I've had 2 speedos in my car , one reads the regulation 3% or so over, but the other varies from slightly slow upto 10%!
Reading 70, satnav showing 78!
Mike
Reading 70, satnav showing 78!
Mike
New car and a long list to start on!
- Thread starter DivineE
- Start date
DivineE
New member
I'm afraid pics are not very flattering at the moment
caught in her moment of weakness, on camera, during stripping she'd be very angry with me if she were a woman!
Making sure we get rid of all the rust first (seen and unseen) so she's got a big hole cut in her sill and rear wing. New wing has arrived as have the black 'leather' door panels and two new wishbones are already fitted.
My biggest concern at the moment is deciding what order to do things in. Don't want to get it sprayed till all the mechanical knocking and banging is done because I don't want the associated scuffs, marks and dents that come with big DIY on my finished paintwork, I don't want to replace the interior and all the seals until the paint is done because I want it to stay clean and fresh (which it never does in a paint shop environment) but that kind of big stripping opperation could dent/scuff the body.
Lastly I don't want to do any modifications until the car is restored because I need to wait for the dust to settle and re-assess my bank ballance first but big jobs like removing the turbo and exhaust could get oily marks on my interior or scratch my front wings leaning over them.
I'm just a bit anal about these things to be honest but seeing what happened to my last car over its various years in garages really bothered me.
caught in her moment of weakness, on camera, during stripping she'd be very angry with me if she were a woman!Making sure we get rid of all the rust first (seen and unseen) so she's got a big hole cut in her sill and rear wing. New wing has arrived as have the black 'leather' door panels and two new wishbones are already fitted.
My biggest concern at the moment is deciding what order to do things in. Don't want to get it sprayed till all the mechanical knocking and banging is done because I don't want the associated scuffs, marks and dents that come with big DIY on my finished paintwork, I don't want to replace the interior and all the seals until the paint is done because I want it to stay clean and fresh (which it never does in a paint shop environment) but that kind of big stripping opperation could dent/scuff the body.
Lastly I don't want to do any modifications until the car is restored because I need to wait for the dust to settle and re-assess my bank ballance first but big jobs like removing the turbo and exhaust could get oily marks on my interior or scratch my front wings leaning over them.
I'm just a bit anal about these things to be honest but seeing what happened to my last car over its various years in garages really bothered me.
DivineE
New member
Well round one is over and the car has dealt me a series of knock out blows! I went at it with great enthusiasm but for anyone approaching rust repair works BEWARE it had taken 10 times the number of hours I anticipated to rebuild all the inner skins that needed replacing, the intermediate skins, cills and battery bay before the rear quarter could even be fitted. The work is finally finished and I'm going to see it tomorrow but it has turned out to be a lot more costly than I had hoped! I should specify this is by no fault of the garage who have been very helpful, just unbelievable in terms of the amount of work which needed doing to remove all of the rust!
The icing on the cake of all this was the engine. Smooth as silk, no tapping, no smoke 'even on full throttle' but whilst servicing it Harech noticed one plug was blacker than the other three, a compression check showed 140psi in three cylinders and 120psi on the cylinder in question... still not too bad and the car ran fine so they bore scoped the cylinder to see what was going on and BUGGER. Scoring on the bore![]
Having got the engine out and stripped down it turns out the ceramic ports in the head have started to break up. It's not 100% clear whether the piston had simply started to seize of whether debris from the failing ceramic liners have got into the bore but there are also marks on the top of the piston.
Since I got this news I've been through a tough journey on whether to go the 3.0 route again or stick to 2.5 but in the end the 944 turbo with a chip is no slouch and money has made me see sense so I'm giving the block to John at Serdi in London. They did a great job of re-boring my old 944t before it became a 3.2, the bores they did for me were so clean you could eat your dinner off them and they charge very reasonable rates for the quality they provide. The car will be put back together totally standard (but without the ceramic liners in the head) and I will take lots of pictures along the way for people to see it come together.
