richard944

Hi everyone,

After years and years of owning close to a dozen of those "other" German cars, from GTI's to big V12 BMW's, I wanted something new.
I came across a very well maintained 86 944 last week and took a shot.
I had no idea what a blast these beasts from Stuttgart were!

Here she is:
86 944 – LY5V sapphire black metallic on tan, period-correct staggered Riken 16" mesh wheels, 87,000 miles. Drives well, I have over 20 years of records for the car, and after just under 400km behind it in the past few days, I'm in love.

Of course, it's not mint or perfect, but it's a heck of a lot of fun to drive.

- No AC - still need to check under the dash for the 'white clip' issue.
- Busted AC switch cover needs replacing
- Sunroof switch is intermittent (I'm guessing check/clean grounds?)
- Replace the Rikens with Phone Dials or D20's
- Figure out a very small vibration at highway speeds (PO commented maybe front left wheel needs rebalancing)
- left rear hatch strut ball wants to pop out every 3rd or so open - Uro Parts struts, so that's my guess (are Uro parts as 'cheap' as the are in the Bimmer world?)
- Get the driver's left bolster redone and the center console cassette lid replaced
- FOES has been done recently, as well as 25K mi ago (7 years previously)

I'm able to do most of the work on the car which is why I decided to buy one - I'd just buy a Honda if I couldn't work on cars myself.

Read through the FAQ, bookmarked Clark's Garage... any other resources that would be really useful?

Some pics:



















And I found this today from a local Porsche club member - BNIB, lights up. Had been sitting in his garage for 5 years, as he moved to a 911:


Thanks!

mazdaverx7

What a gorgeous car!! The wheels look great and the overall condition of the car is exemplary given the age! What's the story behind it? Did you get any of the original dealer paperwork or window sticker with the car?

Only thing I see is that the front bumper shocks are collapsed and the bumper is pushed in too far. Other than that, it looks amazing!

richard944

I don't have anything from the dealer that I can see - it was a US car that made its way up to Canada in the early 90's, where it's been driven sparingly ever since.

You're not the first to comment about the shocks. PO claims it was a salvage car, but the title doesn't show it... the hood looks like it doesn't quite fit perfectly.

It was common on late 70's/early 80's BMWs to intentionally 'tuck' the bumpers by drilling a hole in the shocks to drain the fluid and then driving into a wall (slowly!)... maybe that was the case here.

Which reminds me of a question I had: easy/possible to graft the turbo nose/valence to the front? I'm a big fan of the "OE tuner/tuned" look.

J Berk

That front bumper has the 'wolf bumper mod' done... Which is just what you said... Drill holes and let the shocks compress.

Nice looking car!

Good luck and welcome to the 944 family!

richard944

Oh, and a couple other things I neglected to mention:

- driver's side headlight is a bit loose and points too far down; there's a bit of play in the housing (as opposed to the passenger side, which I can't move when up)... any links on how to fix/adjust/tighten?

- dash is cracked in a few spots. Came with a beat up glued on coverlay plastic cap which has a few cracks and some warpage; car came with a brand new coverlay replacement. Would really like to swap out the dash or repair the old one.

Butters944

Awesome car. I love the tan/black interior on the later 944s. Looks like you already know what you're doing lol. For the headlight it should be as simple as popping it up and adjusting a couple little screws - I forget exactly but you might need to remove the plastic covers around the light which is just a few more screws, pretty self explanatory once you're looking at it.

richard944

Thanks Butters, I'll take a look at that tonight - and yeah, I know what it's like to be a forum guy and have some newb come along and ask a thousand really dumb Q's that are easily findable... I'll try not to be that guy.

Perhaps the worst 'issue' of them all? No horn.

I couldn't stand looking at those Rikens anymore - so I went out this aft and got me some shiny new wheels/tires:



17" Cup 1's.

pops 83 944

On the horn I would check the ground that is screwed to the cross member. It might just be an easy fix
Very nice looking car

Volhv_944

Very nice!
It appears to have been painted. And that we are both in BC.
My 86 is a Sapphire Metallic LY5V, and the colour is a silvery blue.

Forty-six and 2

It looks great! I actually like the Rikens. The Cup wheels are definitely better though.

richard944

You're right! Weird. I've not seen any evidence of repainting on the car anywhere. I'll have to pull up the carpet and see what's there. There's an LB7V Graphite Black Metallic, but you can clearly see on the factory label it was LY5V from the factory:



Now I gotta figure out what it was painted. Ugh.

944Ross

The headlight bucket may be loose because the outboard bracket came loose. You probably have to pull the inner fendere liner loose to access it, it is a triangular plate with three screws. By adjusting that you may be able to correct the headlight aim too.

amehl

Love those wheels. Great looking car.

Butters944

Interesting situation with your color code - did somebody spray some sort of paint or bed liner in the trunk area and get overspray on your sticker? It should be that silver/blue in the trunk area..

richard944

Yeah, I'm really curious as to this now, too.

I talked to PO, he told me he always suspected the car had been repainted, but it wasn't under his tenure.

I do have names of other owners (looks like a couple since it came to Canada), so I'm hoping I can track them down and ask - I'd really like to find out what colour it was painted so I can record it.

I took a good look around for evidence of repainting, and it sure looks like it was sprayed a long long time ago, but done very well (engine bay, door sills, etc.).

Just above the driver's side front strut tower is some evidence of the original sapphire paint:



Which I guess is good, because I can probably flake off a bunch of the paint there and take it to get matched if I really need to.