TheAllusionist

So Rear passenger rear wheel bearing replaced, still have the sound, bought new tires, still have a sound.... not certain what diagnostic options I really have, there is having the other rear wheel bearing replaced and do the the fronts myself...... Finding a better mechanic is probably not an option here, I had it to the two best shops in my town and they both thought it was the passenger side rear wheel bearing. Wondering about transaxle now! Grrrrr

My wife followed me to shop to drop of car to have tires done and she tells me later that it smoked, when I was shifting or something, but she couldn't tell if it was white or black smoke! Grrrrrrr I figure it is when I am getting on it and turbo hits boost, but not certain. Well it is kind of discouraging at the moment.

Since I can't seem to fix the big items, I fixed a bunch of little ones. Fixed the heater fan speed issue by replacing the rheostat, while in there cleaned out all the leaves and dirt under the shroud, engine compartment is very clean now.

I painted all the little rock chips etc.. I replaced broken hinges on sun roof and put a new relay in hoping to fix it, it still has a mind of it's own, it wants to open on it's own and not close. I have a micro switch to try and then if have to will mess with motors etc..

Well I felt like I was very close to having stuff done and then things arise or aren't solved very easily, guess that is the joy of a vintage sports car. My transmission is LSD with cooler, but doesn't have that option code, figure it must be a 5R, but can't see the stamp while it is in the car, but I am starting to wonder if the transaxle is making my mystery sound!

The Journey continues............

TheAllusionist

In trouble shooting the puffs of smoke, if I check compression and leak down test and that is good, could I assume that next probable culprit is the turbocharger?

mytrplseven

An Air Fuel Ratio gauge in your car is an important diagnostic and protection tool for turbo cars. It will tell you if your car is running the proper profile of air fuel ratio at idle, cruise and when you are boosting it. There's some good articles on what to expect at each point. If you're getting the wrong mixture you could easily burn valves or screw up the turbo. I just installed an Innovate MXT-L in my car along with a 2" boost gauge on the A pillar and right away it pointed to a very lean mixture issue.

TheAllusionist

Thanks, I have a gauge to install, was waiting to get under car with test pipe I have and mark where to have a bung installed for the AFR gauge. What guage pillar product did you use and do you like it? I have pate to put under radio, but I was thinking a double din radio might help update the interior so I have been looking into pillar gauges.

Thanks!

mytrplseven

When I got the car, the PO had a turbo boost gauge in a flat panel under the radio. It was a Lindsey Racing unit. I didin't like to have two important gauges like boost and AFR out of the line of sight so I bought the cluster gauge for the A pillar from Lindsey. Installing it with all the wires underneath was a challenge, but I got it installed and to get the bung welded in I pulled the entire exhaust system south of the turbo and loaded it into the truck in one piece and took it to a muffler shop. I recommend doing a test fit with the upper connector in the proper place behind the motor and the cable to the O2 probe all the way down so you'll have enough play in the cable to keep it clear of the turbo down pipe. Route it near the starter. I placed the wideband O2 sensor in the pipe at a 45 degree angle right after the pipe makes it's first lateral bend. That's a little over 18 inches after the turbo which is an ideal location.

TheAllusionist

Thank you for the solid description and explanation, it is a winter project, I have a sound in the rear of the car I am trying to track down.

TheAllusionist

Bad winter here and now that it has been getting nicer, I have the urge to get back to work on my car. Another area to start on is my suspension, I have Lindsey Racing 968 M030 LR Sway Bars. 30mm Front and 19mm 5 Way Adjustable Rear to install. In addition I have The Turbo S M030 Double adjustable struts and the 968 M030 Rear coil over helper spring shocks.

Assuming these make my rear suspension equivalent to having 27 mm torsion bars which is equivalent to 220lb springs I understand, this is what I will determine as fixed and I will adjust my front accordingly. What front spring rate should I run with the mentioned say bars and rear set up? It appears that my fronts are currently 150-175 progressive rate if my research is correct. So I believe I may need stiffer front springs, but what I should start with is the real question?

