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

[Mark at Pelican Parts]

Join us on our 951 journey!

We're really excited to introduce our latest Project Car, a 1986 944 Turbo! We're planning a wide-range of Tech Articles covering interior, exterior, engine/drivetrain and suspension so stay tuned as we'll announce the articles in this official thread very soon! Tell us which projects you'd like to see covered too! No one has better knowledge and experience with these cars than all of you out there in the 944 Turbo community!

Would you like to give us suggestions for our first hurdle? The engine does not start but it turns over and the starter itself seems good. What ideas do you have we can try? Let us know and we'll try them as you suggest them and report the results right here!

We will be posting progress, setbacks and updates regularly on the 951 as we go through it and would like any suggestions you might have before we start as to the best way to approach these once much loved vehicles during our attempt to bring it back to life.

As always Pelican has all the parts and our in-house tech guy has the ultimate set of tools. Help us try and save this 80s icon and get us off on the right foot by sharing your knowledge and experience with us and fellow Pelicans. Keep checking back here for updates as we might have tried YOUR idea!

Pictures of our new-to-us, Porsche 951!

[Cdnone1]

I would like to see it stripped down to a track car

[DannoXYZ]

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

[Paulyy]

Good stuff.

no start issue...

in order,

- Check for spark. pull plug wire and connect spare plug or pull plug also. If no spark:

- Change DME relay. (they usually go bad) or try jump the relay. i forget which pins though. and try start. one is fuel pump, another is the DME...

- Cap and rotor. Simply take it off and make sure it's not broken in any way,
- Check coil and connections. can disconnect and connect multimeter to the wires. crank and check for pulse. (if no pulse go next step) if pulses, check coil. can remove it, and put 12v power to the terminals and attach a wire and plug to see if it sparks. or check resistance over coil terminals (not sure of number)
- Check KLR. well bypass KLR. remove KLR and jump pins 9 & 16 on plug. not recommended to drive while bypassed.

- Check for tach bounce. if doesn't bounce. Speed and Reference sensors are bad and or the harness is bad. recommended to replace sensors and harness.



- Check if injectors firing. remove fuel rail with injectors connected and attached. crank. fuel comes out? yes (good) no (not so good)

To solve:

- DME Relay
- wires could be bad (can happen) remove plug from injectors and test with a LED should blink bright. if it's dull, there's a short somewhere. typically near the plugs.
If it doesn't turn on,
- Speed and reference sensors.

I think this should help you get along the way.

[strath44]

here is the link to the DME jumper wiring config:

DME Relay Information and Testing

very easy to do and would do it before anything else,

when the jumper is in see if you hear the fuel pump run

with the jumper fitted the pump if working will run all the time so remember to disconnect the jumper when not running the car or the battery will go dead

a bit easier that removing the fuel rail; after cranking for a bit crack open the the fuel rail end cap (at the end of the fuel rail closest to the dizzy) and see if any fuel is present, a tube can be connected up into a bottle to see if there is much flow - be careful of fires!

has any immobiliser been fitted, maybe that is creating a problem?

good luck!

[911tracker85]

wish you had done this BEFORE I did my project.

had the car running, but quickly encounters issues with the clutch the PO had installed.

hope I have rounded 3rd and heading for home, in the process of finishing the installation of my new SPEC stage III clutch/PP and alum flywheel.

in the process I have already learned more about 951s than I had expected.

will be watching as I am sure there are still things I can learn.

[commdiver]

The engine definately needs to be stripped of the top end, I would remove head and have resealed, valve job, cleaning, new seals.....

Then you can check pistons and walls give them a good cleaning, if block checks out throw rebuilt head back on with wide fire ring headgasket set. Replace water pump and all front seals, belts and rollers. You can then replace and check all vacuum hoses, fuel hoses, wiring harness, speed and reference sensors and there adjustment height which is crucial, rebuild your injectors, major tune up basically with all new fluid, filters and seals.

