Timing

Hello from Richmond, VA.
I won a beautiful 1984 944 in a Bring a Trailer auction.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1984-porsche-944-26/
It's in amazing condition and drives well. It hasn't made a lot of miles in the last 10 years or so and was garage kept. The records show that previous owners did a lot of maintenance in 2011 and then barely drove it.
I think the Michelin tires are out of round from sitting too long and I'll have to get used to not having power steering. The vacuum hoses and coolant hoses have been replaced recently.

This car will be for weekends and occasionally I'll drive it to work, so I won't be adding a lot of miles. Once I get some confidence in the car and get a feel for it, I'll do a bit of auto-crossing and maybe a HPDE. We are restoring my Dad's 912e right now, so I am going to get this car into his garage and do the timing belt while his car is with the painter.

It will need a timing belt ASAP. The records show it was last done in 2011. I'm a little scared to drive it much until I get that done. I am pretty good with a wrench and my Dad has been working on Porsche cars since the 70s, so with the various online guides and Haynes manual, I don't think we will have too much trouble. It actually looks easy compared to the Audi/VWs I'm used to working on.

I have a short list of things that need to be addressed, but overall I have nothing to complain about.
The gear selector feels rubbery and imprecise. Is that normal on this car or can I tighten that up with fresh bushing?
The A/C is not enough to cool the car down. I'm going to try the Redtek stuff and see if it improves.
Is there an easy way to tell which water pump I have? I need to know that before I start ordering timing belt parts. According to the records the water pump was replaced in 2004, so I assume that means it is the newer version.

Thanks for reading!

marc abrams

Nice find. Good luck! These cars are so lite the manual steering is easy to turn.
You will need to remove the timing cover. The late pump has a belt guide plate, early pumps don't. You may want to replace the pump anyway.

Timing

Thanks, I'll pull off the timing cover and have a look.
I'd rather keep it simple on the first time I replace the belts and leave the water pump for the second time. If it's the old style I'll go ahead and replace it though.

tifosiman

I typically replace the water pump every 2 belt changes - so to me, yours is due for a pump change while you are in there. If you've already got everything apart, to do the belt change, why not?

yorkee

+1 to the water pump mentioned above. give you a peace of mind. That said, when I replace my wp I broke off couple of the bolts, and end up broken the screw extractor in the block (never use those again! no matter how attempting). end up have to haul the car to a shop to extract the bit out...

As for the manual steering, I am not sure if its a original manual steering car. It does have the ear holding the power steering reservoir...

As for the rubbery and impresise gear selector, there are couple option:

1. If shifter pin still in a relatively good shape, you might be able to get aroud with a new washer.
2. If pin is in a oval shape, you can hack the shifter lever pin with a slave or new bolt, or might be modify it so it use bushing (http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...ifter-fix.html)
3. replace the shifter lever
4. upgrade to a aftermarket shifter such as one from only944.com (the bearing washer is very nice touch)
5. upgrade the shift linkage from only944.com, or you can build one out using parts from mcmaster.com (for the time invested, I prefer only944)

Honestly, If I have to fix my shifter again, I wouldn't spend any time hacking my worn. For the price of shifter from only944, I would just buy one and replace it.

Timing

Thanks tifosiman and yorkee, I'll probably do the water pump while I'm in there. It makes sense to get it all done right the first time.

This 944 never had power steering. No sunroof either, which I think is pretty cool. It was originally sold in Germany and then imported to the US. +13 horsepower!!!

Looks like only944 makes some quality parts. I'll take the boots off and have a look around. Their instructions should be pretty helpful on what to look for.

Thanks!

Dan Martinic

marc abrams

My 83 is a manual steering car and it to has the reservoir bracket.

Guy

Congratulations! That is a nice car. I followed that auction and was very surprised at the low price

AkechiMotors

I would NEVER list my car on BaT - car after car after car gets absolutely stolen on that site, and this is a perfect example. 36k miles, no sunroof, with Euro rear bumper for $6K? What a buy!

Guy

928s and 911s do very well over there. The 944s seem not to do as well

Timing

Just for the record, true mileage is unknown, but the previous owner estimated 100,000 miles. The speedometer was swapped for an American one at some point.

Thanks for the compliments everyone. I really had no intention of buying a 944, but it was a deal I couldn't pass on.

bureau13

I think like everywhere else, it varies. I got my 931 there, and I think it was a reasonable deal, but I wouldn't call it a steal. In any case, if you don't like the reserve they require, you can always not go through with the ad. As a buyer, I like that you can find out a LOT about the car via the experts chiming in, that you won't get from other remote purchasing methods.

Guy

Just a quick comment to add to the discussion. I noticed the comments on the 944s sold on BAT are rather sparse. The 928 community has really done well by both buyer and seller sharing information, insight and experiences on BAT every time a 928 is posted. I think we can help all concerned by doing the same. Just my .02

Timing

Just an update on the car. The timing belt install went well and I've put a few hundred miles on it since then. This morning I dropped it off at a local shop, Delta V Motorsports, to have a post-purchase inspection and state inspection.

There is a lot of vibration from 60mph and up. It's probably just a tire out of balance or flat spotted from sitting too long. I hope the tires are still good though, they are nice Michelins with lots of life left.