mazdaverx7

I was moving some cars around yesterday and getting a bunch of stuff cleaned up and decided to wash the 944 while I was at it. It desperately needed it. I then put about a mile on it once it was dry and parked it. I need to detail the interior and get back on making the car 100% mechanically.

mazdaverx7

I spent some time on the car's paint last night after work. The paint is really bad and half of it is original. The original paint came back nicely but the repspray is just literally falling apart. The plan is to drive the car this summer into fall and I wanted it at least a little more presentable than it was in its current state. The car will be painted but thats some time away.

I used a cutting compound called Epic thats made by Malco. Its decent for what it is and did bring some shine back to the paint. Far from perfect but honestly much better than it was.

mazdaverx7

mazdaverx7

I've been continuing to do little things to imrove the car to get it ready for use this year and decided to take the car for a short drive last night. It felt good to get it out and stretch its legs a little. Also found that my left front caliper is hanging up. I did pull the pads and cleaned and lubed the contact points on the pads and the corresponding contact points on the caliper, and cleaned and lubed the pins. I then compressed the caliper piston and it was tight on its way in. I may be in for a new caliper as it was still hanging up after I drove the car for the second time. Took a few pictures to share:

fwb42

Great job with ALL the lights!!! Have to love LEDs.

mazdaverx7

Thank you! The led headlights and bulbs in the instrument cluster are amazing additions. They really do help when the car is driven at night, even if the cluster is a shade brighter than I had expected. Still can't complain.

mazdaverx7

The next step is to replace the sunroof seals and fuel level sender. I pulled the car in the garage and removed the sunroof. The right rear drain was clogged and I was able to unclog it with a gentle amount of compressed air. I started cleaning the body where the body seal goes for the sunroof. Next step is the seal on the sunroof. I ordered the seals from only944.com as they had great reviews!

mazdaverx7

Yesterday after work I installed the new sunroof seal set. Both seals fell apart during removal. Its a wonder they were sealing anything at all. Also found I'm missing a screw for the sunroof headliner as well as the caps that cover the holes in the headliner. Also found one sunroof arm isn't working while the other is so I'm going to look into that as well. Finally, I installed a throttle response cam. I'd heard good things about them and I figured I'd give it a try. Still have to adjust the slack out of the throttle cable but otherwise, its torqued properly and mostly adjusted.

mazdaverx7

I put a couple miles on the car yesterday and it seems to be running well other than a low idle at cold start and high idle when at normal operating temperature. I also noticed that only at wide open throttle between 5k and 6k rpm when shifting, I'm getting what appears to be a burning oil condition as I can see smoke in the rearview mirror and smell burning oil. Anything under 5k rpm at full throttle and all is normal.

I checked the throttle body and j-boot for oil and found little to none. More condensation than anything. More so that I would have thought normal and saw water droplets in the line from the AOS. Maybe I'm seeing the onset of valve guide seal or ring wear. I may do a leak down test and see if it passes.

mazdaverx7

Just wanted to update. The car has been on the back burner, but I have a ton of parts to put on to make the car even better. The left front caliper is dragging and needs rebuilt or replaced. So add that to the list. Hoping to do the engine mounts in the next couple of weeks.

mazdaverx7

A couple recent pics of the car from this spring:

mazdaverx7

Not a ton has changed. Been dealing with medical stuff and haven't been working on the cars much. I was able to take the 944 out for a drive last night and the car ran great. Still need to do the front calipers, as they are dragging. I may end up doing the inner and outer tie rods this weekend and aligning the car next week. I do have new struts for the car as well, so those may go in too. Just depends on how I feel. My middle son was blown away by the car during our cruise. He commented on how smooth the car rode and how well it handled. Same way I felt the first time I drove the car 10 years ago when I bought it.

mazdaverx7

Had the car out Saturday afternoon and it drive nice. Waiting for my used set of front calipers to arrive and then I'll do pads and rotors all around. You can feel the drag when driving the car. I took them off last year and cleaned and greased the contact points on the pads and on the calipers, and I cleaned and greased the pins. I loosened the bleeder screw on each front caliper and each piston was very difficult to compress. So I decided I would order a pair of known good calipers and I'll rebuild my current pair and put them on the shelf.

All in all it was a shorter cruise but both of my boys loved it! The nice thing about the 944 is the small rear seat. My younger kids can ride back there and enjoy the car as well. While the car was sitting in front of the house, I took a couple pictures. It was dirty from sitting but the car is in the garage now and I plan on getting a few things done this week.