This will give you 5 years + and 30K miles of worry free operation before you even need to think about it and will make car reliable again.

[commdiver]

Looks like a decent '86 turbo good candidate for saving its life. What options does it have on the sticker next to drivers side taillight access panel? Like tranny code lsd? sport shocks?
While your at it remove the front header panel and take out intercooler, turn upside down and see how much oil is inside could be more than a quart. Which means your turbocharger needs to be rebuilt as its blowing oil into engine which causes all sorts of clogging and isnt good for octane rating or power output.

[911tracker85]

While your at it remove the front header panel and take out intercooler, turn upside down and see how much oil is inside could be more than a quart. Which means your turbocharger needs to be rebuilt as its blowing oil into engine which causes all sorts of clogging and isnt good for octane rating or power output.

or could be getting drawn from the AOS. I installed a catch tank. but since I am still breaking in the rebuilt engine, I found a little oil in my pressure tubes when I pulled the intercooler to send to LR for a stage I upgrade.

Check for tach bounce. if doesn't bounce. Speed and Reference sensors are bad

I replaced my sensors for that reason near the end of the build. then used an O scope to verify signals at the DME, only to find the TACH wiring is bad to the instrument cluster.

turned out to be the coil.

[Paulyy]

Are you guys wondering off the questions or what?

The engine does not start but it turns over and the starter itself seems good. What ideas do you have we can try?

One step at a time..

start the car first then worry about the rest.

[nynor]

bad fuel.

[rick13]

Full RESTORATION.

Step 1. Take off hood.

#overhaulin

[911tracker85]

Are you guys wondering off the questions or what?

good point. but to my comment about oil in the intercooler. after I posted I realized his suggestion was relevant. a LOT of oil and your turbo is probably blowing oil.

Full RESTORATION.

Step 1. Take off hood.

here is how I started my project. how I got it from the PO.

[henry911]

Just picked up an 86 Turbo project last weekend. 176k with bad head gasket but it fired on the first shot after sitting for months. It's kind of ugly but a definite candidate for a fix up. Trying to decide stock or LSx conversion. Will decide after the head comes off. Looking forward to the progress on both projects.

[aDIYCarGuy]

When I got mine, after it sat for 8 years, the coil, cap, and rotor were bad. Once I changed those parts, it started right up. I would check spark, like someone mentioned earlier

[ATX_Boxster]

Subscribed.

Could a "101 Projects for your Porsche 944 Turbo" book possibly be in the works? Hope so!

[Mark at Pelican Parts]

All-

Great suggestions so far! We're just getting into this project and plan an entire library of technical how to articles but first, we've got to get this bad boy started!


Paulyy : Looks like the DME relay is a good starting point so we'll get on this today and report back!

Stay tuned!

[Mark at Pelican Parts]

As promised, we started with the DME relay as many of you suggested and here's what we found:

Pulled the relay from the panel:



Most of you are familiar with one of these!:



Did a quick test with 12v power:



Bypassed the relay completely, for testing purposes, with 14 gauge wire and male spade connectors (the other end simply wrapped together with electrical tape):



So the end result is that the DME relay that came with the car is fine, the terminals in the panel are good and we also tested a couple of other relays - good as well. Our project 951 will turn-over but not light. Next up, we'll check the fuel pressure and report back. We're anxious to hear it roar once again!

Feel free to comment and ask questions! We're here for a while as we go through our 951.

[Triple_T]

Thanks for choosing a 951! Tired of seeing all the 911 success stories. Made me feel like an ugly child. LOL!

[TrailRider]

Excited to see a 951 project as well!

If fuel checks out I would move on to check the Speed and Reference sensors. Those seem to be a very common cause of "no starts". Something I have seen first hand... The wires become brittle over the years either on the sensor or harness sides of the connectors. Look for very slight tach bounce while cranking (like a 1/16th of an inch). If no tach bounce the cause is likely to be the either sensor.