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Sorry, I posted this in the wrong section earlier.I have had several PM's about the 944 Im selling. How do I tell if the manual steering is factory or converted? There is nothing under the hood to indicate it had PS that I can see. I know the steering wheel looks different but is a Porsche model and the steering is very tight with no slack but yet still easy to turn. I would really rather sell whole car. It seems wasteful not to save it even though there have been several wanting parts from it. Also, it is a ROW build car according to VIN, which also explains the non-English warning lights , etc. According to options, it is a factory manual steer, correct?
That car looks like it’s a frankencar made from the parts from a number of cars and I’m not convinced that is even the correct vin. Without doubt that is not a ROW body, the rear fender side markers are a giveaway. It also has a US speedometer, US front lower valance and US federalized rear bumper although someone has fitted a ROW front bumper. It also has the mount for the ps reservoir although something else is fitted there, I doubt that it came with a manual rack, highly unlikely as they all came standard with ps in 1985. Are you sure it is an actual manual rack and not a converted power rack? The car also has some other added on parts, the steering wheel is a CS copy and the strut top mounts are aftermarket kla units.
A factory manual rack will not have any lines coming in or going out of it. It will just be a solid tube with the tie rods coming out the ends of it. A de-powered rack will retain the hard metal fluid lines along it. See the difference here (power rack on top, manual on bottom). Notice the main portion on the power rack is also thicker and the steering gear box part is bulkier on the power rack than the manual rack.
To echo what others have said, I'm not sold on the fact that is a real ROW car. The ROW cars didn't have the side markers on the rear quarters, and the cars that have been federalized have had different side markers used - ie, the nice recessed portion of the quarter wasn't there so they were drilled and bolted. Also that's not a real Porsche wheel, its more than likely the AJ USA copy (which is still very nice, I have one in my car - but be cautious about calling it the real deal as those do fetch a premium).
Take a picture of the rack in the car and post it. My bet is that based on the rest of the car, its just a factory powered rack that's been de-powered. I installed a manual rack in my car from an '83 but its a big job and most don't go all in like I have.
Thank you for the help. I will post a pic of the rack. FWIW, the options listed on the sticker do match what the car actually has. Registration was current and it had a BraeBurn Country Club sticker and toll road EZtag on the windshield so it was obviously driven in the Houston area before water damage.
Same VIN on title and registration with the State of Texas....
Where was that option code decal located? It’s normally under the carpet on the rear light schuttle affixed to a curved portion of metal on smooth paint. That doesn’t look factory and may have been taken from another car. It also doesnt have option code 656 which it would have if it was a later model optioned with manual steering.
Like I said this looks like a frankencar, maybe a po had a scrapped ROW car with title, took some parts, vin and title and put them on a US body without a title. Do all the other vins around the car match the one on the decal?
looks like the sticker is surrounded by FrostKing sticky-back foil-faced grey foam insulation (HVAC stuff).
like a super-light, supercheap version of dynamat.
(my doors and trunk are lined with the stuff too).
This should help you visualize the body differences between a Eurp/ROW car (middle) and a US version (top). I’ve also included a picture of an options decal to show how it was applied.
Yeah, it looks like that option sticker was peeled off another car and stuck there (notice the corner that won't lay flat...just like all labels that are removed and stuck somewhere else).
What is the VIN on the firewall and drivers side front door pillar?
appears to have maybe a ROW tachometer (mpg gauge in l/100km)
but a MPH speedo...maybe UK spec instruments?
iirc UK spec cars didn’t have a mpg gauge and if they did put one back in 1985 it would have read in gallons/mile as the UK wasn’t fully metricized at that time. There is no reason I can think of where you would have a speedo in miles and a mpg gauge in km, doesn’t make any sense. I think the instrument panel is a US spec with a tacho from a Euro car. I’ll also bet that if you check all the “hidden” vins on the body, trans, suspension, etc, they will not match the ROW vin represented on this cars title.
This should help. Found same VIN in other locations and verified steering box is manual. Also took better photo of cluster. I don't think someone would go to the trouble of doing 3 wrong VINS on a lower dollar Porsche for some reason. Steering box is very small like in the photos you posted.
It really doesn't look that much like either steering box so I don't know. Maybe someone converted it and added the manual tube/tierod to the passenger side? I suspect this may be a conversion kit because none of the parts look anything like the replacement parts pics? Can someone post what their 1985 rack looks like?
Ok, what you have there are the chassis numbers not the vins. The chassis number is assigned at the factory and stamped on the firewall and build plate, the vin is assigned later and is on the windscreen A-pillar and log book. It is not unusual to have a zzz row chassis number and a different US vin and it’s also not unusual for the state of registration to put the wrong number (chassis# instead of actual vin) on the title.
01-08-2018, 11:28 PM
1985.5 944 With Manual Steering?
