You guys ruin all my fun.........

How is that??

I daily drove my 928S for three years.

Being realistic.;) Of course, buying a 944 DD wouldn't be nearly the dumbest thing I've done.

I've known many people who have used them as DDs with no problems, for the most part maintenance other than clutch & belts aren't bad, decent gas mileage, easy loading of cases of beer:D And still fun & sporty:D
Funny, I have been tracking my 944 since the mid 90s aND it has been a very reliable car, and since it has mostly stock running gear & glass bodywork, , get great mileage:eek:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1214175260.jpg

My 944 is my DD and I love it. I drive 85 miles round trip 5 days a week problem free. As long as it is maintained properly it wont let you down. Some past DD were an E34 and an E30, I'll keep the 944 as my DD untill I replace it with another 944 (S, S2, 951, 968)

Buy my turbo. ;)

Byron, what rims do you have on your white 924 S? I just bought an '87 and I think that's going to be one of the first things I upgrade.

I've had 944S2's for daily drivers for years. They are nice cars.
Pros: It's a very practical sports car. I can fit my mountain bike in the back and I carried a push lawnmower in it this weekend. It's great in the snow.
Cons: Expect to spend a couple of thousand a year on maintainence. My current one cost me $2300 before I even got it home. The PPI on it reveal it needed control arms and a steering rack. This year it was a new exchaust and new brake calipers. The odometer broke a couple of years back when it had 174K on it.

It gets around 23 mpg.

-Chris

Those are 18" BBS Sport Classics, I'll be using 17s BBS Sport Classics when I put it back on the road.

I've used my 944 for occasional DD duty off-and-on for five years. It's a decent, solid platform. It has never left me stranded except twice. The first time, the fan relay stuck (causing the fans to run all day, killing the battery). A jump-start and 10 minutes cleaning the relay contacts with sandpaper and I was back in business. The second time the half-shaft output from the transmission went "clunk" on the ground because the stupid cheesehead bolts backed out (I strongly recommend safety-wiring these and/or checking them regularly, which I now do).

I will say the following:

- Most 944s do not have working air conditioning. The a/c systems are notorious for failing and a lot of owners are too cheap to fix them, so they "delete" the a/c system and try to pass it off as a performance upgrade. Beware.

- Any seller who claims "a/c system just needs a recharge" is a liar. If it needs a recharge, it has a leak and therefore needs considerably more than "just a recharge". But hopefully you knew this already. Don't fall for it.

- Timing belts are reasonably easy to do.

- Buy a set of metric hand tools including sockets & wrenches if you don't have them already. Also allen-head wrenches and DEFINITELY get the flywheel lock (available here on Pelican, among other places).

- Personally I find the early cars easier to work on/deal with because the electrics are simpler. A lot of people prefer the more "modern" looking 85.5+ cars, but I would not let that sway me one way or the other. I've owned both and actually prefer the early cars.

- Make sure you get one that does not have the rear hatch delamination problem.

- I recommend an n/a car - not a turbo. The turbo cars are fun but they're a bear to work on. My 951 was used for occasional DD duty also and I absolutely hated wrenching on it. WAY more difficult than an n/a. For an occasional-use track car or "fun" car, they're great. For a DD that you're dependent on for your job or whatever? No way. I wouldn't recommend it.

That 40 pound weight loss and the drag on the crank really was noticeable when I finally ponied up to get the a/c delete bracket. But that's a different subject. :)

That, and the alternator is no longer snuggled up against the turbo. Now it is low on the body and gets a lot more airflow around it. (The cooling duct and shroud is a joke.)

For a track car I completely agree it's a good idea. For street-use cars I think it's very foolish. I've NEVER been a fan of the "delete" kits for street 951s. I've always kind of looked upon it as cheap and a "cop-out" versus actually fixing the system for proper operation.

If you REALLY want to delete the system (such as one would do for a track car), I'd remove the evaporator assembly and connecting hoses too. That probably weighs another good 20-odd pounds or more. Too many guys just chuck the compressor, put the bracket on it and call it an "upgrade". First time they get in a rainstorm with the windows misting up without the benefit of the drying air from the compressor on the "defrost" circuit, they regret it.

For a track car, sure. For a street car, it's almost always indicative of someone who didn't want to put the $$$ into fixing things properly - which begs the question, "what else did they skimp on?" Ya know what I mean?

That cone thingy with the hose on the back of the alternator makes things a pain in the butt. I agree 100%!

Jeff, I did pull all of that. In my case, the condenser was riddled with holes and preventing proper airflow to the radiator. I pulled the compressor, condenser, desiccator, hoses, and relay. I pretty much pulled everything except for the AC components behind the dash.

Living in Illinois, I don't see the kind of heat you do in SoCal. I simply always drive the car with the windows open--except in rain. I've never had problems with fogging--even when I drove the car through a torrential downpour to Nick's (Many944s) party last year in Indiana.

This was also part of the project where I fixed and upgraded much of the electrical system (alternator rebuilt, adjustable voltage regulator, Rennbay wiring harness for the headlights, thicker gauge main ground, new battery cables, cleaning all of the body grounds, replaced broken relays, replaced various exterior light housings with shorts).

Anyway, with the alternator relocated, I notice that the voltage does not drop off near as much on hot days.

There was one guy on Rennlist (forget who) who did that also and even went so far as to replace the climate control panel with the factory one for "no a/c" cars. Supposedly pretty hard to find, but I admired that attention to detail (that's "doing it right", IMHO). Kind of silly to have that "a/c" button there doing nothing (I guess you could hook the NOS up to it. . . ) :eek:

I remember in my n/a 944 when I had the compressor go bad on me - I got caught on a rainstorm on the 405 and the windshield was fogging up something awful because of the lack of dry air from the vents. It was a little hairy (had to keep wiping the windshield as I was trying to drive). I've heard a couple other guys complain about the windows fogging up after deleting the system too, so maybe it's sort of "case specific" and depends on your situation.

I still like your car overall even with the delete kit. If I happen to come into a spare few grand anytime soon I'll give you a call. . . ;)

Funny.

I kept the AC button on the dash. It is still wired to the auxiliary fan. When I'm sitting at a red light for a while on a hot day, I'll hit the button and it will help keep the engine cool. (It always stays between the two middle white bars--it only goes as high as half-way between the two bars when it gets "hot".) Also, when I park the car after a spirited run, I will run the engine for 1-2 minutes with the aux. fan on. The electric water pump works fine--I'm just paranoid. ;)

The turbos are not the best of the series for daily drivers. Lack of low-end grunt, turbo lag, and overheating issues are a negative, but the biggest pain is the tall ring & pinion. Not fun in stop-and-go traffic. The normally asperated cars are much friendlier for commuting. The S2 and 968 are probably ther most enjoyable- Lots of low-end torque. But with gas prices as high as they are, I'm thrilled with my current 944S. The 2.5 gets better mileage than the 3.0 cars, but I still have the advantages of the twin-cam head.

But if you put the S2 R&P in the 951 transmission, you get the best of both worlds...

Now that would be a fun car. When I had my 951, I got 30 mpg on the way to the track, less than 10 mpg while on track, and 30 mpg again on the way home.