this is a great thread indeed...looking forward to the AX Results!
this is a great thread indeed...looking forward to the AX Results!
September 13
Another frustrating night. Went to change the pads and rotors but didn't get far. First I opened the FedEx pouch that the new Ferodo pads came from England in to find the boxes had broken open and one of the pads has a nice chip in one corner. Too much of a pain to return them to RockAuto but they will hear about it. Went to pull the passenger rear rotor and one of the set screws is stuck. I'll have to get to Harbor Freight for an impact screwdriver tomorrow. Started looking at the front and realized that the bearings will come out with this style rotor. I hadn't picked up new bearings and the grease looks nasty so at least I'll clean and repack the bearings while I'm there, I don't have the right setup to drive out the old races and drive new ones in but I can inspect them. I did manage to bleed out the passenger side brakes, the fluid was nasty. Hopefully tomorrow will go more smoothly.
Oh, the interior gluing I did yesterday is no longer stuck. I guess I need stronger stuff.
I'll have to admit, I was hurt..HURT, I say!..to be called a 'nobody', but then, this thread has only been going a couple weeks, and you've made HUGE progress. It prolly seems to you that it's been goin' on for flippin' ever, but yes, my son, you DO have an audience. Keep the updates coming, and we'll keep reading them. Very cool, and I do SO wish it were mine....sigh...
September 14
More frustration. Changing brakes should be easy, right? Wrong. Started with passenger side rear, determined that the hard lines would have to be broken at a junction since the first rubber lines are a good 3' plus of hard line away. I decided I didn't want to risk that and that the existing rotors were in good enough shape to use, so pulled the pads and popped in the new ones. Brembo pads sure are easy to change - usually. Moved to the passenger front, looked everything over and, different from every guide I had found online, determined that the 19mm caliper mount bolts would need to be taken out to remove the caliper. Pulled the pads, the caliper and then pulled the rotor and front wheel bearing. Took a while to work it out but I had to unbolt the rotor from the hub to replace it. Regreased the outer front bearing, left the inner alone since I couldn't locate a grease seal today, and put everything together.
Moved to the passenger side, started to try to pull the rear pads. Outer pad came out, inner is stuck fast and won't come out for any amount of pulling and tugging. Got tired and frustrated and was going to quit, but only had the front caliper to bleed so I started doing that. The metallic "tink" from the rear triggered an immediate berkeley - I had forgot to stick the pad back into the outer rear caliper and one of the pistons had fully extended to contact the rotor. I managed to pry it back a bit but not much, I don't know if it's just cocked a bit or worse. I'll probably pull the caliper tomorrow night and take my first crack at rebuilding one - I was going to have to do it anyway to get that stuck pad freed.
One thing I noticed - lots of free movement at the driver's rear wheel. I think the wheel bearing is shot. Something else to add to the list 
On the other hand, it seems that the driver's CV joints are both shot, lots of play there. Reman'd axles were ordered today and should be in by the weekend. I just hope to get the car driveable before Sunday's autocross.
Action shot from tonight's fun:
from my notes: "when replacing pads on newly acquired, used Porsche, also plan to replace ball joint on at least one side (usually passenger) at least two calipers (usually rear) and all bleeders. " and "if required to replace ball joint, now is a good time to replace strut bearings. order two ball joints and set of strut bearings, cant do one strut bearing without doing the other, and since you have to take the other side apart anyway, might as well replace the second ball joint, as that will surely fail as soon as everything is back together... " a simple brake pad replacement can easily lead to a full brake refurb, and a full suspension refurb....
its a vicious cycle.. welcome to Porsche watercooolers my friend, you are not alone! 
Thanks - I'm beginning to see the irony in this thread title - by the time I'm done there will be lots of new on this 24 year old car...
