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I’ve seen other people do this and seems like a great way to keep track of the work I do on the 944 I bought a month ago.
It’s a 2 owner 1985 NA with just over 100k miles on it. I bought it off a man in his eighties who had put 14k miles on it in 20 years. He just wasn’t using it much and told me he couldn’t get in and out anymore. I paid $9800, plus $600 more to have his mechanic do the belts and rollers so I could safely drive it the 4 hours home.
30 minutes into that drive the temp gauge started rising. And rising. It was an 85 degree day and I was driving on a freeway going up through a mountain pass, so I was concerned. Fortunately turning the heat on sent the gauge to the center line, so I took off the sunroof and opened the windows. It was an amazing first long drive that revealed another issue with the car as it got dark out and I realized the dash lights didn’t work (fuse change sorted that out). I was so relieved and happy to finally pull the car into my driveway.
In my next post I’ll list what I’ve done so far and the maintenance I’m still facing. Feel free to comment with suggestions and wisdom on any of the posts I make.
*Belts and rollers (done by a professional) *New tires *Replaced thermostat, thermofan switch, and coolant expansion tank cap to address overheating *Replaced hose from water pump to radiator and tightened radiator clamps to address fan blade damaging the previous hose *Replaced rear shocks with Sport Konis because left rear shock was rattling *Replaced fuel filter, spark plugs, and air filter *Replaced hood shocks *Replaced battery to chassis ground and chassis to engine ground *Replaced DME relay with solid state relay *Replaced driver-side seatbelt *Fixed dash lights by replacing fuse (quick but satisfying) *Cleaned and rebuilt hand brake so it works consistently
*Address oil leak at front of engine, guessing from camshaft. Plan is to just redo all the seals and sleeves on the front. Going to be my first long job on the car and waiting until I have some garage space for winter work. I could also do the water pump at this time as this wasn't done when the belts were done, but the water pump is working fine and I might just leave it be.
*Replace engine mounts. The old ones are worn, especially the passenger-side one, and there's a good deal of vibration that I think is more than the usual 944 idle rattle.
*Replace tie rods. There's enough play that it needs to be done. Do this at the same times as... *Replace sway bar bushings. The passenger side one is starting to break apart probably from power steering fluid and oil dripping on it.
*Replace shifter as it has a lot of side to side play and vibrates quite a bit.
*Fix nonworking horn.
*Fix rear latch button. Can hear it working but doesn't release the hatch
*Have fuel injectors professionally cleaned, checked, and rebuilt.
*Fix nonworking passenger side window switch.
*Install AFM and DME from newer vehicle (already on the way)
10-17-2023, 10:42 AM
1985.1 Project Thread
