what did you do to your 944 today

[Worsey]

Went for a 7am blast with the boys over on the Manx Tour. Aside from Geoff Ives 924 GT rep, was the only front runner there []. A wet and foggy run over the mountain from Ramsey followed by a much more enjoyable twisty section up from St John's through Kirk Michael. Like to think I put up a good show chasing the (admittedly very, very nice) GT3 round thanks to local knowledge, until I got stuck behind a camper van. Then a trip down South for a 6m fell/trail run Port St Mary, around the Sound and over to Port Erin. A very enjoyable morning. In for a service on Friday, with the evening free for a good hoover inside and fitment of some new bulbs at the rear end, followed by ordering of Powerflex bushes for the front ARB, 968 caster mounts (that ain't gonna be cheap) and a couple of other odds and ends. About time I got my hands dirty with some proper jobs.

 

[944Scott]

Now my OPC have sent me the right hockey stick seal this got fitted today. The lower trim under the bridge spoiler was becoming difficult to secure so I fitted new captive fittings to hold it all in place and new bolts to replace the crusty ones on the end of the hockey sticks. Whilst at the Stevenage meet I noticed how dirty it was behind the rear wiper motor so this was removed for a good clean.

 

[golfprorich]

Today I removed the wiper arms, sanded them down, primed and repainted them. One niggly thing done that was letting down the appearance of the front.

 

[colin944]

I need to do that

 

[golfprorich]

ORIGINAL: colin944 I need to do that

Such a simple thing but makes a big difference!

 

[944 man]

I bought a period Momo Corsa steering wheel. You cant have too many wheels!

 

[colin944]

Simon you appear to have a wheel fetish.

 

[vitesse]

Sorted out the driver's door on my red 924S track day car which one minute went up & down ,next minute wouldn't open.Had the complete mechanism in & out 3 times ,spray greased,removed motor & checked it worked with a battery charger,adjusted the end stops,eventually trimmed the nylon end stop pads thinking they were trapping the arms plus adjusted them -always worked clamped in the vice,but once back in the door attached to window,wouldn't. I thought the output shaft of the motor unit had too much movement & was possibly self locking at each stop,but then it is a rather cheap assembly apart from the diecast bracket,so finally bit the bullet ,went & bought a s/h motor from James at Only 9,£25-refitted this evening & now all works fine & very smoothly--amazing what a little sprayed gear grease does rather than the odd dollop in the wrong places at time of manufacture.

 

[PAUL RUDDY]

Cleaned it, sat in it, thought about selling it, went indoors, drafted an advert .....watched Minder

 

[MartinRS2K]

That looks stunning Paul, if and I mean 'IF' you decide to sell it then it needs to be priced for lots of pennies

 

[944 man]

Some of these cars are on the cusp of being too nice to use. I will go as far as to say that theyre nicer than cars that I have owned which have been variously: new, nearly new from OPC and used from an OPC but still only a few years old.

 

[colin944]

I would be scared to use your car Paul. It is stunning ,but it's more of a concourse car than a car that you would use on the weekend.These cars are starting to get rarer and rarer every year and I can totally see the point in having one that nice but unfortunately I can't afford to put a perfect example away for the future. But in saying that how much is a really good one worth ? £25k ? £35k Got to be close to one of those figures.

 

[PAUL RUDDY]

Simon, Colin, I think you have both hit the nail on the head, I clean the car and rarely use it for fear of getting it dirty, when I came back from Dinslaken I had it on axle stands for over a week, PU off, fogs out, arch liners out, brakes stripped, struts cleaned etc etc just to get it back to pre trip condition, if not better. It's not alone in the garage though, I have two other ornaments, my 1983 Z1000R that I have just fully restored to concours condition and my ZRX1200 that does less miles than the 944. I hate the process of advertising and selling stuff and that's what puts me off advertising the S2 and the question of what would replace it for similar money. All the best, Paul The other ornaments, I think I have a cleaning fetish []

 

[Mersea944]

Put the rain cover on again []

