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Hey all. Some of you may know/remember me from the 944 forums. The 944 is still going strong and is my DD.
I've had a long sordid relationship with Land Rovers and decided to try something else that could get me to the cabin and the range (a few small streams and a bit of minorly challenging terrain....worse than fire roads, but by no means rock crawling). Seemed that a 955 would do it.
I've been lurking this subform and looking for a few months. I really wanted the advanced offroad package but doubt I actually need it. It was very difficult to find anything with it (as most people don't even know they have it.....I was searching through pics to find console switches and/or running VIN decoders on all the ads). I found a clean one owner (with stacks of service records) '04 turbo with 86k on it for a price that made me decide traveling around the country to find the unicorn I wanted in good shape no longer made sense, and a clean well maintained turbo was the way to go.
It's a blast to drive and the only real issue I have right now is the rear hatch (of course) so I'll be digging into that this weekend. Coolant pipes and Ts have not been done, and was reflected in the price (doing that job myself by no means bothers me - especially after this many years of 944 and Land Rover ownership). Also, the PCM is unacceptably dated, so it's getting the 9" android radio mentioned in the forum (ordered yesterday - thanks morrisdl and others in the thread).
No good pics (too busy burning fuel), but here's a crappy one:
I still have my 951 with the Vitesse MAF, big turbo, exhaust/wastegate, coilovers m030 sways, etc. I dont think I could ever sell it even if its getting a bit long in the tooth cosmetically..driving it is a riot. Now I'm eyeballing 996's too.. it never ends.
The '86 951 was my first Porsche many years ago. I turned it into a street legal track monster and drove it for years, loved that car. That lead to a 928GT, a Cayenne S and fast forward a decade or so to the current '08 CTT. I never really cared what the air cooled faithful thought, never owned one. Congratulations on the new family member! Enjoy the whoooosh!
congrats on the Cayenne! I am in a similar position. I still own 2002 Land Rover Discovery 2 with 173,000 K. I do all my own mechanical work. I've put my hands on nearly every part of the truck except the head gaskets, I sent that to a mechanic.
My wife wants a Cayenne, but being a school teacher working on my doctorate, I am not prepared to spend more than about $25,000. That makes me very nervous because I feel like my Cayenne will be out of warranty. I don't mind getting one that needs me to repair or replace odds and ends- but engine failure or the thing just suffering some catastrophic failure is my fear.
So, I am trying to learn all I can to try and figure out the safest bet for my budget and ability.
I've got a 98 D1 and an 02 D2. The '98 is my off road toy and currently has a broken valve spring causing a misfire. Don't have space to putt it into the shop because the D2 (wife's) shredded it's torque converter so I've got a transmission sitting on the ground next to it ready to go back in. I did the D1 head gaskets when I got it, the D2 developed a crack behind the liner and I ended up putting a salvage motor in it. I'm kinda over both of them. Once reassembled they are going to be sold.
Wish you the best on your search, but obviously I don't have much experience with long term maintenance on these things yet. Fingers crossed.
Important! When laying out the roll bar / fence think of where you want to secure items in the tailgate. We located the winch so it would pin the elect fridge against the side.
Also make the roll bar so that it can be incorporated into a full cage. As we also rally this is a future consideration.
Glad you like the build - it has been fun.
Important! When laying out the roll bar / fence think of where you want to secure items in the tailgate. We located the winch so it would pin the elect fridge against the side.
Also make the roll bar so that it can be incorporated into a full cage. As we also rally this is a future consideration.
Glad you like the build - it has been fun.
Very good point, and I'm not quite there yet. I just spent the morning changing fluids (there's a lot of damn oil left in that upper sump! I made a mess) and I'm about to start moving the stuff in the back of the rover to the pig and figure out how to lash it down temporarily. I don't have a fridge, but really want one and was thinking the cage/fence would be a great spot to anchor it.
Also, seems like I need to start another drawer of miscellaneous tools labeled "955" (below the "944" drawer). I couldn't change the front diff fluid because I didn't have an 8mm to cut down to get at the fill plug (really Porsche? You really thought locating it there was a good idea?). I'm also buying the filter wrench because using a strap wrench caused the pig to draw first blood. But I suppose that makes it properly mine now......
Thanks Daryl,
Wife bought the D2 new in NorCal and is the original owner and still her daily driver. About 2 years ago things started going wrong, so I basically replaced the radiator, hoses, 180 t-stat, front prop-shaft, option b, coil packs, wires, catalytic converters, rotors, pads, and a few minor things. Plus the head gaskets. 2 years and about $3500 later, no issues and she's running well. No fluid leaks or oil burning.
All of the above I could expect to do myself on the Cayenne, not that I would want to. :-) If these are the type issues Porsche's have, I think I can own one. I am not really equipped to do major engine overhauls.
Best of luck on yours, please keep us informed as I will likely be following this thread. I am also at jamieperu at gmail dot com Thanks!
02-24-2017, 11:05 AM
Yet another intro