For those like me try to kid themselves time and time again. Saving this car has stung me yet again it turns out there IS no easy way to make a 25year old car immaculate. Its going to be a long journey now just restoring this into a nice standard example any plans for playing with performance will have to be put on the back burner!
p.s. For those following the Sweedish car thread I did put my money where my mouth was before I recieved this news and bought an intercooler which I 'hope' will prove the best option for our cars. That will be going in some time over the summer and I'll let you know how that works out in due course. More important things right now though.[&o]
The icing on the cake of all this was the engine. Smooth as silk, no tapping, no smoke 'even on full throttle' but whilst servicing it Harech noticed one plug was blacker than the other three, a compression check showed 140psi in three cylinders and 120psi on the cylinder in question... still not too bad and the car ran fine so they bore scoped the cylinder to see what was going on and BUGGER. Scoring on the bore![
]Having got the engine out and stripped down it turns out the ceramic ports in the head have started to break up. It's not 100% clear whether the piston had simply started to seize of whether debris from the failing ceramic liners have got into the bore but there are also marks on the top of the piston.
Since I got this news I've been through a tough journey on whether to go the 3.0 route again or stick to 2.5 but in the end the 944 turbo with a chip is no slouch and money has made me see sense so I'm giving the block to John at Serdi in London. They did a great job of re-boring my old 944t before it became a 3.2, the bores they did for me were so clean you could eat your dinner off them and they charge very reasonable rates for the quality they provide. The car will be put back together totally standard (but without the ceramic liners in the head) and I will take lots of pictures along the way for people to see it come together.
For those like me try to kid themselves time and time again. Saving this car has stung me yet again it turns out there IS no easy way to make a 25year old car immaculate. Its going to be a long journey now just restoring this into a nice standard example any plans for playing with performance will have to be put on the back burner!
p.s. For those following the Sweedish car thread I did put my money where my mouth was before I recieved this news and bought an intercooler which I 'hope' will prove the best option for our cars. That will be going in some time over the summer and I'll let you know how that works out in due course. More important things right now though.[&o]
sawood12
New member
Sorry to hear that, but I guess you're right in that there is no such thing as a cheap Porsche. At least after everything is done and paid for you'll be safe in the knowledge that you have a good car. Those who buy decent cars never really know 100% what is lurking in all those nooks and crannies just waiting to pop their heads up at the most inconvenient time. I still think it is a testament to these cars that after 20yrs of abuse they are still relatively solid. There are not many other non-German cars that would fair anywhere near as well. Still, I don't know how you managed to resist the call of the 3ltr conversion! Good luck with the rest of it.
Diver944
Active member
Ben I'm disappointed in you [
] You've been around Porsche long enough by now to know there is no such thing as a cheap oneI'm pulling your leg of course as I know you'll have a fantastic example after all the effort your putting in to her [8D]. Can't wait to see it, do you have an ETA when it will be finished?
Suffolk944
Moderator
Keep on keeping on Ben, sorry to hear of the unexpected costs its an all too familiar cross to bear. Am sure the end result will make it all worth while !
DivineE
New member
Cheers for all the kind words. The 'I could have bought an expensive car and found trouble, so at least I know now its all been done right' argument is what's keeping me going at the moment. Saw the car today but tucked away in a corner it was hard to get too many pics. Fantastic news is that Hartech have found me (through James Eaton) a short block with good bores - yet to see it but fingers crossed its good enough. They also had a really good head which I've cleaned up and checked as best as I can today. All the exhaust ceramics appear very smooth and solid this means I 'should' be able to get the car back together and running a lot sooner than I thought yesterday.[] This has cheered me up a bit.
The intercooler is an aftermarket item designed for an RS500. Its good for a more than adequate 600hp and flows 1000cfm with only 0.5psi pressure drop. The design of the end tanks looks good with no sharp corners and the core is the perfect thickness for my needs at 45mm. Only problem is having offered it up today I'm going to need to cut away some of the metal that sits under the badge panel and alter the mounting brackets for the front bumper to get it in. It's not too far out and other than that fits the space very well but its a bit of a pain I couldn't have found one 200mm narrower.
this means I 'should' be able to get the car back together and running a lot sooner than I thought yesterday.[] This has cheered me up a bit.The intercooler is an aftermarket item designed for an RS500. Its good for a more than adequate 600hp and flows 1000cfm with only 0.5psi pressure drop. The design of the end tanks looks good with no sharp corners and the core is the perfect thickness for my needs at 45mm. Only problem is having offered it up today I'm going to need to cut away some of the metal that sits under the badge panel and alter the mounting brackets for the front bumper to get it in. It's not too far out and other than that fits the space very well but its a bit of a pain I couldn't have found one 200mm narrower.
peanut
Active member
Nice one. Glad to hear you are back in the fold. i tried the dark side once with a 928 but it wasn't long before I missed the 944 driving experience. I can't see myself ever not owning one.