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Some of these cars are on the cusp of being too nice to use

On the cusp? Already the top cars are far too valuable to be used as daily drivers clocking up 10K miles per year, and sadly are now outside the classic car market where you'd perhaps put 5K miles a year on them in regular use. We won't see these cars rocking up to numerous events every year, and my van has probably been to more 944 events (when my abused 944 breaks down) in the last couple of years than a lot of the nicest 944s.... [&o] Not a criticism at all. It's great to see a few cars kept in this condition, and you couldn't do that driving it in all weathers to B&Q to pick up some timber. Personally, I just have that awful nagging feeling that the car would have given more pleasure by being driven hard for 250K miles than shut away with only a few thousand miles in 25 years. I'm still thinking an S2 won't be breaking the £20K barrier yet though, and even the £15K price point would seem to be where the serious investors would be looking for the arguably more "desirable" turbo. £20K is still turbo cab territory, albeit not anyway near to the condition of this car. There were some horrible comments I saw recently about PCGB 944 owners being obsessed with discussing values more than enjoying driving the cars. Really sad to read, as it's not what I see day to day and I am the one who deals with insurance claims when people don't understand the values. There are still enough 944s to fit every budget, so we should welcome everyone IMO. I hope we don't get the cars being permanently shut away as investments, it's much nicer to see them out at meets even if they are half-finished projects. []

 

[colin944]

I think you may have a slight cleaning obsession there Paul. What you need to do is buy a use-able but a wee bit rough 944 S2 or turbo and drive the pants off it. Then you can keep the minter in the garage and not feel bad about it. Problem solved

 

[MartinRS2K]

ORIGINAL: PAUL RUDDY Simon, Colin, I think you have both hit the nail on the head, I clean the car and rarely use it for fear of getting it dirty, when I came back from Dinslaken I had it on axle stands for over a week, PU off, fogs out, arch liners out, brakes stripped, struts cleaned etc etc just to get it back to pre trip condition, if not better.

Paul, I think you do yourself a disservice there, you do drive the car quite a lot and we were travelling at 150mph on the Autobahns at the beginning of the month. When we got back it was to a torrential downpour and our cars got as expected dirty and very wet. The difference is that you were prepared to spend a week stripping the front end and the arches back to give the car a thorough clean. This in my opinion makes your car even better as the dirt, grime, gravel and other bits that would over time cause future issues have been removed and the front end checked over and put back together with no doubt plenty of grease and new clips [8|] Any future owner will get a car that can be driven, but at the same time will benefit from being maintained properly and they will know that it has wanted for nothing. The only question is what you would buy to replace it??

 

[944 man]

ORIGINAL: PAUL RUDDY Simon, Colin, I think you have both hit the nail on the head, I clean the car and rarely use it for fear of getting it dirty, when I came back from Dinslaken I had it on axle stands for over a week, PU off, fogs out, arch liners out, brakes stripped, struts cleaned etc etc just to get it back to pre trip condition, if not better. It's not alone in the garage though, I have two other ornaments, my 1983 Z1000R that I have just fully restored to concours condition and my ZRX1200 that does less miles than the 944. I hate the process of advertising and selling stuff and that's what puts me off advertising the S2 and the question of what would replace it for similar money. All the best, Paul The other ornaments, I think I have a cleaning fetish []

I cant advise you, because I may be mental, but Id keep the S2 and buy another car to use more frequently. You can make it nice, but not perfect, and then use it...

 

[PAUL RUDDY]

I was crying driving in the rain though Martin [] Is polishing behind the PU a step too far ....lol

 

[vitesse]

Replaced the secondhand rear silencer & tailpipe yesterday with a new Dansk SS one from Eurocarparts (seemed a good price at £140 inc VAT)-however a very close fit where it passes the rear anti-rollbar-the factory depression seems slightly out of position,so elongated the 4 fixing bracket slots even more -still close & after some road & track use at Curborough,it may settle lower or I may need to take a Manchester spanner to it.[] Nice sound -though still on ramps as I need to clean & paint some brake pipes.