I am running into more serious problems on the 86 944 NA manual. I just dropped a ton on it doing a front engine reseal and a load of other work. Expected the car to run like new when I got it back. Didn't last 500 miles before it started having issues again. Idle started acting up and then it started to idle so low, it would choke out. Like it was choking on its own oil. I replaced the fuel pressure regulator and damper thinking it was causing the idle issues. When it didn't fix the problem, I went back to the original suspect which is the air oil separator tube and seals. Turns out the entire tube is cracked and the hose that leads off the a/o separator split and blew apart. The idle control valve is full of new oil. Asked for a compression leak down test to be performed. Basically, one of the 4 came back near original specs. The other 3 valves showed a loss of compression of about 15-20% from original specs. I think the correct valve was 160 and the others were in the low 120s but I will have to find the paperwork.
My question is rather simple. I've dumped a ridiculous amount of money in this car already. At what point do I cut bait with it? Is it better to rebuild the existing engine or look for a good tested used engine and do a remove and replace? I've got more than 3x invested in the car than it is worth at this stage. Has respray paint job but that's already started to flake and chip. I've removed and installed loads of new parts. Radiator, battery and tray, front engine reseal, lower balance shaft and oil cooler resealed, fuel lines, brake lines, regulator, damper, refurbished all brakes, replaced the hatch, interior is in real good shape now but cloth seats and your typical cracked dash, timing belt with new water pump, tensioners, rollers, etc. Replaced dead ac compressor with remanufactured one, new drier, etc. Fixed clutch. New exhaust system front to back. Dash lights all replaced and upgraded. Bought a set of 16" phone dials off an 86 951 and refurbished them with new tires as well. Oh and a new passenger side control arm.
I just don't know what to do at this stage. It seems like the more I delve into the engine block and make repairs, the more problems I find. I am so frustrated with the car right now.
