Bought it as a 944 turbo that needed some work. $2350 (The things that worked were limited to one function of the powerseats, and the power passanger mirror as well as both the power windows. Nothing else electrical worked, nothing!) But the body was straight, and the miles were high (169k?) which is exactly what I wanted. A 944 turbo I could ressurrect, with an accident free and fairly straight body/chasis. As I write this windshield/headlight washers and AC are the only electrical things that don't work. PS is disabled for the time being, I might convert to manual, we shall see. Other than that though, it drove OK, except for the brakes and had massive oil leaks. I decided to do a head job on it, pulled the engine to find 4 bent valves (valve float). Ended up completely re-doing the head, but ofcourse I couldn't stop there.

I rebuilt my engine, (ofcourse with all new belts, seals, rollers, water pump, motor mounts, etc. etc.) and as soon as I started the car (milage was around 173k, the motor had never been apart before) it started leaking antifreeze from the header to head exhaust gaskets (and ran pretty badly). One quick look at the oil showed excessive antifreeze and vice versa. That turned out to be the turbocharger! The center section of the turbocharger was visibly split. It also welded itself to the turbo mount bolts. Being a mechanic helped here (plasma cutter!).

Replaced turbocharger, drove the car home and was greeted to about 3 quarts of oil on the ground after parking it for 2 hours. Oil pan gasket #1 came out. This happened 6 more times. I've checked compression, and leakdown (I had seen the dipstick come up before), both came out very, very good, and even (%2 across the board). I tried so many things for this gasket. The final solution was using a dry gasket, with not a drip of anything, anywhere. Religious following of torqes and sequences, new pan, new pick up. I also increased the capacity of the crankcase vent system. I still suspect the K26 (allowing exhaust pressure to bleed into the crancase). I don't know that for sure, but if that is the case, the turbo shouldn't last much longer anyway. 2600miles far, so good.

During the gaskets, I replaced shocks, some bushings, etc. The entire braking system, some bearings, etc. There's still something loose in the front, I suspect it's the rack, which I bought used, so no hard feelings there. I do need to do something about it soon however.

The car was broken into, my stereo and the beloved infinity speakers/sub stolen. Replaced with a blaupunkt head unit, infinity component speakers, new wiring through out, new antenna amp, etc. I have two 8s that are going to go in when I can make something fit in the rear storage cubbies, that is invisible, and perhaps a little lightweight also.

Overall the car has come a VERY long way. My ac clutch is also going out. I have about $6500 into the car including purchase (and there's about a zillion things I didn't mention like custom turbo back exhaust, short shifter, a rebuilt/shimmed wastegate, guru chips, intake, boost controller, SS brake lines, upgraded master cylinder, roll bar, etc. etc.), so I don't feel too bad. Hopefully I'll start tracking it soon. Maybe even a set of coil overs a big turbo, MAP, injectors... Needless to say, I have done all of the work to the car, except when I was pressed for time, had a few buddies help with minor stuff (change the oil while I'm aligning the car forexample, or bleed the brakes while I'm doing the oil pan gaskets!). Aside from paying for things like fuel pressure regulators or chips, I made/fabricated/modified everything myself.

This is also while I go to school with more than a full time student's load (currently @NCSU) and until 3 weeks ago a part time job as a mechanic as well. The latter helped with keeping the costs down.

OK, time to play the student part again, back to my second to last political science paper...
Ahmet

 

You've been missing Great work!!

Also, nice burnout on hte N/A!!!

-Mike

 

That's dedication....I hope that your resurrected 951 gives you years of pleasure!

 

 

Wait so you finally got the oil pan gasket to hold??

 

Thanks guys!

Yes, the gasket is finally holding, and now I can deal with stuff like inconsistent boost control.
Ahmet

 

Wow...thats a lot of fixin' you did. I'm glad my oil pan gasket held the first time I did it...what a PITA that was. Did you see my head gasket? https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...threadid=79389 . That was one blown *** head gasket. I'm glad you have most of it ironed out...I hope I don't run into any snags putting my head back on. Best of luck to you...I hope you get the thing running 100% soon!

