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I’ve been lurking on this forum , and others for quite a while. I’ve wanted a 924S or 944 for a long time I’ve learned a ton about these great cars. I’ve gone and looked at multiple cars from parts cars to a 944 Turbo that sold on Bat for $27K that was close to my house. Very tempting. I’ve been working on 80s BMWs for years. I just finished my first auto to manual swap on a 1977 530i. My idea for a while has been to find a decent shape 944 with a damaged automatic rubber damper , or just an automatic car that no one else wants and swap it for a manual. I found a few and came real close to getting exactly that. It never happened mostly because I was too cheap to pay the asking price for a non running automatic that needed lots of work.
Couple days ago a project 944 pops up on CL that looks rough, real rough and I almost pass by. I did email and by 10 the next morning I’d bought the car and a shed full of parts.
Originally a California car is an 84 Zobelbraun metallic NA that was bought then stripped down to bare metal in 94, repainted and then stored till today with the interior removed and a lot of the car dismantled. Some of that time was outside under tarps. The owner purchased a New brown dash from Porsche and had the front seats recovered in new leather from Gahh. He also purchased thousands of $ worth of new parts . I’ve got a binder 1/2in thick with the latest purchase being new turn signals in 2013. He gave me old photos of the car being worked on and the car all stripped to bare metal with zero repair metal work needed. Also bins and boxes full of all the new parts. The engine ran fine in 94 but has sat since then, I’m sure it will need lots of love. The 68 year old decided he wasn’t going to ever finish the car and posted it for sale . I was the first person to email. He was asking $2500 Cad ($2000 USD.) Which I paid happily. I rented a van to transport all the parts to my house where I have zero room for more parts, its already crammed to the rafters with BMW parts. I’m going to have to break down and get rid of some to make room. The car arrived by flatbed a few days ago. Right now I’m going through all the parts and cleaning the car up. Lots of gross wet moldy sound deadening etc. Three mouse nests and lots of mud wasps nests all around the car. The tank is leaking stinking old gas.
The option codes for the car are:
C03 California type car
404 Stabilizer. Bars front and rear
454 Automatic speed control
650 sunroof
946 Leather/ Leatherette seats
So nothing real exciting. Glad to have the stabilizer bars, not sure how many didn’t come with those? Also C03, is this more emissions equipment, or an ECU setting? The car does have AC as well though not listed on the options. Of course I would have loved to have no sunroof and an LSD it is what it is. Just happy to finally have a 944.
And some of the larger parts:
The NOS dash, as mentioned in a previous post here. "the holy grail". LOL. It was filthy and had a blob of some kind of glue on it but I managed to pick it off carefully with only a little mark left.
Some of the new parts in bags and the old parts and fasteners all bagged and tagged by the PO
The interior is pretty nasty, no rust so far.
Ok so thats it for now. I'll be posting more info about the parts and what I find on the car as I clean it up. I did find a bit of bubbling and paint thats not looking so good on the car so its suffered over the last 27 years of being sat outside under tarps in rainy Vancouver. It will need some work there at some point. The parts were stored under a crawl space in an old house so they seem to be pretty good other than everything is covered in dust and bug crap. Seems to be cleaning up nicely. This seems to be an easy forum to use, not having to host pics on a hosting site,I like it.
Last edited by maybeillbuyit; 12-18-2021 at 01:46 PM.
Thx very much pfarah7. Looks like you bought your dash right around the same time I bought this project. Thx for posting all this pics and process with the dash R&R.
Oh man! I'm excited for you yet simultaneously sympathetic. That is a whole lot of assembly and while none of it is really difficult... not having removed it, at least once, makes it a great deal more challenging. I really hope the paint can be saved so you won't have to go too far backward. It may be beneficial to find another early 944 local to you to be used as a model for reassembly.
Gage, You know thats really the only thing Im kind of worried about is how the hell does it all go back together, LOL. I would consider a 944 parts car if I could find an early car for a reasonable price, I don't really see too many out there around here though. Not too worried about the mechanical stuff, lots of info and videos out there. Hopefully there will be guys here that don't mind answering some questions. As for the paint the more I look the more I find bubbling all over. Its either been damaged by having a tarp and moisture on it for years or the original paint job wasn't done well. Some of it looks like orange peel. I do have a connection to getting paint work done for very reasonable prices so I'll be putting it all back together, getting it running and worrying about the paint later. Its a 5-10 footer
I also bought these a few weeks before I found the 944, I figured if I bought them I would have to buy a car to go with them. 15 x 7&8.
