Across Africa in a 944
09-01-2012, 07:40 PM
#16
Nordschleife Master
So this guy does extreme treks in unsuitable vehicles. You just have to admire his sense of adventure/courage/stupidity/insanity depending on your point of view. He's a 944 owner so he must have all of those traits! Personally I'd like to see him climb Everest in a Segway.
09-02-2012, 03:23 AM
#17
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09-05-2012, 06:04 AM
#18
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Hi folks, this must be a bit of a record - I've been registered on Rennlist for 7 years and this is my first post!
Anyhows, I'm Ben, the idiot who thought driving a '944 across Africa was a good idea.
I just stumbled across this thread while having a look around Google to see what was being said about the trip and figured I'd say hi, and fill in a bit more info on the car for anyone who is interested.
The trip car was a 1985.5 '944 Lux, and I'd owned it for 5 years before its African adventure, during which it was often my daily driver (hence my Rennlist membership - the search function was my first stop whenever anything went wrong!). When I bought it, the car had 135,000 miles on the clock, and this had increased to 206,000 when it left for Africa.
When it left on the trip, the '944 was almost standard, save for a 6cm suspension lift and the bespoke roofbox/rooftent setup. Everything else mechanical was pretty much left as is, and the only really major change was the engine - not that we planned it! 17 days before we left, the crankshaft bolt which holds the pulleys on the front of the engine had worked loose, allowing the oil pump to stop and killing the engine. We got a completely unknown scrapyard engine fitted which ran for the first time one Friday evening, and set off for Africa the following morning, the oil warning light glowing and us expecting to break down any minute. A week later, we were in Syria and the motor was still going, so despite the erratic oil pressure readings, we accepted it might be okay after all...
The journey took the Porsche across 15,000 miles in 26 countries, and took us 62 days. I'd guess about 1,000 miles of the trip were on mud and gravel tracks, with the rest on tarmac of extremely variable quality. As a place to spend 62 days of your life, the Porsche was surprisingly good - comfortable, spacious & quiet enough and sufficiently solid that crash safety wasn't really a worry. It coped very well with the rougher roads, having surprisingly good traction on its standard tyres - even in mud - and was very controllable when things got slippy. And, it actually got stuck less times than the SUV! There's a (fairly amateur) vid of the Porsche in muddy Northern Kenya here:
The figure of 27 breakdowns doesn't really do the car justice, as over half of these were due to the car's underside being pounded by rocks, repeatedly resulting in leaking fuel lines and a broken exhaust, while another 8 were down to our repeated attempts to get the car out of a desert when one of the balljoints on the front lower wishbone failed. Overall, given the life the car had already had, it was amazing that it coped so well with the trip, though it wouldn't have made it much further: by the end, the engine was leaking a liter of oil a day, third gear had gone AWOL and the front suspension was held together with ratchet straps and cable ties!
At the end of the trip, we debated bringing the car back to the UK, but given the state it was in, we decided it would cost too much to get it UK-legal again. In the end it got sold to a Mozambiquean bus driver for 10,000 Meticas ($500). I still miss it and shall own another one day...
Right, that just about covers the basics! Thanks for the positive comments guys, and any questions feel free to ask. Also, there's a trip report, more photos, map, etc at my website (www.bencoombs.net) if anyone's interested, and as for the Everest/Segway idea... what an awesome idea - I like your style.
Anyhows, I'm Ben, the idiot who thought driving a '944 across Africa was a good idea.
I just stumbled across this thread while having a look around Google to see what was being said about the trip and figured I'd say hi, and fill in a bit more info on the car for anyone who is interested.The trip car was a 1985.5 '944 Lux, and I'd owned it for 5 years before its African adventure, during which it was often my daily driver (hence my Rennlist membership - the search function was my first stop whenever anything went wrong!). When I bought it, the car had 135,000 miles on the clock, and this had increased to 206,000 when it left for Africa.