 

hey ahmet, i'm in Cary too, where do you get your car worked on? and you wouln't happen to be Ahmet arobopoli(SP) way back from middle school would you?

 

It's nice someone has the skill and patience to revive a car, rather than writing it off as a parts car. They aren't making any more of them!

 

Ahmet,

Congrats to you for doing that much work on your car. That's awesome that you did it yourself.

On an unrelated note: I was in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area last month for the first time and managed to make it to Cary for a few hours. I must say that that is probably the cleanest most wholesome city i've ever been in. The people over there are extremely nice and it is very green, quite the opposite of the SF Bay Area.

Cheers!

 

Hey Ahmet, I'm listening to your 2 songs...they are good!!! I wanna show you some of my bands **** if ya dont mind! hit me up on AIM at Markota Mike if you wanna swap some songs!

-Mike


EDIT: D/L em off of here if you want ( i hope the bandwith doesnt get exceeded...lol like that would happen! )

http://www.angelfire.com/tx6/mikemarkota/

 

Thank you all again.

Today I was driving next to a minivan on the highway, when I noticed a kid plastered to the window. It made me smile, and he waved back. What a great feeling!

Mike Markota, drop me a pm when you get a chance.

Ribs, thanks man. I wish the best of luck to you too, btw was the broken pipe on your header for the #4 cylinder?

soundboy4, I am a mechanic. I've worked for good year, west german garage, etc. I sometimes do side jobs for people, and sometimes side jobs for shops as well. So I don't really have my car "worked on".

Peckster, I didn't want to start with a pristine car cause I don't have a place to store it. +I plan to track my car lots (like the last 944 I had), and I drive hard. I wanted a solid 944 t, that would've hit the junkyard otherwise. I guarantee you this is the car! Oh but what a pain it was at times. Anyway, thanks for your kind words.

oi-punx, thanks. Cary is a very beautiful city, I enjoy living here a lot. It is expensive but my parents were nice enough to let me have a condo here when they left the country. They pay for school as well, but I have to provide for the car and other expenses. Anyway, this place reminds me a bit of turkey, it's a little more laid out, and pleasant. People tend to be a little more relaxed and laid back as well. Cary also has more cops/capita vs. any other city on the east cost, and one of the best swat teams! (a friend of mine's brother joined the force).
Ahmet

 

yeah John usually works on myne at west german for the stuff i'm too much of a woos to do myself (timing belt, clutch etc...), we should get the 944s together sometime. A bunch of friends and i are going to an autocross at the ESA in August, your welcome to come with if your not already.

 

I'm convinced that some people have more than 24 hours in their days...either that or they never sleep. So which one is it?? It sounds like you're keeping the car now instead of looking for something else. You're very patient and that's a good quality to have. Good luck with school and let's hear some stories about track days soon.

 

soundboy4

You have the purple 944 with the short shifter, gauge faces, etc. right? I've worked on your car before, as I did most of the 944 work for John then. I'm pretty sure I briefly met your dad and you (he has the 911sc). Henry is also a good friend of mine, used to work for him at good year.

I could come out to the ESA, but I don't really auto-x anymore. I used to with my last 944, after a little over a season I got 2nd place in the regional finals (the 24 hour event in Charlotte), then I decided I would track, did that a few times, and wanted more (power/brakes and handling) and thus got the turbo. I'm invited to do Carolina Motorsports Park and Road Atlanta with THSCC and the Triangle Z Club in the next few months, and I will extend an invitation to you! If you're interested let me know. ESA is down the street from me, so I would probably come, and probably run if I'm coming. Drop me an e-mail ahmet@rennlist.com or hit me on IM (over1g), and we'll go from there.

PorscheG96, it's been pretty tough. I owe a lot to my parents but man it's been quite the something this summer. I hope I don't have to be this busy again! Things should be looking up though, the summer classes are over in about three weeks, after that I can go to a regular schedule and a part time job. I hope to do lots of track events, I'll talk to you about it I'm sure. Take care buddy.
Ahmet