New member with Dad's old 944

[IdahoDoug]

So, my Dad is in his 80s and I just bought his 944 a couple months ago. We live in N. Idaho and the car was in Michigan where I grew up (Holland, MI). It has 59k on it and has been garaged its entire life, so its in pretty nice shape and I'm quite proud to have it. He never drove it in the winters, so it's pretty pristine. I just found the time to get it a week ago and stuffed it into the garage (kicked out the Quattro 90 20V Sedan) and immediately put it up on blocks. It has the original timing belt, so each start to get it off the trailer was a huge wince factor for me. Also the original clutch which seems to have crumbled like the rubber models do. The tires were original type Dunlops and probably 25 years old.

Here's the list of parts on their way:

Sachs Clutch kit
Pirellis
Sachs rear shocks with matching Sachs strut inserts
Timing belt
Water pump
Thermostat
Balance shaft belt
Radiator fan switch
Bosch copper Supers
Rotor
Cap
Mobil 1
Coolant flush
Koito H4 headlamps (wow - said to be better than the vaunted Cibie's)
Headlamp relay kit
Air filter
Wix oil filter


So far, I've pulled the tranny and have been fighting the clutch fork pin for 2 days after a monumental fight on the allen bolt at bell housing top. One of the timing sensors also won't come out, so it will remain in the housing when I pull it, I guess.

I will do complete oil, transaxle and fluid flushes and changes and repack the CVs. I hope to have it done by September and on the road for a few local winding road trips with my wife. Looks like you folks have a nice board here and I shopped the others a bit. I'm sure to run into trouble so I hope to get some help here and there.



Regards,
Doug

[jhowell371]

Welcome aboard the board It looks like you have a nice car. Glad to see you showing interest in your dad's car. You may have broken a record here for unchanged belts. The ones on my 84 were original when I bought it in 2010. Followed a thread last year on Rennlist about car with only 3,xxx miles still sporting all original belts.

[jcommin]

Nice car!

[Ga 951]

You, sir, are a lucky man. Your Dad did a great service buy keeping her in the garage all her life. She looks great.
I see by your other threads, you are discovering the ONLY downside to these cars.......the upkeep and the "Porsche" tax for the parts.
May I suggest you use an OEM oil filter, as they have a checkvalve inside that most others do not. I personally use the Mahle filter. Also, I would stick to dyno oil, until you get all the engine seals done. That baby is going to leak with it's history!!
Since you are replacing the struts, I would consider the Koni sports, they will be an upgrade to the
Sachs. (I will have a set of low mileage Sachs off my 951 available if you are interested, I'm doing an M030 upgrade )
Also, please update you signature line with the year, of you car ... it will help us in the future.

Good luck, and welcome.

[John_AZ]

+1 on using the Mahle oil filter or the OEM Porsche oil filter ^^.

You need a rear engine seal when you do the clutch.

Search for install tips to avoid the possibility of future drip-drip-drip.
Elring is best but some have difficulty on the install without the OEM tool.

Great looking car.

J_AZ

[John_AZ]

Here is a torque chart for all the work you plan to do:

https://www.lindseyracing.com/LR/Parts/TORQUESPEC.html

J_AZ

[Jrboulder]

There are so many great driving roads in North Idaho. Every time I'm in Sandpoint I wish I had a 944 with me!

Enjoy it!

[IdahoDoug]

Yeah, the engine seal. Crap - I hope/think it comes with my full clutch kit. I thought I saw a circular item that looked like a rear main. Hmmmmmm...

I hope the engine doesn't leak. Its had the oil changed faithfully, in fact one of the prized possessions it came with is Dad's handwritten log.

On the struts, I'm a stock/original kind of guy and want the old gal to be as close to her original handing. I'm also a former product developer, and to my tuned butt the aftermarket changes often have places here and there in the handling envelope that are mismatches. The parts should be here and I'm going to unpack my new slide hammer at 5:01 and go to town on that pin.

Sandpoint. Ah, Sandpoint. Agree - some fabulous roads up there and of course down here. I hope to take my wifey for a long drive up to Banff and Jasper, Alberta. The boxes of parts are starting to pile up. Gotta get that clutch fork pin out.....

