Track One

Hey guys, I'm Kyle. Grew up around Porsches - dad is/was an active PCA instructor in his '73 911e and 986 S. I just bought my first Porsche..

I picked up a "non-running" 968 a few months back in pretty sad shape. Worn interior, tired paint, and crusty all over. PO had let it sit for years before leaving it for dead at a shop in Memphis who wanted it off their lot. I made a low-ball offer that was accepted, jump started it and drove it into the trailer

First start in years - needs new gas BAD

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Trailered the car back to Nashville and started compiling the parts list for the front engine reseal. Here she is in all her glory

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The plan is to get it running reliably as a daily and sort through all the systems, and then go full track/HPDE car. I work at a performance shop that specializes in Porsche and BMW so it will always be in good company.

I ordered all the parts for the reseal, plus a few extras like slave and master cylinder, and tore into it.



Up on the lift

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Pulled off the factory wheels *FOR SALE* to make room for Cup IIs

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Put it all back together, replaced some vacuum lines, and ran a few things of Techron through the gas tank. At first, I thought I had more serious issues (TPS, Hall, 02, etc) but turns out it just needed to be driven. Every drive the car is waking up more, but now I am encountering some other gremlins.


As she sits now

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The first problem - I cannot get the dash lights or interior lights to come on for any reason. Checked fuses and nada.

Passenger taillight does not work except brakes and turn signals. Reverse and driving lights are out - not bulbs.

Thanks for reading and offering suggestions. I plan on being pretty active on the forums and learning for those who have a lot more experience with 968s.

touareg

How many miles?

After market radio?

How about aftermarket alarm? Under the passenger footwell is the alarm module, and a lot of wires for the car end up there, besides the fuse box, the DME and Alarm module will have a lot of wires going in there. With an aftermaket alarm, someone could be screwing with the wires there. Same with the car stereo.

Older 944s where known to have failed light switches that started fires.

Jacks911

Any chance the dash lamps are just the usual Super DIM? And maybe the Interior light is a separate issue? These dash boards are famous for the silver reflective foil that reflects the lamp light to the instruments going bad. It simply turns flat gray and you can hardly see any light on the instruments at night. There is also the rheostat lamp dimmer that can fail after all this time in less than ideal storage.
Best of luck... all the help you need is right here on Rennlist... but note there are Two sections for 968 so post and search in both. Oh ... and there is another web 968 Board, but look here first.

bill3

You mentioned 2 968 forums; where is the second one?

Thanks

touareg

I think when he said two 968 sections, he meant the 924/944/968 and this, 968 only.

As for other forums.

968.net and 968forum.com

LM964

Also useful - porsche968uk.co.uk

blue44

welcome Kyle, keep posting. Cup II's are my personal fave...

Donn

touareg

I just need to find a pair, same size as you have on your old car, I love the suspension work you did and dont want to mess up the tracking.

Track One

Dash lights are definitely just SUPER dim. There is a barely detectable difference when the dimmer switch is off or on.

Should I replace the foil or swap in brighter bulbs? Both?

Taillight was a ground wire that had come loose.

Hall Sensor replacement is next. Going to do the valve cover gasket while I am there as it is seeping slightly. Anything else to pay attention to or replace while I'm there?

Dino V

Congrats on the pick up. Looks like it is in good hands now.

mick dundee

Hi...if your takeing the valve cover off have a real good look at the camshaft sprockets for wear and tare and the cam pads and hydrolic tensioner. I would replace the camchain, and belts to be on the safe side. If the cam sprockets are worn or rounded off you will need to replace the camshafts.
OUCH!! big $$$ good luck.

Cheers , Mick

Track One

Thanks, Mick. I replaced the belts, pulleys, idlers, tensioners, etc when I did the waterpump. Cam teeth looked good and the car has been running strong since the service.

When replacing the hall sensor - do most guys replace the male and female connectors? My male connector disintegrated and has left bits of plastic in the female housing.. not sure if I am going to be able to pick the pieces out without damaging the female housing

MGW-Fla

Welcome and Good Luck with your refurbish. Sounds like you are quite capable of bringing it back to all its glory.

Track One

Well.. the honeymoon was short lived.

I bought the parts to do replace the hall sensor and valve cover gasket but before I was able to begin the work the car began running very rough.

Difficult startup - requires to be cranked several times before it decides to stay running. Starts and dies. Starts and dies. Starts and stays running but very rough. I would say that it is running on only 3 cylinders on startup. Some white smoke out of the exhaust - head gasket? When driving, the car has a serious miss under load until it gets up over 2500rpm.

Checked the oil (on the dipstick, unless there's some other way to check) - no milkshake. Rich brown color from a recent oil change. Where/how is the best way to check the coolant to make sure oil isn't mixed in?

Any other ideas?

thomasmryan

see if a plug is steamed cleaned or if a plug wire is bad or not connected. changing the hall sensor will give you 6 more degrees of timing and she will really come to life.