Inherited 1988 944 Turbo S introduction

['88 Turbo S]

I wanted to introduce myself here as a new member, and put the following situation out here for some assistance/information.
I recently inherited a 1988 944 Turbo S. While I do know a little bit of history of this one owner car, there is MUCH that I do not know. I am hoping that I can find a few here that can help me with sorting out where to head with my recent acquisition. The first owner is no longer alive, so asking him pertinent questions is out of the question. The car is a fairly nice condition, all original car, with 116,000 miles showing. It has never been modified in any way. I have verified with Porsche North America that the car was one of the 718 Turbo S models delivered in 1988. It is White, with Burgundy leather interior.
The car has been sitting and had not been driven in the last 10 years. I know that the brake system was gone through by the previous owner in the 6 months prior to his death. He was NOT mechanically inclined, so I know that he depended on others to provide any work done on the car. Most of the early work was all done by the Phoenix area Porsche dealer. This brake work was NOT done by any dealer or verified mechanic. I was told that there were all new pads, fresh fluid, and the calipers were rebuilt. However, the car does NOT roll about with ease. I assume that it is not very movable, due to one or more of the brakes dragging. I have not had the time/opportunity to get the car off of the ground and see which of the brakes may be the culprit. After the previous owner had gone through the brake system, he had then decided to do the timing belt and various hoses, prior to attempting to place the car back on the road. The car now sits with the front cover and intake disassembled, and supposedly all of the belts and hoses in the car. I have not even had the chance to inventory the parts to make certain that everything is indeed there. I am keeping my fingers crossed that all is good there.
That being said, I live in Southern AZ, on the California border, so access to the San Diego and LA area are fairly easy. I am hoping that someone here can point me in the direction of some good mechanics and tuners that would be well versed on the 944 Turbo S, so that I can discuss with them what would be the best approach to getting this car back on the road and into the condition that it deserves to be. I would be more than interested in doing some appropriate mods, so that the performance of the car can be brought to current state of the art standards. Any and all suggestions will be appreciated. I do expect/anticipate that the car will require me to invest a substantial amount of money. However, given the sentimental attachment, I can not possibly do anything other than bring this old car back to it's original glory.

[TrailRider]

Hello, and welcome. Good for you for wanting to restore the car! Hope you can do some of your own wrenching or else they can get very expensive!

The first thing you want to focus on is getting it road worthy - that is, get all of the maintenance done, brakes checked, fuel lines replaced, etc. Don't worry about mods right now...

I would change all of the fluids including the fuel in the tank. After 10 years of sitting it is probably bad.

Change the oil, transaxle fluid, flush the cooling system.

You noted work to the belts, but the timing belt absolutely needs to be done along with the balance shaft belt. May want to check out the water pump and replace at this time as well.

Go through the fuel system so replace the fuel filter, drain the old gas, check the fuel lines at the fuel rail and replace if dry / brittle. Replace the fuel line jumper on the fuel rail if dry / brittle. Check the fuel injectors, may want to have them rebuilt / flowed with new seal rings. Not doing these things can cause engine fires if a fuel leak forms.

Next, check the intake for leaks. There are so many lines related to the intake that can dry out over time and cause leaks. So, check for brittle boost lines and replace if necessary.

How are the tires? If they are dry / brittle / old may want to consider getting new tires...

There are a number of vendors out there to buy parts from. Obviously Pelican. Also Lindsay Racing, Paragon Products are good ones too.

I don't know shops in the AZ area. But, there is a guy focused solely on 944's in the SD area. Commeau Racing. You can check them out.

Once you get the car in to good road worthy condition than you can start to think about mods.

Hope this helps. If you ever want to sell the car, I would be interested... would love to add a Turbo S to my stable.

Mike

[944 Ecology]

timing belt

['88 Turbo S]

Mike,
I would like to say THANK YOU, for your very informative reply! I definitely will be wrenching on the car myself. I own over twenty cars, and many of them are a collection of older classic cars that I personally wrench on as well as display at various car shows. That fact alone, is most likely why I ended up with this wonderful classic Porsche, from my well missed friend. This car was once his pride and joy. I had known him since it was a new car. I know that he would want it restored and enjoyed along side my various other classics. While I know that the only fiscally responsible action would probably be to part the car out, I could never do that, as it deserves to be brought back to it's former glory. While I do not have a large amount of money to throw at it currently, I should have what it will take to get it in driving condition in the near future. After that, I will probably want to throw a good bit into upgrades to make it a FUN toy.
Again, I thoroughly appreciate the wonderfully informative reply, as well as the time that you took to do so.
Laren

[TrailRider]

Hi Laren, you are welcome. I am glad you are restoring the car in memory of your friend. I am sure this would be what he wanted.

