My Porsche 944 Restoration
 

as many of you guys know, in additions to the RX-7s, i also have a 944. its something of a hidden desire i don't share much. i've done a bit of work to it lately and wanted to share some updated pics.

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http://i469.photobucket.com/albums/r...b/DSC01716.jpg

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ordered a new Porsche key and had it cut for the 944:

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replaced the hatch pins:

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blasted and painted the rear wiper arm:

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refinished all of the wheel centers and replaced all of the lug nuts:

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removed the gauges to clean the connections and replace all of the bulbs:

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still need a shift boot:

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while i was at it, i went to PA and picked up a nice set of original Porsche scrip seats. the original seats were leather and were wasted beyond repair and required a complete restoration..this was about $1300.. i paid $250 for these seats and i think they look great!

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looks like you're making great progress.

I see that that car came from "Pee Wee" Turner's car lot in Anniston AL. I am familiar with that dealer, thats the town I grew up in!!! Small world!!!

lol, i'm surpised that place is still in business! i figured it would be long gone. when i paint the car i'm going to attempt remove the decal and save it. i'll post a larger pic of it for you!

Nothing to be ashamed of in owning a nice Porsche. I myself love them.... well, I love beating them at the races, but that's a type of love, right? :)

I guess if you have to own an inferior automobile (which is anything non-rotary, of course), then a Porsche isn't a bad choice. I also own a BMW, an Audi, and then there's the wife's supercharged Previa....

I have always loved Porsches ans briefly owned a 924. A early 90's 911 Turbo is currently on my wish list if I ever grow out of my BMW stage.

I have to comment though on the wheels: Those are refinished wheels?

the wheels are original. the only thing i refinished were the small center caps with the porsche logo. the paint had worn off over the years and they were silver when i bought the car. so i removed the wheels and popped them out and cleaned and repainted them.

Obv a labor of Love Dave, but I know its in the right hands, based on the work you put into the Goldie LS! She looks like she has lead a pretty hard life tho so I hope it doesn't break your heart and yer wallet ;)

Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

i don't mind putting the money and time into this car. i got a good deal on it but it needed a lot and still does. but i'm ok with that. it runs excellent, drives straight, clutch is good, it shifts well...so its got a great starting platform for a nice restoration.

just ordered a new oem style leather shift boot this morning for the 944! will be posting more pics once its in!!

I am an old porsche /audi tech. worked on them when they were new. looking good keep up the good work. what a fun car to drive, wanting to buy a 944 turbo of the 86 vintage, just hard to find a clean one.

they are hard to find unmoleasted or not run into the ground..

Nice job on the Porsche..I think a lot of us here like them to.
Other sports cars I have had are C4 corvettes, mr2's and
a couple older mustangs. I just prefer the rx7 bang for the buck.:nod:

Cool beans! I love the 944. I have one too! Wait, no, that's just my 944 copy, my FC. LOL!

thanks! i installed the new shift boot today! will post pics tomorrow morning when i'm off work!

very nice great looking all the 944 ive seen up here are rust buckets....

this one is suprisingly clean for the age and mileage.

very nice 944. my buddy sold his convertible 944 that i'd drive on the weekends... I miss it.

Dave,

Porsche is the Marque of the Year at the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. The Allegheny Region of the Porsche Club of America is celebrating its 50th Anniversary and is trying to get 1000 Porsches to show up. You should bring your 944. Alternatively you could bring one of your lovely RX7s. The West Penn Mazda Club (formerly the West Penn RX-7 Club) would be happy to have another car. In the best of both worlds you could have your wife bring the RX-7 and you could bring the Porsche. Between the two cars though you still wouldn't have enough room for 3 kids though. lol

http://www.pvgp.org/pvgp/site/default.asp

if i could make it over there i would! between work and having a new baby at the house things tend to get rather hectic around here quickly, lol.

luckily my daughter (who just happened to have finished a chocolate oce cream cone) highly approves of the 944:

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great picture, haha

will get more pics of the interior tomorrow. the kids love this car.

i installed my rennbay shift boot a couple weeks ago but i finally got around to taking pics of it tonight. the quality is excellent and install, while frustrating, was not terribly difficult. it really makes the interior look much nicer and it feels nice when i shift through the gears. also took a couple more pics while i was out there.

