86 Turbo

I am happy as a clam and wanted to brag. Here is my 86' 951. I bought it back in March and have been putting it back together. It was in pieces. The transmission, axles, exhaust, the shift rod and more was out of the car. But it is back together and on the road.

I was looking for a low mileage clean complete car. The car has 32K miles. I got one out of three. A friend owned this and I bought it. It sat neglected for 15 years. The story goes it needed a clutch and it went down hill from there. My friend put a clutch in it and then it just sat. The paint is oxidized badly but the engine and interior look like a car with 32K. There have been a few bumps but I have had many hours of fun working on it. I have kept a journal about it all and will share details if folks are interested.

Jason @ Paragon Products

Great story. I'll look forward to the journal!

morghen

Cool car, you can probably get away with just polishing that paint into perfection

Dan87951

Always like to see these cars being put back together instead of parted out. Great story! I would bring the car to an experienced body shop and have them wet sand and buff it. I bet it will looks like new again after that. Was the car stored outside all those years?

86 Turbo

It would have been a shame to part this car out. I saw what it could be so I bought it believing a nice car would come out of it.

Here are journal entries from March 2015. Mostly assessments.

The car has sat outside uncovered for 15 years and suffered from neglect. The paint is oxidized badly. I think it can be rubbed out. There are no dents or rust. Only two small dings on passenger door.


The exhaust is out of the car but in good shape. The tip is gone and needs to be replaced.


The transmission is out. It has the external oil cooler that is a finned loop. The support bracket for the cooler is missing. The shift rod and lever are out of the car. The speedometer sender and fittings are missing


The engine and engine bay are pretty clean. It looks like what you would expect for a 32K mile car. The air box is off. Everything else is there.


The interior is complete and in good shape. The leather seats are not torn. Again it looks like a low mileage car inside. It smells really bad in there. The shifter has been out of the car and rodents once lived in it. There are half eaten nuts in the car.


The brake rotors are rusty and pitted. The rear calipers are off the car.


There are two big boxes of parts. The air box, DME, rear calipers and lots of other things are in there.

86 Turbo

Journal entries from April.

Removed seats and carpets for cleaning. The sound deadening / insulation on the floor pans was deteriorated badly. The ones in the footwells were wet and I pulled them out to dry the car. They fell apart as I removed them. The insulation on the tunnel was in good shape and felt dry so I left it in the car.

Pulled sending unit to inspect inside of gas tank. The tank looked great. No old gas to deal with!

Brake rotors replaced. Sebro coated rotors on front and Zimmerman coated rotors on rear. Bled brakes and clutch.

New tires from Tire Rack

Installed new speedometer sender and fittings on transmission. Changed oil in transmission

New timing and counter balance belts, rotor, distributor cap, wires and plugs installed

Took wheels to powder coater for refinishing

carlege

i need more pictures

86 Turbo

I will work on adding a few more pictures but I am not a good photographer.

Here are the journal entries from May not much to write about but a lot of work done.


Had tires mounted and balanced at Precision Auto. Hand painted the center caps to look like factory.

Car is back together mechanically. Finished reassembly of transmission, shifter linkage and exhaust. Welded up new exhaust tip and hanger for muffler. (Friend did most of the welding). Hooked up DME and boost controller.

86 Turbo

I started writing down things in June. The previous entries are from memory. These are done each day.

This month is when the first issue with the car made itself known. It will always be known as "the day of the klunk."


6-8-15 filled with coolant, filled power steering


6-13-15 New battery purchased.


6-15-15 Tried to start car for first time. First few attempts were just turning over and over. I looked in the fuse box and noticed the fuse labeled "fuel pump sender" was missing. Installed fuse and tried again. Just crank crank crank. Tried a few more times with same result. I did not smell any gas in the exhaust so I doubt it is getting gas. Just a guess now. Before we left I gave it one more try. I turned the key and just got a solid klunk. No turning over, just klunk. I thought "this is not good" so I disconnected the ground terminal and called it a night. I will try to put a wrench on it to see if the engine still spins....


Thought the starter was making a noise as it spins down. Will need to check it out.


6-19-15 Put a wrench on the crank bolt. The engine moves only the smallest amount in either direction. John and I got the engine free using a wrench on the crank bolt and slowly working it back and forth.


6-20-15 Took the starter to have it tested today. It passed the test but it did howl as it wound down. I guess it has a dry/bad bearing in there. I will put it on the list for replacement. I took the plugs out and spun the engine dozens of times this morning. I spun it until my arms cramped. I rested and spun it again. It turns easy and never even hinted at sticking. No funny noises. Nothing fell out of the starter hole in the bell housing. I did not see any marks on the flywheel as it spun by the hole yesterday.


6-30-15 Removed DME relay and installed a jumper wire for testing. A check of the fuel pump shows it is working well. Pressure check looks good. 23 psi after two hours.

86 Turbo

Journal entries from July.

7-3-15 Checked injectors. Each injector is functioning.

Decided to try and start car again. Car starts for first time in 15 years. Lifters finally quiet down.

7-4-15 Pulled the plugs to inspect cylinders. Used a borescope to inspect cylinders. Cylinder two has a very bad looking score mark that is localized to one area of the cylinder.

Did compression test with the following results:
#1 – 142psi
#2 – 128psi
#3 – 147psi
#4 – 148psi
Something is up with #2. Perhaps I have a broken ring in #2.

7-10-15 Car leaking oil at cap on back of camshaft housing. Replaced gasket # 928 105 189 02 Cleaned block where oil ran down.

7-11-15 Worked on the inside of the car. Sealed the repairs made to replace mounting studs for the starter heat shields. Painted the repairs to match the rest of the floor pan after the sealant dried. Clean the floor pans in prep for putting the cleaned carpets back in the car.

7-12-15 Installed the carpets. Bought acoustic insulation from McMaster-Carr. It was the proper thickness for use under the front floor mats. It worked well and is much lighter than the stock insulation. Used duct insulation as a replacement for the rotten insulation behind the DME and rear foot wells. The duct insulation has adhesive on the back, a foil outer layer and is about 1/8 inch thick. Used three layers to get to the correct thickness. The spray adhesive does not adhere well to the foil. Carpet tape works better.

7-14-15 Mounted the transmission oil cooling coil to the bracket. It mounts with a clip (951 307 385 03 ) that is missing from my parts and is no longer available. I used two Adel clamps to hold the lines. It looks good and is secure.

7-24-15 Car leaking coolant at heater control valve. Replaced valve (92857457303) and both hoses that attach to it and the heater return hose (94457238501, 94457258701 and 94457258900)

7-27-15 Worked on bleeding air out of cooling system. Pressurized cooling system and bled air out through bleed valve. Drove car for first time up and down road. Only drove for about a mile total. .Car drives for the first time in 15 years.

7-31-15 Put hood back on. Washed and cleaned windows. Drove car home.

86 Turbo

Here is an image of the bad spot in cylinder 2 made with the bore scope. Seems ugly to me. Still deciding what to do about it.

carlege

how does it drive?

86 Turbo

It seems to run fine. I have driven it only a small amount. I just had the alignment and state inspection done Monday. It developed a whale of a power steering fluid leak on the way home. It left a trail all the way down the street into my garage. I will fix that before I drive it much.

I have another 86 turbo block if I choose to go that way. I can have this block reworked. I haven't decided. I will do something about it. I will drive it in the meantime.

carlege

if it drives fine i would worry about it until i had to

86 Turbo

I think that is where I am headed in my decision process. I'll just drive it and consider what to do while I live with the car.