My 85 Rescue Project

[mazdaverx7]

Bringing my first 944 back to life has been a challenge and it has been a positive learning experience. The 944 is a car I've always wanted to own and I bough this one from a lady in Michigan back in 2011. The car was originally sold in TN and spent a lot of its life in AL. I am the 4th owner. It has 119k miles and has a 5spd. Here are the pics from when she first came home

Coming out of storage, dirty and musty:



all washed up:










i have original window sticker with the epa paper and another strange option paper that brings the total higher than the window sticker states:







all tucked away for the night:

[mazdaverx7]

the interior when i brought it home:

[mazdaverx7]

After driving the car home and hearing a very bad wheel bearing, I had to dig right into it. This is what i found on the right rear:

foul rust/water contaminated grease:



can see the issue right away:





doesn't look like the inner bearing has even been out:



outer bearing removed from the hub:





as the car sits now, waiting for me to finish the job tomorrow:



when i did the left side, one of the brake pad retaining pins mushroomed and i had to cut the end off and i drove it out with a punch. i actually used a pin from an 88 RX-7 TII and ground it down and smoothed it by hand and redrilled the retaining hole so that it would fit the 944. i plan on using this only until my new pin comes in today ot tomorrow and its just for the brake bleeding process. i'll hang onto it as a spare in case i ever need one in an emergency. here are some pics:

944 pin on the left, temp pin on the right:



temp pin on the top:



i also did the front brakes, replaced the pads and rotors and repacked the wheel bearings with fresh grease.

[mazdaverx7]

After quite a bit of cleanup and more driving the car, I came to this stage:

[mazdaverx7]

ordered a new Porsche key and had it cut for the 944:



replaced the hatch pins:





blasted and painted the rear wiper arm:



refinished all of the wheel centers and replaced all of the lug nuts:



removed the gauges to clean the connections and replace all of the bulbs:





still need a shift boot:

[mazdaverx7]

while i was at it, i went to PA and picked up a nice set of original Porsche scrip seats. the original seats were leather and were wasted beyond repair and required a complete restoration..this was about $1300.. i paid $250 for these seats and i think they look great!

[mazdaverx7]

luckily my daughter (who just happened to have finished a chocolate ice cream cone) highly approves of the 944:



i installed a new shift boot and the quality was excellent and install, while frustrating, was not terribly difficult. it really makes the interior look much nicer and it feels nice when i shift through the gears. also took a couple more pics while i was out there.

[mazdaverx7]

options sticker in the hatch area:





ordered some new parts for the 944. pictured are the bushings for the shifter slop repair and new door handle seals. i also ordered new clips for the rear side carpet and installed those. i'll grab a pic today of those.



the mirror glass on the passenger side mirror came loose.. i ended up removing it from the mirror housing, cleaning it and using a two part epoxy to reattach it.

mirror cleaned and ready to go (note the small amount of glue that was used from the factory on the upper and lower edge):



mirror housing sans glass:



all back together:

[mazdaverx7]

got the fog lights working:





and got the under hood light working:

[mazdaverx7]

i'll be the first to say that my 944 is not the prettiest looking 944. but, i absolutely LOVE the car and i enjoy driving it more and more. the weather here in northern Ohio is turning cold quickly and i know my days of driving my 944 are somewhat limited. i thought, today, although gloomy and cold, would be a good day to go out and enjoy my car and take some fall pics. i put a few miles (no idea how many as my odometer does not work) on the car and really enjoyed the fruits of the labor that i put into the car.

speedo is a shade off...like 10mph off..ugh:

[mazdaverx7]

and then the rain came:





the only dash lights that come in when the ignition key is in the on position..ugh:



and back home put away safely in the garage:

[mazdaverx7]

figured i'd toss up a few more pics of my last drive. nothing special, just like to share pics:

[mazdaverx7]

clay barred the hood, right fender, header panel and headlights and buff and wax them. the paint is shot but this small amount of effort really brought back a shine! i also did the right quarter panel as well.

[mazdaverx7]

Here is the acceleration video of what I believe to be bad torque tube bearings:

[mazdaverx7]

i don't know why this is, but my son Grant is always talking about the Porsche.. he even says "Porshuh" which i find admirable, lol. every time he sees one in a book or on t.v. he goes crazy for it, lol. every night i have to lift the cover and he has to sit in my 944... its like heaven to that kid, lol. i don't mind because he's following in dad's footsteps and he's taking an interest in things other than toy trains and hot wheels, lol. anyone else have kids that flock to their car?





he's on the horn like he's driving in NYC, lol:



my daughter Isabelle just relaxes in the back seat. she thinks its comfortable for some strange reason..

[mazdaverx7]

a picture i took at work two summers ago:



Pics of the car at the new house we bought in 2012:

[mazdaverx7]

the sunroof on my car had been sanded down and primered before i purchased the car. i decided that i'd had enough of that and i removed the sunroof, removed the headliner from the sunroof and painted it. the paint isn't an exact match and who would expect a match from a rattle can. it turned out ok given its not exact:



here are a few pics i took of the 944 last saturday:







pic of the sunroof in the light:

[mazdaverx7]

here are a couple quick pics i snapped of the freshly painted lug nuts. took less than an hour to do all of them.

[mazdaverx7]

i'm still stuck with this high idle. considering a bad idle air control valve.no vacuum leaks and its still high.



my son helped me change the oil on the 944. he had a blast and insisted that i take a picture of the event:



Fast forward to this year. Got a newly used 944 badge for the rear of the car in the mail. I installed it and could not be happier! Makes the rear of the car look so much better than a faded "44" logo whereas the 9 snapped off years ago.

Got what was left of the logo off:



Got the area cleaned and prepped and installed the new badge:




Just a random pic of how everything looks currently:



Hanging in the garage awaiting some parts:

[Smoker324]

Nice work keeping the 944 running and improving it. Keep it up.