I'm new here but not new to the 944. I drove one daily for three years in the late '90s. Now we've got another one - an early '85. It developed a knocking noise after an autocross. You guessed it - bad rod bearings. I thought it was lifters - Duh-Oh
! I put in a cam tower, lifters, and cam from an '87. The noise hung around. I drove the car until is seized. Now I'm looking at a replacement engine from an '88. At least I keep going up in power
143, 147, and soon 158 bhp.
My question is about belts and there are hundreds of posts and threads on this I know. The tool of choice seems to be the 9201. I've seen them used. There is the kricket too for getting in the ballpark. I've changed belts on a few VW Rabbits / Golfs and successfully used the "twist" technique. That's listed here for the 944 too along with "just" being able to turn the water pump. Now there's a newer Arnnworx tool: 920Xv6. Has anyone had any experience with it? The old 9131 looked kind of crude. I can see doing a gauge R&R to correlate the Arnnworx 920Xv6 with the 9201.
There's also a tool from Gates called the 507C Sonic meter. It measures the resonant frequency of the belt when plucked. It's pricier than the 9201 but I may have access to one at the shop where I'll be prepping the engine for may car. Has anyone tried that tool? I've seen technicians that have experience with hundreds of 944 belts pluck them and listen to see if they're close.
+1 on a post I saw about the Arnnworx 24/27 mm wrench and the need to cut it. The individual versions (e.g. 9244 tool) sold over at RennBay or 944Onlone are a much better way to go. Any feedback is appreciated.