Pelican welcomes 944 Turbo project car & we need Your Advice!

[black944 turbo]

Can you here the fuel pump running when the ignition is turned to start? Is the tach bouncing as stated above? Speed and ref sensors are deffenately a week point on these cars.

[bleu951]

The DME computers are dying of old age as well.

Does it have a spark?

[Keith Foster]

I would like to see a lot of street performance as this may be a future project for me. I was just checking ebay motors for a 951 about an hour before I saw this.

[cmassler]

I have an '88 944 that I have had since new. 205,000+ miles. Original un-rebuilt engine with appropriate maintenance: timing belt; water pump; oil changes; etc. Runs well as my wife's daily driver, mostly around town. Once you get your car running, I will enjoy following your management of some of the interior issues, if you restore to stock: repair or replacement of cracks in the dash around the defroster vents; repair / replacement of dull instrument cluster light bulbs; repair / replacement of the digital clock light bulb, without clock replacement; working with the HVAC controller; recovering the leather steering wheel or replacing with a (for example) Momo; replacement of the interior door handle door openers; repairing inter-connected electronic window openers; sealing that huge rear window; plus the other niggling interior issues I may be forgetting. Thanks for taking on this 'classic' water cooled tourer as a project - a great road car project that will be interesting to many of us.

[will944]

In for updates!

[bad_acid]

I would check for spark next.

[Sylvain951]

These exact symptom happened to me 2 years ago..

It was the crank position sensors.

[Carguy59]

First, do a compression check. If you have a problem, blown head gasket, holed piston, etc. You will have to redo everything you have done to present.

[MichelleJD]

Will be watching. Had fun with mine!

[dp951]

The first thing should be to check the timing belts condition.
then diag no start condition

[doublebuffle]

Originally Posted by DannoXYZ

Hatch-cover end-cap repair
AC repair, seals in compressor
Heater-repair
Turbo-upgrade
No-lift camber-plates
Sunroof repair, microswitches and adjustment

Thanks for choosing these water-coolers Mark! Will your articles cover the other cars too (non-turbo 8V, 16V, etc)? There are a lot of 8V cars collecting rust or getting parted right now that would be great projects, if only there were interest...

I'm not a Turbo guy but I would definitely +1 the sunroof wizardry and maybe a DME logic diagram/flow chart. Also a detailed pictorial (like you do for the 911) of an engine drop would be really nice!

[Thomasjoseph315]

I want to see Super Pursuit mode, and a center console talking like William Daniels.

[riouxc]

Here is my project car.

I will post more picture and how-to later.

First, when I bought the car 3 years ago. Good looking but found some usual neglected maintenance...

Not bad at first:




Then, I started upgrades (I'm a big fan of Lindsey Racing stuff, very helpful people and prompt response to questions)

The MAF:



The A/C Delete:



Then, the fun begins; while changing the oil, this happened



What the heck is coolant doing there?!?!? Well, this means the oil cooler gasket is leaking and all the o-rings need to be changed. I'll explain later on this. I installed a Lindsey Racing oil cooler X3+ radiator.

Than, I found that the pre-owner did not tell me that he hit something on the right side... I found a bended tie rod and a damaged oil pan heat sink ( I had to change the oil pan gasket anyway...)



Used oil pan gasket, normal wear done by exhaust manifold:



Changing this must be the longest task to do... I'll explain later.

Before the BIG job:


After the BIG job with a new crossmember ( 3 pieces, easy to remove the oil pan with this)


Notice the new engine mounts available here

This is the limit of picture... (10 max) I'll upload more later..

Seeya!

[Mikab61]

Thanks for doing a 951 project. I have a 1988 951 S model with about 98,000 miles but all original and running strong. I'd like to see a 951 done like Porsche would if they were building one today. All updated with modern updates like the Cayman S has. I think it would be the ultimate 951 and something we could all take ideas from. Good luck!

[Arizona_928]

Confirm spark before checking for fuel. "Way easier to confirm. Pull a spark plug and turn her over". I'm going to say this is going to be a bigger project then what you guys have estimated. I feel that a clutch and engine reseal with a water pump and timing belt are in order before you even considering mods. However for mods, I feel, rear coil overs would be an awesome first mod...

[riouxc]

Originally Posted by AZ_porschekid

Confirm spark before checking for fuel. "Way easier to confirm. Pull a spark plug and turn her over". I'm going to say this is going to be a bigger project then what you guys have estimated. I feel that a clutch and engine reseal with a water pump and timing belt are in order before you even considering mods. However for mods, I feel, rear coil overs would be an awesome first mod...

Ha, Ha!

Coil over? Here they are(to be installed this spring, I'm in Canada... Winter means car in storage):



I will also reseal the engine, it leaks from everywhere...

Also bigger turbo, 4 " exhaust,lighter fly weel, new clutch, etc... Depends on my spring budget...

[951 Nut]

I agree with the sunroof adjustments, leaking/troubleshooting and repairs/maintenance

[schmedes1]

Mark,

I am thrilled you got this thread going and love the subject. Gotta say for the record that until the Seattle-area folks who have contributed jillions of posts on the P951 over the past decade plus weigh in, it just won't be right.

[porschetub]

Originally Posted by Paulyy

Are you guys wondering off the questions or what?



One step at a time..

start the car first then worry about the rest.

X2 on that ,a running engine will tell alot,my only caution would be the belts and associated parts,a good inspection there is important before starting.
I think Mark needs to give some history so some don't have him doing a nut and bolt stripdown of the engine
And Mark we need more updates,come on

[denbou]

i am in - hopefully will get knowledge that will also apply to my 968 !