1983 Porsche 944 - Time for some restoration

[Jon944S2]

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

[Scho]

madrob6 said:

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.

shame,

might as well just give the fuchs to me.

[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?

[SEFTON1275GT]

I heard with the current credit crunch fush wheels arn't worth jax...probably best sell them now before there worth nothing at all!

[missing the VR6]

[quote=madrob6]I've always had a soft spot for anything with flared arches (excluding Novas) so I'm loving it.

Couldn't agree more! Golf Rallye, grale, E30 M3, 944. All awesome! Even not minding a standard tidy Nova gte/gsi these days!

Maybe put the car back to black but keep the Fuchs blue

[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

[PooPoo]

Im loving this. Plse keep the photos coming.

[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.

[Jon944S2]

madrob6 said:

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.

I'm watching this with a lot of interest as it's interesting to see someone restoring such a great car like the 944 particularly an early one like this.

For removing the adhesive under the bonnet I would recommend some Tar & Glue remover from Auto Glym or somewhere like that spray it on there leave to soak in for 5 mins then wipe away with a cloth and it should come off easily.

[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.

[Ravell]

Looks rough on the outside because if the years of storage/neglect, but I think you might have a real gem under there! But you do need to respray it back to black, even if it's just so it matches the paint in the engine bay.

[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.

[Scho]

hi rob.

true to your name you are, in fact, mad. lots of work to do there good on you though!

reading this stuff about the colour change i do think this car would look FANTASTIC back in it's OE black paint, black fuchs with polished dish (you can do that yourself you know) against the pinstripe interior. probably approaching 944 aesthetic perfection

[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.

[missing the VR6]

Keep up the good work!

[FROG944]

Looking good mate, love the colour not seen many like that. I bought mine from Wales this year and have spent the last few months, although feels like years fixing her up but almost ready for the mot now. Whatching with great interest.

[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.

[FROG944]

wahay, how are you Rob