Been a member here for a while despite not having a 944. I used to have one about 6 or 7 years ago, and for the past year I have been itching for another.

A little background on me- I love German cars, and I love saving them from the crusher. I have a 96 C36 AMG that I did the same thing with this summer, and it's been a great car!

Back on topic! I was browsing CL the other day and I came across an ad about 100 miles away that said "87 Porsche 944 (not running)". There was no price listed. I have a friend that lives local to where the car was, so I had him go take a look at it for me. The story is that the seller inherited it from her father when he passed 2 years ago, it's been sitting since then. They didn't even try to start it before selling it. They know nothing about cars, much less Porsches, so they decided to just get rid of it. It was supposedly running when parked.

The exterior is fairly good, save for the paint. The interior (black script seats) needs a good cleaning, but it is in very good shape aside from a crack in the dash and one missing door panel. Oh, and it's a slick top!

I went ahead and told my friend to buy it, and we got it for $500. I still have yet to see the car in person. It's sitting in my friends car port, I'll be picking it up on Monday. My goal for now is to go through the whole car, with a LOT of elbow grease, and at least try to get it running with out putting a dime into it. Once I can do that, and verify that it is indeed worth saving, then I'll put some money into it, starting with the timing belt.





Bad paint, but NO SUNROOF!

 

Great deal! Sunroof delete too - highly sought after.

Remove dme relay, intall your 3 wire jumper wire and wait for the fuel pressure to build. You will hear the pump and the fuel squishing through the rail. Crank and I bet it fires up. At that point kill it and then its belt time!

Good luck and once again, great deal...

 

Just curious as the the purpose of removing the relay and using the jumper?

 

Why crank it (it's a risk) if no fuel delivery? It only takes seconds to intall the jumper wire and it confirms fuel delivery before you throw the dice. And it won't cost you a dime lol.

 

True. I guess the reason that it hadn't occurred to me was because I was planning on disconnecting the fuel pump and attempting the first start on starting fluid only, since the car has been sitting for so long, most likely with fuel in it.

 

I wouldn't try and crank it without replacing the belt first. Also make sure the rollers and water pump aren't seized. You should replace them all, but just to crank it as long as they spin you should be okay.

 

I know that its really not the best idea, but I don't want to spend any money on the car till I figure out if the motor is even good or not. This is only a $500 car after all, lol. I haven't decided yet if I will fix it and keep it, or part it out. My main goal would be to try and save it, but if it looks like the cost will out weigh the benefits, it's bits and pieces will go on to save others.

I will say this though- The belt does appear to be good, and I will check the rollers/water pump and belt tension among many many other things before even attempting to crank. If it does run and seems ok, it will get immediately shut off and THEN it will get the timing/balance belts done. I just don't want to spend the money on the timing stuff, then find out AFTER, that it was parked because of a bad rod bearing or something, lol.

 

Well, I got the car back on Monday. Haven't done much due to spending time with my family. I knew going into it that I was taking a chance. When she tried to crank it, the starter was dead. Further digging lead to the realization that the motor was seized. The jury is out right not if I will replace/rebuild the motor or part the car out. I will continue to tinker with and refresh some other parts of the car while I look for a cheap rebuildable motor, or even just a block with a good rotating assembly.

 

Oh man, no sunroof! Jealous already. Sorry to hear about the engine, but I vote rebuild!

 

Sorry to hear about the motor, but still seems like overall you got it for good deal.

 

Oh yeah, absolutely. I knew there was risk here. I am jut trying to decide if I want to fix it or part it.

 

Ls1?

500$ donor seems perfect.

 

I'm considering that also. But since it would be a budget build, it would more likely be the more common 5.3 lq4 out of a Silverado or something.

 

Hello Twichel, you can ignore my questions but I am curious. Have you investigated why the motor is not turning over? Is a cylinder filled with coolant? Are there bent valves? Maybe a new belt was put on incorrectly. Did you manually try and turn the motor over? Did the original owner's family say when they remember the car last running? There are probably a number of other reasons it appears frozen and possibly not too hard to fix. You notice I didn't say inexpensive to fix.

 

The story was that it sat for a couple of years only because the previous owner (sellers father) had passed away. I now suspect that it was parked prior to that for other reasons. After we first tried to start it, we realized that the starter solenoid was not functioning. At first I was worried about the immobilizer (it does have a crudely wired up aftermarket immobilizer). That's when I tried to turn the motor by hand. It wouldn't budge. I was hoping that it was just the starter locked up for some reason. I pulled the starter and was concerned to find a lot of leafs and debris in the bell housing. With the starter removed the motor still won't budge. Spark plugs in cyls 2-4 were all rusty... not a good sign. I have yet to investigate further.