1988 Porsche 924S Build. Not a BMW This Time

So, I had to pause and clean up the disaster area of my garage since I was starting to not be able to find tools. As always, finding places for things is a challenge in a small 2-bay garage that has to share its space with kids bikes and a project car..

Then got down to some engine deconstruction. Pulled the cam tower and the head once a high-end hex socket arrived...

And hours and hours of cleaning gasket material etc etc..

I honestly don't even know why I bothered, really. There was no evidence that the current HG was bad, but figured might as well while it's out of the car....

Anyhow, still cleaning stuff up. The head is back on, and I forgot how much force it takes to torque head nuts 15lb-90-90 on this car, especially when the engine is on a stand with wheels, haha...

Current minor issue is trying to get the main cam nut off, which is going to take some serious leverage with the cam off the engine.....more on that when I get around to it, etc....

Admittedly I've been slacking at taking pictures as I rebuild this engine. Since everything is so greasy, I kind of don't want to handle my phone while working, so I forget to take pics. Oh well.

Anyhow, in the last couple weeks I've had a chance to further clean things up, replace seals and gaskets, and start further re-assembly of the engine. Today I tacked the disgustingly oily oil pan and some other things. The good news is that I didn't see any debris in the bottom of the pan.

Before putting the pan back on, I did the rod bearnings, which was pretty easy. The old ones definitely had a good amount of wear on them and clearly had been replaced at least once (12-point rod bolts, when IIRC the original ones are 6-point). Anyhow, new bearings in, new rod cap bolts,

Then buttoned up the oil pan after more clearning. The torque sequence takes a while and is such a low number I really have questions about whether my small torque wrench is correct. Guess we'll see if it starts leaking one day. Also cleaned up and painted the intake manifold and various other parts, and put more things together

Only issue so far is that the injector rebuild kit I ordered doesn't appear to have the same parts as the injectors on the car....will figure that out here soon.

Jason stopped by with his new project car as well - though admittedly what he's spent restoring it in the first 2 months exceeds my whole budget for my own build, lol...

It is lovely, though...

I just orderd some OEM carpet off ebay from an '87 944 so hopefully it will be in as good shape as it looks and will solve my nasty carpet issue so I can start putting the interior back together too. Guess we'll see...

Ooooohhhh! BB Chebby!

Rallycross the Chevelle.......there's an idea :)

That's a nice looking engine! (Both, really, but I was specifically referring to yours)

I've been slowly acquiring all the parts and pieces I need to finish up the engine....RockAuto closeout time found me a good number of coolant hoses, belts, and a few other things. IN the meantime I've done a bit more painting and cleaning and assembling on the engine

More exciting for me, though, is that I found a guy on ebay selling the full carpeting from a 1988 944, in black. It looked like it was in pretty good shape, so I got it for like a hundred bucks. Came in the other day and was in even better condition than expected. Actually very nice, with a few minor holes and a bit of fading in a few spots that I can redye. More importantly, it included the large hatchback area carpet, which has the molded foam backing. These are apparently hard to find in good shape, so that's great.

A bit nicer than what came out of the car. And without the wet/musty smell!

I also got a roll of jute off ebay. I know I could drop $$$ and get some high-end backer, but jute was good enough for Porsche, so it's fine for me (and a lot cheaper). I'm using a base surface with Frost King stick-on insulation (a well-known inexpensive but good substitute for dedicated autmotive stuff), and then a layer of jute over it, then the carpet.

The 944 carpet has a few minor differences from the 924 carpet, but they are in places that are covered by either the seats or the center console

Some of it installed and/or test-fit

Other than that, I've been spending altogether too much time fixing stuff that is starting to go bad on my DD (2009 WRX with 150k miles). In the last month I've had to do turbo inlet (harder than it sounds), coil packs, an 02 sensor, and today a new steering rack. Also the center diff is shot. I love this car but it may be time to start looking for something new. I'd rather be working on project cars than my daily driver....