When it left on the trip, the '944 was almost standard, save for a 6cm suspension lift and the bespoke roofbox/rooftent setup. Everything else mechanical was pretty much left as is, and the only really major change was the engine - not that we planned it! 17 days before we left, the crankshaft bolt which holds the pulleys on the front of the engine had worked loose, allowing the oil pump to stop and killing the engine. We got a completely unknown scrapyard engine fitted which ran for the first time one Friday evening, and set off for Africa the following morning, the oil warning light glowing and us expecting to break down any minute. A week later, we were in Syria and the motor was still going, so despite the erratic oil pressure readings, we accepted it might be okay after all...
The journey took the Porsche across 15,000 miles in 26 countries, and took us 62 days. I'd guess about 1,000 miles of the trip were on mud and gravel tracks, with the rest on tarmac of extremely variable quality. As a place to spend 62 days of your life, the Porsche was surprisingly good - comfortable, spacious & quiet enough and sufficiently solid that crash safety wasn't really a worry. It coped very well with the rougher roads, having surprisingly good traction on its standard tyres - even in mud - and was very controllable when things got slippy. And, it actually got stuck less times than the SUV! There's a (fairly amateur) vid of the Porsche in muddy Northern Kenya here:
The figure of 27 breakdowns doesn't really do the car justice, as over half of these were due to the car's underside being pounded by rocks, repeatedly resulting in leaking fuel lines and a broken exhaust, while another 8 were down to our repeated attempts to get the car out of a desert when one of the balljoints on the front lower wishbone failed. Overall, given the life the car had already had, it was amazing that it coped so well with the trip, though it wouldn't have made it much further: by the end, the engine was leaking a liter of oil a day, third gear had gone AWOL and the front suspension was held together with ratchet straps and cable ties!
At the end of the trip, we debated bringing the car back to the UK, but given the state it was in, we decided it would cost too much to get it UK-legal again. In the end it got sold to a Mozambiquean bus driver for 10,000 Meticas ($500). I still miss it and shall own another one day...
Right, that just about covers the basics! Thanks for the positive comments guys, and any questions feel free to ask. Also, there's a trip report, more photos, map, etc at my website (www.bencoombs.net) if anyone's interested, and as for the Everest/Segway idea... what an awesome idea - I like your style.
09-05-2012, 06:55 AM
#19
Three Wheelin'
you are my hero. wish i could roadtrip like that from NZ without drowning first!
p.s. I hope you get another!
p.s. I hope you get another!
09-05-2012, 07:27 AM
#20
Nordschleife Master
Ben, thanks for taking the time to post, what an amazing journey! That must have been excruciating to endure all those bumps in the road in a car you obviously took care of for 5 years... and then to leave it behind! looks like it was worth it though, thanks again!
09-06-2012, 10:30 AM
#21
Rennlist Member
Hi folks, this must be a bit of a record - I've been registered on Rennlist for 7 years and this is my first post!
Anyhows, I'm Ben, the idiot who thought driving a '944 across Africa was a good idea. I just stumbled across this thread while having a look around Google to see what was being said about the trip and figured I'd say hi, and fill in a bit more info on the car for anyone who is interested.
The trip car was a 1985.5 '944 Lux, and I'd owned it for 5 years before its African adventure, during which it was often my daily driver (hence my Rennlist membership - the search function was my first stop whenever anything went wrong!). When I bought it, the car had 135,000 miles on the clock, and this had increased to 206,000 when it left for Africa.
When it left on the trip, the '944 was almost standard, save for a 6cm suspension lift and the bespoke roofbox/rooftent setup. Everything else mechanical was pretty much left as is, and the only really major change was the engine - not that we planned it! 17 days before we left, the crankshaft bolt which holds the pulleys on the front of the engine had worked loose, allowing the oil pump to stop and killing the engine. We got a completely unknown scrapyard engine fitted which ran for the first time one Friday evening, and set off for Africa the following morning, the oil warning light glowing and us expecting to break down any minute. A week later, we were in Syria and the motor was still going, so despite the erratic oil pressure readings, we accepted it might be okay after all...
