finally a running 944

[honerboys]

well my son and i finally got the engine transplanted from our 83 944 parts car into the the 85 that had a blown engine - it went pretty well and the car is up and running - my sons face sank when DAD forgot to attach the coil wire and then switched the 1-2 spark plug wires - there are a couple of things though (there always are) - the PO had hard wired a switch for the cooling fans bypassing the sensor on the radiator so it heats up pretty fast - we'll tackle that later on as the car is parked now until we can strip the parts car and get it out of the garage - while we had the engine out we put in a new clutch and timing and balance belts - the questions we had for you helpful folks out there are:

is the clutch on these cars always so soft - i mean with the spring on the pedal it's like it's almost to easy to press it to the floor - it seems to operate fine just not a lot of feel there - is this normal?

also if you rev the engine at standstill (something i'm trying to discourage him from doing) - as the engine returns to idle there is a dip in rpms - about 1-2 hundred and then it pops right back to a steady idle - not a big deal but i did notice it

we hand adjusted the timing and balance belts (at least for now) - the balance belt has a whiny sound which i understand is sort of normal - it seemed a little loud to me so we loosened the belt up a bit and it did quiet it a bit - still seems loud to me though - the belt does have slack and i can see it vibrate a little when the engine is running - does it need to wear into the sprockets a little while before we try adjusting it again?

anyway my son and i are happy to be in the Porsche "club" now that we have a running car - my thanks to all on this site that gave advice - it is much appreciated - maybe we can pass on some of the stuff we've learned to others like hook up the coil wire before trying to start the car

[sparky4017]

Awesome i glad to here it's running something about dad's and plug wires hope it all works out good
Tim

[mikepellegrini]

Great job! And welcome to the world of 944 ownership.

I can relate to the spark plug wires thing myself.

My son and I just resucitated a 1988 NA and got it running a couple days ago.

The past day, it's been running really bad and we were both worried that something had gone wrong. Then this afternoon, my son found that I'd installed a bad rotor - one out of my NA that the metal contact was loose - it wiggled. I'd saved it a couple months ago to show him, and had forgotten it. When I put it on, I'd just assumed it was good.

I brought him a new one and he put it on - now the car runs great. Stupid dad!

Questions:

Yeah the clutches on the NA's don't take a lot of pressure to operate. The turbo clutches are quite a lot harder to depress. What you have is probably normal.

The dip in RPM's returning to idle is normal. It's a slight bug in the DME programming on the early cars. All of 'em do it. Not to worry.

Sounds like you're pretty much right on with the belts. Some whine is normal. The balance shaft belt will vibrate around somewhat; it's a fair bit looser than the cam belt when properly tensioned. My favorite thread on belt tensioning: Clark's Garage Message Board :: View topic - Belt tensioning without the tool

Typically you'll check the belt for proper tension at about 1,200-1,500 miles and retension if necessary.

You're familiar with Clark's Garage and his excellent Garage Shp Manual? http://www.clarks-garage.com/http://www.clarks-garage.com/

Welcome again!

[stuntman703]

Congratulations. You'll find a lot of people on here with no start problems (I've had it) and it's good to hear or read someone having success with getting an engine running; also showing your son that you are the MAN! Now you gotta keep it running.

[honerboys]

ok - we're back - the silver one was the original project car - engine didn't run expected broken belt and a little head work - but surprise (see picture ) so out we went and bought the red one (83) for a running engine and other parts - we stripped that one completely and had the carcass dragged away - well we were working on the silver 85 and i thought wow this is fun so i went out and found myself an 84 white one ( i guess we're hooked) - it appears to be in pretty nice shape for a 27 year old car - it's engine ran but it couldn't move - the PO thought it might be the trans which didn't faze me since i had a working one from the 83 - well it turned out to be the clutch - am tackling that now - i've done two of these now and i'm not sure which is easier; with the engine in or the engine out - i've done it both ways and i've done a few clutches on other cars but this was a lot more work than i thought - no wonder they charge so much to do these - anyway the bad clutch was a rubber hub one - so i'm wondering could this be the original clutch for this car - the clock says 90 grand - could one clutch last that long - the PO said the odometer stopped working - i haven't driven it yet so i don't know - when did they stop making the rubber disks - anyway here are some pics - thanks to all who've given advice - will post when i get both on the road

[CHICKS]

Hey, I belive I bought the manual sunroof from the red one. Oh, and good job on the project!

[Jrboulder]

We should have a Colorado 944 get together some time.

Was this silver car the one that was on CL in early december? I went and looked at it and we tried to trun the engine over but it would only turn really slowly.

[ERAU944]

great work! it's very rewarding when a project comes together, isn't it?

the original clutch on my '84 lasted approx 80k miles. i have only done one clutch (that one) with the engine in the car. it's not too bad if you follow the steps and take your time.

its really not bad at all if you have a lift and some certified porsche techs walking you through it

[honerboys]

hey jrboulder - yea i bought this car from cl but the owner told me straight up the engine wouldn't turn so i don't think it's the same car - just didn't think it would be what it turned out to be

[Rogue_Ant]

Was the white one on craigslist a little bit ago...?
I was seriously thinking about picking it up.

