Barry Lenoble

Hello,

I have a 1987 944 that I don't want, and I'm not sure what to do with it. I bought it for $500 in December of 2005. The timing belt had broken and the owner just wanted it gone. I repaired the engine with the idea of selling
the car. But once I started driving the car (in Feb of 06) I decided I liked it. The seats were shot so I took the seats from my turbo, that had been in my basement, and put them in the car. I installed a decent radio. I recovered the gear shifter and installed new motor mounts and tires.

I was very happy with the car, but it is old, has lots of miles (the odo doesn't work, but it must have at least 130K miles) and the body isn't great. The RR quarter panel has been hit and there is rot behind both doors. Even so, I didn't mind driving the car. It was fast enough (not fast but fast enough) handed well, ran on regular gas, and got 30 mpg on the highway. The steering rack is going, but it works OK.

Then, right before Thanksgiving, the timing belt tensioner gear exploded, causing the belt to loose tension, and resulting in 4 bent valves. I had planned on buying a 996 cabriolet in the spring, so I wasn't real motivated on fixing the 944, but I did it anyway. However, something went wrong and now the car has a headgasket problem. It runs, but there is coolant leaking into the combustion chamber, and exhaust gases getting into the coolant.

So, what should I do?
I can sell the car as is for $500.
I can fix it again and sell it for ??
I can part it out and make ??
I'm not real motivated to fix it.
I need the garage space

Comments welcome. The car is located on Long Island, NY

Barry

Stephencs601

Barry, part it out. What color is outside, interior and so on. I can come and take a look and see what can be done. I was with Cary at Jonathans, table behind racegirl

87 944 C

i'd be interested in a few parts if they're the right price(and color for a body piece).

what are the interior/exterior colors, wheel type?

M758

Sell to someone to build into a race car. Seems to me it just needs a new headgasket. Easily fixed. Worst case is a cracked head. Which on an 87 NA is no big deal. I have like 3 spare heads. Sadly I am also 3000 miles away so the cost to bring it here is just not with it.

Tom R.

Get the autocross chairman to fix it, and take pictures of him fixing it so he can be on more covers of the post.

Then sell it so he can say he did the work for nothing.

Barry Lenoble

Hey,

In case anyone cares, I fixed the car.

My nephew, who is currently serving in Iraq, wants the car. He should be home in around 70 days. So I decided to fix it for him.

When I pulled the head the problem was obvious - there was a big hole in the head gasket between two cylinders. The gasket also so signed of being burned.

I took the head to a machine shop and they said it looked like the head was warped. They measured it, and it was warped, and had been milled once. In short, it was junk.

Fortunately, they had a rebuilt head ready to go for $250. I bought it, put it on, and the car runs great.

So, another 944 will live to drive on. My brother will pick the car up this weekend and bring it home so it's there when my nephew gets home.

Barry

Tom R.

we want pictures on the cover of the post! Can you get the autocross chairman to hold the warped head next to his own warped head? dont want to ruin his streak of cover photos.