Our first Porsche: 944 Mild Rebuild (Tons of photos)

[John_A]

Almost a year ago I picked up a 85.5 944 from a friend for $700. It was poorly painted blue (over factory red), had been slid into something in the snow, and the interior was trashed. Sounds like a great idea!

This isn't every step, there are a LOT more photos in the URL at the end.

It looked like this when when we picked it up:


Project Car - Porsche 944 by John Abella, on Flickr


Project Car Interior by John Abella, on Flickr


A very dirty project car. by John Abella, on Flickr

Here's the option sticker:


Owners Manual Build Sticker - Porsche 944 Project Car by John Abella, on Flickr

New timing belt:


Cam tower work. by John Abella, on Flickr

Fixing leaks:


944 work - Fixing cam tower leaks by John Abella, on Flickr

Brakes:


944 work - Brakes by John Abella, on Flickr

Re-painting wheels:


First coat of 'Hyper Silver' by John Abella, on Flickr

New exhaust:


Exhaust Installed by John Abella, on Flickr

Pulled the dash:


Completed Porsche 944 Dash Removal by John Abella, on Flickr


More in a sec, I hit the max size...

Full photo album is here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jabella/sets/72157645361289730

[John_A]

Part 2 of 3:

Fixed some cracks:


944 dash progress. by John Abella, on Flickr

Dash re-foamed, re-covered, re-installed:


Porsche 944 Dash Work by John Abella, on Flickr

Dash stitching:


Porsche 944 Seats by John Abella, on Flickr


Fixed odometer gear:


Porsche 944 Odometer Gear Fix by John Abella, on Flickr

Fixed dash lights:


Porsche 944 Dash Light Fix by John Abella, on Flickr

Re-covered the passenger seat:


Porsche 944 Seats by John Abella, on Flickr

Bodywork and sanding:


Painting The 944 by John Abella, on Flickr

Painted it in our garage:


Painting The 944 by John Abella, on Flickr

Pulling off masking:


Porsche 944 Re-Paint by John Abella, on Flickr

Nose assembled / fixed / lights working:


Porsche 944 Painting Day 3 by John Abella, on Flickr

More soon!

Full photo album is here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jabella/sets/72157645361289730

[jeffrsmith]

That is looking really nice, I wish I could paint - I have never tried but I am more than a bit intimidated by the thought.

[John_A]

Part 3!

Inner and outer shift boots:


Porsche Work - More! by John Abella, on Flickr

Fixed up trunk carpeting / liner - foam was torn / folded:


Porsche Trunk by John Abella, on Flickr

Back seat - just wiped down really:


Porsche 944 Back Seats by John Abella, on Flickr

Almost completely re-assembled:


Porsche 944 - Father's Day by John Abella, on Flickr

Interior finished - new seat covers, new dash cover, new shift boot, new gauge lighting, donated radio, 968 club sport center tray....


Interior 'Finished' by John Abella, on Flickr

Still some things to do:

- wet sand and polish the paint
- get oem rear spacers and install longer studs
- put in new hood pad


Full photo album is here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jabella/sets/72157645361289730

[curtisr]

Lovely! Well done.

[FLYGEEZER]

More than very nice.... congrats.

[M. Murphy]

What a great looking car! Congratulations.

[Sebscst]

Wow great work!

[pfarah]

Looks great, well done.

[mikepellegrini]

Great job!

[JoshB]

Love the pics! Great project!

[911tracker85]

always reassuring when I see others put in so much effort and do such a great job restoring these cars.

makes me feel better that I am not the only insane person who loves to work on and refesh old Porsches.

very nice work.

[PorscheNut924]

Very nice!

I've got a pair of OEM rear spacers off a 1983 car that you can have cheap.

[FrenchToast]

Wow. What a transformation! Congratulations.

What's the red button next to the fog light switch?

And, in case you don't already know, it appears you have late offset wheels on an early car.

I really like the dash. Did you do it yourself?

[JAXTURBO]

Originally Posted by jeffrsmith

That is looking really nice, I wish I could paint - I have never tried but I am more than a bit intimidated by the thought.

First off, that is one heckuva project you took on!. Secondly it is turning out great. Thirdly, I too wish I could paint. Just seems I would do more harm than good.

[GRM1964]

Nice work

[Fisch]

John,

Any chance you'd be willing to post a write-up of the dash and seat re-covers? I would be really interested to learn what products, methods, etc you used and I doubt I'm the only one.

Looks amazing btw

[Eric_Oz_S2]

Well done. Very inspirational, inspires me to restore an old Porsche.

[Endat]

Thank you for taking the time :-)

[John_A]

Originally Posted by FrenchToast

Wow. What a transformation! Congratulations.

What's the red button next to the fog light switch?

And, in case you don't already know, it appears you have late offset wheels on an early car.

I really like the dash. Did you do it yourself?

The red switch isn't hooked up - I was going to put a tiny sticker over it that says 'oil slick' as a joke for now. At one time, I believe it was a horn button, since the contact for the horn was badly worn out when we got the car.

I've got wheels in both the 23 and 52 offsets - but the ones on the car should be the 23's currently - and they definitely look too tucked in. I've got a set of 66mm studs and oem 21mm spacers ready to go in, it's on the 'outstanding items' list.

We DID do the dash ourselves - the kit is from Classic Nine. Lots of pictures of the required steps here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jabella/sets/72157645361289730 - If you haven't had your dash out before, it's... time consuming.