Ironically, I am considering a Subaru BR-Z as my next commuter car.....which is kind of funny since it's kinda-sorta the same kind of car as the 924. Also my wife wants a minivan because she hates the sequoia (my tow rig) that she drives daily with the kids....so who knows, maybe I'll just be commuting in this 944 6 months from now so I can get her the minivan and still keep the tow rig, lol....

Nice progress man. Engine looks great.

So that grey stuff has a name after all! I didn't know it was called jute.

I have a couple small rolls of it in my garage to lay between me and the concrete floor.

Work on the Porsche has been sporadic recently. After doing the WRX rack, I ended up having to also do the WRX center differential. Not a hard job, but still took most of a Saturday. Thankfully Nick let me borrow his lift and garage since mine is kind of full!

Then I was sitting around one evening and just said "screw it" and pulled the old engine out of the car. Not because i'm ready for the new one to go in yet, but because I want to have time to clean up stuff in the engine bay, really.

So out it came. A bit easier than the last time, now that I know some of the tricks. This engine is way gunkier/oilier than the other one, and the chassis and suspension as well (thanks to PS hose leaks and many oil leaks).

After the engine was out, first order of action was some cleaning. I really, really hate working on stuff when it is coated in grease, oil, and grime. So put some tubs down under the car and got in there with some brillo sponges and simple green and did a bunch of scrubbing on areas that need it most. I'll do a more extensive cleaning (and some painting) before the new engine goes in, but this will work for now..

wow, it's actually silver. When I pulled it out there was no color on it other than black

I also pulled out the headlight motor, PS reservoir, coil, and washer fluid reservoir from the passenger side, which were all very nasty from PS fluid leak and gave them all a good scrubbing (as well as the body panels and frame rails below them) and reinstalled..

Got tired of cleaning after a while so pulled the clutch off the broken engine. Getting that pivot pin for the clutch fork out is a BITCH! But after liberal use of my mini-sledge and some other tools, finally came out and everything apart. So here's where it's kind of interesting. The engine out of the black car has a (clearly not original) Sachs spring-type clutch, while the engine out of the red car has an original-style clutch with the big rubber center disc. Both are actually in pretty decent shape but since clutch jobs in this car are such a big job, I'm going to put all-new stuff in there ($$$$) to save future headaches.

Then more cleaning of (one) bellhousing and so forth..

This also gave me a good ability to more closely check out the front suspension components. Boy are they nasty. Bushings are toast, everything is super-rusty, etc. Since this uses the 924/early 944 control arms they're actually pretty cheap new. Like $20 each without bushings/balljoints. I think I'll pick up some and then put in some good balljoints and some poly bushings before I put stuff back together (also with new shocks).

All of this stuff is on a pretty slow timeline with a limited budget (rally is expensive, and racing/rally car takes precedence over this build). The federal hiring freeze (and probable pay freeze) also could affect me as a federal employee, so I'll proabably spend a bit less than usual in order to keep my savings/reserves up.

But really I just want to spend most of my car money on the rally car. The near-term plans for this car are: clutch, basic suspension refresh, and a few hoses and steering-related stuff that I still need. Once that stuff is in the car will (hopefully) be able to move under its own power so at least I can move it in and out of the driveway/garage to accommodate working on the other car projects here!

More cleaning and such. I went to HF today and picked up a couple small wood dollies so I can move the old (and new) engines around the garage until one goes back in the car. Also ordered up a new clutch and all the other stuff I need for that. One that's bolted up, I should be able to put the "new" engine back in the car. I have to take care of a few other things before that: heater hoses, replace the clutch soft line (which has some rubbing wear), pull the brake booster and check the clutch master for leak (a bit wet by the pedal area), etc.

Meanwhile pulled off the brake master cylinder and reservoir. Like many old Euro cars, this one was full of nasty old brake fluid and had a nice coat of a gunky brown goo all over the inside, even after draining and rinsing extensively. Thanks to the advice of a GRM member, I went and bought a Harbor Freight ultrasonic parts washer. Stuck the reservior in there for a few cycles, and voila...

