1983 Porsche 944 - Time for some restoration

[Conian]

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam! 12 weeks and she's back!

[MadRob6]

Looking good, you're going to have to give the wheels and tyres a clean to match the rest of it now though!

[Conian]

ah come on i've had it painted i put a near number plate on it and now yuo want me to WASH it?
it just never ends!!!

[MadRob6]

Well when you've washed it you can get on and enjoy it

Got to be better than swearing at it which is all I seem to do to mine lately.

[Conian]

next jobs for my bebbeh:
fit leather seats n door cards
install decent speakers in rear during seat install
have custom middle box made n fit the stainless silencer ive had behind my wardrobe for 2 years
adjust the 1 sunroof gear that i didnt quite get right last time.

[MadRob6]

Thanks to fellow PHer Stubby Pete this arrived today.



It's a 1988 944S so it has the lovely 2.5 litre 16 valve engine.



It has a lovely burgundy interior


Some warning lights


And thanks to my own stupidity a broken door



Other than the broken door the problems with the car seem to be
Central locking not working from driver's door
boot release not working from key (fixed so it works from the button but needs somebody to pull the boot open)
sunroof not latching properly (perhaps)
electric windows not working (passenger one did work but has now stopped)
It has a stereo but has no fascia (fascia will be posted to me soon)
There's a bloody great hole in the side of the sump where half a bit end decided to eject itself

Edited by MadRob6 on Tuesday 15th June 22:50

[Conian]

hey youve not finished the first one yet!

[MadRob6]

Nope but looking at this one I think my best option is to continue with the first one and get it on the road before worrying about this one.

[MadRob6]

New door has been purchased

[Conian]

admit it, you love those Boxster wheels!

[MadRob6]

Since seeing them in the flesh they've really grown on me now.

[MadRob6]

I decided to treat the white 944 today and bought some megs gold class shampoo and one of their fancy wash mitts. After a good soaking and rubbing away the dirt the car had a slight shine to it but the paint felt rough and nasty as there were little bits of tar/grit/some 'orrible black stuff embedded in the paint. If only I had a clay bar.

I remembered that years ago when I bought my old blue Passat tucked away in the boot was a bottle of auto glym intensive tar remover so I dug that out and set to work on the driver's side rear quarter panel which was one of the worst panels for the little black dots. I was quite impressed that after focussing on a few areas the black spots started to disappear and white paint was being left behind!

I attacked again using the dodo juice lime prime and as if by magic I found a shiny panel lurking under all the crap. Finished up with a bit of AG extra gloss protection (left the dodo juice behind, doh) and it's looking rather spiffing now

In this shot I attempted to show a line between the polished part of the bonnet and the non polished part but due to the amazing camera on a blackberry it's completely invisible


Overall shot of the newly cleaned motor


Shiny bonnet


unpolished quarter panel. the camera doesn't show it up but this is all streaky from the years of dirt, the entire car was like this before


polished quarter pane. before you say anything I haven't cleaned the wheels yet.


Shiny wing


Shiny roof, still lots of dirt in this though, clay bar probably required to improve it

[MadRob6]

Fitted the new door today. All I have to say is whoever decided it was a good idea to remove the plug from the wiring loom that they used in the early 944 and instead have it wired directly to the whole cars wiring and then also use a several wires that are identical in colour is a fking ahole.

That took from 2pm until 9pm to finish due to fiddly wires.

[MadRob6]

Went back to attacking the stuck bolt on the original project today. Hacksaw blades are rubbish at cutting through the rubber bush but I've managed to get it down to the metal shaft inside the bush. Going to have to remove more rubber to get any further so going to try a wood blade on that then back to the hacksaw blade for the metal part and bolt.

I reckon this could take a few more weeks.

[Conian]

any hope of chewing up the bush by repeated drilling at several angles?

[MadRob6]

Perhaps, not the easiest access though. Was going to try with a wood saw blade in the hope it will tear the rubber up better. It's only the bit stucking out the side of the aluminium arm I want rid of as the hacksaw blade gets stuck it in when trying to cut the metal part. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel though.

In other news the engine I was watching on ebay has disappeared when it had 2 days left so it's back onto the older car at full steam ahead!

[MadRob6]

Just a quick update to say the saw won! Will attempt to drop the rear axle next weekend, after a full day of sawing I didn't fancy tackling it.

[MadRob6]

Another update! After a day of battling the rear trailing arm setup was finally removed but in need of a good cleanup


Also gives me the chance to clean things up a bit under here and sort out the rust around the mounting points (only surface stuff but want to nip it in the bud)


and things are looking a bit quiet in the wheel arch now

[andy miles]

You are getting there Rob!......soon have a nice collection!
Andy ....1983 estoril blue 911sc

[MadRob6]

Thanks Andy. It's getting there but not sure how long it's going to take at the moment as I want to get it sorted properly but keep coming across more things that need doing. Great for a car that the person I got it from thought I'd just drive it away and use it lol

Are you going to the TIPEC meet this Sunday? Ignore that, just realised it's not on this Sunday.

Edited by MadRob6 on Monday 12th July 22:33