what did you do to your 944 today

[scam75]

ORIGINAL: 944Scott Are your adjusters on the body of your shocks? My Spax have the adjuster on the top of tube shock so these are under the bonnet but the rears have the adjusters on the body of the shock, i'm adjusting my handbrake in a little while so I will give them a squirt []

Yes all my adjusters are on the bodies. The fronts do have a nice anodized chunky adjuster with a re-assuring click whereas the rears have a much less resplendent affair which is quite small and the clicks are very very hard to hear or sense. Of course this becomes irrelevant when they are seized solid.........................[&:] From this:

To this in 6 months:

Gaz did replace the fronts for me but six months later we were in the same position so I gave up. The rears took about 12 months to get into the same state. I wondered about having them painted or powdercoated but tbh lost interest in them. Incidentally they are nickel plated. And now it seems that they not only look terrible but had gradually seized up also!! Have done about 25k miles on them but still not impressed in the slightest. Gaz have offered to refurb at 40 quid a corner front and 25 rear. In all honesty I can't be bothered having to take them off and send them. I might be inclined to do so if I thought they would last after a refurb. Stuart

 

[Diver944]

ORIGINAL: scam75 Have done about 25k miles on them but still not impressed in the slightest.

When I first read they had totally seized up after three years I wrongly assumed you were a low mileage garage queen Stuart. Now that I read you have done 25,000 miles in those three years I am truly shocked. Gaz have a long way to go IMHO, that's just a terrible product.

 

[Hallsy]

That really is awful. They obviously know that they have poor rust protection, so you'd think they'd do something about it. Only takes some good quality powder coat surely. Shocking (no pun intended )

 

[Hallsy]

ORIGINAL: JagdHamster Stuart, Thanks for road-testing the Gaz Golds. Suitably warned, I have my replaced my surprisingly knackered (once-rebuilt already) M030s with Koni Sport new units front and rear. Great work by Jeff Moore's Garage Exeter to a great standard. Check out the difference in damping performance..... [link=http://youtu.be/gxoMnfjA9nM]YouTube video[/link] Might explain why the car was a bit shonky/scary at times! Also replaced a lot of bushes/mounts/links while in there and finished with full geometry check. Very happy with the resultant transformation.

Russ - how long had the rebuilt M030's lasted before wearing out again? The previous owner of mine said that he suspected one of the front struts was leaking, I have since had it up in the air and not seen any evidence of this, and nor is it too obvious on the road, the car is stiff (compared to my S) and not particuarly harsh - but all the same, I was considering getting them rebuilt. I emailed a few companies that were recommended by Koni UK but have heard nothing since. Do you know how rebuilt your ones, and ballpark costs?

 

[DarrylH]

I've had a few issues with my GAZ golds too - I thought mine were just a bad batch. My NSF adjuster seized and a valve inside had come out all in 5 months. I wasn't impressed but they've come back this week after being fixed under warranty so will see how we get on. I wish I'd spent the extra money on KW's if I'm honest.

 

[scam75]

Yeah its not too good to be honest. I spent some time today getting all 4 adjusters nice and free back to front. All seems well for now. I seem to have 22 clicks on the fronts and 44 on the rear. I've set them bang in the middle for now as a reference point for future set ups and also to ensure they get decent travel for a bit and see how things go. I also found a broken earth wire on the off side strut. I assume this is for the abs, however abs was working fine and no light on dash. I have fixed the wire anyway. For anybody else with Gaz Gold does 22 clicks front/44 rear sound right? Stuart

 

[JagdHamster]

Hi Hallsy, Andy at ProMax had said that they were rebuilt. The car's done just under 80,000 miles, so max is probably 40,000 miles. Not only was the ride bad, but on the ramp you could see sideways play in them, too. Jeff said that this is not usually cured in a rebuild; it's down to wear at the damper body end. The fronts were adjustable inserts (still looks like original M030 though, now the bodies have been sand-blasted and repainted Koni yellow) from Paragon-USA and much, much more compliant. I'm not sure I'd recommend a rebuild, to be honest. All in, about £1000 for the dampers and bushes/links and fitting. But so worth it. Hope that helps, Russ

 

[colin944]

Went to this meet today. You can see my 44 with two others on the left of the fly over shot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiPuFMoOzPY

 

[Eldavo]

Picked up a new throttle cable and an Apexi AVC-R Boost controller today - also got a call to say that my centre console will be ready to collect tomorrow. It's been at the trimmers having one of the eBay "Top Gaiters" leather skins fitted to it. Whilst it's been out I've tidied up loads of wiring in that area, deleting unnecessary parts of the harness and making connections for gauges and the EBC as well as hard-wiring a charge cable in for my GoPro that mount on the cage. Going on holiday in 2 days so early September will be a busy time.

 

[OLD_ian]

Picked it up from RGA who fitted a new section of fuel line to fix the leak. 1.5 hours labour plus the part! So it can be done without spending £1k much to my relief. Someone had bodged a bit of rubber hose over the rear suspension before I bought it. They also spotted the cause of my intermittent hot start issue. One of the sensor cables had a problem. This problem has defied all efforts to sort for ages. Very happy with the result.

 

[Hallsy]

ORIGINAL: _ian Picked it up from RG who fitted a new section of fuel line to fix the leak. 1.5 hours labour plus the part! So it can be done without spending £1k much to my relief. Someone had bodged a bit of rubber hose over the rear suspension before I bought it. They also spotted the cause of my interflexible pensiont issue. One of the sensor cables had a problem. This problem has defied all efforts to sort for ages. Very happy with the result.