So that's pretty nice. Now I wish I had gotten this a couple months ago before i HAND washed dozens and dozens of greasy bolts and other small parts....

Wow, that turned out great! I suppose I could use the ultrasonic cleaners I have at work, Patients won't notice anything, right?

Parts coming in, stuff going on....etc. Some updates.

I need to sort out the clutch, hydraulics, and heater hoses before I put the engine in the car, so working on that. Got in a clutch kit from Rockauto. It's a "Rhino" kit but all the components are Sachs so that's good.

First I disassembled the throwout bearings from both of my clutches that I have on-hand out of the red and the black cars. As noted before, one of them is the original-style clutch with the big rubber disc in the middle. Actually in pretty good shape. The other one is a Sachs replacement unit that has about 50% life on it. Normally I'd just use the 50% one if this was the e30, but I do NOT want to do this job again once the drivetrain is in the car, as it seems like a big hassle.

It's suggested that you take off the original throwout bearing from the clutch to check the spacer/shim count and use "the same' on the new clutch. Unfortunately, the original clutch off the black car has three shims, and the clutch off the red car had two, but they were on the wrong side.

So with no reference point, I'll do it with three shims (on the correct side), which seems to be the suggestion on most online forums with new clutches. Guess we'll see if that's the right way to go about it.

Now to the rebuild of other parts. The clutch fork has a pair of small roller bearings that pivot on a large "pin" of sorts. On both of these cars the roller bearings had gone bad and worn down the pin

So I got new bearings and a new pin. Pressed out the old ones

And put in some new ones

And on the new pivot pin (test fit)

Then on to hydraulics. The brake master seems fine (no leaks), but the clutch master and slaves were both totally gross, rusty, and leaky. I had initially planned to rebuild the slave with a cheap kit I got, but upon opening it up, the bores were rusty so that's not gonna happen.

INCIDENTALLY! WHen pushing back the piston to check the bore, make damn sure you plug the brake line fittings. I ended up ejecting brake fluid at a high velocity directly into my face 3 feet above it (and splattered all over the ceiling too). Right into my eyes. Luckily I have an eyewash fittin on my shop sink and it got about 20 minutes of use immediately. That was both stupid and scary. WEAR YOUR SAFETY GLASSES.

THe soft line to the slave cylinder also had serious abrasion wear and will be replaced as well. This is getting more expensive than expected...

So today all the new hydraulics came in (except the new line)

Also some engine mounts. I know OEM is suggested, but I'd rather save $200 and just got some Meyle ones, which shuld be fine for cruising if not racing. If they go bad, I'll replace when it happens.

Then replaced the clutch slave...needed it badly

And pulled the brake booster, cleaned and sanded it, and painted it to look nice, and not rusty. Then reinstalled.

So that's where I'm at now. Making progress here and there...

irish44j said: This is getting more expensive than expected...

Your cheap Porsche? You don't say!

Wow, serious cleanup effort. Since I'm going through the same thing in my 525iT rebuild (though mine's more of a driving project, haha), I've realized that it's surprisingly difficult and time consuming to take pictures of everything to post, so I'm impressed with the photo detail. Looks like it will be really nice when it's all done, and that interior came out pretty sharp. Jute and frost king...going to have to remember those...

"Also some engine mounts. I know OEM is suggested, but I'd rather save $200 and just got some Meyle ones, which shuld be fine for cruising if not racing. If they go bad, I'll replace when it happens."

Lifetime warranty on all parts, even brake pads when you buy at FCPEuro.

The only parts source I use. :)

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wrote:

irish44j said: This is getting more expensive than expected...

Your cheap Porsche? You don't say!

I mean, half this stuff I'm replacing would probably be fine for years further - and the parts aren't actually any more expensive than for any other car. I just want to do it all right while the engine is out and it's easy to access.

