1984 Porsche 944 - Rallycross Build

Hello,

Just purchased (from a gentleman on here actuallly) a 1984 Porsche 944. Going to be used as a rallycross car after doing some wrenching over then next few months.

First on the bill:

• for those of you that saw the $2015 Classifieds post, fix the charging issues. Other posters and other forums have offered some ideas to what it may be so hopefully I can handle it quickly.

• change all the fluids

• the shifter is a bit sloppy. Bought the necessary pieces for this already.

Photos will come when I'm at home!

Thanks GRMers!

Sweet! Look up Charli Tameris, he's an incredibly helpful rallyist who campaigns a 944 that he build from a donor chassis and boxes of parts.

Tell him Dave Z sent you.

Small album of photos after I got the car home.

http://imgur.com/a/Rb1qJ

Interesting. What region will you be competing in?

In reply to irish44j:

Detroit Region and really looking forward to it!

I'll be watching with great anticipation. Please share every little detail on your progress.

I love it!

You've already got the shifter parts? Did you see my recommendation on the shifter situation?

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/1988-porsche-944-track-toy/105890/page2/

In reply to CrookedRacer:

Going the route of grinding out the pin and replacing with a bolt as described here:

http://www.wbnoble.com/cars/924-944_sloppy_shift_lever_repair.htm

Sadly, loving in an apartment I can't play every day like I want to. But, I'm taking some vacation time tomorrow so I can extend my weekend work!

Add a couple of these and you'll have most of the functionality of the Only944.com shift lever (as in it will never wear out the pin again):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002IG3F60

You can also drill the new hole about 1/2" higher to shorten the throw a little.

I highly recommend Only944's shiftlinkage and shift rod parts. Great parts at a decent price.

Good luck with the build!

BTW, CIP1.com has a great deal on 26, 27 or 28mm rear torsion bars in case you need more rear spring rate.

http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C12-6569-28 (28mm) 254lb/in

http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C12-6569-27 (27mm) 220lb/in

http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C12-6569-26 (26mm) 189lb/in

Rates taken from here:

http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/susp-15.htm

and here's some ideas for suspension upgrades, etc.:

http://www.924board.org/viewtopic.php?t=25272

Good luck!

In reply to Stefan (Not Bruce):

Thank you. Had I known about the 944 only setup I would have gone that route. I had to buy a tap, tap handle, and longer drill bit to do the route I provided the link to above.

In reply to MrLittle:

I believe it was posted in the thread on the car.

In reply to Stefan (Not Bruce):

In that case it is likely poor attention to detail on my part!

MrLittle wrote: In reply to Stefan (Not Bruce): Thank you. Had I known about the 944 only setup I would have gone that route. I had to buy a tap, tap handle, and longer drill bit to do the route I provided the link to above.

You dummy. I own all of those tools already! I told you to leave it at my house!

I'll be watching this thread. glad someone from the thread picked up the car! Good luck mrlittle!

In reply to russ_mill:

Thanks Russ. I'll be sure to keep you posted!

Update!

Working on charging issue, battery bulb is burnt out and I have continuity from both alternator wires. Specifically the excite wire to the gauge cluster. Picking up a new bulb tomorrow hoping that fixes the issue.

Other notes:

• the exhaust rattles like none other and is very loud. I like loud cars but this will need to be fixed as its obnoxious an very rusty.

• let the car run for about 15 min today and found a small oil leak that is dropping the occasional drop on the exhaust manifold. Hopefully nothing too serious.

• but the car starts and has a solid idle which feels good and I'm having fun working on it. So that's gotta be good for something.

• bought VR1 20w - 50 oil. Car really won't be ran in the winter but on the off chance I do start it up and allow proper warm up should I be okay or should I go swap it for 10w-40?

My goal: have fun and go sideways!

also WRT exhaust, not only will rusty cause loudness, but broken exhaust is (in my 4 years of experience rallycrossing) one of the most likely things to get you red-flagged (if the exhaust is dragging front-down), and/or to get damaged further by impacts as its usually the lowest part of the car.

I lost an event when my catback got ripped off at the front end and started digging into the ground (red-flagged), another when my catalyst substrate broke loose and clogged the catback (stalling the car), and just last weekend broke the pipe leading into the muffler (though that didn't affect my finishing). Last event one of the Volvos out there with a side dump managed to smash the pipe shut when he came down on a berm and squashed it at the frame rail. Car didn't run very well with a 1/2" opening, lol.

And that's for someone (me) who actually has put a lot of time into making sure my exhaust is in good shape and well-supported!

My advice: make sure your exhaust is solid, and then add a few extra hangers just in case!

Also if you just want some general ideas and thoughts for rallycross, I have a pretty extensive build thread that talks about all of my good and bad ideas, issues, and some of your Detroit-region competition that I've raced against in the past, lol. I started with a car kind of in similar condition to yours, so may be of use to you

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/mein-e30-mein-sammlungkreuz-baugewinde-my-318i-rallycross-build-thread/40440/page1/

Drove the car down the road today (much to my neighbors displeasure I'm sure) and actually put the pedal down and the car felt good.

Any advice on the charging issue would be appreciated. I got the battery light to show up by fixing the excite wire but will driving it stayed lit. By the end of my drive it went away and I was think good the alternator finally charged the battery enough but when I stopped and tried to restart I didn't have enough juice to roll over again. Im thinking I need to pull the alternator and get it tested?

Thanks for the help.

Photos for fun

In reply to irish44j:

Thanks for the heads up. I wouldn't want to have a good day raving ruined by a relatively easy repair.

Yep. Also if you look on one of the last few pages of my thread, I had some alternator issues including with the excite wire. So some of that may apply to you with similar-vintage German electricals.....

Replace/repair the alternator and the battery.

Make sure the battery cables and connectors are in good shape, clean and connected snugly.

This might help:

http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/elect-26.htm

http://www.pelicanparts.com/944/electrical/944_electrical_diagrams.htm

http://rennlist.com/forums/924-931-944-951-968-forum/617072-early-944-charging-problem-alternator-is-good-need-help.html

Cool build. Look forward to your postings.

Cool build. Look forward to your postings.

I got to work on the car this weekend! This is exciting to me because due to living in an apartment the car is an hour away in my, very loving, parents driveway.

So here's the actual car news:

1st - I fixed the charging issue. After fixing the excite wire the battery light in the dash would stay lit. Overnight ordered an alternator at the local advanced auto (well local, but accidentally the one across town, damn google). Put it in this morning and boom battery light turns off when running and the battery is staying charged. I drove the car around the back roads, really getting on it a few times, stopped at a friends and all was well.

One thing happened though. While driving the car runs much smoother than expected but after a while when I would stop completely the RPMS would bounce between 1k and 1.5k but when I shut the car off and restarted it quickly the idle stopped bouncing a stayed at a steady ~1k. Any ideas what might cause this? I'm thinking vacuum line? Maybe sensor of some sort?

Second took a close look at the suspension as I'm going to want to increase the ride height.

Those current springs are 10" 250lb. I'm thinking I will replace them with 12" 250lb as it looks like I'll be ablessed to accommodate that spring size. From reading around 250lb seems like it will be acceptable but opions and other ideas are always welcome. Plus I found the same brand springs on sale for $27 each from $60 each.

Had fun today. Not a large task but it was fun just to work on the car.

Installed rally armor flaps!