Lerered

As the title says...

I grew up in a GM household, worked as a Ford diesel mechanic in college. Daily an 84 GMC Jimmy, cruze the weekends in a 69' El Camino.
So what did I do?
Picked up a $800 Porsche 944.

It's a 1984 944 Base, 5 speed.
Bought it from a guy, said the motor was locked, didn't even try to crank it. It was parked for an unknown reason before he got it. What would have been a major warning in any other scenario just bounced off my brain, as I was too distracted from the 944's curves and hips... I had to have it. I glanced passed the quarter pannel rust and eyed my fiancée, thumbs up, it was coming home.

It got to the house, pushed into the driveway, blew off the dirt from 2014 and started with the vials.

Pulled the spark plugs, looked corroded as can be, definitely water sitting in the cylinders for a few years. Threw some Marvel mystery oil just to see what would happen. No worries anyways... I have decent access to all aluminum 5.3 vortec motors in the $250 price range and LS based motors fit in everything.

Breaks first is my philosophy-
Was missing a caliper and the caliper bracket on the rear. No worries I thought, calipers are made every day.... wrong, this is Porsche. Had to hunt and scrounge and finally came up with one. Everything else looked in great condition, to my surprise, no dry rot in any of the lines. Started to bleed the system and the master cylinder busted. Porsche tax strikes again. But this is Breaks, so the cheapest bidder doesn't win anyway. New ATE master installed, bled and pressurized.

Engine- after letting the Marvel sit for a good bit I put a breaker bar on the crank and slowly began to bump back and forth. To my surprise it freed completely up after the 2nd bump. Skeptical, I went inside and bumped the starter over. It turned a full rotation. Cranked it some more to prime the engine and to blow the Marvel out. Compresson tested all 4 clys amazing. Threw a new set of plugs in it, gave it some starter fluid and it stumbled and ran for about 3 seconds. Then for the next week I proceeded to be schooled in what a DME relay is, and how they tend to fail... even when brand new. Found a good one (which seemed to be the reason why it was parked as there where 3 DME relays laying in the floorboards) out of a 944 in a junk yard. Threw it in and, and drove it down the street. Shifted into all 5 gears, clutch seemed smooth, breaks stopped, engine tacked.

So I know I have to do timing belts, little bit of rust repair, interior work. But any other sort of guidance on what to do with this thing. I've done some reading, gotten some books. But there's no teacher like the experience people have on this board.
I like the car, I really do. I'm even questioning engine swapping and just keeping it the stock 2.5.... although they seem like a pain to upkeep for only 150 hp.

Thanks for the read and the welcome, and advice on what to do with this thing would be appreciated. I want to make it a fun weekend cruiser, make it reliable enough to drive it out to my fiancée's family in New Mexico.

Gage

First off, welcome. You will be okay, there is a lot that transfers from that other realm (car people are car people) to the one of German sports cars, and there is a lot to learn.
For the 84, you can either proactively replace everything operationally critical or, what many of us have done, replace the timing belt and engine bay fuel hoses, start driving it and fix things as they come up. The latter would be the better approach since you're new to the breed but might make longer trips a bit risky. BTW, breaks are what your bones might incur should your brakes fail. Since they're first on your philosophy scale, I thought you should know.

Lerered

Thanks for the welcome,
I'll be ridding it to work and back for the next little bit (8 miles) with some longer trips planned (100 miles) once I get the registration figured. I got the thing because i wanted a low displacement canyon type car.

My question is... are these motors.. well... good?
Are the 2.5's worth it?

Dan Martinic

Over a decade of daily driving, my experience suggests that the motor basics are good (ie. shortblock) but all the paper, rubber, & electrical will bring you consistent issues, mostly due to age.
As has been suggested, you can pull the motor and replace all that stuff now, or fix as you go. Option #2 is terrible by the way, but I've been managing somewhat.

If you are asking are they good performance-wise, well... for 1984, yes. And, depending on your definition of fun--which might include nostalgia and driving dynamics but not drag racing--you might well be very happy with your stock 2.5. I certainly am.

57charley

I bought a 1985.5 non runner for $700 back in 2017, has an automatic, it's a one of these days project. It's not a turbo, but does have 15 in Fuchs. www.car-parts.com is a good salvage yard search engine.