New Garage Addition 1983 944

Awesome thank you.

I will be trying that tomorrow to Monday.

FYI, if the oxygen sensor is dead you'll have the exact same issues...

Mad_Ratel wrote: FYI, if the oxygen sensor is dead you'll have the exact same issues...

A 944 will start and run just fine without an oxygen sensor. There's minimal lambda correction with them on the early 944 cars. I had a disconnected O2 on my 84' 944 for quite a while till I realized the previous owner had disconnected it. Very little running difference aside from mileage when it was replaced.

Sputting and no start is going to be a more serious issues if it won't start. Early O2 sensors are a $20 so it isn't the end of the world to replace one. I prefer to troubleshoot things before I throw money at them though.

Here's a good list of potential no start issues: http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/ts-01.htm

All I recall is that my 1987 944S would completely refuse to start and act like the battery was dead if the o2 sensor was dead. We spent days trying to find what was killing the battery to find out that it was a common problem (rennlist circa 2003) with how the DME works. No o2 sensor and it pulls like it has antitheft issues.

however, pre 1985.5 cars were a completely different system than the post. DME/motronic injection on the later cars were a different animal.

Well we took another stab at the 944 yesterday. After 6 hours we not only broke the end off the sensor as well as the holder that the sensor sits in. I really had no choice. The area I was working in was really too small to get any workable tool in.
So I am going to replace the speed and reference sensor. Might as well swap them both at the same time. It only makes sense in the end. Here is what I have left of the sensor and sensor housing.

Oh and to top it off, we dropped a small 5mm hex key in the hole where the clutch can be viewed. Well I think we did. the key is not on the ground but we really can't see in the hole to verify that it did fall in. We just need to hope and pray it didn't.

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housing, you can see where it broke off.

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Wow, broke right off eh? Those things for some reason just love to freeze up in there and are a nightmare to get out. Sorry to hear it broke on you.

It has been a while since I last posted on this thread. Here is the update.

I have been able to get the new Sensor Block in and the two sensors. I also removed the starter hoping to find the 5mm hex key that was dropped inside the pressure plate and flywheel. I couldn't find it so I may have to move the transmission back a wee bit and see if it falls out. I will need to see what that entails. It has taken longer than I thought it would I would take pictures but as i get going on this I get really dirty so I will snap some pictures at a later time so that I can show you what it is I have been doing.

I did get the car back to my own garage and tucked away beside its older brother the '76 924.

Pictures to come. Cheers.

Pictures seem to be a hard thing for me to post with this thread. Not for the fact that I don't know how, I just never keep a camera close by when I am working on the car!.

That being said, it tried to kill me yesterday!!! You would think that the car would want to come back to the road instead of sitting still for so long.

Saturday I took the dirty old started that was on the car to my parents house. There is a parts cleaner there. I started by scraping all the big bits of dirt and grime off the part. With the starter being under the car by the exhaust there was a lot of road dirt that had collected, and since the starter and solenoid was out of the car, why not give it a clean up before putting it back in.

Once clean and back home, I crawled under the hood and finished tightening down the sensor close to the firewall. I had kept putting this off, just due to the lack of space. But after some fiddling I was able to get it snugged up. Then under the car to put the starter back in. This was actually faster than I thought and pretty easy. Two big bolts, and connect the wires back to it. Voila!! Starter in and ready for the test.

So keeping the front wheels in the air on jack stands. Rear wheels on the ground. I walk around to the passenger side where the battery lives. Remember, I have not mentioned anything about the key, that is because the key was sitting in my tool box at this point in time. I connect the negative terminal to the battery, and the car tries to start!!! It is in second gear, one of my safety things when it is in the air, and the 944 decides to play Christine and start its way out the garage and down the laneway!!!!!

I get the key from the toolbox and jump in the car to hit the brakes. Good thing the battery was pretty dead, but still not something I was thinking would happen.

Right now the car is on the ground. I am charging the battery. I will see what happens when I connect it again later. Maybe this weekend or tomorrow.

Fun times, fun times.

At home with its older brother.

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And another quick shot.

Well not much going on with this at the moment. I have tried everything to get it running. Next thing on the what to try next is to send the DME computer out to have tested and rebuilt if needed. From my research I have heard that they can corrode inside the box. If that happens, we can come across the NO Start issue I have been battling since I bought the car. I must say, it is getting frustrating. I really want to drive this car.

