My "new" 944 Turbo

Wait, what, that's a turbo? Even awesomer! (Glanced at this thread twice now and somehow missed that in the title.)

Cool car.

Yep, swap em left/right and you might be better off. The 924 guys have a group buy setup for Stage 8 locking bolts for the CV joints. Really helps them from backing out.

Heh, I've actually got a brand new set of 944 turbo rear rotors that I incorrectly ordered. I trade them for a set of 944 rear rotors :)

I can ship them out this week with the brackets if you're interested.

Yep, my $2250 944 Turbo Even came with the receipt from the PO when he purchased it in 2003 for .... $2250 LOL. I'll probably have double that into it when I'm done though - I hate for anything in my cars to not work and not look nice, and this car needs help...

I was thinking about the oil out the exhaust more; I'll have to run it hard for a bit to clear out all the spooge from the exhaust/muffler and see if it's still spitting.

I definitely have a thing for 944 turbos myself...it just seems to me that the nice ones are usually really over priced and the reasonable priced ones scare me off because they seem like they could be an absolute money pit! Best of luck with your 951! Looking forward to seeing updates on your build!

See if there is oil in the intake side of the turbo or just on the exhaust side.

ok... your 944 just blew my cheap saab out of the water. I should have held out a day to announce mine.

Seriously, VERY nice 944. I will own one someday

Yesterday the nice lady at Porsche called back with the option list. The one I was happy to hear was limited slip differential. It also came with the sport shocks (M474, not M030) which was Konis all around. The fronts are still there judging by the yellow struts and seem to be damping OK but the rears were replaced with lord knows what. I'll probably leave what's there for now though, since new replacements for the factory Konis run something like $250 each.

I also pulled apart the spare cluster to find the speedo gear wrecked in that one too. Speedo needles bend awfully easily. I've got a replacement gear on order. The question now is which speedo to put into the car - the 160MPH one that's currently in it or the 180MPH version that's in the spare cluster? I understand either should be plug and play. I think the 160 was standard for the '86 Turbo and the 180 was used thereafter but I can't get any confirmation. I may go with the 180 just because it goes to 180, even if it makes the useable band a bit more cramped. I also spent some time and reset the odometer on the spare to 0 miles and I'll install that into whichever speedo I use so that I can keep track of the miles I put on the car more easily for maintenance purposes.

pigeon wrote: The question now is which speedo to put into the car - the 160MPH one that's currently in it or the 180MPH version that's in the spare cluster?

The 180 MPH speedo is the correct one for the '86 turbo. The 160 mph (or 170 if you count the tick marks) is from a non-turbo. I'm guessing someone swapped it out after the odo crapped out, only to have the odo crap out again.

Thanks - the 180MPH speedo it is.

Hmmm, doing some more searching it looks like for '86 the 160 MPH was fitted, with '87+ going with the 180 MPH. I'll still probably go with the 180, screw authenticity on this one.

September 3 Changed the plugs and attempted to check compression, but got 15-30psi per hole on a cold motor. Either I can't do a compression test, it needs to be warm to read right, or the motor is very sick. The plug change (from NGK to Bosch Super Copper) definitely helped settle the idle from its former rough state. The old plugs were in decent shape and looked pretty new, but were gapped on the wide end of the spec (.028 +/- .004; the plugs I pulled were all at .032) and had a pretty thick coat of black carbon on them. That fits with my nose observing that it seems to run pig rich. It does pull hard on boost though.

Spent some time in the fuse box, and will have to go back there. Many of the fuses are the wrong spec, and I don't want to burn this thing to the ground. Replacing the only blown fuse fixed the power seat though

New hatch struts installed, which is good and bad. Good because now the hatch stays up, bad because with the one broken hatch pin the new struts push that corner up a good inch. Removed the strut on that side for the time being; hopefully the new pin arrives tomorrow and I can get the remains of the old one out without too much additional trauma.

Took it to the quarter car wash and did the engine compartment and the exterior and vacuumed the interior. It's amazing what a quick vacuum can do when the carpets are really dirty - I no longer feel like I'm rolling in dirt when I'm in the car.

In rooting around the engine bay I noticed why the cruise doesn't work - the wires near the cruise motor are chafed and a couple are broken. Time to find the soldering iron...

September 6 - Labor Day

So I labored on the 944 today for a while. Pulled the glove box out and wound up taking out a rats nest of wiring from an old alarm with the control unit gone.

