pryce27

Hi all,

Couldn't resist the urge and picked up a 1986 944 Turbo in Guards Red, a car I've been lusting after for quite a while. Found it on craigslist in Nebraska, flew out and drove it back home to LA (with my dad, great road trip!) two weeks ago. Put 2000 miles on in 3 days, great car for cruising and really eats up the miles.

Purchased with ~84k miles and multiple owners, along with a questionable Carfax showing no accidents but only about 2k miles put on in total over the last 7 years (but odometer working fine at time of sale). Seller was an honest-seeming guy who had done his own wrenching and overall took good care of the mechanicals. Rear end was sitting low, some small dings and marks, but overall pretty good condition for a 30 year old car. PPI checked out fine other than worn rear shocks.

About halfway home, in the middle of Utah (beautiful state to drive through btw), I hit a pretty stiff bump while cornering and the odometer quit working. I'm not totally sure it was at this moment, since I didn't notice until some hours later, but I suspect it. Otherwise the car ran fine.

It's become my daily driver and is running well, but driving it every day the last few weeks has brought up the following questions... looking to the forum for help!

1. Re: the odometer, I know that little gear tends to break. Does that often happen with hitting a bump? Or it just happens? I never hit the reset button. Seems fishy that maybe it had gone bad previously, given the few indicated miles put on in the last few years.

2. Various squeaks and rattles from the rear compartment. Can't pin down exactly what they are coming from. The housing for the rear wiper seems pretty snug. I suspect the hatch pin seats, so I ordered those, will see. Any other suggestions on places to look or tighten to make for a more quiet ride?

3. Ride now quite stiff after replacing rear shocks. I went with Bilsteins, and it handles nicely, but damn it's stiff over every little bump in the road. As a daily driver I'd take a little smoother ride over insane cornering ability. Any suggestions?

4. Cup holder seems to be quite a quandary... as a daily it's nice to have one, at least. Pelican is out of stock on theirs, and the wedgie is pretty ugly... going to order the only944 one which secures under the armrest, but very open to suggestions if there is something better?

5. Took it to a trusted detail guy to have a look at the exterior... he will try to paint match some of the little scrapes. He seemed to think that I am missing all or part of the cowl cover that goes between the hood and the windshield (there is a gap there but I never noticed it)- I attached a couple pictures, can anyone verify if I'm missing any pieces here? I don't have a battery cover, should there be one?

6. Some of the rubber is pretty worn, going to replace the worst of it (door handle seals). Considering replacing the whole door seals but they aren't cheap on pelican, anyone found a better source?

7. Dashboard has the typical cracks on the top. I don't like the fabric cover, so took it off. Justdashes quoted me $1800 for the repair job, which about made me spit out my coffee. I know this comes up from time to time, but anyone found a better solution that doesn't break the bank?

8. I'd love a bit more power. The car is completely stock, and I don't want to ruin it, or over-stress the drivetrain for the sake of a few horsepower, but I've read the turbos are fairly under-boosted and there is a lot of room for improvement. Anyone have any suggestions for chip/tune/upgrade to get another 20-30 hp that won't require a major overhaul?

9. Sunroof motor works, and I can see the little metal brackets raise and lower, but they don't seem to engage what they are supposed to inside the sunroof lid. So it is kind of just set in there and not really secured at the rear of the lid, and only raises about an inch. Anyone had this problem? What is the fix?

Attached some pics of the new ride. Thanks to everyone for any help or advice!!



Anything missing here?


Paint scrapes on door edges and worn door seals


Anything missing here?

fwb42

Car looks nice. Your sun roof gears might be bad, easy fix to replace them. If not the sunroof motor may need the limit switches adjusted. Od gear is a bit of pain but just requires some time.Make sure you get the correct tooth count. The piece by the windshield looks ok to me but I don't have a car to check to see anymore. Clark's Garage is a suite that will be your friend in the future. Also look up Lindsy Racing for "A-tune". That should give you a couple of extra horses. Enjoy your new toy and stock up your tool cabinet.

slownrusty

Congrats! The car looks great and you'll love ownership.

The sunroof gears sound stripped or partially stripped, this is a common problem but the repair is $20 and a blob of grease. The worse part of the job is partially dropping the headliner, so be careful once you start removing it.