The journey took the Porsche across 15,000 miles in 26 countries, and took us 62 days. I'd guess about 1,000 miles of the trip were on mud and gravel tracks, with the rest on tarmac of extremely variable quality. As a place to spend 62 days of your life, the Porsche was surprisingly good - comfortable, spacious & quiet enough and sufficiently solid that crash safety wasn't really a worry. It coped very well with the rougher roads, having surprisingly good traction on its standard tyres - even in mud - and was very controllable when things got slippy. And, it actually got stuck less times than the SUV! There's a (fairly amateur) vid of the Porsche in muddy Northern Kenya here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVJlS_Jaa3I
The figure of 27 breakdowns doesn't really do the car justice, as over half of these were due to the car's underside being pounded by rocks, repeatedly resulting in leaking fuel lines and a broken exhaust, while another 8 were down to our repeated attempts to get the car out of a desert when one of the balljoints on the front lower wishbone failed. Overall, given the life the car had already had, it was amazing that it coped so well with the trip, though it wouldn't have made it much further: by the end, the engine was leaking a liter of oil a day, third gear had gone AWOL and the front suspension was held together with ratchet straps and cable ties!
At the end of the trip, we debated bringing the car back to the UK, but given the state it was in, we decided it would cost too much to get it UK-legal again. In the end it got sold to a Mozambiquean bus driver for 10,000 Meticas ($500). I still miss it and shall own another one day...
Right, that just about covers the basics! Thanks for the positive comments guys, and any questions feel free to ask. Also, there's a trip report, more photos, map, etc at my website (www.bencoombs.net) if anyone's interested, and as for the Everest/Segway idea... what an awesome idea - I like your style.
Anyhows, I'm Ben, the idiot who thought driving a '944 across Africa was a good idea.
I just stumbled across this thread while having a look around Google to see what was being said about the trip and figured I'd say hi, and fill in a bit more info on the car for anyone who is interested.The trip car was a 1985.5 '944 Lux, and I'd owned it for 5 years before its African adventure, during which it was often my daily driver (hence my Rennlist membership - the search function was my first stop whenever anything went wrong!). When I bought it, the car had 135,000 miles on the clock, and this had increased to 206,000 when it left for Africa.
When it left on the trip, the '944 was almost standard, save for a 6cm suspension lift and the bespoke roofbox/rooftent setup. Everything else mechanical was pretty much left as is, and the only really major change was the engine - not that we planned it! 17 days before we left, the crankshaft bolt which holds the pulleys on the front of the engine had worked loose, allowing the oil pump to stop and killing the engine. We got a completely unknown scrapyard engine fitted which ran for the first time one Friday evening, and set off for Africa the following morning, the oil warning light glowing and us expecting to break down any minute. A week later, we were in Syria and the motor was still going, so despite the erratic oil pressure readings, we accepted it might be okay after all...
The journey took the Porsche across 15,000 miles in 26 countries, and took us 62 days. I'd guess about 1,000 miles of the trip were on mud and gravel tracks, with the rest on tarmac of extremely variable quality. As a place to spend 62 days of your life, the Porsche was surprisingly good - comfortable, spacious & quiet enough and sufficiently solid that crash safety wasn't really a worry. It coped very well with the rougher roads, having surprisingly good traction on its standard tyres - even in mud - and was very controllable when things got slippy. And, it actually got stuck less times than the SUV! There's a (fairly amateur) vid of the Porsche in muddy Northern Kenya here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVJlS_Jaa3I
The figure of 27 breakdowns doesn't really do the car justice, as over half of these were due to the car's underside being pounded by rocks, repeatedly resulting in leaking fuel lines and a broken exhaust, while another 8 were down to our repeated attempts to get the car out of a desert when one of the balljoints on the front lower wishbone failed. Overall, given the life the car had already had, it was amazing that it coped so well with the trip, though it wouldn't have made it much further: by the end, the engine was leaking a liter of oil a day, third gear had gone AWOL and the front suspension was held together with ratchet straps and cable ties!
