Insomnia

[PAUL RUDDY]

As I'm up wandering the house again I thought I'd drop an update for those who don't know about my 944, I sold it Mid April, the car was 99.9% finished and I had a very good offer.....very very good.

The new owner took the car and a list of jobs that I considered still needing doing, the major one being a full geometry set up, the car ended up on new 17" Fuchs reps.

It was on the button, running sweet, no issues whatsoever on first start up, second start up an injector appeared to block, sent it back for a recheck and clean (had already been done) and as luck would have it the injector was fine, returned, refitted, fired straight up and no more issues.

Anyway, the car was far too clean to ever use and I've got to be honest , I was enjoying driving the wee Boxster that we bought at a fraction of the cost, I never even drove the 944 except for a 20 yard roll in first gear onto the buyers trailer, it has gone into a private collection of over a 100 cars, bikes and all sorts of stuff.

I have bought a replacement, a nice low mileage late gen 1 997, Guards red, black hardback sports seats, non sunroof, no rear wiper, no headlamp wash, very basic spec and looks just right for it, and cash left over from the 944.

I have had the 997 apart, despite full service history including a major 600 miles ago I prefer to check for myself. Coil packs were shot, cracked and worn, so new Beru (OEM) were fitted along with plugs, oil and filters, arch liners out for a two week cleaning session underneath, lots of new fasteners, new heat shields for the coils.

I don't want to create another ornament but I do want to improve the car, to that end I have bought some performance manifolds from the USA and a new sports cat exhaust system will be going on.

The car still runs the 18" wheels as fitted to the 3.6 Carrera, I specifically wanted a late 3.6 with the updated IMS, and I have fitted small 5mm spacers, new black oem wheel bolts as the chrome ones are famous for rusting, binned the locking nuts as they are awful things. When the newly fitted tyres are worn I'll go up to 19's, possibly black Fuchs reps again.

Having spent some time working on the 997 over the last few weeks I can say with certainty they aren't built anywhere near the standard of a 944, lots of plastic and crap fasteners, I will make it my aim to get it up to spec though.

Take care, Paul

 

[zcacogp]

<997's> aren't built anywhere near the standard of a 944

That's my suspicion, nice to have it confirmed. And ill tidings for when we all need to move our 944's on for something more modern.

Smartening up a more modern 911 though ... I take it you have seen this?

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=&t=1601182


Oli.

 

[PAUL RUDDY]

I don't do pistonheads , never have, or many forums now, small circle of like minded Porsche people on a private page suffices my interest.

I can't knock the build quality of the body on the 997 which can be a major concern on 944's , the arch liners did hold an amount of crud where you would not want it sitting for long periods, once cleaned off the panel work was as original. The problem lies with the amount of ill fitting plastic parts underneath and the means of retaining them, gaps where you wouldn't want them, steel fasteners bonded to plastic that rust, poor quality torx type screws etc.

That said I would much rather spend a bit of time, removing, lubricating or replacing fasteners than sills !

Parts prices are proving more competitive on the 997 than the 944 as there is more choice of supplier, insurance was far cheaper also, mpg not so competitive.

But at the risk of repeating what I said earlier the Boxster is still the best smiles per £ Porsche on the market.....bought properly.

cheers, Paul

 

[colin944]

I find this quite interesting as I have done a load of work to my 89 944S2 including major body refurbishing. I have also done a few jobs on my mates 997 gen1 2S. I would say the 997 is built like any other modern car and the 944 is better screwed together with far more robust fastenings etc than the 997. i get the feeling with the 997 that you are paying for the running gear ( engine, suspension , gearbox and brakes ) more than the interior fittings and other bits and bobs.