Scott at Team Harco

I have been a proud owner of an 85.5 944 for over ten years now.

Living in the rust belt, it was only a matter of time before that would catch up to me and render the car unusable. Fortunately, I found a 951 shell for $100 from a guy in Connecticut. Dr. Goodwench (GF) and I retrieved it over the Christmas break 2008.

The plan had always been to transfer all of the mechanical bits from Herbie to the new shell. The result would naturally be: "Young Herbie". The idea was to do this over the winter - possibly this winter.

Now things have changed. Two months ago my beloved Herbie was rear-ended by a distracted driver. Last night was the first chance I have had to start the transfer. Here's a brief outline of the plan....

1) Get damaged car home. Done. Crash occurred at a point where I was preparing to turn onto my street. I had to use my van to pull the rear fenders off the rear tires so they would rotate. Then I drove it the 0.25 miles to my house.
The force of the impact actually dislodged the radiator. In the time it took to get the car home, the alternator belt and P/S pump belt started to shred themselves in the rad fan housing. Also the P/S pump pulley rubbed a hole in the lower radiator hose. Great fun.

2) Work out possible use of a hoist with a friend, and fellow 944 owner. Done. SCA037 (Brian) had his 944 on his hoist for two years(?) while getting a bunch of stuff replaced under routine maintenance. Timing belt, waterpump, P/S pump rebuild, oil cooler seals replaced, new sway bars, etc.
I offered to help get his car back on the ground and free up his hoist. We wrapped that up a couple of weeks ago. He just discovered an injector issue so I dropped all four of my injectors at his place for temporary use. I won't be needing them for a while.

3) Get Herbie stripped of everything other than what is needed to drive it on and off the trailer (started last night).

4) Transport car to the hoist and remove everything else. Drivetrain, fuel system, exhaust system, etc. must all come out.

5) Cut what is left of the shell into bite-size pieces to dispose of.

6) Rebuild, repair, refurbish, clean, paint, restore, beg, borrow, steal, whatever it takes to get good parts ready to go back in the car.

7) Bring new shell to mate with everything removed in step 4.

8) Transport car back to my place to put back everything that should go back on the car; removed in step 3.

9) Drive and enjoy.

So - I plan to document this endeavor in words and photos until it is done. Knowing full well, it more than likely never be - fully - done.

I have thoughts on removing weight, replacing with lightweight alternatives, etc. The car will still need to be road legal and some creature comforts will have to remain (heater, stereo, some sound insulation, etc) but it will also be targeted for continued use as a track-day car, occasional rally/RallyCross car and whatever seems right at the time.

I will be leaning heavily on the Rennlist community for help, advice, sympathy and the occasional part. Hopefully, there will be some return on your investment for your support.

Here are the first few shots in this installment. First are post-crash (5/14/10) others are of the car getting the interior stripped out (begun 7/13/10)

Lemming

Sorry to hear about Herbie, good luck with the swap and keep us posted. I'm doing the same thing at the moment, did a bit of stitch welding last night.

James Chimney

sorry to hear it when any one's Porsche gets hit or wrecked, it does not look so bad as to move the radiator and cause all the damage to the front motor bay? so you are taking every thing off the 944 and putting it into the 951? stripping two cars and Frankensteining one.....let us know when "It's Alive"
should keep you busy for months to come.
good luck and keep us posted

Scott at Team Harco

Very interesting. I had not considered going to that extreme with this car.

Are there any specific places that you feel should be given priority were one to do a limited amount of stitch welding to the shell?

Scott at Team Harco

Yes - Young Frankensteining in this case.

I started a "Can I N/A my Turbo" thread shortly after bringing home the 951 shell. It had a little amusement factor to it.

Lemming

I'm stitching the areas around the front strut housings to start, and then will work towards the back if I don't get to bored with doing it.

Scott at Team Harco

Perfectly logical.

Mike C.

Amazing- that level of damage but all glass intact. Any idea how fast the guy hit you?

JohnKoaWood

Fixed it for ya....

Scott at Team Harco

The stupid girl had to be doing 40 to 45. Speed limit on that stretch of road is 45. I saw her behind me make the same turn (a right) onto the road in the photos. Distance from that turn to the point of impact is probably 150-200 yds.

Evidently it was enough distance for her to get up to speed, but not bother to look at what was in front of her. There was absolutely no brake application on her part. She was totally oblivious - not to mention not wearing her seatbelt.

I got out of my car thinking: what moron was on their phone and wasn't paying attention? As soon as I saw the damage to her car - I forgot about being pissed and worried that someone could be hurt. When I got to her, seconds after the impact, the first thing I could see was blood on the inside of the windshield and driver's door glass. She had blood spurting out of a cut above her left eye. There was an internal impact "spider web" up high on the windshield and offset to the left of the steering wheel. The airbag saved her life.

I finally got a check from her stupid insurance company about a week ago. I spent a lot of time on the phone with my agent and finally with her agent. Needed a copy of the accident report. Got that as soon as it was available. Dealing with the other insurance company (Meemic) was a royal pain. Had I not dogged them continuously - I know a check would never have reached my hands. As it was - it was for a whopping $500. All of which has been spent on brakes for my replacement daily-beater (92 Talon TSi). So much for applying that toward parts for Young Herbie...

Here's a shot of "Lewis". Even when cleaned up - this car doesn't look much better than the photo. It's reasonably sound mechanically though. Also in the shot are Herbie, Penelope (GF's 944) and Partial Eclipse.

Mike C.

$500?? Are you sure your neck doesn't hurt?

Scott at Team Harco

No. But my *** is red!

Wade B

Looks like you have everything you need right here, Scott....



Good luck, sounds like a cool project. Keep us informed.

jim46944

Scott,

Good luck with your project. Keep the "Cowbell" rocking in the garage as the creation of Young Herbie unfolds.

Scott at Team Harco

Wade and Jim -

Thanks for checking in. This should be a productive weekend. No races, no rallies, no track days, no distracting motorsports events to get in the way. I'll invite a couple of friends over to drink beer and dismantle Herbie.

Look for pics next week.

Oh - and the music will be loud, cowbell is optional.