So to make myself fell better I went trolling through the Ottawa Kijiji parts board and stumbled across a set of Race Bucket seats. Not sure the make, I know they came from a Honda Civic and may need a bit of alteration to make fit into the 944, but I could not pass up on the price.

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They need a good vacuum and clean. For 140.00 Canadian dollars I could not pass these up.

So while I am waiting for the DME to come back from being tested and possibly repaired I decided I would take the plunge and tackle replacing the seats in the 944. So I am going from factory Porsche Script seats

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To the unknown brand, fibreglass race seats that I picked up for dirt cheap

I was able to remove the drivers seat, then took the vacuum to the underside. Nice and clean looking now.

Next step was a quick measurement. As these seats come out of a Honda Civic the rails are about 1 inch too narrow for what I need. So I am going to call around a couple of metal shops and see if I can have 2 metal plates made up that will go down under the seat bolting to the current rail connections and then have 4 more holes drilled about 1/2 inch narrower that the new seats and rails will bolt on to. This way it will take the load of the seat, driver and passenger.

I should get the metal plates done next week and then bolt them in. I have the Drivers seat just sitting in as a mock up right now.

It has been a while since I last posted any update on this car. I do still own the 1983 944. But work has been hectic and the weather pretty rotten here in Ottawa Canada. That said, last weekend I was able to get the car out of the garage and get some work done.

I tested the fuel pump again(this is the second new pump in this car) because I wasn't getting any fuel to the rail in the engine. When I cranked the car, it would crank and turn over but no fuel to where it is needed most. So I ran a number of alligator clips together and was able to connect it to the negative terminal on the 924 battery; which was fully charged; and then connected it to the negative terminal to the 944 fuel pump. Turned the key and found that I was not hearing anything. No humm, no buzz, no nothing. So I removed the pump. Drained most of the gas and of course, made a huge mess on the garage floor. But what is a garage for, if not to make a mess; right?

When I got the pump out. I decided I would take a look at what kind of rust repair I would need to do. There has always been a bit of a big bubble in the lower right rear corner of the car. I took my grinder and wire wheel out to find out just how big it was. Here is what I found.

<img src="" /> First few minutes.

Then a bit later.

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Now I will need to finish cleaning the area. Make a patch panel and find a welder to put it on. Hopefully I can update this bit in a quicker manner.

took the fuel pump that was in the car to test it at. This was at the same place where I pulled it out and swapped it. So my dad's shop. Put some juice to it and it clunked, but did not spin. So we took the previously new, what we thought was burnt and killed, fuel pump and put the juice to that. It started spinning. It did make a loud whine though. A small hammer later and the whine went away.

The last few steps were pretty simple. Some fuel cleaner and run some gas through both of the fuel pumps. By the end of three hours, gas was able to smoothly flow through both fuel pumps. However that was the end of the time I had. So we have not yet put the pumps back in the car and tested if it will run.

That will be for the next installment of this long story to bringing an early 944 back from the brink.

We Made Progress this weekend. In the effort to get the gas tank removed I tackled the removal of the Transmission on the 944. I was not making headway with the exhaust, so I went the other way. I still need to get the exhaust off but one big item is out of the way. Surprisingly the transmission came out fairly easily. Only stripped and ruined 1 axle bolt out of 12, but I can replace that. Here are some pictures of what we got done.

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<img src=" > -- Out and on the ground. Next for this is to clean it up a bit. It's out, so might as well try to make it look better and change the gear oil while I am at it.

Found out that an animal had made a next in the transmission. Good thing I got it out to!! <img src="" />

Another status update. Time is coming to me, and well since I have the time and want to get this car running and driving again, I am making the time to get under it and get it apart to get it completed. To that end I was able to cut the bolts holding the exhaust on and drop the gas tank. Now I need to get it in the car and to the repair shop to have it cleaned, and coated.

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With the tank out of the car. We were able to get the last bit of bad gas out and that is when we saw where all the garbage and rust and bits of dirt were residing. So hopefully in the next week or so we can get this to the Gas Tank Repair place and then reverse the extraction and hang it back in and start the car.

More progress. I am getting into a weekend groove with this car. I picked up the repaired, cleaned and refreshed gas tank on Thursday. As I went in with cash, we got it done Tax free. I love paying cash. Here is what it looked like when I picked it up.

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Sunday at 11:00 I had the help roll in. My brother and father, because installing the gas tank is actually 3 person job on the oddly / German engineered 944 from 1983. We started by putting the breather hoses back on and lubricating the fuel level sensor and came to this point.

