1984 Porsche 944 2.5 Lux Project

[Bloooor]

I have finally found and bought what i believe to be a solid base of a car to get stuck in to, work out any niggles i can find and bring her back to a driving machine like was intended from Porsche!

Drove back home yesterday evening and did just under 200 miles from Stevenage, drove fine with no overheating and no mishaps. I did have a bit of a play in 3rd and seems to be over fuelling quite a lot kicking out some serious black/grey smoke over the 4k mark so i will have to look in to that.

Problems that i have some across so far that i will begin to work on are:

- drivers window seems to of packed up and passenger side is also slow, would eBay be the best bet for finding one? Or am i looking at Porsche for an unused item/s?
- electric mirrors on both sides are lacking in the TLC department, i can't get up and down on the passenger side and drivers side has almost given up lol bless
- play in the steering and juddering from the steering at 60/70> car seems to drift from right to left without the steering wheel being moved so i'm guessing steering column needs looking at/replacing?
- not sure if this is a problem but when flooring it in 5th up to about 80/90 (on a private runway) then letting off the pedal the car seems to stay around those speeds for i'd say almost 5 seconds which was a little worrying, is this something to do with the over run? or over fuelling perhaps? (i've read it could be caused by the sudden increase in vacuum drawing oil vapour from the breather) the car has a K/N air filter too which i wasn't to sure about... and the a manual fan switch which i will be investigating and hopefully putting back to standard.

I will leave it at that for now, sure their are a few more but will try to fix a few at a time and make sure they are done well, i hate getting overcrowded with things.

Anyway she's happily tucked away in my grandads garage for the time being so keeping out of the wet/snow/hail..

Also a few pics and a video i took of the sills to see what people's opinions are on those. I couldn't find any other form of rot on the car, small bits of surface rust in the bottom corners of the front wings and same at the back but i was quite happy with the rest of the underside!

Drivers side:
http://i.imgur.com/AqLy3CG.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/MCb4Odk.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/K9a6WaA.jpg

Passenger side:
http://tinypic.com/r/309uj47/8

 

[Diver944]

Hi Adam. I admire your bravery taking on a project like this. I presume you have some sort of workshop and the skills to cut out those sills as they do look in a pretty bad way and will have to be done to restore her back to former glory. Any pictures of the outside of the car - you know we love pics [8D] Good luck with the restore []

 

[andy watson]

Nice one Adam, welcome to the fold as an owner sounds like your in for a fun ride [] eBay is ok as long as you don't pay over the odds, always get an idea of cost from OPC and check with the well known suppliers on here, if you decide the car is a keeper then new parts are often the way to go - in my opinion Good luck, it will all be worth it and keep us posted on progress And pics....

 

[edh]

I didn't think those sills were too bad - sure the rear sections will need replacing, but a lot of the metal looks sound.

 

[robdimond]

+1 on the sills not being too bad. The rear section needs addressing in the near future but the sill panel itself looks ok.

 

[Bloooor]

I was happy that they hadn't penetrated through to the floor so that was a plus for me, also tapping with the whole thing with my torch gave a solid noise all the down and underneath the sill so that again made me feel a lot better (She will be 30 next year and i believe the sills haven't been touched yet so she's had a good life so far) will try to get some pics from the outside of the sills too as they look in good nick from the outside, i'm working in a garage for now and then hoping to clear out an old unit at the back of my grandads shop, so that will be a good starting grounds for me (it's full of 40 years of him hoarding junk lol) actually re looking at the pics makes it seem a lot worse than what it is, the camera is quite zoomed in so looks like a lot has rusted but from looking in to the vent it's just a patch so i'm hoping easy fix [crosses fingers] Will try get loads of pics of things, makes it easier than reading [] Cheers, Adam

 

[DC911SC]

well done, yes the sills look not to bad the rust height isn't to high. When was it last serviced? I would personally ditch the k&n but just my opinion, pull the plugs and see how they look and start going from there.......... see the water pump price thread below -a few days ago I put up discount codes for euro car parts that work on all parts not just those on their offers! http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=798131

 

[944 man]

It isnt Grand Prix White unless it has been resprayed in a non-original colour.