The rear shocks and springs will raise the back, so I will probably have to re-index the torsion bars. I hear that is a major pain, so I may take the car to Seattle and have it lowered over all and corner balanced by a Porsche specialist. Sounds expensive, but I would really like to get things set up right and leave it. So at the moment I should send the fronts in to be rebuilt so that I know I am starting off correctly and get the appropriate front springs for my set up, does anyone have any suggestions on front springs?

Thanks!

TheAllusionist

Based on the above assumption on spring rate equivalents and the 220 in the rear and the 150-175 progressive in front, should I stay with the fronts or is it obvious that I should go to 250 lbs or similar? I have been researching, but haven't found a definitive. I am also curious of stiffness settings for shocks, especially rears that are not externally adjustable.

I would like to set up the car for spirited street driving and hope to be able to drive up to Seattle or down to Portland once in a while for some DE, etc.. But I do not want to set it up so stiff that it isn't enjoyable for road trips, etc. Well lets me honest, I wouldn't mind, but I am afraid my wife will complain if I go to aggressive! LOL

Weather is getting nice, Want to get suspension stuff done and a wide band AFR installed in the exhaust system I have ready to install, etc.. Putting off major performance upgrades to engine and just focusing on suspension and braking and sorting out the remaining issues.

rlm328

I would take the car out and drive it pretty hard to see how it turns in a corner. The stiffer the spring in front the more under steer. I would adjust from there according to your driving bias.

Personally, I run about 15% less front spring then I do back spring. I have done away with my torsion bar, so you will need what the combination rate is between the torsion bar and the spring you have in place.

Smudo

If the effective rate of the rear springs is 220 lbs, I would suggest to put 250 lbs springs in the front in case you like neutral handling. The effective rate of the front springs is around 94%, thus 250 lbs springs actually effective rate is around 230 lbs which in pair with 220 lbs rear would make neural rating. If you use M030 sway bars, the rears are adjustable thus you will be able to fine tune the handling.

I have M030 sway bars, 250 lbs Weltmeister springs and 28 mm TBs and I runs 225/50 tires on all corners. May car has medium over-steer.

TheAllusionist

Thanks, kind of the voice of reason there, I am just lazy and thought maybe I should try to get it close as I can and not have to take them on and off. I also thought maybe I wouldn't get a good feel for it until I get corner balance and re-indexed as I am told that the helper springs raise the rear end and the amount of adjustment in the torsion bar spring plates might not be enough.

Thanks for the input 250 is kind of what I came up with, but I am still running staggered wheels/tires so that counters the over steer a bit, but I realize there are a few variables working here.

I really appreciate the input, and information on what others are doing. Now I need to research springs and if there is anything special I should have Koni do when I send struts to be rebuilt, i.e. special valving, whatever the latest greatest options are if there are any.....

Thanks guys and have a great weekend!

TheAllusionist

Still chugging away at it. The early 86 ends up being even more peculiar than an 86, case in point, worked on the sun roof trying to eliminate a mind of it's own and it turned out to have the early style motor system. Got it to stop working on it's own once I got the car moving in reverse or forward starting around 5 mph, but the switch doesn't act like all the tutorials say when the ignition is turned to accessory, so maybe when I replaced the rocker switch it wasn't the right one for my pre-February 1986 944 turbo In any event I can use the sun roof.

Had the other rear wheel bearing replaced, still have a sound, must be in the LSD transaxel, still working on tracking it down.

Been trying to track down what I think is a rattle when the engine hits upper RPMs. So while I was at it I put in a test pipe and performance exhaust. Cool sound, but still have the rattle or the blow off/re-circulation valve just sounds funky! Another item to chase.

