944 GBC - My 1992 944 S2 3.0 - The story so far !

[RS2000CUSTOM]

Well here goes - my first post on PCGB - Hope you guys like a few pictures !

All the following updates and repairs have taken place over the last 2 months as I prepare for the trip to Dinslaken at end of April

6 of us will be making the trip over and it will include a 5 day tour before heading back via various WW1 and WW2 heritage sites.

In mid 2013 having started my quest to find a late S2 I looked at a couple of what can only be described as poor and not exactly excellent examples of prime Pork.

In Aug 2013 I finalised the deal on a 1992 Azurite Blue S2 with 99,250 warranted mileage and a great wad of invoices, previous MOT's, service history and receipts (mainly from Porsche OPC's).

A reason for purchasing the 944 is a forthcoming trip to Dinslaken Porsche show on 1st May 2014.

6 of us will be making the trip over and it will include a 5 day tour before heading back via various WW1 and WW2 heritage sites.

Here is our Tour Plaque for the event

I am a self-employed mechanic and freelance MOT tester and will be going over my 944 with a fine tooth comb.

Jobs carried out so far are :-

Repair of the Dansk rear exhaust

Fitting a Promax de-cat (legal to carry out on a 1992 vehicle)

Replace Spark Plugs, fuel and Air filter

Spending a few quid at Sutton Coldfield Porsche

Repairing "plate lift" on the Brembos

Replace front to rear brake pipes and rear left and right section brake pipes to calipers

So nice to be able to use genuine fixings to secure all the pipework

Also sort out perished fuel lines

Still got loads to do and will update with more pics along the way

Jobs yet to make a start are

Cambelts, tensioners and guides

Waterpump, Oil separator seals, Balance shaft seals, cam chain, cam chain tensioner pads, heater cover, Goodridge brake hoses x 4, rear brake overhaul, Promax Chip, Short Shift and Short shift stick, alternator and starter motor rebuild, top and bottom hoses - dont you just love owning a 22 year old classic car lol !!

 

[RS2000CUSTOM]

What is surprising to me is the car was in Porsche Centre Newcastle in March 2013 (1200 miles since) and had a 12,000 service and Complimentry Health Check for a total of £456.28 - £88 parts and the rest labour.

ALL the faults and required jobs I am now carrying out DO NOT miraculously appear in 1200 mile and over a 6 month period (I started my shopping list of repairs in September 2013), yes I am also carrying out a lot of preventative maintenance and upgrade work !

Regardless that the vehicle may only have had a glorified oil and filter change it does not take Sherlock Holmes to realise there may be an issue with the front brakes when the inner face of the disc was clearly visible with the road wheels still fitted, even an advisory note stating brakes may need further inspection due to XYZ would have shown due diligence on behalf of the OPC

Moral to the story is Main Dealers certainly know how to charge but it would be nice if they Safety Checked a vehicle over before handing it back to the customer - or what use is their "Complimentry Heath Check" ?

Heres what the N/S/F disc inner face looked like and it was clearly visible through the brake stone guard.

2 x front wheel bearing replaced

Disc looks a bit better now !

Moved onto the rear brakes

Scary what I found on O/S/R !

So off with the N/S/R - very strange ?????

Near new rear shoes !

So into the history file I delved

07/09/2011 - 3,000 miles ago

Porsche Centre Newcastle charged previous owner £586.87

This was to replace a seized gear linkage (£180.00) and N/S/R park brake shoes ONLY ! (£406 !)

Funny how they have charged customer for a full set of 4 shoes ???????

Vehicle was initally booked in for a "FREE" Complimentry Vehicle Visual Health Check

 

[RS2000CUSTOM]

Todays job - Rear Calipers

They are as bad if not worse than the front calipers for Plate Lift

Both rear calipers all ready to refit now I have sorted the plate lift issues.

New pads and wear sensors

Just waiting for new Park Brake shoes and I can start rebuilding

Todays little operation !

Removed the fuel pump cover to gain access to the in tank fuel filter and replace the small rubber fuel hose from tank to pump

Found a severely corroded fuel line clip on the hose to the tank that was damp - the second I touched it the clip snapped and fuel poured out

Drained tank and cleaned the in tank filter and had already ordered a new fuel hose and filter seal from Porsche that I get tomorrow or Thursday

Removed the in-tank fuel filter and gave it a good clean

Replaced the O ring and refitted

 

[RS2000CUSTOM]

Rear brakes now all sorted and all brakes bled and adjusted

+20mm spacers and long studs fitted - Hopefully nice full rear arches now

Thanks to Clarks Garage I am able to determine potential wear on the clutch assy

http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/clutch-03.htm

18mm = New

34mm = Worn out

Quite a productive 1/2 day today

All timing belts and pulleys/guides removed

Balance shafts seals removed

Water pump removed (it put up a good fight - lol)

Cam tensioner removed for new oil pipe and wear pads

Tomorrow I will be removing camshafts to fit a new chain

 

[RS2000CUSTOM]

Well today I finally STOPPED removing things ! - lol

And a bit of cleaning to do !

 

[RS2000CUSTOM]

Started to get it all back together today

And went to my friendly engineer to make an oil relief valve alignment tool

As for the Pressure Relief Valve tool I messed around at my friends workshop for 20 minutes and then my mate said "give it ere !"

10 mins later tool done - lol

 

[RS2000CUSTOM]

The Oil Pressure Relief valve tool worked a treat

All belts back on and engine alive again !

