Just joined this forum so I thought it only polite to introduce myself and more importantly my Porsche!
I'm sure by my username you have already guessed my name....so I'm Lawrence and I hail from Kent. Recently purchased a 944 2.5 Lux after years and years of hankering after a Porsche. I was close to buying a 914 last year, and I still would like to own one, one day, but the body work on the 914 was not as good as I expected and it had a few other little issues that made me remain firm at my offer, which got declined. This has lead me to my rather impromptu joint purchase of said 944. I purchased the car with a very good friend of mine Rob. We buy a lot of our cars together as we can buy better and split the costs of running and owning and share the fun!
Some of you may already know the car as it has changed hands a lot since it rolled off the production line in '83 and I believe someone from one of the forums went to look at the car and posted a description of the things wrong with it....this I found after buying...! One of the owners previously was a member of the Club and also the 944 register. If I'm right in thinking, this owner went on to trade it for an S2 Cab.
I will admit, I think Rob and I may have had a heart over head moment on this car, but neither have done this for a while, so its no surprise that it was going to happen sooner or later! We knew of a few problems with the car but because of what we had in mind for the car, these things didn't bother us. We have both wanted to get on the track for a long time, starting off doing track days and moving onto hopefully competing in a championship. The 2.5 we thought being a good car to learn our craft in and have enough power to have some fun, but not too much that we smash up on our first lap! The 944 being a very well balanced car with great handling characteristics being another reason as to going down this route....as well as both being long standing Porsche Fanatics moving up from owning and still owning many VW's.
So the problems...the ones that we knew about first, there is a problem with the engine. We were told however that it is a common and well known problem and an easy fix...
From what we have been told, the balance belt has been fitted incorrectly, maybe a few teeth out and this causes the car to idle rough and at about 2900rpm, the car really shudders and almost feels like it is surging.
The belt is also too tight as it has a slight squeal/whine when the engine is running. I have identified this from a you tube video of someone filming a belt that is too tight and then going on to show the belt correctly adjusted and the noise no longer there. The noise in the video of the belt being too tight is the exact same as mine.
There is a vibration at 60mph..I was told this was due to out of shape tyres as the car has been sat for a while however after tonight's drive, I think there is something else causing the vibration.
The clutch needs bleeding? The pedal does not seem to sit correctly in its position and after a while you have to flick the pedal back up with your foot.
We were told that the seat needed re-bolting in and tightening...however upon further inspection (something that should have been done maybe when we went to view the car!) the floor has sustained 'damage' and the seat mounting points no longer exist and the seats are very wobbly and loosely bolted in. The only thing that I look like I can do here, is cut the floor from a scrapper 944 and weld it into place of my damaged floor. Going to go trawl the local car breakers on Monday.
So these are the 'major' issues, there are a few niggling things like the washers not working, the oil pressure gauge resembling a rev counter, the flasher not working, the wipers not returning to there off position, the windows being slow, the passenger door lock being stiff, the rear hatch and bonnet not staying open without the use of a spare hand or a broom, the seatbelt squeaking, it running very cheap tyres....I don't think the car has been loved or looked after very well with its last few owners so these are all things that I can fix overtime.
This evenings little blast has revealed a couple more problems that will have to get investigated sooner rather than later. The O/S front wheel has excessive play, possibly a bearing and the rear O/S, sits about 22mm lower than the N/S rear...maybe a collapsed shock.
On a positive note, the bodywork is in fairly good condition; there is the standard rust on the rear quarters and a little on the front wing and being Guards Red the paint is tired. I have polished it as best as I can and again this is not a major issue as the car will eventually be a track car anyway... The plan is to get it rolling roaded as it is now, then have it serviced and the belt sorted and the clutch sorted (We were thinking of going to Project 9 Engineering if anyone can offer testimonials or warnings!) get the car running perfect, I am hoping to get the floor repaired this next week and then the interior will be stripped, a roll cage welded in, buckets and harnesses fitted, suspension sorted, tyres changed and then hit the track...whilst trying to keep the budget fairly tight as it is our first track car. Any advice/encouragement, "˜been there done that', do this/don't do that etc etc is very much welcome!