Tonight I completed the brake job. Turns out pulling the rear calipers is easy, and I didn't run into one seized bleeder or brake line connection. I was able to easily push the one stuck brake piston back into place once I got it straight in the bore. Problem #2 on that caliper is that the steel spring? that the brake pads ride on is either slightly bent or has some corrosion under it on the inner pad area, making that pad stick like crazy. I'll have to replace that sooner than later. I bled the brakes like crazy - I put 2 full quarts of fluid through the system - but still have a very soft pedal. I guess I'll bleed some more after I get more fluid. I did tap on the calipers with a rubber mallet while bleeding and dislodged some air that way, but I guess I didn't get it all.
I think I'll try to find a shop to do the rear wheel bearings. It's more work than I have time for and I hope to get it done by Sunday.
I'm following as well. I'm currently on my second 951, so I feel your pain. They are so much fun to drive though....worth the pain and suffering in the long run. Just finished water pump, belts, etc on mine.
saw a 944 and a 914/6 going at it on the freeway on the way home yesterday...driving like stupid fools, but it gave me nasty thoughts all the same. I hart crazy german engineerink
The play in the steering wheel could also be the inner tie rods. They're pretty common to wear out (mine needs both badly). There's a seller on ebay that has them as a set for $120 or so. That's about half price from everything else I've found. I don't know what the quality is like, but I'm going to find out very soon!
September 18, 2010
Progress at last, though not without setbacks. Driver's rear wheel bearing replaced between last night and today. I figured the reason it had gone bad quite quickly - the axle nut was definitely not tight enough. It's supposed to be torqued to 365 ft-lbs (!) but when i went to remove it it spun right off; if it was at 50 ft-lbs that would be a generous estimate. Instead of taking the entire trailing arm off or purchasing the $250 special Arnworx tool I purchased the $50 Harbor Freight front wheel drive axle bearing press set (using the coupon in GRM). Some fiddling around and I finally figured the right size pressing disc to use and the bearing pressed right out, without too much trouble. Of course, while disassembling everything the outer bearing race stayed on the hub. That sent me back to HF for a bearing separator that turned out to be too small. After calling all over I took it to my local Subaru dealer who has service hours until 9pm on Sat. and paid $52 to have them remove it. 
They beat the hub up a bit but got the job done, and everything thereafter went back together without a hitch.
My next dilemma was torquing the new axle nut to the required spec. I could not locate anywhere to get a torque wrench that would go that high, so I used my breaker bar with a 2 foot cheater pipe, with my weight on the end which should be about 365 or so ft lbs. I gave up when the short extension I was using on the axle socket to clear the rear fender sheared off.
While I was there I replaced the axle on that side with a rebuilt one. Between the bearing and the new CVs things are a lot better, much of the drivetrain slop is gone and everything runs much quieter. The passenger side inner CV is bad, and I've got a rebuilt axle waiting to go in on that side also; which may still happen tonight. I have the last autocross of the year (also my first of the year...) tomorrow, and since everything is all together at the moment I may just leave it for another night.
I also managed to bleed out the air that was in the brakes - I had to pull the caliper to replace the bearing and apparently did a better job bleeding when I reinstalled it. There's some pad rub still on the front driver but there's nothing I can do about that, the pads will just have to wear down a bit.
We will see how she really runs tomorrow.
So it survived its first autocross in one piece, though the CVs on the passenger side definitely are bad and causing lots of vibration. The car has lots of trailing throttle oversteer and I was only able to run the 3 morning runs so I didn't have a chance to dial the pressures in at all, but it was still fun. The LSD still works and worked nicely to plant the rear with throttle application. I managed to drop 3 seconds to 63.3xx and lose the two cones from my first to third run on a damp track. The new axle will go in this week and the SCCA is running next weekend so hopefully I will get a better read on what else it needs then.
More progress - installed a stereo with ipod controls (no music got very old on the hour each way trek to the autocross today, and I had already put the speakers in). Sounds surprisingly good though it won't be confused with the kick-ass Logic7 system in my BMW.
Also managed to fix the no heat issue. When dealing with electronics go back to basics - check the darned fuses first! Found that the fuse installed for the heat controller was making intermittent contact at best. Popped a new one in and sure enough, it works now.
