Just got my 1987 944 na - Few Questions
02-13-2010, 11:14 PM
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Just got my 1987 944 na - Few Questions
Actually, it's been a month. Thanks to help from this site and Clark's Garage the first order of business was to check the timing belts. Glad I did, the balance shaft belt was off it's gears, slapping around inside, and the idler bearing was completely torn up. Also the tension arm pulley was down to bare metal.
All that's good now and it's on to some more issues. Any help for a newbie would be greatly appreciated.
I'm sure I'll have many questions but I have two now that I haven't found clear info on.
#1 - The Speedo and Odometer are out. I was told by the last owner that the previous owner broke the impulse sensor when changing the fly wheel. I bought the sensor but when I went to look at where it went it wasn't threaded. Is the correct position on the tansaxle, on the drivers side (I didn't mention that this is an auto tranny). The cable was there and there was a mounting hole approximately the size of the aluminum bushing n the end of the sensor. But as I said the hole is flush, no threads. I think I may be missing parts. And do the speedo and odometer both runn off this sensor?
#2 - Tires are rubbing on the front fender - If fact all 4 tires were shot. The front rub on a tight turn when hitting uneven surfaces. It's not bad. I can drive it cautiously and it won't rub. But judging by the tire wear the previous owners had problems on the front fenders (and then rotated the tires to the back). When I bought my new tires and they had the wheels off I noticed that there were clamps on the front springs pulling the coils down one coil width. The question here is was that most likely done to lower the front end or stiffen the front end, or both. I'm tempted to remove them and have it re-aligned. But I'm not sure what the logic of having these clamps was. It handles pretty good now. But I'd like to not wipe out my new tires.
Sorry for the long post. Thanks for ant suggestions.
Rob
All that's good now and it's on to some more issues. Any help for a newbie would be greatly appreciated.
I'm sure I'll have many questions but I have two now that I haven't found clear info on.
#1 - The Speedo and Odometer are out. I was told by the last owner that the previous owner broke the impulse sensor when changing the fly wheel. I bought the sensor but when I went to look at where it went it wasn't threaded. Is the correct position on the tansaxle, on the drivers side (I didn't mention that this is an auto tranny). The cable was there and there was a mounting hole approximately the size of the aluminum bushing n the end of the sensor. But as I said the hole is flush, no threads. I think I may be missing parts. And do the speedo and odometer both runn off this sensor?
#2 - Tires are rubbing on the front fender - If fact all 4 tires were shot. The front rub on a tight turn when hitting uneven surfaces. It's not bad. I can drive it cautiously and it won't rub. But judging by the tire wear the previous owners had problems on the front fenders (and then rotated the tires to the back). When I bought my new tires and they had the wheels off I noticed that there were clamps on the front springs pulling the coils down one coil width. The question here is was that most likely done to lower the front end or stiffen the front end, or both. I'm tempted to remove them and have it re-aligned. But I'm not sure what the logic of having these clamps was. It handles pretty good now. But I'd like to not wipe out my new tires.
Sorry for the long post. Thanks for ant suggestions.
Rob
02-14-2010, 09:23 AM
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Rob
1st things 1st...congratulations for getting your first 944 and welcome to Rennlist, a wonderful community of Porsche entusiasts and a weath of knowledge for your car.
You may want to consider investing in a membership here as it will allow access to a few other areas of the site...is inexpensive and gets you that nice, red RENNLIST MEMBER thing beneath your name.
As for the speedo, I don't personally have any help to offer, but if you use the search function in this particular forum*****EDIT**** YOU WILL GET MORE RESPONSE IF YOU POST TO THE 924/44/68 FORUM UNDER WATERCOOLED !!!!, I bet you'll come up with something. You mentioned Clark's Garage, which also should help shed some light.
Another great resource would be North Hollywood Speedometer (use google) they specialize in rebuilding speedos and dashboards for our cars and could probably give you some pointers.
As for the tire-rubbing....are the wheels original Porsche wheels or aftermarket? You mentioned something about rotating......most of the original wheel setups were staggered...example, my D-90's are 7" front and 8" rear widths. I can run the 8's upfront (and will at the track this season) but I suspect that there's a max tire size upfront that is less than out back.
Your car is a late offset car (84 thru 86 was early offset) so has around a 52mm wheel offset....if the wheels are aftermarket ones the offset may be incorrect, causing the rubbing....post a few pictures so we can help some more !
best
Joe
1st things 1st...congratulations for getting your first 944 and welcome to Rennlist, a wonderful community of Porsche entusiasts and a weath of knowledge for your car.
You may want to consider investing in a membership here as it will allow access to a few other areas of the site...is inexpensive and gets you that nice, red RENNLIST MEMBER thing beneath your name.
As for the speedo, I don't personally have any help to offer, but if you use the search function in this particular forum*****EDIT**** YOU WILL GET MORE RESPONSE IF YOU POST TO THE 924/44/68 FORUM UNDER WATERCOOLED !!!!, I bet you'll come up with something. You mentioned Clark's Garage, which also should help shed some light.
Another great resource would be North Hollywood Speedometer (use google) they specialize in rebuilding speedos and dashboards for our cars and could probably give you some pointers.
As for the tire-rubbing....are the wheels original Porsche wheels or aftermarket? You mentioned something about rotating......most of the original wheel setups were staggered...example, my D-90's are 7" front and 8" rear widths. I can run the 8's upfront (and will at the track this season) but I suspect that there's a max tire size upfront that is less than out back.
Your car is a late offset car (84 thru 86 was early offset) so has around a 52mm wheel offset....if the wheels are aftermarket ones the offset may be incorrect, causing the rubbing....post a few pictures so we can help some more !
best
Joe
02-15-2010, 12:45 PM
#3
Very smart thing to inspect everything right away. Did you change all the belts and the waterpump yourself. If you did how did you go about tensioning. I will be doing this job this summer so I am trying to pickup as much info as possible. As far as the wheels, could there be spacers?
02-15-2010, 01:46 PM
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The wheels are the Phone dial wheels. Were they staggared? I guess I shold just measure them and check. They might not be the originals and I thought I'd read that there were a couple of different widths of the phone dial wheels.
I did the belts. The water pump had recently been replaced and didn't seem to have any problems. I have to confess I used the twist method. And they're whining. I need to get back in and loosten them slightly and then get it to someone that has the tension meter.
I don't have any real good advice, except that it makes things a lot easier to go ahead and get the fans and both front belt covers off. I ripped out everything that got in my way and it didn't take much extra time. But it sure made it easy to get everything back in and tightened.
I didn't see spacers but like I said there was spring clamps. I need to re-investigate and I'll post some pictures of the clamps to see if anyone has any idea why they would be used.
I did the belts. The water pump had recently been replaced and didn't seem to have any problems. I have to confess I used the twist method. And they're whining. I need to get back in and loosten them slightly and then get it to someone that has the tension meter.
I don't have any real good advice, except that it makes things a lot easier to go ahead and get the fans and both front belt covers off. I ripped out everything that got in my way and it didn't take much extra time. But it sure made it easy to get everything back in and tightened.
I didn't see spacers but like I said there was spring clamps. I need to re-investigate and I'll post some pictures of the clamps to see if anyone has any idea why they would be used.
02-15-2010, 05:17 PM
#5
I like your idea of taking the fans out. I know you can do it without taking them out but I am thinking just like you. Clear things out to make things easier to work with and more visable. Especially for a first timer.
