1987 Porsche 944 Turbo. Members Only.

Very clean looking car, I like it.  I have had an '87 NA for over 20 years. Wow, typing that made me feel old.

Headlights are the knob on the dash to the left of the steering wheel.  Temperature control is the dial with numbers around it, numbers are degrees Celsius.  The tiny looking vent near the glove box is a temp sensor so you can set the temp and it should automatically control heat vs A/C.  Up and down arrow sliders control the dampers for the dash and foot well vents.  There is a slider between the two center vents that closes a damper from those vents and pushes the air to the defrost vents.

The weather has been absolute crap so I haven't driven it again.  This weekend looks nice on Sunday.

I've been trying to get a dupe key made since Saturday.  Stopped at the local dealer on my way home Saturday, service not open, ok I knew it was likely.  Called Monday, had to leave a message, no return call.  Tuesday after being on hold multiple times someone answered gruffly and asked for the VIN number.  Crap, ok, called today with the VIN, a lady said I would have to show up with the title, my ID, and preorder the key (she wasn't sure if it came precut or would still have to be cut).

I did have the VIN this time so she looked it up and gave me an estimate.  $75 for a plain key without the plastic bit on the end.  Guess I'm stopping before work tomorrow with the title.  Welcome to the world of fine European automobiles.

In reply to Jerry :

Might want to call Mr. Lock up on Beechmont - they've been able to do oddball keys for me before.

I'm assuming a locksmith can't duplicate one??  Maybe buy a nice blank off of eBay and have them cut it?

Any locksmith or hardware store can make you a copy of that key.  It's nothing special, there's no chip in it, etc.  If you want the nice Porsche key blank, buy it from Sunset Porsche, getporscheparts.com or some other online dealer.  Then take it anywhere to have it cut.

I found time to stop at a locksmith this morning after dropping off a customer's x-ray, I had called and they said bring it by to try it.  He gave it a shot but said he couldn't get some grooves deep enough.  I mentioned buying the blank for him to cut, he said no problem.

Got tired of waiting for decent weather, so spent an hour or so in the garage last night with a hair dryer and removed the old adhesive from the missing turbo emblem, and installed the new one the PO ordered for me.  Found a license plate frame worthy of Count Dooku.

And a key blank from Pelican Parts arrived yesterday, I'm off next Friday so a trip to the locksmith will happen.

Some LEDs over the weekend and vinyl. Finally took SWMBO in it to mom's Friday to see her new munchkin cat, she approved.

And some vinyl on Saturday.

Monday I took it to P3 Autokrafte in Centerville for an oil change, install that short shifter the PO never got around to, and a "general look-over".

They were done late yesterday but I picked up today.  They found a few things:  cooling fan switch (believe there was a leak there), new axle seals and rear diff service, new hood struts and an alignment (which in hindsight I wish I had skipped for old tires and a $540 price tag).

The other thing they found was leaking front struts.  I don't remember the whole conversation now but in the end he recommended going with coilovers.  That's a significant $$$ choice to be made later, and I make a few searches for either decent coilovers or see if someone on the various groups has something they've swapped out.

But for now she's ready for the first Dayton Cars and Coffee on Saturday.  Both owners were impressed with the car and the level of documentation it had.  The place was like car porn with new and vintage, street and racing.  It was a decent chunk of $ but hey, they gave me a free decal.

They charged you $540 for an alignment?

First Dayton Cars and Coffee of the year and it was packed.  I didn't think I'd find a spot but got lucky when I turned onto a small roadway between lots and someone waved me in.  "Your car's worthy!" was what he said and I thanked him    He said he saved it for his friend who showed up without his car so he was saving it for something cool, and he loves 944's.

I love the variety DC&C gets, 1000+ cars and everything you could think of.  This one included some crazy land speed record car on a trailer, and a gokart built from a shopping cart.

I finally drove it at night.  I joined two Facebook groups (944 Owners and No Snob 944 owners) and have read many talking about LEDs in the dashboard, I thought it was just for aesthetics.  No, I could barely see the damn gauges, even after I found the switch to adjust the brightness.  A few other items lit up fine, I remember a windshield icon on the switch to shift air to defog.