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and

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Then into the car it went.

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Sorry for the graininess on the wiring shot below;

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And while I had the two sets of extra hands we also re-installed the Transmission. Still some more work to do on that, and I didn't get any pictures of it, but we made great progress. Next up is to install the fuel pump again, put some gas in it, and connect all the shift linkage and axle shafts. Hopefully we will have some more updates next week.

I have to say, it is not that I have not been working on this, or the 924, but I have been at a standstill. 

Recently I made a straight swap of a 924/944 GTR hood scoop for a used fuel pump for the 944.  It has been bitterly cold here in my neck of the Great White North and so I have not been in the garage, aside for getting things out of the freezer!! Fortunately we had a warmish Easter weekend which allowed me to get outside and crawl around under the 944.  I drained the gas, swapped out the fuel pumps and made sure everything was buttoned up properly.  It was a go.

I found a video on youtube by the Boost Brothers or something where they found a 944 that hadn't run in 10 years, removed the air box and sprayed some starting fluid into the engine and the car fired.  So I decided to try this as well.  Bear in mind, the new fuel pump was connected, battery charged and all fuses and relays had been verified as good to go.  I get my wife into the car to turn the key while I spray the ether.  She turns.  I spray, I hear what sounds like a tap being turned on.  We repeat the steps, because, well you know, the car didn't start.  And the Tap comes on again.  I look underneath and well I can tell you, with no work of a Lie that new pump is working brilliantly!  Gas was pouring out onto the shop floor under the car.  Never even had a chance of making it to the engine bay. 

Next steps are to replace the fuel lines.  I don't want those splitting when I hit the track. 

Always good to see a 944 getting some love!

Mike924 said:

Supercoupe said: Gave up on the CGT?

Unfortunately yes, I just didn't have the time and my wife at the time had other uses for my money. So my new wife loves watching me wrench and also likes to get involved as well. Its a win-win for me there.

Harvey: For the money the Toyo is the best choice for right now. When I have more $$ I will upgrade to a 16" wheel and then I will have more selection. But with the 15" wheels that this car came with the Toyo seems to be the best option without throwing the speedo too far out.

I would just find some D90s or something...I got mine for $300 on CL and have seen more sets in that price range here and there. Having 16" makes tire choise SOOOOO much better.

Toyo Proxes 4 will get destroyed at the track. I had two sets on my Maxima of all things, and they didn't last for a damn. Great in rain, decent DD tires, but I certainly would not consider them to have the chops for track work, personally. The tread blocks are pretty small and squirmy to boot. They didn't like autocross at all.

EDIT: oops, I guess that post was like 2 year old....lol

Hey IrishJj.

Never too late in my book to chime in on things like that.  The 924 is actually riding on Dunlop Direzza's right now.  I really like those tires.  The 944 has a second set of wheels that I picked up in a large purchase of other parts.  I think the tires are a Hankook R-comp that still have a weekend or two left on them. 

I just need to determine the best course of action for the fuel line replacement.  It is my life and my wife's (she is going to be doing her first Track Weekend in May) on the line. 

Yeah, if there's one thing that always kind of makes me nervous about my 924S, it's fuel lines. Probably because I saw one or two memes about 944s on fire, lol. On the 924 at least they go over the IM, not the header, so if they leak may not start a fire as easily. 

Yeah, I recently became aware of the whole 944 fuel line thing.  One more thing to do.......

I shouldn't have been surprised.  This car was sitting for at least 5 years before I got my hands on it.  Plus outside in the Great Canadian winter wouldn't help things like the fuel lines.  I think I may just banjo it up from the front fender well all the way to the back.  That way I will, Hopefully only need two connectors, 1 for the input line and 1 for the output.  Time to measure it up.

Just cut the bands off, slice the hose and replace it with new EFI-rated hose and smooth EFI hose clamps.

It isn't rocket science, Porsche just chose to make it more complicated than they needed to.  Other cars of the time use the same or similar Bosch fuel components and fuel pressures and most used plain hose and hose clamps without issue.

Trying to do things right here.  So after I watch F1 (I do have priorities and no spoilers).  I went out to the garage to get a better view of what I actually need to do.  Here is what I found.

Rusty, rusty, rusty. 

One line already replaced with a rubber line.

The leaky bit :

Good thing is it is only a pinhole.  But from the looks of things I may want to remove the chance of the rest of the lines from springing a leak.