White944 - Resurrection thread.
- Thread starter white944
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white944
New member
The straps holding the fuel tank in place had both rotted through and fractured. With replacements being somewhat pricey, I made copies of the originals. The right hand one is very straightforward to make. Shown here in primer next to the old one....
The left hand one is more complex as it has mountings for the exhaust heat shield. Shown here trial fitted.....
And with the original.
white944
New member
Right hand strap installed with refurbed fuel pump plate. New fuel filter installed on new rubber bobbins. Top tip, try a local motor factor, old school Mini rear exhaust bobbins are almost identical and only a couple of quid from a motor factor. Also replaced the pipe from pump to filter as mine had rusted heavily and turned into a sprinkler system when cleaned up. Anglia Hose and Hydraulics made me a new one for 12 quid. Happy days. Had a bit of a panic when it wouldn't start following refitting the pump. It hadn't been run for a month, couldn't understand what was wrong. Jumped the DME relay and it fired up straight away as usual. Anyway, turned out to be a poor connection on the pesky immobiliser[
] It's days are numbered.
] It's days are numbered.
white944
New member
Left hand bracket painted and installed...
And heat shield back on. This was also very rusty, so cleaned it up and gave it a lick of high temperature paint....
The exhaust back up. At least that wasn't rotten, it has a full stainless system.
Interestingly. there is also this aftermarket exhaust manifold. It looks very much like the Lindsey Racing one, and has been altered to clear the RHD steering shaft.
I wonder if there are any other performance parts lurking. There was a nasty induction kit fitted, which I've binned, but I wonder if there's anything else. The car is sporting PCGB and register stickers from many years ago, I wonder if anyone remembers it. It's a Lux, reg no. C293 KTM. Someone must have loved it once.
Great work - really coming along now. From what I can see in the pictures your prep & paintwork looks spot on - don't put yourself down. The reality is setting in for what lies ahead with my Turbo now. Mine has been repaired twice before, and tbh, when up on a ramp the sills look good, but they are not oe - and they have been lap welded rather than seam welded, so I'd rather strip them right back to be sure all is good inside and fit oe sills. Also have wing bottoms front & rear, and rear panel to tidy up - have to wait until the warmer weather though as I will have to do the work on my driveway. Your pictures will be a great help no doubt
white944
New member
I appreciate the positive comments from you guys. Rescuing this unloved 944 is turning into a looooong job. I must be nuts. It's never going to be concourse standard or worth a fortune, but should be a nice solid car to roll around in and enjoy. Keep watching and keep the comments coming. Doors went back on today, It's starting to look like a whole car again[] M.
] M.
white944
New member
Can't stand cars with more than one key, the driver's door lock had been replaced at some time and had an odd key, so took it apart and recoded it to accept the same key as all the other locks. My 944 doesn't have central locking, so I intend installing an aftermarket system with remote control. More on this later.
vitesse
Active member
Just use a length of strong carpet thread with a pair of slender locking forceps-rotate the plastic link vertically up-thread the thread (sorry) thro' the plastic link-pull the ball cup against the lock ball-plip them together with a medium length small diameter screwdriver-pull thread through & out-refit door handle.-simples!
white944
New member
As I mentioned earlier, I wanted to retro fit central locking, as white944 wasn't optioned with it, and it seemed a no - brainer to do it while the interior was still in bits. I wanted a remote system, and needed another key anyway, so I thought I'd take a flyer on this system. Comes with 2 VAG style remotes with flip out key blades, and has the added bonus of a remote boot opener, so no more fiddling with keys or grovelling in the footwell to pop the tailgate. 30 quid. What could possibly go wrong?
The kit comes with 2 remotes (you specify the correct style of blank key blade when ordering) 2 locking actuators (both masters, so you can lock both doors from either side with a key or by pushing the door lock button) A control box, wiring harness, mounting hardware and basic installation and operating instructions. Installation is pretty straightforward. The door actuators go in first. They need to be mounted to give the straightest push/pull possible on the lock linkage, so have to go in the bottom corner of the door. The actuator is secured with a couple of self tapping screws so the door shell has to be drilled.....
The actuator is 'piggy backed to the door lock button linkage by a connecting rod and an adjustable clamp. Cut the rod to length and bend slightly to clear the rest of the locking mechanism. The clamp is slotted, so you don't have to fiddle about disconnecting the existing linkages to fit it. With the actuator mounted in the door shell, and in the fully down position, connect the rod while the door lock button is fully down.
Once the actuators are in, you need to find a position for the control box. It's pretty small, I fitted mine behind the glove box, picking up on a fused permanent battery feed and ground left behind by the immobiliser I had just removed.
The kit is designed to be plug and play, so at this point I temporarily hooked up the vipers' nest of wires to the actuators and, it worked fine. The harness is designed for 2 or 4 door cars, so I cut out the wires for the rear doors first of all. The wires for the actuators are just long enough to reach both doors without extending them, It is fairly easy to run the 5 wires along the same routing as the factory harness into each door through the existing holes. You could cut the harness and fit a connector in the footwell either side to aid door removal in the future if you wish. You have the option of having the indicators flash when the system operates. I connected the 2 wire for this to the hazard switch harness. Why the hell did they make the wiring to this and the clock so damned short? You also have the ability to connect to a horn for an audible signal, but I left this off. Finally, to connect the tailgate opener, I ran the single wire down to the footwell switch and connected to the switch harness using a standard 4 pin relay in order to protect the control box. The unit comes with a flashing LED, which was handy to cover the hole left in my centre console by removing the pesky immobiliser.
So I now have remote central locking, remote tailgate opening, and no need for extra keys as the whole thing is one unit.
The blank key blades were cut at the local hardware shop. Replacement remotes and key blades are available from the supplier. Obviously this isn't original equipment, but from a practical point of view it makes sense for softies like me, used to mod cons of newer cars, You can also add a unit that will close your windows and sunroof when locking, but I personally don't like this function on a car.
white944
New member
Another job, now the windows were fixed, and the central locking installed, was to get the door cards back on. Before starting, I took the opportunity to thoroughly lubricate the door locks and window mechanisms. There was already plenty of rustproofing wax in there, otherwise I would have added some. The (presumably) original plastic membrane on the drivers door was in tatters and had allowed water to wreck the fibreboard door card to the extent that it was scrap. I cleaned the old glue from the door shell as best I could...
....and used some nice 3mm self adhesive Neoprene foam sheet to make a new membrane.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find a decent pinstripe door card to replace the wrecked one, so I fitted a pair in black vinyl instead. I now have a rot free passenger side door card in black pinstripe spare if anyone's interested.
And speaking of water damage, the nearside roof lining, rear roof panel, and rear wing card were also ruined. the culprit was the drain tube being disconnected from the corner of the sunroof.
Gradually getting her back together, cleaned off 4 months of workshop dust today. Will need a full respray in the future, but if you squint, it looks pretty smart now....
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