I threw the rear seats up for the first time today and realized the wood seat back was totally rotted termites out, so out it came. Couple of 10mm bolts, easy peasy. Started to pull everything apart to see it the wood could be repaired/replaced, found an old mouse nest and other evidence of critters including possibly and realized with how the seat is constructed with foam glued directly to the board it wasn't salvageable. I pulled the hinges off and trashed the rest.

The heat has gone stuck full blast, I think the plastic heater linkage clip(s) broke under the dash. I'll get to them this week.

pigeon wrote: September 6 - Labor Day So I labored on the 944 today for a while. Pulled the glove box out and wound up taking out a rats nest of wiring from an old alarm with the control unit gone. I threw the rear seats up for the first time today and realized the wood seat back was totally rotted termites out, so out it came. Couple of 10mm bolts, easy peasy. Started to pull everything apart to see it the wood could be repaired/replaced, found an old mouse nest and other evidence of critters including possibly and realized with how the seat is constructed with foam glued directly to the board it wasn't salvageable. I pulled the hinges off and trashed the rest. The heat has gone stuck full blast, I think the plastic heater linkage clip(s) broke under the dash. I'll get to them this week.

dont think of it as loosing back seats, think of it as adding lightness...besides, theyre useless anyhow.. really nice score!

Man. And me with not enough money...Seriously, very nice score!

Received and replaced the odometer drive gear for the 180MPH cluster today; it will go in later this week. Reset the odometer to 0 - true mileage is unknown and this will give me a good baseline mileage to work off of.

Also have pics of the pig rich carboned-up plugs that got pulled a few days ago:

I still need to work through the troubleshooting to get to the root of this problem, which will hopefully make more power throughout the rev range.

September 9

Nobody's following this but I told myself I'd keep updating this thread as I worked on this car...

UPS and USPS delivered today - a good used set of taillights, the last piece to replace the broken hatch pin and a replacement seal for the trunk lock. Installed the passenger side hatch pin and it finally closes and stays closed now. I just need to get either a whole new hatch $eal or a 2" piece that I can insert into the gap and the lower middle of the hatch and I can finally stop sucking exhaust.

Replaced the broken driver's side taillight - it went a lot easier once I found that last nut holding it on LOL. I don't understand why Porsche uses butyl tape to seal the tails and not a nice gasket, but that's what they use. I didn't have any on hand but did have something similar that is sold to seal holes where utility services enter the house so i used that, seems to work well. I still need to fix the passenger front turn signal - the turn signal but not the marker light worked when I started working on it, and now it's the other way around. I'm going to start with a new bulb and go from there.

Nothing else got accomplished - the refurbished speedo still needs to go in, the trunk lock seal needs to be installed, the replacement sunroof latch needs to be installed. The heater linkage parts are in and will be picked up tomorrow morning.

I ordered brake pads - Ferodo FDB451 from RockAuto coming from England - and rotors. The rotors will likely be here tomorrow but the pads won't be in until next week. I chose them because they seem to be an aggressive street/track pad popular with Ferrari and Maserati guys across the pond, and they were cheap - $110 for 2 sets including $30 shipping.

I also ordered new tires - Yokohama S-Drive. I need to locate a replacement phone dial front wheel as one is bent and the local wheel repair guy can't get to it for a couple weeks. I thought I had one pegged but turns out it's a rear - they're staggered with 16x7 front and 16x8 rear. The local PCA chapter is having a tech day/track inspection session on 9/15; I'm hoping to get everything done before then and get the car teched for a DE weekend at the end of the month with the BMWCCA at Watkins Glen.

who you callin' a nobody? AngryCorvair is following this build!

September 10

The tires showed up today, less than 24 hours after ordering. Thanks Tire Rack! Some begging will hopefully get the bent wheel straightened this weekend and the tires mounted. Brake pads are due in on Monday, I missed the FedEx delivery of the rotors today but they should be delivered tomorrow, so Monday evening is brakes time; then I can finally really drive the car hard and see what else it needs LOL. I'm probably going to add wheel bearings all around - I think I heard some rear bearing noise rolling the car down the driveway last night. I've got a replacement torque tube coming thanks to a great GRMer - JeffMX5 - picking it up this weekend and sending it to me. It will be installed over the winter to replace the one in the car with the worn out bearings.

Tomorrow will be big push to get the interior stuff done - install the fixed speedo/odo, clean the interior fully, get some of the loose panels reinstalled properly. I bought a set of Kicker 4x6 speakers off Craigslist to put into the front doors, but I still need to get a head unit.

Keep working on the project!

