You are too kind Kevin. Thanks for the props. Hammered away like 12 hrs on reassembly. Still have 20 more garage hours until take off (driving). So should be mobile as a daily driver later in the week. Decided to just reinstalled the cracked factory dash in... but visualizing a square painted aluminum dash from A-piller to A-piller with all the factory stuff on it & access from the bottom. Anyway there are 2 auto cross events before winter & I'd like to try my hand at them with Wilson (the car. formally known as Ol' Wilson).

 

Bought some hood pins but couldn't find a good spot to mount them. I have already drilled out & removed the factory hood latch but came to realize it is really good straight from the factory. (I know... you can't fix stupid. Duh!). So today I will try to replace the factory cable housing I broke with bicycle cable housing.

Removed the headlight motor and linkage to save 25 lbs. Using the sweet superlight delete kit from another forum member. Gotta love the access it affords.

 

Good news: the bike brake cable housing & ends fit the bill perfectly. with the factory hood closure equipment. Operates even smoother than before.

So a brief review of the delete items:
-headlight motor & linkage
-hatch wiper motor
-console
-sunroof mech & motor
-rear seat
-carpet
-bumperettes
-headlight rubber seals
-dash clock
-driver's seat switches/harness
-stereo/speakers
-power steering
-fog lights
-glove box lid
-brake backing plates & wear sensors
-balance shaft belt
-spare tire
-heavy lic plate holder
-rear head liner
-sound deadening
-extra wires to things like door motors & seat motors
-door motors, door lock fancy stuff
-heavy side mirrors

 

Installed factory seats, front wheel well liners, quarter windows. To avoid fire I started applying heat shrink to each & every wire tip from the harnesses I cut. Must be close to 200 wires. Dash goes in tonight.

 

Has anyone used duct tape to cover a seat bolster? Will the sticky glue start getting on my shirt? Bad idea?

 

Up this weekend: fabricate/install hatch hold downs, sunroof hold downs, door latches & handles & glass & card install, mount new sexy door mirrors.

 

Dont forget to take pictures! What did you use for mirrors? Thanks

 

Check out what some racers do for hatch hold downs, they use those black rubber T-straps with brackets on the hatch and the body to hold it all closed securely.

Re: mirrors if you haven't found a set yet I'd suggest browsing a junkyard for some late-model plastic mirrors on other cars...the 944 mirrors are really heavy (even without their motors)!

 

Okay, in the process of the dash reinstall. Deleted clock. Also (due to budget) still using the factory power driver's seat but removed the harness & switches today.

Spencer, Great suggestions! You are right, man those mirrors suck in several ways... 1) heavy, 2) complicated to work on 3) high wind drag? guessing.

I bought some nice, super simple & lightweight mirrors. I'll post some pics by tomorrow.

Also your suggestion of the hold downs... I'm right with you: http://www.conceptcarz.com/view/phot...GTP_photo.aspx

 

Removing the hatch pin mounts this morning. Got 3 out four bolts out just fine. Had to drill out #4 & re-tap. The awesome part of old cars is they are special the problem is they are old. Started my engine in the first time in months. Found out I don't need the SACHS 928. ###.### electrical box that was clipped to my steering column. Wonder what that is... alarm component maybe?

The engine started right up & sounded 100% on the first try. I do love my little 944 very much.

 

Well as per the norm everything is taking like 3 times longer than I expected it / wanted it to. Was hoping on going to my first ever autoX event on Sunday. Didn't happen. There's another (the last of the year) in a couple of weeks. Got most of the lights working. Fabricated a super duper lightweight bracket to replace the pig of a lic plate holder. Got my hatch in but it needs adjustment to keep the fumes out. Really the biggest things left to do are :gas fill lid & seal, doors & mirrors & finish the sunroof install. Really had to get creative on the sunroof. Will post pics of that once I finish off the front section tomorrow.



Being a street car the jack stays. This time with zip-ties to keep the rattling down to a minimum.


Although I fully planned on removing the front & rear bumper shocks (or more accurately draining, compressing, chopping & welding them so they would be nothing more than brackets)... when it came down to it I decided that my neck & the car's subframe deserve the extra protection. Lets face it accidents happen.

 

Yeah! Finally got my sunroof sorted. And excited about this...

 

In conclusion, I was finally able to drive the car today. LOUD. Otherwise a lot of fun. Goes pretty good today & my timing was awesome because the hiway was full of great cars coming from the biggest car show around.

 

'88 Celebration Plaid? You need to keep those door panels just for the cool factor.

Looking good.

What happened to the blue?

Did you remove the power windows?

 

Yeah Frenchtoast the car was a celebration edition, seats & all in Plaid. Although not the finest example. The windows & door lock mechs have all been removed. The job was done in the lightest & simplest way... merely pinching the forward rail with vise-grips until the window locked in place. The blue is in the distance now brother.