Interesting that you refer to the flexi over the rear axle as a bodge, as this is exactly what RGA did with my Turbo! The previous owner had the fuel lines replaced by RGA, and from the invoice I had assumed it had been done completely in hard pipe, but when up on the ramp the other day I noticed it had been done in flexible hose!! Not what I'd have expected from a specialist, but acceptable imo.

 

[edh]

I was there on Monday (Silver Boxster) - I should have come down for a chat... What a great value trackday..... I had a play in the skid car as well - that was fun As for the piston, I've seen a reference to this somewhere, maybe in the workshop manual. I think it goes at an angle of something like 30 degrees from vertical.

ORIGINAL: VITESSE In preparation for a track day at Donnington on Monday,I've just finished fitting new rear Pagid pads (from ECP,£27.20 set inc VAT)-recent MOT showed that the existing ones were not acting on the full area of the discs,although it passed (just). This problem seems to be associated with the orientation of the piston-& as with those on our grey 924S which had it's 1st new rear pads earlier in the year ( after 23yrs of ownership),when I removed the old pads,the pistons had the "D" end shape aligned vertically -ie as you would read a letter "D" in print-which to me lets the pad rock about the step. In both cases ,I have rotated the pistons so that the upright of the "D" is horizontal across the pad in the line of travel. The Haynes manual particularly for the 924 shows this alignement in a photo but I can find no specific reference anywhere even in Clarkes Garage--can anyone confirm this is correct?

 

[edh]

ORIGINAL: scam75

Maybe Gaz should only be fitted to racecars? As a comparison, here are my KW's when they came off the car for new springs last year, 5+ years old, probably 25-30k miles

with a quick polish, the bodies are perfect, just a bit of corrosion on the springs.

 

[vitesse]

ORIGINAL: edh I was there on Monday (Silver Boxster) - I should have come down for a chat... What a great value trackday..... I had a play in the skid car as well - that was fun As for the piston, I've seen a reference to this somewhere, maybe in the workshop manual. I think it goes at an angle of something like 30 degrees from vertical. Both Nick & I went-last time we met you ,Nick was int hat red Turbo at Donnington,Ed. We did walk up to the low no garages & spoke to Tom & Kerry & Steve Jory ,all of whom I've met at Curborough,but didn't see you-however did see the Boxster on track-you were in a different session to us I was in the red 924S & Nick in the low black/red Eunos/MX5 It was a great value day only marred by the sudden rain downpour when I had a little spin helped by the oilspill from the red Escort at the chicane <my cheap fron tyres but mainly running out of skill.

 

[edh]

ORIGINAL: VITESSE

ORIGINAL: edh I was there on Monday (Silver Boxster) - I should have come down for a chat... What a great value trackday..... I had a play in the skid car as well - that was fun As for the piston, I've seen a reference to this somewhere, maybe in the workshop manual. I think it goes at an angle of something like 30 degrees from vertical. Both Nick & I went-last time we met you ,Nick was int hat red Turbo at Donnington,Ed. We did walk up to the low no garages & spoke to Tom & Kerry & Steve Jory ,all of whom I've met at Curborough,but didn't see you-however did see the Boxster on track-you were in a different session to us I was in the red 924S & Nick in the low black/red Eunos/MX5 It was a great value day only marred by the sudden rain downpour when I had a little spin helped by the oilspill from the red Escort at the chicane <my cheap fron tyres but mainly running out of skill.

Ah yes - I saw the MX-5 as well. A friend of mine was in his newly bought Mk1 - dark green or blue I think (didn't take much interest in it TBH) The track was very slippery at Macleans & Coppice after that shower, wet on those bends but dry everywhere else on the circuit. I had a few "moments" on both of those corners in that session but managed to keep it pointing the right way []

 

[scam75]

Those KW's have weathered well, as you would expect. How hard can it be for Gaz to finish their units in something a bit more durable? It's a shame as they are an otherwise good product. Good ride and loads of adjustment available. To be fair the replacement fronts they sent aren't as bad, still corroding though albeit at a lower rate! I have started coating them with corrosion block which seems to be arresting their decline somewhat! Stuart

 

[DarrylH]

A few photos from going out this evening

 

[scam75]

Cleaned and oiled my K&N and fitted a new rear hatch seal. The new OEM seal has a bead of super sticky something or other inside it which caused no end of mess when fitting/re-fitting. Took me 2 hours to get it right, so much for a 10 minute job. I still have a fair amount of the sticky stuff stuck to the outer edges of the rubber seal and it doesn't seem to want to move very easily. Any suggestions for removing it? So far tried baby wipes to no avail! Stuart

 

[Hallsy]

Lovely pics Darryl - couple of lovely motors there! What steering wheel is that? Have you gone for a dished one because you are long legged/short armed? Like the look of that, my losenge one is a bit tired looking in my Turbo, and I thought about refurbing it - but the more I see nice wheels like yours, I get tempted! As for my 944's, this weekend I replaced the transaxle fluid on my S - the old oil looked fairly clean, but I had it in my mind that I wanted to replace it anyway! Simple job, a little messy as my syringe leaks, but not too much drama!!

 

[ChasR]

Darryl that car looks lovely! I enjoy looking at the subtle touches performed on that car including the rear lines missing from the sides of the script bade on the rear panel .