So I have talked far too much and all everyone has come to see are photos, so here they are! Some I took messing around near my unit earlier:
I'm sure by my username you have already guessed my name....so I'm Lawrence and I hail from Kent. Recently purchased a 944 2.5 Lux after years and years of hankering after a Porsche. I was close to buying a 914 last year, and I still would like to own one, one day, but the body work on the 914 was not as good as I expected and it had a few other little issues that made me remain firm at my offer, which got declined. This has lead me to my rather impromptu joint purchase of said 944. I purchased the car with a very good friend of mine Rob. We buy a lot of our cars together as we can buy better and split the costs of running and owning and share the fun!
Some of you may already know the car as it has changed hands a lot since it rolled off the production line in '83 and I believe someone from one of the forums went to look at the car and posted a description of the things wrong with it....this I found after buying...! One of the owners previously was a member of the Club and also the 944 register. If I'm right in thinking, this owner went on to trade it for an S2 Cab.
I will admit, I think Rob and I may have had a heart over head moment on this car, but neither have done this for a while, so its no surprise that it was going to happen sooner or later! We knew of a few problems with the car but because of what we had in mind for the car, these things didn't bother us. We have both wanted to get on the track for a long time, starting off doing track days and moving onto hopefully competing in a championship. The 2.5 we thought being a good car to learn our craft in and have enough power to have some fun, but not too much that we smash up on our first lap! The 944 being a very well balanced car with great handling characteristics being another reason as to going down this route....as well as both being long standing Porsche Fanatics moving up from owning and still owning many VW's.
So the problems...the ones that we knew about first, there is a problem with the engine. We were told however that it is a common and well known problem and an easy fix...
From what we have been told, the balance belt has been fitted incorrectly, maybe a few teeth out and this causes the car to idle rough and at about 2900rpm, the car really shudders and almost feels like it is surging.
The belt is also too tight as it has a slight squeal/whine when the engine is running. I have identified this from a you tube video of someone filming a belt that is too tight and then going on to show the belt correctly adjusted and the noise no longer there. The noise in the video of the belt being too tight is the exact same as mine.
There is a vibration at 60mph..I was told this was due to out of shape tyres as the car has been sat for a while however after tonight's drive, I think there is something else causing the vibration.
The clutch needs bleeding? The pedal does not seem to sit correctly in its position and after a while you have to flick the pedal back up with your foot.
We were told that the seat needed re-bolting in and tightening...however upon further inspection (something that should have been done maybe when we went to view the car!) the floor has sustained 'damage' and the seat mounting points no longer exist and the seats are very wobbly and loosely bolted in. The only thing that I look like I can do here, is cut the floor from a scrapper 944 and weld it into place of my damaged floor. Going to go trawl the local car breakers on Monday.
So these are the 'major' issues, there are a few niggling things like the washers not working, the oil pressure gauge resembling a rev counter, the flasher not working, the wipers not returning to there off position, the windows being slow, the passenger door lock being stiff, the rear hatch and bonnet not staying open without the use of a spare hand or a broom, the seatbelt squeaking, it running very cheap tyres....I don't think the car has been loved or looked after very well with its last few owners so these are all things that I can fix overtime.
This evenings little blast has revealed a couple more problems that will have to get investigated sooner rather than later. The O/S front wheel has excessive play, possibly a bearing and the rear O/S, sits about 22mm lower than the N/S rear...maybe a collapsed shock.
On a positive note, the bodywork is in fairly good condition; there is the standard rust on the rear quarters and a little on the front wing and being Guards Red the paint is tired. I have polished it as best as I can and again this is not a major issue as the car will eventually be a track car anyway... The plan is to get it rolling roaded as it is now, then have it serviced and the belt sorted and the clutch sorted (We were thinking of going to Project 9 Engineering if anyone can offer testimonials or warnings!) get the car running perfect, I am hoping to get the floor repaired this next week and then the interior will be stripped, a roll cage welded in, buckets and harnesses fitted, suspension sorted, tyres changed and then hit the track...whilst trying to keep the budget fairly tight as it is our first track car. Any advice/encouragement, "˜been there done that', do this/don't do that etc etc is very much welcome!
So I have talked far too much and all everyone has come to see are photos, so here they are! Some I took messing around near my unit earlier:
] )