I mean, who thinks about clutch hoses when doing a build? I think I just replaced the ORIGINAL clutch line in the e30 last year (which was 30 years old and still in decent shape).

manydubs wrote: "Also some engine mounts. I know OEM is suggested, but I'd rather save $200 and just got some Meyle ones, which shuld be fine for cruising if not racing. If they go bad, I'll replace when it happens." Lifetime warranty on all parts, even brake pads when you buy at FCPEuro. The only parts source I use. :)

Funny, I've been on their site before and never noticed that. Good to know, thanks!

Lifetime warranty of wear items, eh? That may be more applicable to the rally e30 since it takes the abuse (the 924 won't get a ton of miles on it once done, so hopefull won't be wearing stuff out). noted!

In reply to irish44j:

Just trying to make myself feel better about how I can't even buy parts for most my vehicles at ANY price

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wrote: In reply to irish44j: Just trying to make myself feel better about how I can't even buy parts for most my vehicles at ANY price

well, that's the price you pay for having the cache of "unusual vehicles" lol. I always assumed you'd rather improvise/fab stuff than buy off the shelf anyhow. which is probably not a big deal for street drivers, but certainly more of a hassle for competition cars where you may need to get a spare part locally. At least you have a parts car!

I don't mind having to improvise when I like how the vehicle is put together, like on my Buell or NX250. The Merkur gets on my nerves a bit because I think it's poorly designed from a maintenance/assembly standpoint, so tinkering with it tends to be frustrating.

You seem to get along with German engineering pretty well so I think this car is a reasonable choice for you- if it were in my garage I think I'd want it out ASAP

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wrote: I don't mind having to improvise when I like how the vehicle is put together, like on my Buell or NX250. The Merkur gets on my nerves a bit because I think it's poorly designed from a maintenance/assembly standpoint, so tinkering with it tends to be frustrating. You seem to get along with German engineering pretty well so I think this car is a reasonable choice for you- if it were in my garage I think I'd want it out ASAP

Once you've worked on vintage British cars, you can get along with anything. Because any other car has a much more sensible design than anything the British ever designed!

Tonight, what was (rightfully) expected to be a major pain in the ass. Heater hoses from the core to the block. I've read a dozen how-tos on this job and basically all of them say "it's the absolute worst job to do on a 924/944, period."

Anyhow, the hoses in the car were mushy and soft and appeared to be original. Needed to be replaced and with the engine out of the car gives much more room to work. I got my hands on some silicone hoses from 944online.com - figured that will help to have to only do this once as long as I own this car (also they cost less than the almost-unobtanium OEM hoses).

So anyhow Porsche apparently took a bare shell, installed the heater, and then built the rest of the car around it. One would think that the heater inlets would be accessible in the engine bay to easily detach the hoses and replace, right? Nope. For some reason they are just slightly recessed behind the firewall inside the car, and the hose clamps are basically right against the firewall. With the dash, heater unit, and AC in the place you cannot see them, cannot feel them with fingers, and cannot access them at all with any tool that I could find (many extensions and ujoints were tried..).

Basically, it looks like this (stolen from one of the threads):

After about an hour of trying to get to them, on my back in the passenger footwell, I was on the verge of starting the dozen-hour task of removing the A/C, heater, and dash when I got an idea. I did some measurements, and probed a bit under the cowl sheet metal. And took some inspiration from the Chris Nonack book of access panels. I bored out a couple holes in the cowl (one on top and one on the side of the "center hump") and then cut a bit further so I could peel back the (surprisingly wimpy) metal above where the hoses enter the firewall.

That gave me access (from the top and the side) to the hose clamps. It still wasn't easy, but I managed to finally get them off after another hour of work, and with them the old hoses. I still had to cut one of the hose clamps off (which I could access after getting the upper one off, at least enough to grind it down until it broke off)

And we have the inlets, bare, finally!

Putting the new stuff on was the easy part after that, especially since I was able to orient the hose clamp screws vertical for really easy access through my access hole. Once everything is back in, I'll search out a couple grommets to plug the holes up.

If anyone knows from experience - does it look like the hoses are oriented in the correct direction?

On a side note, the heat/scatter shield piece inside the trans tunnel is in crappy condition, but not sure if those are even available any more (or if I should even worry about it, since it is still likely fully functional if not very attractive)....

