sentence for my bank account.

So I have just owned an MX5 for the last couple of years which is now being sold in a couple of weeks time.

I put a deposit on a new MX5 with the idea of turning it into a track car, and then the guy selling it put this up for sale too..





All I know about it is 'it looks tidy for its age' and the 'brakes work'...

It is also missing the cylinder head.

I just put a deposit on it and I am picking it up in two weeks for £750.

Bargain or a mistake? Discuss.

[TR4man]

Bargain.

If it goes pear-shaped, you will more than get your money back by breaking it.

[tr7v8]

Couple of guys with spares for sale on the TIPEC site at the mo. Important thing is state of sills & rear suspension mounts. Rot here is the killer for these & is reasonably complex to do properly. A head will be cheap but you'll need new belts & possibly idlers & tensioners which will mount up. It also depends on why the head was lifted in the first place, another engine maybe a quicker option.

[Dax1995]

If all is well with the rust situation, the plan is to rebuild the engine completely and turbo it. I wont get it for two more weeks though. Might pop down and have a look at it before then however...

I forgot to mention the car hasnt been used on the road in 12 years

Edited by Dax1995 on Thursday 7th January 20:45

[mollytherocker]

Dax1995 said:

If all is well with the rust situation, the plan is to rebuild the engine completely and turbo it. I wont get it for two more weeks though. Might pop down and have a look at it before then however...

I forgot to mention the car hasnt been used on the road in 12 years

Edited by Dax1995 on Thursday 7th January 20:45

Then its probably a basket case. I was going to list the problems it will have, but I dont know where to start!

[edh]

Dax1995 said:

If all is well with the rust situation, the plan is to rebuild the engine completely and turbo it. I wont get it for two more weeks though. Might pop down and have a look at it before then however...

I forgot to mention the car hasnt been used on the road in 12 years

Edited by Dax1995 on Thursday 7th January 20:45

You'll certainly learn a lot about 944's and be on first name terms with several breakers...

I wouldn't bother rebuilding, just get a s/h engine. They are cheap and robust. Tubo addition is a very bad idea Imo though. If you are competent enough to homebrew a turbo, why not fit a v6 or v8?

Brakes work? Or just seized?

Value of that car (whole or in bits) depends a lot on the state of the interior.

[Dax1995]

edh said:

You'll certainly learn a lot about 944's and be on first name terms with several breakers...

I wouldn't bother rebuilding, just get a s/h engine. They are cheap and robust. Tubo addition is a very bad idea Imo though. If you are competent enough to homebrew a turbo, why not fit a v6 or v8?

Brakes work? Or just seized?

Value of that car (whole or in bits) depends a lot on the state of the interior.

Apparently the brakes are free and work.

[anonymous-user]

Second hand engine is the way to go, I have a spare head (not for sale) I picked up years ago for 50 pound of ebay, I've always found the specialized breakers on ebay to be brilliant.

[benjj]

Good work!

I'd expect the engine to be around £500 or so to get ship shape if you can happily spanner it all yourself. As said above you'll want to buy a new head and top gasket set plus replace all belts, rollers and tensioner. After such a hiatus you may also be in for some hoses and vacuum lines but no biggies probably.

A full suspension and bish refresh will set you back about £750 too if you go for the Bilsteins and polybushes. Well worth it.

The standard discs (vented) and steel calipers are more than enough if you just have road and occasional track use in mind. Buy caliper rebuild kits, discs and pads, handbrake shoes and you're good to go. Probably all be had for less than £250 at ECP or similar.

Tyres are an odd size on the 7J cookie cutter rims but there is some flexibility on sizes. You can go for a 195/65, 205/60 and 205/55 from memory with minimal change in radius. Don't buy ditch finders.

All that remains is the bodywork. Looks like it could use some love. Sills are the biggies, easy to drop 2k+ on both sides.

Good luck with it. Give me a shout if you're after anything specific, have got loads of spares from mine!