[Tervuren]

Originally Posted by honerboys

I'm wondering could this be the original clutch for this car - the clock says 90 grand - could one clutch last that long - the PO said the odometer stopped working - i haven't driven it yet so i don't know - when did they stop making the rubber disks - anyway here are some pics - thanks to all who've given advice - will post when i get both on the road

Original clutch in my '84 finally gave out a little over a month ago. Odometer stopped working at 80K a few years ago, clutch had 10% life left then. I probably drove it another 20K. The 944 has a very flat power curve, that saves a lot clutch wear.

[honerboys]

yea i picked up the white one last weekend from craigslist - nice car - interior is in great shape - engine runs nice - had been in an accident both front fenders and the hood are from another car - other than that it looks straight - waiting for the clutch to arrive - will see how it drives

[honerboys]

the clutch finally arrived - i tackled that big time (8 hours) yesterday - i cheated the sadistic porsche engineers again - or so i thought - after getting everything back together i hooked up the battery turned the key and all i got was a heavy click (solenoid extending) from the starter - thought maybe the battery died although i had started the car a few days ago no problem - so i jumped it off my son's car - same click - i have a spare starter ,swapped it out - same thing with my battery - tried jumping again - it turned over grudgingly and did start - i drove it around about a half hour - clutch works fine - thought that should give it enough charge to start again - but it won't - it's like it doesn't get enough juice and only with two (what i'm now assuming) good batteries would it even turn slowly - any suggestions? - i went over all the connections; battery; starter; bell housing ground all seem ok - since the car started up in the last two weeks i wouldn't think it's anything major - i did have to bend the starter cable around a bit - could i have weakened the wire from the battery? - anybody else ever have this problem? - thanks

[Guest765]

Originally Posted by honerboys

the clutch finally arrived - i tackled that big time (8 hours) yesterday - i cheated the sadistic porsche engineers again - or so i thought - after getting everything back together i hooked up the battery turned the key and all i got was a heavy click (solenoid extending) from the starter - thought maybe the battery died although i had started the car a few days ago no problem - so i jumped it off my son's car - same click - i have a spare starter ,swapped it out - same thing with my battery - tried jumping again - it turned over grudgingly and did start - i drove it around about a half hour - clutch works fine - thought that should give it enough charge to start again - but it won't - it's like it doesn't get enough juice and only with two (what i'm now assuming) good batteries would it even turn slowly - any suggestions? - i went over all the connections; battery; starter; bell housing ground all seem ok - since the car started up in the last two weeks i wouldn't think it's anything major - i did have to bend the starter cable around a bit - could i have weakened the wire from the battery? - anybody else ever have this problem? - thanks

when i did my clutch the starter was hanging from the wire the whole time, and the wire got a lot of abuse as i shoved it out of the way every ten seconds. still, it is a possibility you damaged the wire inside and increased the resistance. when you say you have checked all your wiring, did this include removing the starter wire contacts and cleaning them well?

[honerboys]

well i guess i don't know everything after all - it seems the battery in my car was actually bad after all - then when i tried the jump off the other car i probably didn't get the pos. jumper cable hooked up tight enough (that's a pretty tight fit trying not to short it out to the chassis) - anyway i put my son's battery in the car and it fired right up - so it's all good - i'll try to get the belts done tomorrow - i'm trying to get the car emissions tested this week so i can register it and be on the road - thanks for the advice - i now have really clean terminals on the battery and starter

[honerboys]

well it's been a while since i've posted on this thread - we've been pretty busy with school, work, and life but my son and i have slowly been bringing this car back to life - engine is up and running but with a little too much lifter noise for my liking - we'll deal with that in the future - the car is licensed and passed colorados emission test which i was a little worried about since the exhaust smells a little rich - banged out most of the dings and dents and gave it a fresh coat of paint - right now the drivers seat is being redone courtesy of my son who now knows quite a bit about sewing - took it out on I-25 and the car drives pretty well - has a new alignment on it - here are a few pictures of what we've accomplished so far- i'll put more on when the interior is done - my son is getting itchy to drive it so he's in overdrive working on it and it should be pretty much done shortly

[porschetub]

Well done what a good effort ,was that 2 people on the clutch job in 8 hrs?, I reconded my slave cylinder and it went from hard to softish,the stumble you have with the idle could be fixed with the later type (non soldered chip )computer check out FK Wilks site or give your AFM a good clean,don't loose sleep over the belts just recheck the tension/condition every now and then.
Did the same to my starter wire,they are tough enough i think.
I envy you that you can get your son involved,my boy is a real good kid but getting him to work on his/our? gti Golf with me is like waiting for the worldwide recession to end,anyway top marks so far.

[honerboys]

yeah the funny thing is my son actually was the one to get me interested in these cars - he loves the 944 (although a 928 would really be his pick) so it's probably a case of liking the car enough to work on it - thanks

[thekidd]

The dip in RPMs is normal, but fixable. A late DME and air flow meter/metre from a 85.5-88NA will stop the dip. Alot of racers do this swap becausethe late DMEs are chip-able.