So now the only thing I'm waiting for is a new clutch slave line (which runs down the firewall and is easier to replace with the engine out). After that, I can hopefully drop the engine back in.

Love the access panel idea... will have to file that one away for future use..

I started reading that post and thought "sounds like a spot where I would just berkeleying cut a hole in the car"

Well, apparently I am way behind on this thread. It's hard to stay motivated for this thread, since I am mostly just replacing stuff and bringing the car back to a "mostly stock" setup - as opposed to the rally car thread, which is easier to keep up on because I'm actually doing things, racing, etc.

Anyhow, not even sure where I left off...well, I guess it was before the engine went in.

So, the engine went in...much easier going in and aligning things now that I knew what was going on..

up through the bottom

and in

And there it sat for the next 4-5 weeks while I did other stuff.

Oh, so I could move the car around, I put the suspension and steering back together (loosely) but did throw in some new control arms. Other new stuff is coming here and there. I'll work on suspension next month.

old uck...

new stuff

Then, the car sat for a bit - a victim of empty car budget (being spent on fixing some WRX issues and some e30 rally stuff).

Then, a couple weeks ago, I sold my beloved GT6, which had been in the family for 47 years. A hard choice, but it was just collecting dust in the shed. And as much as I love the idea of the car (and its history), I never much liked driving it and my wife/kids want nothing to do with it. That's why I got this Porsche - something a bit more civilized that they may want to actually ride in and that will be a bit more tolerable/enjoyable for some road trip explorations...

its last day here

and it was bought by a friend who will enjoy it the way I could not, I hope

It actually fetched a lot more money than I expected it to, which turned out to be good for the rally/project car budget. So I ordered a bunch of Porsche and e30 parts. Then the next day, THIS happened...

That's my neighbor's 100-foot red oak. ugh. I have insurance but this kind of thing is always a huge hassle. (Happened 2 weeks ago and almost nothing has been done yet other than removal of the tree)

I was put in a better mood this week by a ton of parts coming in to let me get the engine totally back together and ready to start up soon..

First, I got a bunch of hoses I needed - mostly stuff that goes under the intake manifold for the oil recirc, idle air stuff, and vacuum. Since this area is a PITA to get to, I replaced almost everything in there.

Also did the fuel line and tank seal. They were BADDD

much better now

Then rebuilt the injectors with new caps, o-rings, etc..

And started putting stuff back together. This is how it sits as of tonight. I'd say I'm 90% of the way toward trying to start the car up again, which is pretty good. Nothing too crazy, but it did take a couple total hours to figure out (using internet pics and such) where exactly all the wiring harness, vac lines, and hoses are routed so as not to interfere with each other, the IM, or other things. I think I have it right now, finally...

Yesterday some nice shifter pieces came in too. When I drove this car (well, this drivetrain in the black car) home, it was almost impossible to get it into 1st and 2nd and I've never felt so much slop in a shifter in any car. The 924's rear transaxle and long linkage exacerbated the issue.

So some nice stuff from only944.com, which only sells about 10 things, but they are 10 things that are hard to find elsewhere and the prices are good. I may order his entire catalog before I'm done here lol..

Here is the new shifter up front, compared to the old one. Note the excessive taper wear on the selector nub....no wonder I couldn't get it into gear. I knew these wore down, but I've not seen pics of any THIS bad before..

The other things there are a short shifter and new linkage for the rear end of the shifter on the transaxle. Will do that later this week. But installed the front-end stuff and wow....it's a night-and-day difference! This setup uses thin bearings to allow the shifter to pivot on the rod, but holds it vertical to get rid of slop. I've only pretend-driven in the garage while shifting, but boy it feels good, even before doing the rear linkage.

There's some other little stuff I'm doing, but most of it is boring and not worth photographing. I pulled the rear tow eyes off the car, wire-wheeled them and repainted/reinstalled. And cleaned up a couple exhaust heat shields. Fun stuff. Overall, things are going pretty smoothly though and hopefully will have more updates soon!