Bad Decision Made (Porsche)

Some of you may remember my post from a week ago titled: Help me make a Bad decision (Porsche)

There was much discussion but long story short I made the bad decision:

1989 Porshce 944 2.7L NA, it's Salvage, I got it for 2500$, you can see the damage, it came with a new bumper in the back. I had to drive it from Arizona back to San Diego directly after picking it up sight unseen from a Copart auction. It made it home with basically no problems. It drives fine but it does have its issues; 4th gear grinds often unless im really careful with my shifting, There is a couple dinky broken things in the interior, and cold starts are rough sometimes. Other than that no regrets here, im loving it. 

A couple of questions however: 

1. The horn is broken and will go off repeatedly if I turn hard, which fuse would I pull to fix that for now?

2. How do you heel toe downshift in these floor mounted pedal German cars? I'd always seen the floor mounted gas pedals in German cars and thought they would be difficult and I was correct. Give me a Japanese car and I can downshift like a racecar driver but in this car I just cant seem to figure out how to pivot my foot to hit the gas while downshifting, any tips?

3. Does anyone know of a good mildly louder exhaust for these?

4. Any common maintenance items I should right now?

5. Lastly, Just any knowledge you can throw at a first time Porsche, German car, 944 owner would be super helpful

Thanks

Just a plug to get involved with PCA. 

And congrats on the car, too. Many years ago I picked up a 944 at the SEMA Show and drove it back to Florida. Great road trip car. 

clarks-garage.com has a lot of great maintenance info.

Only944.com has some great products.

Dansk seems to be a favorite, but I just have a generic Super Turbo on my 924.  A 944 Turbo catback seems to be an interesting option.

Heel/toe didn't seem to be a problem for me, but maybe I'm a bit weird.

Go to the 924/944/951 forum on Rennlist.  It's active and will answer your every question.

Congrats!  Looks nice!

I'm puzzled on the floor-mounted pedals part.  I've never seen a 944 with floor-mounted pedals.  911's, yes, but not 944s.

Maintenance - timing belts, water pump, and rollers, immediately unless you know when they've been changed.   Expensive damage results if any of the above fails. 

#4 Timing belt right away. 

Pelican parts has great technical articles and videos to enable you to take on more than you'd normally be comfortable with on your own. 

NorseDave said:

Congrats!  Looks nice!

I'm puzzled on the floor-mounted pedals part.  I've never seen a 944 with floor-mounted pedals.  911's, yes, but not 944s.

Maintenance - timing belts, water pump, and rollers, immediately unless you know when they've been changed.   Expensive damage results if any of the above fails. 

The throttle pedal is, but that's pretty normal for most cars.

The clutch and brake are top mount.

I think it's just a learning curve thing, practice makes perfect!

Flushing the transaxle fluid and replacing the shift linkage/shifter *might* solve your grinding issue with 4th.  

I like only944.com's shift linkage and shifter.  Solves a lot of the short comings with the stock parts.

I suspect that you just have a tired box that needs new syncros and possibly bearings.

Track down another good box, (most 944 boxes after 1985 are the same except for gear ratios and the like) swap it out and try your hand at fixing your original.  It's just an Audi 016 from a FWD Audi coupe with some Porsche touches.  Parts are still available and there's some good write ups online on them.  There's also folks that can rebuild them for you.

I don't know if it was a good or bad decision but I like it anyway.  Congrats.

I own Clark's. You can PM me through the GRM board if you want.  The big thing is the timing belt.  If it brakes it is an interference motor.  There are a bunch of while you are there parts that go with it.  Rollers seals water pump. But the belt is critical.  If it is the dohc 2.7 there are guides and tensioners for the cam chain. These need to be replaced. If they go you lunch the head and they are getting hard to find. Your trans is most likely a synchro.  A fluid change may help but ultimately it will need a rebuild.  If yours is an open dif a good used one will be the easy solution. If it is LSD they are pricy used. There are basically three gear sets in these cars. The rare 924s open dif with a overall higher numerical sense for better acceleration.  The NA trans that is the most common and the 951 trans sets that are set up for a higher top speed. These can be either open or closed difs   these are the big three. There are som weird variants out there that were special order or were cobbled together for owners. The last run of cars with the MO30 package had coolers. These are very desirable but really only needed for track use. 
 

track your oil pressure rod bearings are a ware item and the way these motors are layer over in the car sustained g left turns/corners will pull oil off the pickup and rod bearings die almost instantly. Again this is more of a track problem and not a street problem.  Regular oil changes and keeping the oil topped up is important in these cars.but rod bearings are a 80-120k maintenance item if you don't keep close tabs on oil level and regular changes.  I recommend a 3k Change cycle.  Oil gets dirty fast in these cars .  I think it is the Silica sealing serface of the bores that cause this. 

There is more but basically  make it reliable and drive it. They hate to sit.  There are tones of expensive aftermarket parts but they are not really necessary. You don't need big brakes. Just put in good pads and the car has more brakes than all but the best will need. Remember these are momentum cars not high hp cars. Smooth driving with as little brake is fast. Even the turbos only have 225 hp. How big are the brakes on a stock accord?  You get the picture. Re the exhaust. They are expensive and I have never found one that matches the quality of the OE. Also just about every aftermarket ones for the 944 I have tried drone so bad I take them back off. You get more noise with no real hp gain. The exhaust on these cars is very well designed. Just about any change will be a down grade.  
 

EDIT:  I am on vacation this week so I am not checking email all that often. If you reach out I will be slow to respond. 

Congrats and welcome to the club! 

I approve of this choice!

Congrats on buying a beautiful car!  Being new to German cars and Porsches is fine - you can expect to pay more for parts, and there will always be a few things about the car that will make you scratch your head and wonder what the hell they were thinking when they designed them that way.  But the cars will always put a huge smile on your face when being driven hard.  Like everyone else said, get your timing belt changed.  Doing it yourself can save a ton of money, and most people change the water pump while they're in there.

Fuel hoses in the engine compartment are critical.  Replace them immediately if they aren't new.  Failure of one of these hoses means an almost certain fire.

944s are a great design.  That color looks great.  And a 1989 is a nice find.  Enjoy it!

In reply to maj75 (Forum Supporter) :

And use EFI hose for everything (even if it's not high pressure, because it will stand up to the ethanol in gas now much better), and the proper clamps.