[944 S2]

Way cool! Welcome. Keep us posted.

[thomasryan]

fuel lines...and all things rubber.

you might refresh the calipers before any spirited runs.

20W-50 or something with film strength that is flat tappet friendly.

[Alexb944]

best oil ive ever used was brad penn 20w50. but of course you could use any dino oil.

[IdahoDoug]

I use Mobil 1 and a redline additive in my flat tappet Vanagon so will just get a larger bottle next time.

[Mr. Squid]

Hey Doug,

Nice looking car! Should be a fun project...

Looking at your list, I see water pump, timing belt, and balance shaft belt, but I do not see you listing the rollers. The belt system is fairly intricate, and I would hate to see you do all that work and have a roller seize up and snap your belt (I've seen it happen too many times).

Maybe you already have them....

Keep us posted on the project.

[IdahoDoug]

Argh - I bought the roller to upgrade the water pump but not rollers plural. I've gotta stop and just get this thing on the road at some point but you make a good suggestion here. I will see if I can sneak some lube into the rollers/idlers and run 'em. If I find one obviously rough I'll drive to the Spokane Porsche dealer and buy new ones as penance....

[djnolan]

The timing belt rollers take a lot more strain than the balance rollers. I had a idler roller disintegrate once, It was pure fortune not to have thrown the belt and trashed a 16v head.

[Mr. Squid]

I know that you feel like you keep throwing money at this car, and you aren't even driving it. But if you do them now, you will have less worry on long drives. The car has been in the family since new, it is really clean, and runs. No reason to do the job twice.

I actually have a 944 that I bought extremely cheap, the guy had spent 1.5 years bringing it back to life. Fresh paint job, new tires, rebuilt entire braking system, new starter, new belts, etc. He drove the car for 200 miles after completing all that work and SNAP...roller locked up and snapped the belt. He kept if for a few years, and then his wife convinced him to sell. I jumped on it. For the life of me I couldn't figure out why he would do all that work and not change the rollers and water pump. He literally hadn't even reinstalled the hood badge since the paint job.

Even with that happening he still had good things to say about the 944 "For the short amount of time I drove the car it was amazing, like the car knew where I wanted to go, and how I wanted to get there"

Sorry, I'm not trying to spend your money for you...

[djnolan]

Originally Posted by IdahoDoug

I will see if I can sneak some lube into the rollers/idlers and run 'em. If I find one obviously rough ....

If you choose not to replace, listen to them with a stethescope. Part of the problem is the rollers are part plastic so if the bearing gets too hot the plastic melts and separates and poof...

The timing rollers are fairly reasonable, the balance rollers are twice as much. Supply and demand - timing belt and rollers are replaced twice as often.

[IdahoDoug]

That's a great call with the stethescope - will do. Often I find these lightly loaded constant-use bearings can be injected with grease using a needle like you might to keep a CV joint in service and that is what I will also do. I have a pair of LandCruisers which are crazy reliable but have an odd tendancy to eat their accessory belt idler. If you get to know the Cruiser, you can tell about every 60,000 miles its time for a squirt. Or ignore it and 10,000 miles later it will start to squeal only on startup and you know its done for. I've put over 200k on both of them, so that is something my ear is tuned for. I hope for a similar extended service interval with a shot of grease on the 944 rollers/idlers. If I get in there to change the timing/balance belts and something about the seal makes that impossible, I will pivot and go get new ones.

Doug

[IdahoDoug]

Wow. I might as well read the entire forum to see my future few weeks with this car. Today I could not get the ignition rotor off. Put on by a gorilla at the factory I suspect. Dremeled a slot in it and will use it like that happily forever.

Every time I have an issue, I search and others have had/done exactly the same - even though this girl has covered less than 60k miles.

[IdahoDoug]

7am Sunday morning. Got everything ready to go and thought it would make a fun "layout" image to remember this by. I was planning to blow along through much of this when a family emergency came up. Ended up getting exactly two parts installed. Rear main and pilot bearing. Argh.....