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here are some of the additional pics that i took today:

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options sticker in the hatch area:

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She looks CLEAN

Interesting. About as good as pistons get.

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Lookin' really good! Now give that steering wheel a hair cut! :D

Beautiful car you have there. I think we all have secret loves (mine are Volvo 240's)

the steering wheel has a leather cover on it. i'm afraid to remove it because i might not like whats underneath...

just got a batch of parts in for the 944 today.. got some custom shifter bushings to press into my shift rod and got some carpet clips and door handle seals. hope to get some parts installed this weekend in between work. i got the carpet clips in but want to fit the shifter bushings in as well!

I should have you come over and restore my rx7 interior

if the steering wheel grip is worn, it can be re-wraped. pelicanparts.com sells the kit to do it, my dads 911 wheel is worn out so we will be doing it soon. i herd its a pain to do it but comes out well if you take your time!

i was looking at those kits. the wheel has a cover on it. a leather cover over the original leather wheel. the cover is really old..so the wheel may look beautiful underneath if the cover was out on when new to protect the wheel.. or the wheel looks like trash and the cover was put on to mask the worn look. if i take it off and it looks like trash i'm stuck, lol. i may buy another wheel, remove my leather cover and use which ever wheel is better.

ordered some new parts for the 944. pictured are the bushings for the shifter slop repair and new door handle seals. i also ordered new clips for the rear side carpet and installed those. i'll grab a pic today of those.

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I just love the smell of new parts. It's those little things that make the restoration. Nice snag Dave!

i recently bought one too, same color, 86 with maroon interior, i plan to put a rotary in it. when it's done i'll post some pics up. love the styling.

the mirror glass on the passenger side mirror came loose.. i ended up removing it from the mirror housing, cleaning it and using a two part epoxy to reattach it.

mirror cleaned and ready to go (note the small amount of glue that was used from the factory on the upper and lower edge):

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mirror housing sans glass:

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all back together:

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lmao! the mirror in my FC did the same thing, the mazda mirror is just painted glass, brake cleaner took it off.

you mean the blue tinting thats on the glass is just painted on??

You Sir have impeccable taste

thank you! i've had some ups and downs in non RX-7 ownership and this car has definatly served me well!

Interesting approach to Driving Miss Dizzy that they have there... straight link off the cam? Or is there a gear reduction involved?

yep! i tried to clean it with carb cleaner, it took the paint off, i repainted just that spot with black paint, and you can't tell.

i think the blue you see is the glass

funny thing is that there's no distributor..none.. the end of the camshaft protrudes through the valve cover assembly and attached to it is the rotor button. the cap then bolts to the valve cover assembly. the timing is essentially non adjustable and is adjusted by the DME (ecu). each cylinder is individually timed. its a strange setup really.

yeah the germans took an intermediate step between a normal distributor and a coil on plug/wasted spark/multi coil setup. my mercedes 190E was similar, the rotor just went on the cam.

one of the reasons, might be that the 60-1 wheel they use for crank position actually uses a lot of computing power, and in the 80's this was important. the FC uses sequential ignition/injection, but only has a 32-1 crank position sensor, until the Rx8.

is the 944 motronic? i have just learned since the swedish trip, that the motronic is bosch's first system that did ignition AND fuel. the prior LH system does fuel, and they had an add on box (EZ) to do spark.

not sure if its motronic. Porsche calls their injection/spark system ecu a DME..i'll get back to you on that

thought i'd share a few more pics of the 944 i took tonight.

got the fog lights working:

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and got the under hood light working:

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i'll be the first to say that my 944 is not the prettiest looking 944. but, i absolutely LOVE the car and i enjoy driving it more and more. the weather here in northern Ohio is turning cold quickly and i know my days of driving my 944 are somewhat limited. i thought, today, although gloomy and cold, would be a good day to go out and enjoy my car and take some fall pics. i put a few miles (no idea how many as my odometer does not work) on the car and really enjoyed the fruits of the labor that i put into the car.

speedo is a shade off...like 10mph off..ugh:

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and then the rain came:

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the only dash lights that come in when the ignition key is in the on position..ugh:

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and back home put away safely in the garage:

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i took a lot more and may post a couple in a little bit.