Has anyone ever bored out a 3.0 lt to 3.2 and stuck a turbo on that ?
If petrol wasn't so dear I'd love to try putting a V8 in a nice S2 but the one major disapointment with the 928 was watching the petrol guage go down and calculating how much a modest return trip would cost [&o]
I hope you can keep a detailed photographic record of the work for aspiring future restorers. An exciting project Good luck
Has anyone ever bored out a 3.0 lt to 3.2 and stuck a turbo on that ?
If petrol wasn't so dear I'd love to try putting a V8 in a nice S2 but the one major disapointment with the 928 was watching the petrol guage go down and calculating how much a modest return trip would cost [&o]
I hope you can keep a detailed photographic record of the work for aspiring future restorers. An exciting project Good luck
DivineE
New member
I bought one to suit not having to do this. It will slide in the gap between the front bumper and the metal bumper inside. Just has to sit at a slight angle sloping back from top to bottom which handily suits perfectly the angle of the inlet pipes
I'm going to start a new thread but I'm also looking for a standard 26/8 turbo if anyone has one spare? I want to put the car back to standard for now but can't face putting the K26/6 back on the car! K26/8 with a chip is just enough to keep my happy (and get me to Le mans) whilst I get the parts and money together for the tuning phase later in the year.
I'm going to start a new thread but I'm also looking for a standard 26/8 turbo if anyone has one spare? I want to put the car back to standard for now but can't face putting the K26/6 back on the car! K26/8 with a chip is just enough to keep my happy (and get me to Le mans) whilst I get the parts and money together for the tuning phase later in the year.
DivineE
New member
If only it was that simple. The bores are only just thick enough for 400hp on our cars anyway. Any boring to increase capacity would thin the walls and weaken them. Ways people increase capacity are:
2.7ltr = 3.0 block with 2.5ltr crank and pistons (rods are the same length in all)
2.8ltr = 2.5block with 3.0 crank and pistons.
3.0ltr = 2.7 head (to keep it 8v) and 3.0 block/ pistons/ crank
Alternatively cut out the inside of the block and fit new liners inside like Pauls and my old car (plus some in America) and you can have any size you want up to about 3.4ltr... but the bigger you go the more difficult it is to cool it.
Regards,
Ben
TTM
Well-known member
In an article dating from the late 80s, Jochen Freund (back then 944 project manager) says they could go to 3.2L if they wanted but had no plan to do so.
Cylinder walls on the 104mm block are already quite thin, I wonder if they would be strong enough if they were even thinner.
Cylinder walls on the 104mm block are already quite thin, I wonder if they would be strong enough if they were even thinner.
DivineE
New member
I suppose with a relatively moderate factory type power output the problems would be far less and 3.2 might be possible but most after market cars with a capacity increase are aiming for 400hp or more and I wouldn't personally risk it with that kind of power.
How's your car running now BTW? Still enjoying it? I do miss my 3.2 for the low end grunt but money is money and the 2.5 is no slouch with a bit of tweaking.
How's your car running now BTW? Still enjoying it? I do miss my 3.2 for the low end grunt but money is money and the 2.5 is no slouch with a bit of tweaking.
MarkK
Active member
A 2.5 can be hussled so convincingly with the right suspension,tyres and Brakes with a level 2 kit alone,i know i have been guilty of craving more power at times,but these cars are still so incredibly able with relatively "few" horsepower,so much so it astounds me.If i was to build a street car again (which i probably wont) it would be level two kit,plus a few small measures to save weight that dont compromise everydayness.
DivineE
New member
I must say Mark I've been giving this a lot of thought. There are a lot of old hats on this forum speaking similar good sense at the start of this thread 'sawood12' being one of them. I have to ask myself sometimes how much power you really need to enjoy driving. A peak of near 350ft/lb tailing to give 300hp in a good 250 turbo does pull your head back and bring quite a smile to your face, it keeps up with just about anything if you drive it hard enough and on 95% of roads/tracks is as much power as you'd ever need.
Maybe I should just enjoy the car for what it is and stop worrying about spending thousands for another 50hp. As Barry says if you want something faster buy a faster car!
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