elf89

Last Sunday, Sept 19, Damian (Lead Foot 944) and Brett (Cass944) came out to my house to help me install the IceShark Battery Cable Upgrade. By help, I mean they did all of the work and I mostly watched and learned a lot about my car. We also had some food, beverages and 944 comaradarie while the Packers got spanked by the Bears. Paul and Evan stopped by in Paul's 951 too.

Thanks a lot guys. Here are some pictures from the day. Anyone looking for Andre's writeup on the Battery Cable Install will find it here. He had sent it to me, but I hadn't found it so we installed it based on IceShark's included instructions.

As I said, I mostly watched while Damian and Brett did the hard work. Being a manager trains you for that sort of thing.



Here's me holding the old ground cable next to the new IceShark one made out of some impressively thick welding cable.



Here's the positive clamp. We spent a lot of time debating which was which, but the one with the fuse is the supplemental positive. The longer, thicker one goes to the starter.



Brett brought his pocket rocket (in the back seat of his 944!) So he and Damian terrorized the neighborhood. My kids were fascinated, although Jake (7) recommended they use a helmet. Here's Damian returning from a run.



Before Paul and Evan left we got a picture of the whole crew, Damian's car and the pocket rocket. That's Paul, Evan, Brett (Cass944), Eric (yours truly, elf89) and Damian (Lead Foot 944).



Did I mention Damian's beautiful car? It's a 1984, in great shape with a ton of updates. I'm a big fan of the classic 80s 944 look, but his car was a sight to behold. He did apologize for the dirty engine compartment though (sheesh!)



And at the end of the day, a debriefing session and plans for future 944 get togethers.



Many thanks to Brett and Damian for taking care of this for me. Thanks to my wife Amy for thinking this is cool and making a great lunch for us. And to my kids for enjoying the 944 company, and not getting in the way.

Let's do it again soon! Eric

Lead Foot 944

Great Pics, Great job, Wow your son sure does seem to maybe have a little photo talent in him....HAd a great time, and again im sorry about the dirty engine compartment...See ya soon....

DAmian

Cass944

mmmmmm white castle.... I love the chicken breast sandwiches... i have them add pepper jack cheese and bacon to mine though... secret recipie of mine i guess.



oh yeah nice pics. eric your neighborhood is perfect for pocketrocketing.

Cass944

uh oh damian.... the secret air intake project has been exposed

hacker-pschorr

Brett, so the bike did fit in the 944?

Damn, looks like fun - I would have passed out on the drive home though, long weekend that started Wednesday.

This weekend I'm heading to La Crosse for Oktoberfest with the Twin Cities Shark group. Lets get something else planned for some Saturday in October before it snows.

IceShark

That little bike looks pretty neat and I suspect Elf's kids are going to want one. There goes another grand down the tubes.

You guys missed all the discussion in the early stages of the cable design regarding the starter cable and fusing. The problem is if you have thick oil, tight compression and a cold day, like you can get in Wisconsin or the mountains, the starter can draw well over 400 amps turning over. I was told it could suck 600 under adverse conditions. How the heck do you fuse it? You could put in a monster 600 amp fuse to cover the current draw in demanding situations. But if your battery isn't brand new and up to snuff it may not be able to dump 600 amps. So you could hard short the cable, the tired battery dumps in 4 or 500 amps which will be plenty to arc weld anything in sight but not enough to blow a big fuse.

Fusing the main starter cable idea went into the dust bin and was replaced with having good heavy wall EPDM insulation covered by the fiberglass sleeve. Considering the abuse those EPDM jacketed welding cables go through on a shop floor being run over by steel wheel trolleys and whatnot I think we have a pretty good real world track record on how good the jacket will hold up. Plus, there is the fiberglass sleeve which takes a direct flame torch quite a few minutes to burn off to ash.

buckshot

sorry i missed the fun, it was good meeting all of you at the wings and wheels show, and yes,
damian's 84 is a work of art, especially when you hear the story of how it was when he got it...
and i was also really jealous of those green bay area supercharged 928's (thats you hacker!) wow...
hope to see all of you again soon. if any of you are passing thru stevens point area let me know!
buckshot

buckshot

oops, one additonal question...how long did the install take??
buckshot

Lead Foot 944

Took us about 5 hours total, 2 hours work time and 3 ours of play inbetween and discussion....

DAmian

MichelleJD

Did he break out the rag and cleaner every 5 minutes? J/K. Glad you guys were able to get together. IceShark's kit is DEFINITELY in my future

elf89

You and the other Illinois folks will have to come up next time Michelle. Or we'll split the difference and have the next get together in Kenosha or something. (Not on Packer-Bear Sunday if it's an IL/WI gathering though!)

theedge

Damian needs a turbocharger in that engine bay, give him something else to be addicted to besides the smell of wax and various cleaning/detailing chemicals

Cass944

its already in planning brian. we plan on removing that pretty engine this winter and somehow fitting a turbo in there. Damian just bought a big garage to do lots of work in.

MichelleJD

I think I know where he can get a 951 engine and tranny.

Lead Foot 944

Please do tell me where I can a decent motor and tranny.....

DAmian