As my resto comes to an end I fitted the under body protection covers

1st shakedown after completing a major mechanical overhaul - parked outside Rimstocks factory which sadly I do not own - lol

Just under 90 mile covered today and all went well

All dry and no visible fluid leaks - will check again tomorrow

My S2 performed perfectly and it was a pleasure to drive

Only sad thing is that another 51 mile and it goes into the 100,000 miles

Looks good on the back with the +20mm spacers fitted and no rubbing issues !

 

[RS2000CUSTOM]

Well today (Monday 14th April 2014) has been a bit of a backward step

Prior to starting this refurb/rebuild I had a minor intermittent misfire but it never reappeared

UNTIL this afternoon !!!

Fuel = Yes

Spark = Yes

Compression on Cyl 1 = No then Yes (13bar) then No and then 2 bar ?????

2, 3 & 4 are all at 13 bar

I know what this is gonna be - SNAPPED Valve spring !!

So 45 mins later and here is what I found

Luckily Porsche's tendancy to over engineer things meant that the inner spring was able to ensure no piston to valve contact took place :bounce:

New pair of springs ordered from Sutton OPC (should arrive Wednesday morn) and all be back together and running on Wednesday afternoon :drunken:

It's alive again !

New pair of springs fitted with head still in-situ

Leak tested and compression tested - ALL GOOD - so no valve damage :mrgreen:

No misfire and not surprisingly the slightest of "tappet" rattle has now gone as well !

Todays little task was to clean this mess up hidden behind the centre console

Dont you just love 1990's "add-on" wiring

Luckily the original loom was not badly hacked apart

Then off to Halfords for a £65 Pioneer RDS with Bluetooth and iPhone compatability

Great price, great sound, USB and a hands free car kit that works a treat

Modified gearstick and new lower bush fitted

and sadly the odometer has gone over to 100,001 miles

but my mate has bought his S2 along to make mine feel better now it has gone into the 100,000's

So Sunday the 20th April both 944's went to Donington to watch the BTCC - Happy Days !

My 944 is getting a thorough shakedown and spanner check as it now only 1 week before we set off for Europe !

 

[MikeTeesside]

As a self-employed mechanic myself (I restore classic cars) and a new Porsche owner I find this thread of great interest indeed! []

Don't feel so bad about the mileage, my 944 is 10k away from the 200k mileage mark... and I suspect most of the work you just did has never been done to mine.

Time to start planning and making buying lists I think. []

[EDIT: My radio wiring is also a complete and utter mess! Seems quite common. There's even a household block connector on mine.. I'm not sure what some people are thinking.]

 

[RS2000CUSTOM]

Thanks Mike

This is my first ever Porsche and my usual "toy" is a MKII Escort RS2000 (hence my username)

My 944 has been a great introduction into the world of Porsche and the work I have carried out should see this 944 being around for a good many years to come

This weekend I have covered near 300 miles and the drive is great for a 22 year old car

 

[PAUL RUDDY]

Welcome aboard Dave, a very handy man with the spanners, just over a week to go , still need to Hoover mine []

 

[MartinRS2K]

Good to see you on here Dave []

8 days from now we will be on the ferry to Amsterdam on our 2014 adventure []

 

[PAUL RUDDY]

If you're on the ferry to Amsterdam you'll be on your own cos we are on the ferry to Rotterdam !!

 

[MartinRS2K]

ORIGINAL: PAUL RUDDY

If you're on the ferry to Amsterdam you'll be on your own cos we are on the ferry to Rotterdam !!

See you at Oberhausen then [:-]

 

[Frenchy]

Doh []

 

[RS2000CUSTOM]

Well the car has been spanner checked and I re-checked belts etc today

Another quick clean off and everything appears good

Dinslaken next Tuesday - lets hope the weather is a bit better

Will ensure plenty of pic updates

 

[Frenchy]

I was supposed to be on this merry jaunt, i have had to pull out and will be thinking of you lot..............gutted, the Dinslaken Festival is brilliant, way too much to see, and some nice freebies.

 

[robdimond]

Love threads like this!
How easy was it to replace the valve spring with the head on? Assume you pressurised the cylinder to keep the valve closed?
How easy was it to do the rear brake lines. Any tips?

 

[RS2000CUSTOM]

ORIGINAL: robdimond

Love threads like this!
How easy was it to replace the valve spring with the head on? Assume you pressurised the cylinder to keep the valve closed?
How easy was it to do the rear brake lines. Any tips?

Glad you enjoyed looking at what I have achieved so far !

as for the valve spring replace I'll try to keep it simple

Cams out - all valves are closed

Insert cylinder leakage pipe into spark plug hole and pressurise to aprx 30 psi

Put a socket over the valve you want to remove collets and tap with hammer

Collets jump out - stuff rags around valve to catch collets

Remove broken spring/s

Fit new springs and the collet retainer cap

Using an injector removal socket and a long pry bar - put socket onto collet retainer and lock pry bar onto a suitable fixed point and push down onto injector socket and through the cut out on the injector socket replace the collets

Note - The pressure required on the pry bar was not that much as the bar was a long one

Release air from leak tester - job done

Hope this makes sense []

The rear brake lines were relatively simple and I replaced the flexi's at the same time

 

[robdimond]

Fantastic, thanks for the write up!

I assume you did the brake lines without dropping the rear beam or transmission? Mine are a bit iffy so I might do them before the next MOT if it's simple...

Rob