Early 944 badge/panel removal

[Black Beauty]

A little while ago i posted that i dropped my bike onto the nose panel and knocked the badge off.

So, naively i thought it would be an easy job to remove the nose panel and fit a new badge but oh no.This evening I've removed all the screws and bolts attached to the wings, and thought it would be an easy pull off(no smut intended), but its stuck fast.

A brief check of clarks garage later and i find out that i have to drill off 24 or so spot welds, arrrrrgggghhhh, and IIRC, i need to take the bumper off to get at said welds.

Please tell me its not so and i've inadvertently stumbled on mr clark having a giraffe? Otherwise i might cry and buy something a bit more modern like a 964 (soory to swear but why are the most simple jobs the most frustrating)

Yours

Frustrated of Guildford []

 

[pauljmcnulty]

You don't take the panel off to replace the badge?

It comes off if you pry it gently, two pins on the back fit in to the holes in the panel.

 

[Black Beauty]

Paul,

How do i secure the replacement badge pins in place so she doesn't pop out? I was under the impression that they had to be pinched, and the only way to do that would be to remove the panel?

Spence

 

[Mike_Pollock]

Cant remember exactly how it attaches, but I do know you dont need to take the panel off.
May need to lean the rad back a bit though

 

[Alpine]

the front panel should be fairly easy to take off (the air filter is located under the panel on the S2, I assume it is the same on the earlier 944s?)

 

[944 man]

Unfortunately not. 924s and series one 944s have a welded on badge panel, which was replaced with a bolt on badge panel on series two 944s (which include Turbos and S2s).

On a more positive note, you can replace a weld on panel with a bolt on panel after youve got it off!

 

[pauljmcnulty]

How do i secure the replacement badge pins in place so she doesn't pop out? I was under the impression that they had to be pinched, and the only way to do that would be to remove the panel?

It should just push in tightly; I suppose that, if the holes have become loose you would need to pinch them. If you had to take the panel off to fit a new badge then there wouldn't be a welded panel left, given the way car badges were nicked in the '80s! When you think about how many early cars will have had the front end painted, or a new badge purely for cosmetic purposes, they can't all have been taken off?

If it really is a loose fit, I'd be tempted to drop a bit of superglue in the holes and worry about it another year. [&:]

 

[david924s]

As stated early badge panels are welded same on the 924S but the badge can be replaced without removing the panel unless you need to replace this also. If you don't want a metal badge you could look for a vinyl version to replace it not sure but think this was an option on one of the lightweight racing 911 models.

 

[Black Beauty]

The problem I have is that the original pins are still in their respective recesses, so I thought I would be able to take the nose panel off and push the old pins through. I think the only thing to do is to get someone to spot weld the badge back onto their original pins!

One thing other thing I am confused about is that I am going to get the front re-sprayed soon, but how would the paint shop do a good job if the nose panel won't come off?

 

[Catamax944]

How did the pins break ,can you push them down so they come out the underside ?
Only way to get to them from underneath is to enlist the help of someone with relatively small hands and try to reach it through one of the side holes in the engine bay. It's very difficult to reach the little grommets that hold the pins but it's doable . I managed to do it only once a few years ago , had to do it last year again but i couldn't reach anymore.

 

[pauljmcnulty]

One thing other thing I am confused about is that I am going to get the front re-sprayed soon, but how would the paint shop do a good job if the nose panel won't come off?

They don't take most panels off, if it was the back being painted they would leave both rear quarters, the rear panel and the roof on! Mine came off purely so I could do the filter, only the headlamp covers and PU would have been removed otherwise.

 

[Hairyarse]

I thought that the holes in the badge panel for the two pins had plastic 'pots' pushed in to them to hold the pins in - i.e. the badge pins aren't directly in contact with the panel. If that's the case then you could prise out the plastic pots/plugs and replace easy enough. It's like this on a lot of cars of this era - my MK1 Golf for one, but I'm sure my 1983 944 was like this

 

[944Turbo]

I had a feeling some cars have captive clips on the back of the panel and others had top hat plastic thingies the badge pushes into as hairyarse says (though i thought there were 3). It could be someone was discussing using clips to stop the badge being stolen, this was a discussion on tiatnic about 12 years ago!
It would make sense that with the welded on panel you dont have to remove it to remove / fit the badge.
Tony

 

[PAUL RUDDY]

Having just had a front end repaint to eradicate stone chips here's a couple of photos of the badge panel, two new plastic grommets and a new badge gasket from Porsche. No need to get behind the panel to replace the badge .........and the mark on the bonnet is a reflection []

Cheers, Paul

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Go on, what do they charge for the two tiny plastic grommets? Is it one of the really cheap, or jaw-droppingly expensive, Porsche parts? [&:]

 

[PAUL RUDDY]

ORIGINAL: pauljmcnulty

Go on, what do they charge for the two tiny plastic grommets? Is it one of the really cheap, or jaw-droppingly expensive, Porsche parts? [&:]

The grommets are 14p each , the gasket or desk pad to give it its Porsche name is £3.08, plus VAT []