At the end of the trip, we debated bringing the car back to the UK, but given the state it was in, we decided it would cost too much to get it UK-legal again. In the end it got sold to a Mozambiquean bus driver for 10,000 Meticas ($500). I still miss it and shall own another one day...
Right, that just about covers the basics! Thanks for the positive comments guys, and any questions feel free to ask. Also, there's a trip report, more photos, map, etc at my website (www.bencoombs.net) if anyone's interested, and as for the Everest/Segway idea... what an awesome idea - I like your style.
09-06-2012, 06:00 PM
#23
Three Wheelin'
Didnt one guy do a very similar thing some years ago in a 924?
Oh..and i think the same guy that drove the 924 across the desert drove a 924 across Russia/Estoonia/Siberia ??
They made two DVDs too, called Porsche'd to the limit 1 and 2
Oh..and i think the same guy that drove the 924 across the desert drove a 924 across Russia/Estoonia/Siberia ??
They made two DVDs too, called Porsche'd to the limit 1 and 2
09-07-2012, 06:55 AM
#25
4th Gear
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Hi there,
Yeah, the suspension was raised pretty much how you guessed. The rear was done by re-indexing the torsion bars, while for the front we had small spacers made which went on the top of the Macpherson struts.
Despite looking slightly flimsy, the spacers worked perfectly throughout the trip, even when stressed & twisted around by repeated failures of one of the balljoints in the wishbone. The adjustment of the rear didn't work quite so well though; the re-indexing initially made the rear suspension pretty hard, and the extra stresses, combined with the rough roads and extra weight being carried resulted in the back of the car sagging a fair bit as the trip went on - you might get away with it in a lightweight rally car though. Only one way to find out! ;-)
RE- the 924. The only similar '924 trip I know of is when such a vehicle was used on a yearly organised charity rally called the 'Plymouth - Dakar', in which folks drive bangers from the UK down to Dakar, via Morocco and Mauritania. I think someone should do a silly roadtrip in a 968 now, to complete the set
Yeah, the suspension was raised pretty much how you guessed. The rear was done by re-indexing the torsion bars, while for the front we had small spacers made which went on the top of the Macpherson struts.
Despite looking slightly flimsy, the spacers worked perfectly throughout the trip, even when stressed & twisted around by repeated failures of one of the balljoints in the wishbone. The adjustment of the rear didn't work quite so well though; the re-indexing initially made the rear suspension pretty hard, and the extra stresses, combined with the rough roads and extra weight being carried resulted in the back of the car sagging a fair bit as the trip went on - you might get away with it in a lightweight rally car though. Only one way to find out! ;-)
RE- the 924. The only similar '924 trip I know of is when such a vehicle was used on a yearly organised charity rally called the 'Plymouth - Dakar', in which folks drive bangers from the UK down to Dakar, via Morocco and Mauritania. I think someone should do a silly roadtrip in a 968 now, to complete the set
01-23-2013, 12:21 PM
#26
Rennlist Member
Outstanding article and incredible trip!
Thanks for sharing, and doing things the rest of us probably wouldn't...
Thanks for sharing, and doing things the rest of us probably wouldn't...
01-23-2013, 01:02 PM
#28
Three Wheelin'
Finished your book a couple weeks ago. Fun easy read, recommend it to all you 944 guys out there.
http://www.amazon.com/Survival-of-th.../dp/B008I681VI
Having spent the last few years busting my knuckles fixing these things at the track it was fun being able to picture exactly what you were experiencing. Even thinking of ways to fix things like your faulty heater...."just reach in and close off the control valve so you don't cook" I kept saying!!
Hadn't seen this thread till today, nice to put faces with the characters in the book. Hope you found another job!
http://www.amazon.com/Survival-of-th.../dp/B008I681VI
Having spent the last few years busting my knuckles fixing these things at the track it was fun being able to picture exactly what you were experiencing. Even thinking of ways to fix things like your faulty heater...."just reach in and close off the control valve so you don't cook" I kept saying!!
Hadn't seen this thread till today, nice to put faces with the characters in the book. Hope you found another job!
01-23-2013, 01:50 PM
#29
Rennlist Member