As a side note I saw a hot blond in her 20s driving a bright red late 80s 944 today. I need to meet that kind of girl.

September 22

One step forward, two steps back was the theme this weekend

Wheel repair guy was tardy in getting back to me and I found both front wheels were bent, so I searched for a local tire place that had a Hunter wonder road force balancer. The local Firestone had one, so impatient me took my new tires there to be mounted on my bent wheels. They balanced beautifully but as soon as I turn a bit there's a vibration in the wheel Oh well, I'll have to have the wheels straightened still, and pay to have the fronts pulled and remounted/balanced too. That will have to happen down the road a bit, after the autocross next weekend at earliest. It's nice to have a matched set of tires that have some stick to them though compared to the dried out, mismatched all-season crap that was there. I also had them do the NYS inspection so now it's legal on the road. Of course I spent almost 2 hours chasing down a front passenger turn signal malfunction that I traced to corrosion on the bulb contacts - my boy's small fingers and a bit of sandpaper helped quite a bit there.

Fixed the all heat all the time problem - this broken clip was replaceed for less than 4 bucks:

I then discovered that I have no heat control - the motor that runs the blend door doesn't move. I don't know if it's an issue with the motor, the wiring from the control to the motor or the control, it will have to wait.

My 10-year-old son helped today doing interior cleaning, re-gluing some interior trim up and doing the electrical investigating to eventually install a stereo. He also helped install new Kicker DS430 4x6 door speakers in place of the 25 year old Blaupunkts:

The new speakers don't quite allow the grilles to install, they sit just a bit too proud of the door card. 3 screws will have to do until I space the grilles out with a washer or two.

Pulled the gauge cluster and installed the repaired 180MPH speedo, and also added tinfoil to the light guides so I might be able to see the instruments at night. Checked and cleaned all the bulbs too.

Tonight I figured out that one of the 3 instrument panel lights is out, so it will have to come back out. No biggie, as I put the steering wheel back on one spline off (even after marking it for position), but of course I also bought from Home Depot and installed the screws that the PO had left out of the cluster surround, so there's now 8 more screws that have to come back out. At least the odo finally works.

Installed new trunk lock seal, and have a line on a good used hatch seal to replace the one that's got a 2" gap at the center bottom, so I can finally stop sucking exhaust.

Pulled the battery and installed the missing holddown bracket. Cleaned the posts while I had it out with baking soda and water, even though they looked pretty good. Then spent an hour this evening trying to figure out why I had no power only to figure out that I didn't do a good job rinsing the battery posts, everything back to normal once they were cleaned thoroughly.

Brake rotors showed up on Saturday, pads are due tomorrow, so tomorrow night will be brakes all around. While I have the rear up in the air I will have to check out the passenger rear CV joints, one of them is making a lot of noise. I've got a line on a set of replacement axles with good CVs already on them cheap and may go that route rather than replacing individual CVs; that way I can rebuild the axles with new CVs at my leisure.

Jeff picked up my torque tube today and will ship it out this week - thanks! Sure looks big in front of a Miata.

Nothing else to report at this time.

<- Jealous!

Good to see it getting so much attention though.

Platinum90 wrote: For those who asked, I work for Automobile Atlanta. We (as a company) don't have the best reputation, but I am the salesperson with the lowest return percentage, and highest sales, so call ext 104 or ask for Brad, and ill treat you right!

The fact that someone like yourself is so honest is encouraging. I thought these kinds of things happened only to me....I bought some wheels from you guys. I paid extra to have them quick shipped, for some reason they came with the wrong lug nuts. The guy who I spoke with got nasty with me, probably because I was irritated and not putting out the best vibe. He did admit it was his mistake and he did get right on it; he shipped the right lug nuts out overnight and proceeded to charge my credit card the extra shipping charges without telling me. When I called back to ask why he billed me for the shipping when it was AA's mistake, the guy was even more rude... I don't think I ever did get Auto Atlanta to do the right thing and refund my money.

On the other hand...you guys put out a great catalog and seem to have the most knowledge on 914's. And it looks like you have a great shop that I often wanted to come down and visit.

Your car looks like it will be great when its finished.

I'm following this build, I'm enjoying the real-world perspective on a 944 turbo. Can't wait to see this thing running 100%, I have a feeling all of the frustrations you're experiencing will be worth it in the end!

Also following.

Thanks to all. By the time I'm done I'll probably have replaced everything but the motor and shell, and the shell needs paint help in a bad way. But when the turbo spools up it's worth it and I should still be well under market value for a 951 when I'm done.