The car is coming along nicely. It'll be much nicer after all the driveline vibrations are gone, which will likely need a new pair of front wheels.
i heart this project. 
Well, one step forward one step back seems to be the theme with this car. I installed the new rebuilt axle this evening. The outer CV should have 6 bolts holding it to the hub, with a set of "moon plates" spreading the clamping force around the circumference of the joint - the old one only had 5 bolts in and was missing one of the 3 moon plates. I went to install the new axle, thinking I will put it in for now (I need to be able to drive the car tomorrow since my BMW is in the shop yet again) and order up a new moon plate for the $7 or so, and throw that on when it comes in. Well, the axle is in but still only with 5 bolts; one of the holes in the hub simply will not accept a bolt. I will have to turn up an M8 tap and have at it, or go through the whole pull the hub and install a new wheel bearing, etc. business to replace it. I'll also have to retorque all the bolts again; these cars are apparently notorious for the CV bolts backing out, and the bolts I put in would up with lots of CV grease in the threads because I had a hard time getting them into the hub and trans flange with the result that grease got into places I didn't want. Hopefully (a) this will solve the serious rear end vibration that comes and goes, especially on throttle while turning left (loading that inner CV), (b) cut down more on the driveline lash, and (c) survive until I can get the hub hole tapped and a moon plate installed.
A good used hatch seal turned up today, that's the next project which will hopefully eliminate the exhaust that's coming in through the 2 inch gap in the center of the weatherstrip.
group buy is over, but dan always gets a few extra sets...
this is really good stuff - I love this type of build threads!!!
Great thread! Definitely following this one: I love the 951's, and am a sucker for bringing back "german money-pits". (See: e34 M5. )
I also love this thread. One post makes me want to do some stuff to my 944. Another makes me want to sell it.
Anybody have any budget ideas for making a 944 stereo sound better? I have a decent Pioneer head unit and four 4X6 Boston Acoustics speakers. It sucks bad.
Otto_Maddox wrote: I also love this thread. One post makes me want to do some stuff to my 944. Another makes me want to sell it. Anybody have any budget ideas for making a 944 stereo sound better? I have a decent Pioneer head unit and four 4X6 Boston Acoustics speakers. It sucks bad.
Really? I've got a Clarion head unit and I think Kenwood 4"x6" speakers (it's been a long time since I put the speakers, so I"m not sure), and it sounds really good. Not really sure why, I just installed crap I had laying around with reckless abandon and it turned out really well.
speakers > head unit
Stock Bose units sound pretty damn good in my Infiniti. I have 4 6" speakers, and Ive been asked many times what ICE are in there. Most people are surprised when I tell them its stock.
The bone stock, powered 10" sub in our GMC Terrain kills the Infiniti though
In reply to 16vCorey:
My 944 sound system is good for talk radio and not much else. I hate talk radio. I don't want to put much money into it. My solution in the old days for a hatchback was always a cheap JC Whitney speaker box with 6X9's. Cheap and easy. For some reason, I am hesitant to do that again as a middle aged man.
The speakers I threw in were $35 craigslist Kicker 4x6 2-ways. They don't quite clear the door grilles but 3 screws hold them in just fine, and they sound surprisingly good driven by a $130 JVC ipod-contolling headunit. I don't have rear speakers hooked up as I wasn't able to figure out which wires of the spaghetti where the old radio was connect to them, and they're the original Blaupunkt 4x6s anyway so I'm sure I'm not missing much there...
If you want to "go big" for a stereo in the 944, kick panel enclosures for separates in the front and a sub box in the spare tire enclosure driven by separate amps would be my bet.
Come to think of it, I think mine are actually 4X6 plate speakers sort of like this -
The little tiny woofer probably has something to do with the lack of sound quality.
Sorry for the topic drift.
Is it just me or have 944 Turbo prices fallen apart over the past year or two. When I bought my NA 944 a couple of years ago, basket case 944 Turbos were $5K or so and a sorted one was twice that.
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