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Ookey-dokey. After 320 miles of mixed driving last weekend over mud & snow. Dear Ol' Gramps got the most thorough wash.
Reason#1) because he deserves LOVE. I am proud of him. I like him and he's becoming reliable.
#2) because I need to preserve his fenders & front valance and any steel object that might tend to rust. And in order to apply POR-15 ( http://www.por15.com/POR-15_Rust_Preventive_Coating ) I gotta remove the muck and loose scale. Going to apply seam seal also.
The first order of the day was to finish my re-configuration of the garage to improve organization and storage capacity.
Found a LOT of loose seam seal not doing any good under the front "wings/fenders". Scrapping it off by hand. Grunt work. Here's a photo of the front control arm. Typical surface rust. I want it to look like it did when it was new.
Not planning on it. I meet a gentleman a month ago about his 86 951. Original owner. ALWAYS serviced by a professional Porsche mechanic. The car came up in conversation. I had to look. In a nutshell it was in another class. A class above me. Due to being a high miler there were some chips & one small dent. But no evidence of UV damage to the dash. Heck the hatch seal even was butted up tight (no gap). This car looked... quite amazing & not a drop of oil. Even had the additional underbelly tray. The car is kept under a cover in the heated garage. You get the idea. A true Hagarty #2 condition car.
Did I want it? Yes.
But over the last month of considering what would it take to acquire this car, I had to look within. WHY? Why did I want it? Genuine Porsche 16" FUCHS and 250 hp and... the list goes on... but why?
What would this car do that Gramps or Wilson (my white n/a 944) can't do? And what would I have to compromise in order to get this "latest acquisition"? What would life be like after getting a 944 turbo?
-Answer: Lemme answer with a question: "can you afford it"? NO. Not in the least after discussing the "type" of funds required, although the seller was very vague about the price and said he doesn't know what to charge for it.
-"Would the wife divorce me?" YES. Quite literally. Unless I sold both of my cars to get it. After sellin' my cars then I'd still have to scrape up $5000-7000. Damn.
-"Would life be better?" No. I'm only guessing here, but this goes back to what type of driving do I do? Well... I realize I have a problem going the speed limit. Even in a 110 hp 924. So, how am I going to deal with twice the power? Really I don't think it would end well. I would probably crash the car. Or more likely, lose my license. I already press my luck with Wilson on the public roads.
Final note: Is the 944 Turbo my dream car? No. It's pretty close though. Although there are times I think Wilson is pretty close to my dream car. And its paid for. The old cars need lots of fixing and lots of love if you drive them hard. That's one reason why I have 2 Porsches... so I can always go for a rip when I NEED TO. With a pretty princess like the 944 Turbo taking up my only spot in the garage, that would cause congestion. Also, it's winter half the year in Canada, and the turbo princess doesn't deserve snow... and theres no way I'm trashing that car on the dirt roads I love so much. So, this means I can't drive the car in my favourite conditions.
So in the end, do I buy this turbo? No...
Methinks it'd be like dating a high maintenance ****-star. Fun to take for a drive, but not the one to marry.
1) rust prevention. Takes a long time to do it right. I only got the front end done today, so He's staying on the jacks until complete.
2) found this interesting. The charcoal canister had been arranged improperly. If you clean the dirt off, it reads "IN". They had the charcoal can's exhaust attached to the "in" and visa-versa. Also 2 outta 3 hoses were brittle, porous or had a hole in it.
I consider that a pat on the back from Gramp's spirit. Could good karma... or a little bit of LUCK be coming my way? We'll find out if this being corrected will help with the strong fuel odour & the hot running problems.
Noah, You are right about the turbo. I bought an "86 with 54K,in 2002 and sold it in 2015 with 60,100 mi on it. Why the low mileage? The car was too nice to beat up! I loved that car but was afraid to drive it and get it dirty. The new owner is doing the same thing. So, a perfect car doesn't seem to be what you need. Have a lot of fun with your toy!
Noah, You are right about the turbo. I bought an "86 with 54K,in 2002 and sold it in 2015 with 60,100 mi on it. Why the low mileage? The car was too nice to beat up! I loved that car but was afraid to drive it and get it dirty. The new owner is doing the same thing. So, a perfect car doesn't seem to be what you need. Have a lot of fun with your toy!
Thank you for sharing that. It helps me stay focused. The lure of the turbo is strong!!
Gramps can never get enough attention. He just LOVES attention. It was tough getting motivated to strip him down, but at the same time I enjoyed learning how the "old school" dash/instrument cluster & heater all goes together.
Thanks big brother. I just washed the mud out & remove dust and applied POR 15 over everything. If this was a show car or a really high end build I might do things differently. In the world of gravel and snow driving the possibility of crashing is pretty high & the gravel will force me to do many "patch" paint jobs I reckon, so trying to be efficient & non perfectionistic with dear ol' Grampy pants.
So stupid ol' Gramps was leaking from I don't know... 8 different spots. CHRIST! Today I will be going over the seams on top of the paint (grrr) and underneath. I'm doing the most major of all seam sealings to this fricken car. I've HAD IT WITH LEAKS.
Trying some new products.
50 pounds of seam seal later... hehehe... the oil based rust paint is taking a long time to dry. Decided to apply the panel boning agent on the firewall insulation that separated long ago.
Seam seal on floor & top of sunroof (it was quite badly rusted on the sunroof section when I got it). eventually I will paint over the new seam seal and make pretty.
Gobs of seam seal on 38 year old hoses near sunroof drain ports & also laying a bead around all the windshield. I don't want to have to do this but it is WAR
Some very very good news came our way. "Gramps" can FINALLY stop with some authority.
I've: bought rear shoes/and re-surfaced drums, rebuilt wheel cylinders, replaced the master cylinder, bled a million times & updated to dot4. But it was still very bad braking.
Then a few weeks ago I decided to inspect the thick caliper pads. They looked like track pads. Compared
them to the street pads on a spare set of rear 944S calipers. Sure enough the pads were interchangable, so I did the swap & tested them. Better. But not good enough still.
Interesting thing I noticed was the diameter of the caliper piston was much smaller on the 944s rear. This got me thinking... my complaint is that the brake pedal literally is bottoming out when I press hard.
So my theory is I don't have a big enough master cyl for the size of caliper. Repair: rebuilt the 944s rears/installed THOSE & installed brand new street pads, re-bleed entire system.
WOOHOO! Now I can lock tires up at any speed! SO HAPPY. The main problem was someone put bigger brakes on without upgrading the master. THIS is the sort of thing that I'm dealing with on this car.
05-27-2016, 02:04 AM
Thanks big brother. I just washed the mud out & remove dust and applied POR 15 over everything. If this was a show car or a really high end build I might do things differently. In the world of gravel and snow driving the possibility of crashing is pretty high & the gravel will force me to do many "patch" paint jobs I reckon, so trying to be efficient & non perfectionistic with dear ol' Grampy pants.