Guess I'm looking into dashboard lighting.  Already ordered a conversion for the headlights from 944Only, has two round housings and two LEDs, people say it's plug-n-play.  Should be here Saturday or Monday.

Most of the time the dim cluster is because the light tunnels are worn.  You need to pull the cluster and line them with tin foil or the like.

it's not fast, it's 80's fast.  i love that.

Finally a Saturday with good temps and nothing to do. Decided to look around a bit.

So it has this fancy modern unit in place of the old Alpine (which he gave me). I dug through the glove box and found some parts I'm not sure why they didn't use.

The directions show how to use two metal keys to remove everything and guess I could plug in the back, and figure out routing the cables. Maybe another day.

GPS antenna and external microphone? I did get the phone paired at least.

It also has this little box mounted inside the glove box.

At least I can reuse the aux to USB cable.

I also figured out that the locking lugs the PO said he couldn't find the key for, were actually just plain lug nuts with an open end.  I went to see if maybe it was a well-known set I could just buy for the key, and was like "this has the shape of a regular nut".  Sure enough, 19mm fit fine like all the others.  Think I'm just going to order 4 matching lug nuts to the others.

Factory black aluminum lug nuts? If so, I have spares from my 89 S2 I can send you. I also have my original set of locks if you want them that do have the Porsche keys. I'm not a fan of their looks. 

In reply to Javelin :

Looks like it. I'd be happy with either or both, thank you very much. Send me a PM with your price.

In reply to Jerry :

Yep, those are the ones. PM incoming

Jerry said:

I finally drove it at night.  I joined two Facebook groups (944 Owners and No Snob 944 owners) and have read many talking about LEDs in the dashboard, I thought it was just for aesthetics.  No, I could barely see the damn gauges, even after I found the switch to adjust the brightness.  A few other items lit up fine, I remember a windshield icon on the switch to shift air to defog.

Guess I'm looking into dashboard lighting.  Already ordered a conversion for the headlights from 944Only, has two round housings and two LEDs, people say it's plug-n-play.  Should be here Saturday or Monday.

It is a German car thing.  Bright dash lights kill your night vision, makes it difficult to see past your headlight throw.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

Jerry said:

I finally drove it at night.  I joined two Facebook groups (944 Owners and No Snob 944 owners) and have read many talking about LEDs in the dashboard, I thought it was just for aesthetics.  No, I could barely see the damn gauges, even after I found the switch to adjust the brightness.  A few other items lit up fine, I remember a windshield icon on the switch to shift air to defog.

Guess I'm looking into dashboard lighting.  Already ordered a conversion for the headlights from 944Only, has two round housings and two LEDs, people say it's plug-n-play.  Should be here Saturday or Monday.

It is a German car thing.  Bright dash lights kill your night vision, makes it difficult to see past your headlight throw.

I've had many replies on my post with mostly people recommending redoing the light tubes with aluminum foil or the shiny metal foil tape used for gutters, most say LEDs alone won't fix it.  Clark's Garage has a good write-up on how, if I get over my fear of messing with airbags.  (Requires removing the steering wheel.  Maybe a good time to upgrade to a Momo or something.)

Super easy to remove the airbag, don't be intimidated.  If you remove your steering wheel for a Momo, you've gotta figure out a way to trigger your horn.  Try and find my old diy write up on Rennlist, I describe how to do it.

Almost forgot, LED replacements from Only944 Monday. Now maybe I'll be able to see at night, next up figure out fog lights. The old headlights were two different brands and seemed pretty dim, hope these work out.  Like $70 for the glass housings and LED bulbs, simple plug-n-play, a few others on my Facebook owner groups liked them.

In reply to Jerry :

Yours has the (euro?) fog lights with dual elements. I think they are half fog light half high beam for when the mains are down, I don't -think- US cars came with those, but might be an opportunity for more light depending on how they are wired. My 944 Turbo had fogs in the outside position and a blank reflector panel in the inner position.

Very nice car. That head unit being the factory aftermarket Porsche classic unit is pretty sweet, too.