I recommend an exhaust upgrade first, if you can swing that in LA with all the rules and regs you guys have to adhere to, if you can it will liberate a few ponies and help that 2.5L breathe.

Tom M'Guinn

Great looking car and welcome aboard! Re your questions:

1. Probably a broken gear. I doubt anyone knows exactly how/when theirs broke, but they generally all do eventually.
2. Look to see if the glass is separating from the rear frame. Search here for more info. Lots of things might be making noise, but this is a common thing on these cars and worth checking regardless.
3. I guess it's all subjective, but the stock 951 isn't normally that stiff. You might check to see if the suspension is all stock?
4. No perfect cup holder options. Here's one I did a while back, but took it out because it got in the way of the gear shifter in spirted driving.
https://rennlist.com/forums/944-turb...k-counter.html
5. That cowl piece is one large piece of flimsy plastic, and you have it. Can't tell from the picture if part of it might be missing or something, but the bulk of it is there. You are missing the factory battery cover, but so are the vast majority of cars these days. Here's what that cowl cover looks like in full.
https://944online.com/index.php/cowl-cover.html
6. Pelican on balance is pretty good, and ships fast, especially if you're in CA. Sunset Porsche in Oregon gives discounts on factory parts, but factory parts tend to cost more to start with, and they ship slowly.
7. Best option is probably a good used dash. Look up LART here (in your area). He'll have one or be able to get you one soon enough.
8. The risk is not so much blowing up your motor, but rather getting carried away and eventually building a 500hp monster that makes zero rational/economic sense. In the meantime, 20-30 extra horsepower is well within the comfort range with a set of replacement chips for the DME. There are a ton of options out there, but would suggest you look at Vitesse Racing.
9. Probably the gears as others said, but you'll need to dig in a little to see.

If you don't have records on the timing belt, do yourself a favor and change it. If it breaks, you'll bend valves, etc. Also, check the fuel lines (including the curved jumper line) going to the fuel rail. If they are original 30-year old versions, change those too without delay. They have a nasty habit of leaking onto hot headers with predictable results...

OC968

Congrats on the 951!
Great car to do a fly and drive.

944Fest (aka Dan P)

Nice! Check those motor mounts. They make a world of difference in the creak and rattle department, even in the back end! It is all one big long SOLID drivetrain!

pryce27

Thanks guys! Great advice here. I am loving the car. Last car was a 996, which I still have and really like, but something about the 944 I like even more. I do miss some of that low-end grunt from the 996 though!

@944fest: Will check the motor mounts! I had not even thought about that.

@Tom M'Guinn: Thanks for the answers! Will check the rear glass, good idea. It seems OK at first glance. Yea the ride wasn't stiff until I put in the rear Bilsteins! Probably should have gone with the stock replacements? Your cup holder looks great but can see the problem with shifting. I'll look up LART for the dash and take a look at Vitesse racing for chips. Timing belt was changed 2016, only a few thousand miles ago. I'll see about the fuel lines.

@OC968: Thanks!

@slowandrusty: I hope it is a simple fix! Will see next month when I have the time. New exhaust is a great idea but I was already pretty nervous about the smog test... thanks to advice on the forum I drove around for 20 minutes at fairly high rpm (makes the car much more fun to drive btw) and then passed with no problem!

@fwb42: Thanks for the answers! Will check out Clark's garage and Lindsey racing.

mj951

Were belts re-tensioned?
Not that that's what you're hearing but standard maintenance on the 944 is to re-tension belts after 1500 miles.
Looks like a solid car, nice find!

On my Audi daily driver I installed two water bottle holders at the rear seat hump. I can reach the one behind the passenger seat while driving without issue. Plenty of room in the rear but there's a simple slide mount so easily removable if ever the need. I keep my water bottle with me in the porsche but that's about it. I'm sure you could also mount one on the front passenger hump if you wanted it closer.

Jon951

I've tried almost every cup holder out there. My final solution is a thermos with a button that I can operate with one hand. I keep it behind the passenger seat where I can reach it.

Red1

Mine made a lot of noise. Replacing the rear hatch seal helped a lot, but that wasn't enough. Replacing the hatch pins solved the problem entirely. I used these: http://rennbay.com/944-hatch-pins-stainless.html

Good luck with the new car!