Last edited by maybeillbuyit; 02-07-2021 at 11:26 PM.
Nice, always nice to have Fuchs. I expect the worst part of reassembly will be the doors. They are stripped... every clip, speed nut, window guides, wiper seals and drives, elec. and mirror harness, latch and lock mechanism, trim, weatherstrip etc.. Maybe pick up a complete door for a model. The body shell at least still has the harness installed so the dash, hvac and console assembly will be the bulk of that work.
The concern for the paint is due to the "bare metal" prep. The p.o. was clearly trying to do it right but with these cars being galvanized, a bare metal prep is usually not the best approach.
If it comes down to needing an example you can contact me. My 924S will be almost the same as your early 944. A picture is worth a thousand words but an example is sometimes priceless
Nice, always nice to have Fuchs. I expect the worst part of reassembly will be the doors. They are stripped... every clip, speed nut, window guides, wiper seals and drives, elec. and mirror harness, latch and lock mechanism, trim, weatherstrip etc.. Maybe pick up a complete door for a model. The body shell at least still has the harness installed so the dash, hvac and console assembly will be the bulk of that work.
The concern for the paint is due to the "bare metal" prep. The p.o. was clearly trying to do it right but with these cars being galvanized, a bare metal prep is usually not the best approach.
I hadn't even thought about the doors but your right, lots of parts in there. I can already feel the cuts and slices from trying to cram my hands inside. LOL
As for the galvanized metal, I'll have to look into the best fix when I get to it. Cheers
If it comes down to needing an example you can contact me. My 924S will be almost the same as your early 944. A picture is worth a thousand words but an example is sometimes priceless
Hey thx so much, I'm sure issues will come up I appreciate the offer. I'd actually like to see the Crystal Green anyways. One of my favourite Porsche colours
This afternoon I pulled the sender, it was so gunked up with crap I could barely get it out. The tank is more than half full, I'm going to need a few containers to hold it all. Hopefully the tank is saveable
Once the tank is dropped, it can be repaired, since it is a metal tank. The seams are soldered. Good used tanks are available. Take lots of photos before disassembling it further. Bag and label every part you take off. You'll need all this later. Time for a new sender. Where are you located? If you are in the Montreal area, there are several R- listers up there, that contribute regularly. BTDT. Keep posting. Glad to have you onboard..
Looks like this will be epic! If I could make one recommendation - since it is already pretty much stripped, it would be better to do paint now and then reassemble. Using PET and having a set of factory workshop manuals will be invaluable in putting things back together.
Once the tank is dropped, it can be repaired, since it is a metal tank. The seams are soldered. Good used tanks are available. Take lots of photos before disassembling it further. Bag and label every part you take off. You'll need all this later. Time for a new sender. Where are you located? If you are in the Montreal area, there are several R- listers up there, that contribute regularly. BTDT. Keep posting. Glad to have you onboard..
Im on the look out for a local used tank. I'v did this once before with 77 BMW 530i and I feel like its just easier to grab decent used tank , clean and install, than trying to mess with....a mess. Im in Vancouver, there seems to be a few 944s around here, including Maint who is local to me .
Looks like this will be epic! If I could make one recommendation - since it is already pretty much stripped, it would be better to do paint now and then reassemble. Using PET and having a set of factory workshop manuals will be invaluable in putting things back together.
I have considered and discussed having the car painted with several of my car buddies. we decided that since this car does need a lot of work fitting and refitting stuff with my clumsy ham fists. Lots of unknowns for me to attempt. Like installing the whole interior which wont matter wether its in or not for the repaint. I'm thinking it would be awfull easy to damage the new paint with everything that need I think i'm going to get it all back together and running then paint. Thats what I'm thinking right now, it may change. Ill be pulling the engine etc first. I would like to get a set of paper workshop manual but I'm too cheap at this point. I'll use the digital version for now . Thx for the suggestion, keep them coming, I'll need lots of advise soon. Cheers
Last edited by maybeillbuyit; 02-08-2021 at 05:00 PM.
02-07-2021, 02:01 PM
1984 944 Zobelbraun Project
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