20+ cars in your collection? Very cool! You must be busy. I have 5 cars right now and it is about to drive me insane trying to maintain them all...

These are great cars and very fun to drive. Maintain it right and it should be good to go. Replace things as they come up to keep it running in tip-top shape.

Post up pictures when you can.

Mike

[Michael7810]

Jack Doverspike in PHX is a great resource for your car. His shop is Stuttgart Southwest in Tempe, AZ. Even if you don't take it to him (I would), you should give Jack a call as he will be more than happy to discuss what you should do and possibly recommend someone closer to Yuma. Good Luck

[mazdaverx7]

Sounds like you are a good friend Laren. I would agree that bringing the car back to life if the only option for this once cherished 951. If you have time, I would love to see some pictures of the car!

['88 Turbo S]

I wanted to say Thanks to Michael7810, for the information on Jack Doverspike and his shop in Tempe. That could prove to be a great resource for me. I do have another close friend that lives in Tempe, and ironically, the friend that lives in Tempe is actually the person who originally introduced me to my friend, AKA the previous/original owner of the Porsche. The PO had offered to give me the Porsche, prior to his passing. but I had failed to go get the car, as he passed away unexpectedly. He genuinely LOVED his car and wanted the car restored to it's former glory. Given my love/obsession with cars I guess that is why he wanted me to have it. There is a LONG and convoluted story about how I ultimately ended up with the car. Fate and karma would be the ONLY explanation there. Getting the title from the estate, was no small feat. Since I had not retrieved the car prior to his death, there were many questions. I did eventually manage to work out a deal with the executor of the estate, and the car now resides in one of my garages. The car is stuck in the back of that garage, in between a boat and a travel trailer, simply because with the 22 other cars that I have, I honestly did not have any more free garage space. I needed another car, about like I would need a few more holes in my head. LOL That is one of the reasons why I had not gone and picked the car up, when my friend first offered it to me. That possibly also explains to you why I have yet to look further into the sticky brake issue?
To mazdaverx7, I wanted to say that I will gladly get some pix of the car, once I manage to get things moved about. BTW, if your profile name is an indication of anything where rotaries are concerned, I will offer that there are 10 of the collection of mine that are rotary engine Mazda cars. MANY old school, as well as first and second gen RX7's. Even have an RX8.

[DannoXYZ]

Welcome to glorious 951 ownership Laren! Since you'll be doing a lot of the wrenching yourself, look for various online-guides on typical maintenance procedures. One of the more comprehensive ones is Clark's Garage. There similar ones on this Pelican site with more photos.

The brakes seems to be a big issue, so I'd recommend taking each one apart and inspecting closely. Clean them off completely and squirt some silicone-lube around the pistons to lubricate the O-rings. Could be a stuck-piston that's causing the pads to bind on the rotors. And as others mentioned, flush the system with new fluid. Verify that the master-cylinder O-ring is good.

Check all the wheel-bearings while you're there. I've seen some cars come back from shops with wheel-bearings adjusted so tight, you'd like the parking-brake was left on. Oh yea, check that the cable on the parking-brake isn't too tight as well.

And all the other various maintenance items mentioned. Once they're road-worthy, these cars are quite fun and some of the most reliable and easiest Porsches to maintain. Have fun!

[Victor Askew]

Welcome and congrts on your new 951 ownership. Hows the car coming along??

['88 Turbo S]

Victor,
Unfortunately the Porsche is a "back burner" project at this point. I have a few car shows coming up soon with my other classics and need to focus my attention there first. Once I get underway with the Porsche, I will surely have some updates to post. Thanks for the inquiry. It is always good to have others who will keep you motivated to get things accomplished. LOL

[Mark at Pelican Parts]

Love to see pictures sometime even though you may not get to the car for a while.

Mark/Pelican Parts