JayVee

I've spent some time cleaning up the engine bay, and I came across a few ideas that I thought I'd mention. I started by replacing the brown, tattered hood insulation pads, which looked like something from a horror movie. (Even though I don't race this car I used the hood pad racing decals because...I guess because I'm a poser.) I replaced the fuel lines with the blue Rennbay lines and added plastic wire insulation over the lines. I also used this wire insulation on other places where the wires were looking tired. The manifold was also pretty grungy so I used a stainless steel wire brush to spruce that up, and I used scotchbrite pads on the other aluminum parts like the distributor. I picked up cans of paint/clear that match the body color, and I painted the washers on top of the shock towers and also the oil cap and dipstick handle. I couldn't think of a way to clean the coolant tank so I installed a new one. The fuel rail cover was worn down from old stainless fuel lines so I installed a new fuel rail cover as well:


I polished the cam tower lettering without having to remove the tower. I used a sanding block with progressively finer grits and finished it with a dremel tool polishing pad and fine grit polish, and then the letters were highlighted with hi-temp black paint in the recesses:


These were all cheap things to do, and maybe there's an idea here that some of you might find useful. I also went over the entire engine bay with cleaning brushes, Windex, ArmorAll, etc. Here's a closing shot from a trip to Boston yesterday. I just installed 1/4" spacers on the front wheels to get these Boxster rims to the correct offset:

82-T/A

That looks awesome! I even like the antennae on the top of your car. Quick question, did you need to drill through the roof and does it interfere with the trunk lid when you open it?

JayVee

It was on the car when I bought it, but it does look like a hole had to be drilled for the wiring. It doesn't interfere with the hatch lid at all.

Tom M'Guinn

Looks great! You can add functionality to those fuel line covers by getting thermal sleeves from Summit or other race shops -- like these. The look is similar and they keep the heat off the hoses.

bigdeano

I never really realized what a difference a non-yellowed coolant tank makes... looking good guys!

philcav7

Looks good!

I would like to caution that the wire-loom on the fuel lines does not insulate, and be careful that it doesn't melt and drip molten plastic on your headers.

m73m95

As you already know, I love your car. My car has a crush on yours, I think, lol.

Where did you get those hood pads? They look alot nicer than the 23 year old stock pads.

JayVee

Here's the link:
http://928leathershop.com/Hood_Liner_Heat_Shields.html

Fuel lines running over the exhaust manifold is one of those design quirks that make you scratch your head. Right up there with the coverless flywheel inspection hole.

m73m95

Thank you Thank you

jtsporsche

my fuel lines dont go anywhere near the exhaust, they go over the intake. why?? its an '87 924S

Dmitry S.

Early 944 and 924S have the fuel lines coming in from the opposite side. Not sure why they changed them for the later cars.

white924s

My guess is the move was made because of the 944 turbo - on a turbo, those lines would be coming up right near the crossover pipe, turbo, and downpipe - ie the hottest part of the exhaust system. That's not really where you want rubber fuel lines running as the higher heat due to their proximity could accelerate the wear on the rubber. I suppose that if Porsche had gone with stainless braided lines, it wouldn't really be an issue, but stainless braided lines are $$$

JayVee

Added some reflective heat insulation to the fuel lines. This insulation wraps around and attaches to itself with velcro:

philcav7

And we all know how cheap Porsche's are. They have to do something to keep their prices down. If they got carried away with expensive components, there cars would end up costing 5 times what a typical vehicle cost.

Opeth

Looks sharp! Did you paint the cam cover before you polished the letters?