 

[uk66fastback]

Was this the one that the guy had bought, spent a lot of money on and then seemed to be selling at a loss, having scratched that itch as they say? It looked pretty decent in the eBay pics, but as we all know, some great cars can looks shabby and vice versa. Anyway, those sills don't look too bad I would have said from those pics - and there's a few jobs to do so make a nice list and get stuck in (which is what I'm doing when I have the time) ... Always good to have a garage to work in this time of years well...

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Yep, GP white is a very clean, blue-white, whereas 944s come in a more yellow-white. Look up Peter Empson's fantastic build blog, as he changed to GP white. [link]http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/944lux/[/link]

 

[Bloooor]

ORIGINAL: uk66fastback Was this the one that the guy had bought, spent a lot of money on and then seemed to be selling at a loss, having scratched that itch as they say? It looked pretty decent in the eBay pics, but as we all know, some great cars can looks shabby and vice versa. Anyway, those sills don't look too bad I would have said from those pics - and there's a few jobs to do so make a nice list and get stuck in (which is what I'm doing when I have the time) ... Always good to have a garage to work in this time of years well...

Yeh, that's the one. I had a good look around so can only go off what i saw and after driving it felt, for the money, it is suitable for what i want (which was a solid base to build on and turn it back in to the machine that Porsche intended it to be and feel like. Next pay check i shall be spending on a decent amount of parts and getting stuck in, so might not be that many updates for now, also want to get it fully cleaned up inside and out with some decent wax on to help keep any rain out Thanks for the replies, i've edited the title incase I offended everyone... [8|]

 

[944 man]

Itll be Alpine White, btw.

 

[Bloooor]

Couple more pics for you guys, couldn't remember where else to take them but it will be up on ramps soon so will be able to grab some more when its in the air []

Thanks for your time, Adam

 

[Bloooor]

ORIGINAL: strath44 well done, yes the sills look not to bad the rust height isn't to high. When was it last serviced? I would personally ditch the k&n but just my opinion, pull the plugs and see how they look and start going from there.......... see the water pump price thread below -a few days ago I put up discount codes for euro car parts that work on all parts not just those on their offers! http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=798131

Last serviced April 2013 and was big service costing previous owner £1182.74.. - Cam belt kit (he said inc tensioner as well) - Water pump - Anti freeze - Sundries? lol - Aux Belt - Front shockers - Rear Shocker - Sundries again.. - Oil filter - 5ltrs Gearbox oil - 5 ltrs 10/40 I've also got another invoice that has '1 x 944.512.043.00 SEAL FOR REAR L' it came to £68.05 so i'm thinking boot seal maybe? It has the lower one but not the higher one so that's my thinking on 'L' and maybe 'H' does anyone know what this is? I can't find anything though for a clutch change (which i asked him about and he said it should of had one done as 134,000 miles without one seems unlikely also no invoice for a Head gasket being done so a big bill may be in order but atleast i will know who is doing the work or possibly myself as i want this to be a learning curve for me but at the same time, i don't want to forget something small and end up costing me a fortune.. it would be a great feeling though doing all the work myself, i'm looking at more tools on eBay now, have an engine crane, welder, compressor so far, would ideally love some ramps but they're not cheap! Also got the car over a pit and got a few more underside shots.. saw quite a lot of oil so she needs some work []

Thanks again for the help, Adam

 

[Bloooor]

Decided to give her a quick run today thought best to check the oil, coolant and tyres etc before going out and came to this...

I don't even know what to say, there are no big puddles anywhere, the engine is stone cold when i took the reading but from looking at the amount of oil around the engine and getting faint burning smells through into the cabin on the previous drive, i'm thinking it's using a lot more oil than normal [] I've read up that the 944 engines do use a lot of oil for normal use (1litre between 1000-2500 miles?) last service they put 10w/40 in which i presume is right? (Have i just opened a can of worms judging by other posts i have read) lol

 

[david924s]

Not sure as it is some time since I looked at an early dip stick but that doesn't look like what I remember from my 924S (same as early 944 engine) mine had graduation marks form top to bottom. Just wondered if the dip stick was not the right one and too short, daft thought. If your changing the oil measure how much comes out and compare to what the dip sick indicates.

