1983porsche944

Hi, I have been lurking here for about a month, but I thought I would introduce myself.

My name is Zach, and I bought an 83 Pasadena Yellow 944 about a month ago. (Craigslist deal) It supposedly only needed a fuel pump, and I bought it for what I thought was a fair price. After getting it running (fuel pump and DME relay) it has a brake leak. The interior and Exterior weren't in that great of condition, but hey, it's a Porsche for cheap.
After looking at options it has 220 LSD and 456 sport suspension. My plan was to fix the brake issue and a small oil leak issue (cam tower gaskets) and drive it while I would save up for interior and body/paintwork. That was until I saw the next 944 on craigslist 944 two weeks later.

It was an 84 (listed as an 87 so I was psyched about the newer interior, which it ended up not having) Black on Black that supposedly the body was in good shape along with the interior. It needed an engine, though. It has a inch round hole blown out in the top-front part of the cam tower. (What would cause this? I first thought timing belt, but the belt isn't broke and the engine turns with a breaker bar just fine.) It's interior which had the "script seats" was in a lot better condition than the brown cars. So was the exterior. Odometer said 80k miles unlike the 112k on the 83. The body is perfect compared to the 83. With some airbrush/touchup work it will look really nice.
Its option code tag was missing so I emailed Ian at 944Online and this car also has LSD (which I couldn't believe they both had. The LSD Transaxle that was in the yellow car will be for sale soon.) The black car also had aftermarket wheels on it. After much research, I couldn't find much information about them. From what little I did find, I believe they are rare 16" Epsilon 2 piece wheels with black mesh centers and a polished lip. Inside the car was boxes with engine parts. There was a whole engine's worth of engine parts inside the car minus block, including a completely redone head.

So I went from never owning a Porsche (been around a lot cause I have a buddy that is a Porsche guy that has had like eight of them) to owning two in two weeks. The plan is (I think) to either rebuild the engine in the black car with the good parts OR take the engine out of the yellow car and put it into the black car.

Any recommendations?

Also, I will be parting out the yellow car in the next weeks or so. I will be sure and post everything in the for sale section.

I will add some pictures of both cars later in the day so you know what I am dealing with.

(I also posted this on Pelican, but was wanting multiple opinions and didn't know if the people on here also read over there.)

chrisabal

post pics man

Mike951

I just parted out an '83 Pasadena Yellow 944 that got hit on the passengers side. The motor in it is strong, and I have all the body panels from the front of the car in great shape with excellent paint. You interested in putting a new motor in your Pasadena yellow car? I have alot of the parts you would need to put the thing back up.


-mike

luftpirate

Haha, yeah "just needs a fuel pump" generally opens up a black hole in your wallet as once you have the fuel pump you quickly find out what else is broken Good luck on your projects.

tifosiman

I would recommend putting down the mouse and stepping away from Craigslist.

1983porsche944

Here are some pics of the two cars. The black car MIGHT be running next weekend. (Crosses fingers)

luftpirate

Good luck. So you are making the black car the runner?

thirdgenbird

your 83 engine doesnt have provisions fot power steering. you could rob the hardware off the late motor, buy something makes me think the crank is different. you may want to swap the manual rack too.

drift a 944

looking nice!! I call dibs on the LSD transaxle when you get around to selling it! Send me a PM when you're ready and we'll talk numbers.

And from what I can tell of the pictures, those do indeed look like Epsilon 3-piece wheels. What's really neat is that if you ever do a widebody conversion, you can flip the wheel face around backwards so that the rear barrel of the wheel becomes the front lip... and the offset is changed to a negative to fit with the widebody... Epsilon wheels are reversible!

1983porsche944

The plan is to reassemble the black engine back together and see how it runs. The black car came with a newly redone head and an extra cam tower, so all I bought was a head gasket set and some random missing bollts, nuts, etc.

The yellow car actually runs right now. It has a small oil leak (cam tower seals), but it starts up in like a second. The main issue with the yellow car is there is either a brake line broke or the brakes need bleed. Waiting until the black car runs before we mess around with the yellow car.

What sucks is from what I am reading about prices, parting it out would be more cost effective than to sell it as a driver, since it has pretty deep scratches and a rust spot and the interior needs seats. I don't know what it would be worth drivable, but I have seen these prices for a few parts if I decide to part it out. Engine $500 LSD Trans $750 Manual Rack $250 Right there is $1500.

roman944

how do you guys know if the transmission has a 5th short? or do all 220 code cars have a short 5th?

just wondering

my car doesn't has this option (I don't think - never bothered checking yet)