My "new" 944 Turbo

1986 944 Turbo. I picked it up yesterday, got a chance to clean it out just a bit and change the oil today after work.

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Hatch supports are toast so the seller thoughtfully included an aluminum tube to hold the hatch up. Is it just me or does she sag in the rear a little?

Seller included lots of other stuff too:

The interior is still filthy. Love the '80s-tastic pull out cassette deck!

Every car should come with a plant!

Relay and random plug on the passenger fender - anyone know what this is?

Lots more photoshere

The original owner's manual and warranty/maintenance books are gone and the option code sticker is either removed or painted over so I don't know what options it came with. A call to the friendly customer service people at Porsche Cars NA (800-PORSCHE) and a fax of proof of ownership to them should get me a verbal list tomorrow or the next day.

Other than the dirt and cosmetic issues there are a few things that will need addressing sooner than later. There's a fair amount of noise on accell and decel in the driveline and a clunk when changing gears and some driveline lash that gets excessive when everything's warmed up. There's also some vibration from the rear that comes and goes, sometimes steady state will trigger it, sometimes it does it under acceleration and sometimes not. I'm suspicious of the R&P in the transmission or the CV joints; I'll change the trans oil to MT90 this week and hope that helps. The CV joints will get repacked or replaced over the winter.

Front brake pad indicator is lit and it probably really does need pads; the wheels will come off tomorrow hopefully.

Odometer doesn't work, I'll dismantle the spare cluster and see if that's got a good odo gear, and if not I'll have to order one - I'd like to be able to keep track of mileage between services, though for the service this car is intended for I'd likely be better off basing service intervals on how much track/autocross time it gets.

The sunroof clamp on the passenger side is missing and will need to be replaced before I try a HPDE with it.

The driver's rear tail light cluster has a broken turn signal lens and will probably fail NY's safety inspection, I'm shopping replacements on ebay and some porsche forums.

The hatch needs to be adjuster desperately so it stops sucking exhaust into the cabin - 2 hours driving it home left me slightly green.

I intend to do a compression check - did you know PepBoys does loaner tools now including a compression tester? - and replace all fluids to get a baseline and work on the cosmetics as time and patience allows.

That relay/plug is the blinker fluid level sending unit. Tread carefully.

Plug sort of looks like an OBD-I diagnostics port... but no experience with Porsches of this era....

Nice! I've always had a soft spot for 944s. Phone Dials FTW. I'm looking forward to seeing it get massaged and prettied up.

You should keep the plant.

93celicaGT2 wrote: You should keep the plant.

QFT. "Green cars" are all the rage these days.

I happen to know someone who has brand new hatch struts, as well as new Koni shocks (or KYB if you are on a budget)....

pigeon wrote: Is it just me or does she sag in the rear a little?

Normal occurrence with age, nothing to worry about

Nice. I should've held out for a turbo.

Platinum90 wrote: I happen to know someone who has brand new hatch struts, as well as new Koni shocks (or KYB if you are on a budget)....

PM being sent about the hatch struts. In the few receipts I got with the car is included one for rear shock replacement and it rides pretty nicely; I will have to see what's on there and what condition the shocks are in once I get under the car.

Sorry if that was not clear enough, I meant it as a joke. I work for a Porsche Parts company, so of course I have parts for these cars. In the interests of full disclosure, I thought I would point that out.

Thanks,

Bradley C. Brownell

Ahhh, I get it now. I'm still on my first cup of coffee... Care to share who you work for so I can place a parts order and help a fellow GRMer out? You can PM if you don't want to go public for some reason.

Platinum90 wrote: I happen to know someone who has brand new hatch struts, as well as new Koni shocks (or KYB if you are on a budget)....

Would that be a dismantler from down in thopse parts?

Nice catch. I've always wanted a 951. Maybe when I get a proper set of tools and a better job. When was the last time the timing belt was done?

Drewsifer wrote: Nice catch. I've always wanted a 951. Maybe when I get a proper set of tools and a better job. When was the last time the timing belt was done?

Seller told me timing belt and water pump were done within the last 200 miles or so before I bought it, but has no receipts. The relative cleanliness of the area make me think he's telling the truth, and he was a straight shooter the entire transaction, but I'll at least re-tension it over the winter.