 

[DC911SC]

Hey, I would personally keep with the 10w40 - others may beg to differ. I have never had high oil consumption like that on any of my NA 944s running 10w40 You mention no major oil leaks but it looks like a lot of oil on the side / base of the engine in the photo, also the oil is really wet so its not an ongoing accumulation - if it only leaks under driving pressure you could be loosing it mainly when out on the road and not on the garage floor. At a guess from the photo the first easy place to check would be the oil filter as it is not far above there if its not long serviced maybe its leaking and not on tight enough? Failing that I would get that oil off the engine and steering rack and see if you can see where its coming from, guess number two would be the cam tower oil seal.

 

[DC911SC]

edit - just looking at the pics again maybe more likely the cam tower gasket. I would highly recommend getting the pressure washer or hose and gunk onto that lot and get it clean! It will definitely be causing a burning smell if oil gets on the exhaust!

 

[robdimond]

Mine used a lot of oil and the engine was covered in it just like your pics. Front reseal fixed it for me, went from 1 litre every few hundred miles to almost nothing. Have a peek under the timing belt cover and see if there is oil. Mine was leaking loads from the crankshaft oil seal, balance shaft seal and also rear of balance shafts. Front engine seal kit is 50 quid from porsche. You also should replace the oil pump drive and top hats if they are grooved (the things that the oil seal runs on). The rear balance shaft seals you can easily replace the orings with the engine out, for a temporary measure just smear RTV all over them.

 

[Bloooor]

Sorry for lack of replies, i've finally got myself in a position where i feel i can spend some quality time and money on her. Ordered some brush on Gunk for the engine bay and will have that cleaned up soon so i can run it for a few miles to hopefully see where it's leaking..

ORIGINAL: david924s Not sure as it is some time since I looked at an early dip stick but that doesn't look like what I remember from my 924S (same as early 944 engine) mine had graduation marks form top to bottom. Just wondered if the dip stick was not the right one and too short, daft thought. If your changing the oil measure how much comes out and compare to what the dip sick indicates.

Those really faint lines in the photo are more visible when looking at them with the naked eye, i think my camera flash made them disappear.

ORIGINAL: strath44 edit - just looking at the pics again maybe more likely the cam tower gasket. I would highly recommend getting the pressure washer or hose and gunk onto that lot and get it clean! It will definitely be causing a burning smell if oil gets on the exhaust!

I will check oil filter tightness and see if i can see any leaks around that area, I've Ordered some brush on Gunk for the engine bay and will have that all cleaned up soon so i can run it for a few miles and see where it's leaking..

ORIGINAL: robdimond Mine used a lot of oil and the engine was covered in it just like your pics. Front reseal fixed it for me, went from 1 litre every few hundred miles to almost nothing. Have a peek under the timing belt cover and see if there is oil. Mine was leaking loads from the crankshaft oil seal, balance shaft seal and also rear of balance shafts. Front engine seal kit is 50 quid from porsche. You also should replace the oil pump drive and top hats if they are grooved (the things that the oil seal runs on). The rear balance shaft seals you can easily replace the orings with the engine out, for a temporary measure just smear RTV all over them.

Does sound similar to mine, did you get a burning smell above 4k rpm? Seal kit seems an alright price too.. Would you also recommend buying the oil pump drive, top hats and the rear balance shaft orings from Porsche too? (Engine is still in as i was hoping the headgasket would only need replacing but it's going to be a lot easier with it out. I'm also thinking if engine is coming out i'm going to want to do a clutch too as everything else has been done in the big service last year (cambelt kit inc tensioner, water pump, aux belt) and i can't find any details of a clutch change since 1984 Thanks for the replies, Adam