zmarchet

Hey guys, I am new to the forum and I should thank you all right now for all the valuable information i have already found from your posts. i recently bought an '84 944 for $1500. It remains to be seen if this was a good deal or not cause the car has a few issues. Wipers not working, Back wiper not there, turn signals not working, odometer not working, speedometer not working, strange clutch feel, clutch bearing noisy, other bearing noises. So here are my questions:

1) Here is what my clutch inspection hole looks like. By my guess I am showing about 25-30mm which should tell me I have some life left on the current clutch. Do you agree?
http://i1226.photobucket.com/albums/...t/100_0421.jpg

2) When I press the clutch the whole way to the floor, it obviously disengages. the problem comes when i want it to reengage. It doesn't start to reengage until the last 1/3 of its play. I would like it to slowly engage throughout the full distance of the clutch play. Can this be adjusted or is this just an indication of how worn the clutch is?

3) When the car is coasting in 2nd or 3rd or any gear and i'm off the clutch, I hear some bearing noise. If i stay off the gas and just depress the clutch, that noise goes away. Does this mean its the clutch release bearing?

4) I work as a sales rep for an industrial automation manufacturer so i know how to get bearings. I would like to be able to buy the bearings I need w/o having to buy kits from 944online or pelican parts because I don't want to over pay. my problem is finding all the part numbers for these bearings. Is there a good place to get these part numbers? I have found some like the torque tube bearings SKF 6006 2RS2 C3 HT51 (those are not the original but a better replacement), wheel bearings, differential bearings. I am lookign for internal transmission bearings, fork needle bearings, this pilot bearing people talk about... any help with those?

5) My plan is to replace the clutch, release bearing, TT bearings. Other than bearings that are internal to the tranny, what other bearings are between the engine and tranny that I should replace? What is this pilot bearing?

6) Is the transmission even possible for a home mechanic to rebuild?

Thanks guys!
Zach

pnbell

Hey Congrats on the purchase, and Welcome to Rennlist,

Sounds like your in for an intense year; because of all the problems you know about right now, and all the hidden problems you will discover.. This is a Project Car,,,, Right?

Well your in the right place, Rennlist is full of great people, and useful information.

From the looks of it, it seems you are a Do It Yourself-er which is good!

if you have not already been to Clarks Garage Site; here is the site:
http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-ma...ure-index3.htm

A wealth of knowledge, and instructions.

As for your Clutch: Check the Brake fluid level. and Maybe bleeding the clutch would help with the amount of travel...

Replace the clutch if your going to replace the Throwout and TT Bearings... Getting to those is like a 12 hour job, that you will not want to redo..

Is the bearing noise like a rattle? or a High pitched noise? Does it do it in Neutral? Go away when the clutch pedal is pushed in?

and Yes the Transmission could be rebuilt by a home mechanic, though you might need a special tool or two..

p.s. Where do you live?

zmarchet

pnbell,

Thanks for the reply. i'm in Omaha, NE but i am actually from VA. My parents actually live outside of Front Royal. Virginia is beautiful. I would love to get to drive the 944 on some of those windy mountain roads.

This is definitely a project car but i wanna do it on the cheap. I'm not really concerned with the aesthetics of it so much as i am with getting it running smoothly and keeping it running. For instance, I dont care about the rips in the the seat or the cracks in the dash.

I hadn't thoguht about checking the brake level to fix the problem although I do know it is right around the Min line in the tank. I am a do it yourselfer but I have never bled lines before so I may need to get the tools for that.

As for the noises. there is definitely one that comes and goes when the clutch is engaged and not engaged. I also have a whinning noise that seems to get louder as the car runs. And of course there is occasional rattling. I have not really checked to see if it does it in neutral. I am going to try and get it out and through all the gears this weekend to see if I can pin point the noises a little more.

From doing a little reading it seems as if I should look at doing a water pump, timing belt, and timing pulley replacement first because I do not know when the last time that was done. All the smooth bearings in the world wont be any good if the motor doesnt run.

i have seen clarks garage but havent been through all the info. i downloaded 6 large pdfs on repair of the 944 which should come in very handy as they have a lot more pictures than the haynes manual. if anyone is interested in the pdfs i could upload them to yousendit or a file sharing site like that. But I am thinking most everyone probably has that info.

thanks for the notes, I will check into the brake fluid level and bearing noises a little more.

One thing I have to say is I know this year of the 944 is nothing special but this car holds the road like nothing I have ever driven. A tilt steerign wheel for my fat legs would help though.

Zach

pnbell

Yea, Timing Belt, Waterpump, Balance Belt, and All those rollers should be replaced... Could be some of the Whinning your hearing. Whinning could also be PowerSteering Belt or Alternator belt... I adjust mine a couple times a year..

For the Record: My transmission whines in 2nd gear under accelaration.