I have been asked by a few forum members to ‘chronicle’ all the work that I have carried out on my 1988 944S during its long restoration. Some of the photos have already appeared in other posts at some time. However, it seems that one complete ‘start to finish’ thread was what the guys wanted.
So, rising to the challenge (it has taken a bit of time!), here is the complete story of E138WCL’s journey from the salvage yard to a head-turning classic.
It will take a while to load everything, so feel free to comment as the various stages appear.
Here we go.....
As you can see from the photos, she is looking a bit sad
, damaged and in need of a lot of TLC, but far too good for a ‘parts car’!
Once delivered to me I stripped off the damaged wing (fender) and front panels and welded a replacement inner panel in place. Removed three – yes, three old alarm systems and repaired the electrics. Drained the fuel tank, inspected as much as I could and fired her up. Nice.....
I then fitted some replacement panels, including a fibreglass S2 style front complete with original S2 lights, etc.
Then I had to drill out the locking wheel nuts (no key!)..this took an age and three hole saw blades. Once the wheels were off, I replaced the discs and pads and generally serviced the calipers.
Decided that as I didn’t know the service history and when the belts were last done (they looked fine..) I ordered all the necessary parts.
A bunch of other minor works was also carried out on a number of systems to bring them ‘back to life’.
Then took the car for an inspection to put her back on the road, it actually passed! So, I was able to take her out and about…which I did (well who wouldn’t?). However, I wish I hadn’t as I had only done about 1500 miles when the cambelt stripped teeth (rubber had perished) and the engine was toast…
This was only two weeks before the ‘holiday’ I had booked to do the work on the car, as you can imagine - I was gutted.
At this point, the car sat on my driveway for some time (quite a time actually!) while I decided what to do next.