Joined: Apr 2018

Posts: 503

Likes: 131

From: Maryland

Hi all… I’ve been a lurker and posted an odd question or two since this last March… when I purchased an ’86 951. I dove into the deep end headfirst on a full stomach after drinking too much beer. Without being able to see the bottom. I thought I’d share the experience to date. Hopefully it may be useful to some, and at least amusing to those who know better.

This occasional post will cover interior, exterior and mechanical work. And whatever else I find in the rabbit hole. I’ll discuss products and techniques used and I’ll be happy to answer questions. (Please note I’m not a social media fiend... I may not answer immediately). Before I go into the long introduction… I thought I’d post a before and after (well… “current”) picture of the interior to give you an idea of what I’ve been able to do so far. I’ll post information on the “how” later on. As well as clarify some background experience (or lack thereof) for others contemplating something similar.

Work done to date:
Gutted and rebuilt interior.
Installed Lindsey 3” exhaust with Cat.
Removed turbo and alternator (neither is back in yet).
In the process of replacing every hose.
Gone through many bottles of solvent.


Interior when purchased

Dash when purchased. Lots of cracks

Seats when purchased. Ripped leather and missing foam.

Interior mostly done.

Interior mostly done.

Joined: Apr 2018

Posts: 503

Likes: 131

From: Maryland

I should probably mention that I’ve wanted a 944 S2 or Turbo since I started my “944S2 Cabriolet” fund in a box under my bed in 9th grade. Despite the fact that room, board and every other expense (short of comic books) I had was covered by the nature of being a young teenager living at home… my paper-route contributions took a while to mature. And here we are 30-some years later and I’ve got a Porsche in my backyard.

The car: Bought off Craigslist in WV. 86 Guards Red 951 with 165,000 miles. Low price. Not much maintenance history as the previous previous owner was a “friend” of the PO and “was a mechanic who did his own work.” I had a “What to look for when purchasing a 944” booklet and previous mechanical knowledge that consisted of replacing control arms, struts and valve cover gaskets in a Subaru Impreza.

Short story… it was not well documented. But the body seemed to be in great shape. I figured I could fix everything else myself… but despite some metalworking experience, I really didn’t want to do bodywork. The price was right… and it came with an extra engine (minus intake and turbo) that supposedly only had 60,000 miles. And it drove like a hoot on the test drive. And on the 240 miles home.

I’ll fill in more background on future posts… for now… On to the interior.

Why start there?
- The consequences of screwing something up inside seemed less dire that screwing up something under the hood.
- It seemed an easy place to jump in.
- The previous owner smoked… the car stunk.
- I noticed some wet carpet in the trunk and wanted to see if I had missed some corrosion (leaky hatch).

The plan:
- Gut the interior down to bare metal.
- Put in new sound isolation and carpet.
- Rebuild the dash.
- Put in a stereo that looks appropriate.
- Try to get the trip odometer working.
- Reupholster the front and rear seats.
- Replace all the weather seals.

Joined: Apr 2018

Posts: 503

Likes: 131

From: Maryland

1st step... rip all of the carpet and foam out. At least if your carpet and foam looked like mine. Throw away the foam. The carpet? Save it for now. It will become important later if you do what I did.

I threw mine away. This was a mistake.

The 944 had a fair amount of vibration and sound-deadening “mastic” applied to the car body when new. I suspect it’s tar based. It’s also painted to match the body color.

After 32 years it gets brittle and nasty. I decided to remove it to “do the interior right” and get a better idea of the condition of the car body. After tons of internet searching... I settled on this method.

1. Get a heat gun and a metal putty knife.
2. Heat the mastic. But more importantly, hold the putty knife right in front of the heat gun so the putty knife gets nice and hot.
3. Start scraping.
4. Keep scraping.
5. Pause for a beer.
6. Scrape a lot more.

I found the putty knife worked better than the optional scraper attached to the end of the heat gun.

Once you’ve gotten what you can off...

Part II -

1. Buy a brass wire brush.
2. Buy a gallon of acetone. (Not kidding)
3. Buy a respirator that filters VOCs (also not kidding).
4. Buy lots of nitrile gloves.
5. Put on respirator.
6. Pour acetone in floor pan.
7. Start brushing.
8. Keep brushing.
9. Brush some more.
10. Have another beer (well away from the fumes).

It’s hard work. Picks of the “after” later.