My Abnormal 944 Build - An American Blitzkrieg

I finished the 3rd link!

And since it was the "missing link" I could finally play with my rear end. Err, I mean I could articulate my rear suspension.

With rear end playing came the ability to figure out where my bump stops needed to be and then I was able to fab some mounts and get them welded into the frame. 

Once the bump stops were taken care of I moved onto battery mounting bracket 3.0. I'll have some additional photos in a few days. It's the gray thing on the left in this photo.

Are these style of exhaust pipe clamps OK? I'm wanting to use 2 of them on Blitzy. Both butt joint style. I like them for their small OD and affordable price.

In reply to Sparkydog :

I've used them in the past. Always worked good for me and they don't crush the tubes. 

Thanks bigfranks84, good to know!

Well I'm back on the 944 after a break.

Formed up the floor of where the fuse block will mount next to the battery. It's going to get crowded in this area once the battery leads become involved.

I used this DIY metal brake that a guy built for us to use at the shop. It did not have any way to clamp it into a vice so I "fixed" it.

Wow a month and a half without much progress. I've been doing normal Summer stuff but was finally able to get back on the 944 for "Exhaust Weekend".

First was fixing my sawzall oopsie.

Then finish welding all the joints on the cat-back portion of the exhaust and adding 3 hanger arms (aka BRACKETS!).

And the corresponding hanger arms (BRACKET) on the body side.

Now the exhaust has joined the "85% Club"! I have a final joint on the Y-pipe/Cat section that needs finish welding whenever I get around to pulling it out from the car again. And I also need to add the final 2ft of tailpipe out the back of the car.

Exhaust installed.

I'll need to add one last section to turn away from the tire and up/out the rear.

I've welded the battery tray and fuse block floor into the 944. So now its time for a little CAD for the remaining large hole behind the drivers seat. First I took off the rear wheels (they overhang the fender lips) and moved the rear axle to full compression up against the bump stops. Then started to play with cardboard 1.0. I need to devise a way to stick some 1" spacer strips over the surface of the muffler so that I can form a wrap-around hump of sheet metal. That will be the 1st piece of the floor puzzle and then I can form/blend the other pieces around it.

I've fabbed the majority of the "floor" area behind the drivers seat.

And then I tacked the floor section into the car so that I could verify that I can still remove the exhaust before I proceed with closing in the area around the exhaust hangers.

Next I created my version of a poor man's car scale system. I bought a $30 digital bath scale that had a 500# rated capacity and then spent another $30 on lumber to make up the stuff in the photos. Basically it's a spreader board/beam that divides the corner weight by 2 so that the scale doesn't blow up and 3 stands that are the same height as the spreader board & scale.

I have an 18 gallon gas tank which would be about 108# if it was completely full so I threw in a 60# sack of pre-mix to simulate about a half a tank.

It's also important to know what 1/2 of the spreader board weighs so that I can deduct this from the indicated weight before doubling the amount. In my case with the fresh (wet) wood it was 8.5-ish#.

And the results were pretty darn exciting!!!!! (At least for me.) Results are without a driver.

Left Front: 554

Right Front: 657

Left Rear: 622

Right Rear: 580

Which means this:

Total weight: 2413. Front 50.2% Rear 49.8%

Left side 48.7% Right side 51.3%

Edit:

Cross weight LF/LR = .89, RF/RR = 1.13. 

So while my front/rear and side/side weights are good/great - I guess I can try to figure out why/what I can do to improve my cross weights.

This is amazing, I have a 1983 944 all original really clean with only 58k miles but I also have a parts 944 that always thought of an engine swap or a project. This really gave me alot of motivation on doing something with the parts car

Sigh... almost 1 year has passed since my last update. And my what a year it has been, am I right boys and girls?!!

So on Saturday I was so burned out on routine car and life maintenance that I decided to give Blitzkrieg some love. I have a set of QA1 coilovers that I bought about a year ago and I put them on. Here is a shot of what I used to mock up ride height and try to make sure the coil springs had room to spring.

And the passenger side went right in... but just.

And the drivers side had some disagreement between the top of the coilover and where the exhaust pipe wanted to live. But I solved the dilemma with a sawzall and the coilover won.

And now the 944 is riding on an actual rear suspension!

And I also learned that I don't really need the fancy spanner wrenches from QA1 because firstly, there's no room for me to use them guys and secondly, I just let the axle drop and then I can spin the adjustment nuts by hand.

Sadly this will probably be the last thing I do on the 944 for the next year. I'm getting ready to stop working in SoCal and return to Oregon and will need to spend my time prepping for the move.

Good to see it on page 1 again!

Any updates? I really enjoy following this project.

Agreed, I need more Sparkydog in my life! 

This past Saturday Blitzkrieg, a Uhaul truck, one of my daughters and I did a 15 hour slog up the state of California.

The 944 on the 1st day of unloading.

And 48 hours later I had managed to get the garage/shop more or less how it will go from now on. This garage is about 75% the size of the old one so adjustments were made. The kitchen nook gave up it's life as a nook to become a "hobby room" with a door to the garage instead of being a part of the kitchen.

This allows me to store some of the manly stuff in the hobby room. By the time I flew back yesterday, this is how things looked in the garage.

The house in SoCal goes on the market next Monday. My plan is to finish the move in November. But realistically it will be Spring/Fall of 2022 before I can return to work on the Abnormal 944.

The car is looking good! Best of luck with the move

Great to see this back on page 1! Hope the move goes well

OK - I'm a newbie on the GRM forum but I'm no stranger to LSx, GTO, Audi, Mercedes etc. forums. I did a bunch of searching for new threads or follow ups on Sparkydog's project before posting but I didn't find anything. I just signed up for GRM forum so I could open my mouth and ask...

I stumbled across this thread looking for info on a 944 V8 swap and got sucked in right away. I read through all 10 pages of posts in a single sitting, dwelling on every new bracket photo and logistical challenge. And then it came to a screeching halt in September of 2021. Kinda like someone tore out the last two chapters of the book I was reading.

1. Sparkydog:  I hope all is well with you and you have just been busy in the background working on the Blitzkrieg.

2. Thank you for sharing the story and taking the time to document it for us. 

3. Any chance that you have time for an update?  

So humbled by your nice comments!

I'm busy remodeling the house I moved into in Southern Oregon and maybe starting a new relationship with a woman after divorcing a few years ago. 

The 944 is waiting for it's turn at bat. But it won't be until this fall (2022) or later before I can work on it again.

Thanks for trying to follow along!