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Hi, just wanted to introduce my project. I purchased a 1991 cabriolet, with no engine, that has been sitting like this for a dozen years or so.
This is the car arriving at my place.
Interior needs a little attention..
Seats are full powered, but trashed..
Overall, with the exception of the missing engine, it seems to be a fairly clean, unmolested car that just needs some tlc.
THE PLAN
The Body
At first I thought the paint might work so I tried paint correction on the front
The car has been repainted, obviously, and it was not a "great" paint job. From 5 feet it looks great. Even looks good at 3 feet. But when you really examine the paint close up, it's not perfect. Even though I flattened the paint I can see slight orange peel underneath. The never bothered sanding the substrate flat. I could almost live with this but looking at the front left fender they actually painted over the rock guard! They removed (or taped off?) the other guards. The other three guards are in sad shape. Peeling them off would probably take some paint with it. Upon further examination it became clear that the car had been resprayed an early guard red as opposed to the 1991 version this car came with. If you look at the windshield frame it is the original paint. They never bothered to repaint this. So time for a respray.
Trying to get the right guards red is a huge hassle so since the engine is out I decided to go with a different color.
It will get a panel off paint job (don't want tape lines) in Carmine Red.
Along with the paint job I will be shaving the third brake light, looks stupid to me.
Would like to put a rear spoiler on with integrated brake light. Any suggestions on spoilers would be greatly appreciated, I can only find one.
Considering a front splitter also.
931 hood, and new top to finish the body.
Interior
Going to leave this for last. For the time being it will get seats from a newer porsche.
A double din with 6.5" comps in front door panels. Still trying to figure out rear speakers.
When I got the car the trunk would not open, so I will be installing an emergency release from a 968.
Engine
With the engine out of the car it should be easy to do all of the basic maintenance and clean up (powder coating, replating etc.)
I would like to start painting the body later this week.
I already got the engine bay painted. That sucked!!
Here you can see the new color and how it looks next to the old color.
I'll post more progress picks tomorrow.
I ended up getting a good deal on a complete '86 turbo engine with 91k on it. Came with full service records. Serviced at Porsche for most of its life, except last couple of years there are indi and owner records. In the past year the turbo was professionally rebuilt, head gasket, starter, belts and cooler sealed. Looking at the engine the records seem to match the work.
Engine arrives!
engine arrives..
along with accessories!
I started gathering the items needed for the swap
The intercooler scoop, u shaped intercooler mounts and coolant overflow tank. I think the only other parts I need are one undertray, exhaust and a boost gauge. If anyone knows other parts I need let me know.
My plans for the engine are:
replace every gasket and seal (since the HG and turbo were just done all the bolts look good )
new belts, rollers and pump (even though the belts were just replaced the pump and rollers were not)
new rod bearings
valve seals and lapped
powder coating what is possible and replating whatever needs it.
Do you know what happened with the original engine?
I imagine it was made into beer cans! The story I was given was that the engine blew, mechanic put another engine in and the owner did not want to pay. The mechanic removed the engine and the car sat in his garage for the next dozen years.
Did you get the turbo DME (engine management computer), the KLR (for boost control), and engine wiring harness?
I got a package deal with someone doing a v8 swap - got pretty much everything not needed for the swap. Putting the parts together piecemeal would be EXPENSIVE! Just the factory bolts to put it all together would run hundreds of dollars. Not to mention the heat shields, air box etc.
Reminds me I need to get rid of some s2 parts. Anyone need a s2 dme, clutch or bell housing?
One of the goals for the engine compartment was to remove all of the extra goop everywhere. It looks like Porsche give a bunch of monkeys some crack and a trowel full of this goop and let them go wild.
before
after
Unfortunately I seem to have add as I keep skipping around to different aspects of the build without finishing anything!
I started putting the engine bay back together
The heat shields were very dirty so I cleaned them up and covered it up with a gold colored heat shield for extra heat protection.
I had to install the suspension temporarily to move the car around. The cross member was to big to fit in my kiln to powder coat so I just media blasted and painted it. My first thought was to put in a new steering rack and tie rods. But inspecting it there are no signs of leaks and the tie rods are nice and tight. The boots are torn and need to be replaced. Should I risk it and stay with this rack?
As I go through the engine compartment I am trying to fix everything that seems to be wrong and trying to replace as much rubber as possible.
If you have week airflow from your vents I would recommend replacing the seal between the fan and air box, mine had disintegrated. I also replaced the rusty screws with stainless ones.
When I got to the cooling fan resistors, well the wires had seen better days. I figured it was either moisture, heat or undersized wires. So I ordered some 10ga tinned wire with high temp silicone jacket to cover all my bases.
Sorry about the dust everywhere. I have been sanding for paint.
The interesting thing is when I started to cut back the wires I noticed they were tinned. I have never seen tinned wiring in a car from a manufacturer before. Is the resister wiring tinned on all 944's?
Here is a picture to show why you need to go through all the important systems on old cars.
Would you want to drive with the original master on the right, or the new one on the left?
I kinda cheeped out on the booster and bought a rebuilt one from Rock Auto. It looks different from the one in the car. Anyone know if it is correct? It is the same overall dimension but looks different.
Original is on the right. You can see how the original is kinda flat where the rebuilt unit has a bulge.
I couple of progress pictures. I seem to have ADD and tend to skip around, never finishing anything!
Started pulling motor apart.
First glimpse inside, intake valve looks very clean, hope the rest is the same.
Started blasting parts.
got some powder coated
I got some rocker schutz in along with the gun. Hopefully this week I can put on the new schutz and prime the parts for painting.
Also want to finish up the engine bay this week.
Quick update,
I was able to get the rocker schutz on.
Then I started to take the engine apart.
Here is the head, looks dirty!
These are the pictures I am worried about. If you look at the cylinder walls there is some scoring, how bad do you think it is? Should I re coat and re-bore, or just use as is?
If I apply pressure I can feel a couple of the scratches with my fingernail. Can I re-hone it?
Any advise will be appreciated. Meanwhile I sent the injectors out to get cleaned and will continue to strip the engine and work on the paint.
What brand is the new and old brake booster? These cars had either ATE or Girling branded boosters each are a bit different and require different master cylinders.
What brand is the new and old brake booster? These cars had either ATE or Girling branded boosters each are a bit different and require different master cylinders.
The original has ATE stamped on it. The rebuilt unit has no markings. I adjusted the plunger rod and it all seems to fit. Since this is not a major safety issue I will try this booster and if it does not work properly will get a new ate. My current one probably works, but I do not trust rubber that old.
Been doing slow tedious things while looking for new block.
Rebuilt power steering pump. The plastic gasket thing was really tight.
Got some powder coating and polishing done.
Cam cover is almost ready to send out.
I am in the middle of rebuilding my afm. Here are the three o rings I removed. Sorry for the blurry picture but I am sure you get the idea.
Yeah, they just crumbled. Definitely worth rebuilding. This is the reason I am trying to rebuild or replace anything that has rubber in it!
I sprayed the rocker schutz on wrong. I went with a straight line instead of angling up on the fender and quarter panel. I just got a new can so will fix that this week and hopefully start painting some if the humidity goes down.
Not much to update right now, just doing a lot of cleaning.
Today I managed to finish up rebuilding the afm. Powder coated it and the intake manifold.
I had some suspicions about my injectors. I had heard many stories of foreign entities influencing the flow and spray pattern. So I sent them to R. Mueller for an independent assessment of them. Here are the results of his investigation.
No foreign entities, just basic domestic swamp slime that needed to be cleaned up.
06-24-2018, 11:41 PM
944 Cabriolt refresh and turbo swap
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