A little word on the timing belt. The seller told me it was changed when I bought mine, only to break two weeks later. Fortunately it was idling at the time and not a lot of other damage was done, but don't don't take anyone's word for it, change it, along with the tensioners, seals, balance shaft belts and water pump. it's a bit of expense, but it will save you TONS of grief later.

Also, check the oil cooler carefully for cracks and leaking hoses. It's not in the best protected place on earth, and they can and will dump all the oil in a matter of seconds. I know this also from personal experience.

Mine looked a lot like yours condition-wise when I bought it, and after all the maintenance was up to date, it was awesome. It took a lot of time and money to get it there, but it is well worth it!

Congrats on the purchase!

A diamond in the ruff! Little elbow grease to bring her back to her glory and you are set. Enjoy!

Sorry I haven't gotten the shipping quote for the seat brackets to you yet, just been crazy busy.

Anyway, try swapping the axles around so the inboard joints are now the outboard joints (check the lube while you're at it of course) The joints wear slightly differently, but are physically interchangeable.

The driveline lash could be motor/transaxle mounts or something worse.

Luckily, its an Audi transaxle (the new darling of the mid-engined Lambo and Ford GT40 replica folks) so parts/upgrades aren't hard to come by if you have the moola.

I would at least pull the inspection cover at the front of the transaxle and look at the torque tube coupler and make sure all is tight in there. If you can have someone press on the clutch pedal and put the transmission in neutral you should be able to rotate the torque tube shaft by hand to check if the bearings are noisy. Should feel like a wheel bearing, slightly stiff but smooth.

After having to rebuild the torque tube in my car, I can say that it isn't fun to do, but it isn't that hard, just a lot of work to get it in and out of the car. Hopefully you won't have that problem.

I've got a bunch of spares for this (alternator, PS pump, stock oil cooler, fuel injectors, etc) if anyone is interested...

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!

Platinum90 wrote: We (as a company) don't have the best reputation, but ask for Brad, and ill treat you right!

With honesty like that, you should be able to turn it around.

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!

I was just browsing your company's site looking for a few things. I'll be calling tomorrow morning - I need a new hatch pin and some lug nuts among other things.

Scott

nice buy

turboswede wrote: Sorry I haven't gotten the shipping quote for the seat brackets to you yet, just been crazy busy. Anyway, try swapping the axles around so the inboard joints are now the outboard joints (check the lube while you're at it of course) The joints wear slightly differently, but are physically interchangeable. The driveline lash could be motor/transaxle mounts or something worse.

No hurry on the seat brackets, I won't be doing anything with seating until Spring.

I changed the transmission oil today and there seems to be about 10-20 degrees of play in the inner CV driver's side. One of the CV bolts was almost out. Can I just unbolt the CVs and swap the axles side to side? I'm very much a newb on this thing right now...

I managed some work last night and today. Changed the oil to Mobil 15W40 Super 3000 diesel, made a nice slick on the garage floor removing the oil filter. Oil pressure is showing 4+ bar cold and hot off idle, and just under 3 bar hot idle.

Changed the transmission lube to MT90, nothing on the drain plug magnet. Not a huge difference in driveline whine in a very limited test drive.

Replaced the power steering fluid in the reservoir with synthetic Mercon that I had sitting around.

Pulled the driver's side wheels and looked at the brakes, pads and rotors need to be changed, and the NAPA pads that came with the car aren't going to cut it. I'm thinking Zimmerman blanks, not sure on pads. I intend to use the car for autocross and HPDE with occasional street driving.

One of the wheel nuts stripped out being reinstalled, and several more are in bad shape, so I'll have to pick some up; I'm thinking local dealer for that.

I tried to adjust the hatch pins so that it will close all the way and one sheared off. Hopefully I can get the stub out and not have to disassemble any further.

Did a little cleaning on the interior, found that the passenger side dash panel is broken on the back side so that the hazard switch won't stay in place; I may need to replace that to pass inspection. Of course I pulled the rubber tube running from that piece to the firewall, insert swearing here.

Looked at the tires more closely, they're H-rated crap with serious cracking along the tread shoulder. One more thing on the shopping list. I knew I needed tires but I was hoping to burn this set off at an autocross this weekend; I don't think it will pass tech like this.

After all that, I noticed oil spitting out the tail pipe. Turbo seals are probably shot, right?

I'm still having fun