While listening for exhaust noise with windows down, realized I have a real squealing brake. Had a tire and brake shop look at it, and they thought it was the front rotors which I knew were warped because I could feel vibration on braking, shop said they were really warped but that I should take it to a dealer as they didn't feel comfortable working on it. So I ordered "Sebro" front rotors and replace them this weekend. I viewed the tutorials and tore into it and I was what is this, there aren't machine screws holding rotor to hub like tutorials, I am going to have to go get some high temp axel grease and remove the hubs to change these rotors Well it is done, but squeel is there and I started to think about it and I think when I had a shop adjust the emergency brakes a while back maybe that is it, so I will have to tear into it and see if the drum shoes are the issue....... I have stainless steel/teflon brake lines on the way to install as well.

So last year I purchased a used AC compressor and installed it and it was bad to. Shop said it is leaking and so is a hose, with no more information. Well they told me the original one was bad as well and I am not going to pay $4,000 for them to put in a new AC compressor, dryer and hoses. So I may purchase a Khuel system that has hoses as well and designed for modern refrigerants to make sure to replace all the parts and hopefully improve things, hope it works well. I am on the fence and may by a re manufactured or new compressor and some used lines trying to decide and just not to excited to get under there and to that chore again, it was a bugger!

It looks like the cam tower is leaking oil in back of engine and onto header, so that is another item I need to deal with. I am sure all the veterans smile to hear the "Newbie" with a car with only 48,000 original miles on it now, having all the issues! LOL

So far with the LR boost enhancer, test pipe and exhaust it feels like I have more bottom end torque, little more power earlier, don't have as much kick when the turbo comes on, but I think it is an improvement! LOL

Need to order new rubber for the torsion bars and install parts to install intercooler from LR, then I believe I need camber plates to install the M030 double adjustable struts on the front, but once I have that done I will have my suspension upgrades done and slowly work on motor performance stuff. The wideband Oxygen sensor is on the top of my list before doing any major work and once that is done the stealth vitesse MAF


Not much of a "build thread", but I am chugging along on it and doing most the work myself. In the end I am probably becoming a lot like others around here and entering a later stage of 951 ownership and just want all the kinks worked out and the car sorted so I can drive and enjoy it.

TheAllusionist

Very excited Charlie with Evergreen Turbo just finished the K27-8 he was building for me!

I guess I better look for a 3" downpipe now!

TheAllusionist

Update on the build, finally got all the parts outside of some gaskets and a Bosch 044 high volumen fuel pump. I hope to really tear into it next weekend, will do some research on anything I should be doing while I have the intake, head, etc. off.

The head build shown has been superceded by a new build that Evergreen Turbo is doing: https://rennlist.com/forums/944-turb...bocharger.html

In addition I purchased a high flowing head and had it rebuilt and tweaked to match my ported intake manifuld and oversizes throttle body: https://rennlist.com/forums/944-turb...repairing.html

In addition I have a new Vitesse MAF system and parts to do it in a stealth mode, so I am excited about that, will be looking at potential ways to bet more air into the stock air box, looks like there may be more options these days with all the cold air intake systems on cars and aftermarket so I bought a decent airbox top to look at ways to connect a larter intake tunnel to the airbox. Will be looking more into this once the main work is done.

At this point I may need to put a performance clutch in it, I picked up a Spec 3 Hybrid and will either send it to have new liner installed or go with the KEP and cup combo, but I figure with my luck I will need to put in a new clutch to handle the new power.

Once it is running again I will be installing the 968 M030 suspension parts I have, I will then take it to Seattle and have it lowered appropropriately (subtle 1/2" - 1" front, rear as much as needed to level out) with torsion bars re-indexed (helper spring rear shocks probably cause this to be necessary) and then a corner balance and a dyno tune. From then on I plan on just driving and maintianing it. Fingers crossed!

Oh yah! bought a newer still pretty white water expansion resevoir!

Nowanker

Hey, nice looking head!
steve