Doors finished!

During the weekend I cleaned the doors from the inside, installed the self-made door foils and assembled everything with the door cards for power windows:

A lot of old glue and grime covered the inside of the doors:

It took quiet some time, but eventually, this is what the door looked like, including the foil already attached:

There was a foam pad around the inner release handle on the original foil, it was so brittle it literally turned to dust, so I made a new pad:

As there are 2 doors, the same process followed for the other door...
Before: Dirt and glue all over the place: 

cleaned:

and later equipped with the foil and also a new foam pad:

This is not 70'ies art work:

I had to paint a bunch of washers, as they are used to affix the door pockets onto the door cards: 

And this is the final result, a nice, clean door assemby!

There is a reason for the missing speakers, but more on that later...

Steering wheel options

Today I checked the different steering wheel options...

Original Porsche leather steering wheel:

Momo D36 with Porsche horn button:

 Momo Prototipo (also with Porsche horn button):

Currently the Momo D36 is installed, after "a" Momo steering wheel is checked by the TÜV, I will switch to the Prototipo :-)   I also want to prevent this one from any harm during the garage sessions!

Every Porsche needs a Momo steering wheel!

Well, I just like steering wheels, so it was a natural thing to get a Momo Prototipo for the 944!
It is a brand new 2014  Prototipo from the 50 years of Momo edition:

I prefer the brushed silver spokes - the black on black is the more common choice, you can see it everywhere...

Here is the specific horn button:

... but I guess I will use a Porsche button and keep this one for display purposes.

Power windows / power mirrors

Yesterday I finished the repair and install of all the electric stuff in the doors. Both windows are now power operated and both mirrors are adjustable again - result!

The new door is installed, dorr stopper and rubber boot cleaned before assembly:

 Driver door mirror installed and working in all 4 directions:

Power window mechanism installed and working:

Passenger door as well: power window mechanism installed and working:

Mirror installed as well, also working!

Currently I am fabricating a new set of door protection foils to prevent water entering the inside of the door and protecting the door cards...

Battery tray repair

Remember how bad the area below the battery looked like?

 I cleaned all the dirt out, removed the surface rust and the old body sealer from the seam:

then applied FERTAN as a rust imhibitor:

followed by some white Hamerite:

afterwards re-sealed the seam:

 ...and finally added a few coats of 2K-paint Porsche L90E Alpinweiß:

The direct before / after comparison:

Dashboard repairs

While the instrument cluster was out I took care of the foam seal which was really gone! In fact it totally collapsed just by touching it

I used some closed cell foam to replace it and at the same time I exchanged the bulb for the vent symbol

Door exchange

The original drivers door had a real bad damage just below the window:

Maybe someone tried to break in, anyhow this wouldn't be an easy repair, so I searched for another, used door. A few days ago I found a driver door and a nice Targa top (the one on my car is also far from nice), so I organized a transport - special thanks to Mirko - and now I have to exchange every nut and bolt, clip and cable from one door to the other. During the disassembly I also found out why the power mirrors didn't work:

Some genius cut the electrical connections off - my guess is that the body shop which repainted the car wasn't able to remove the mirrors as Porsche designed it ( which involves unpinning the contacts from the connector plug), so they just cut it off!
I wouldn't accept that the mirrors don't work after  a re-paint!

The screw which attaches the mirror to the door was knackered, so I had to drill the head off. The remains were rusted solid to the thread...

A pair of grip pliers and some WD40 later the screw is history!

During the exchange I directly install the Power windows which came with the car. Original mechanisms and switches. The cable harness already has all the connectors attached - which make the job a lot easier!
switch plug:

motor plug:

On the driver door I had some bad luck, this is what the harness looked like:

... some cables, but no connector housing...

this is what I found on the bottom of the door:

So, the next time you will no longer see the window winder crank, and the blank spaces will be filled with 2 switches!

Oh, and I used the first original VW beetle part on the Porsche... You can see it in this picture:

I replaced the rubber seal on the door ajar switch

Shift linkage repair

During the weekend I installed the great shifter repair kit from Kyle at Only944.com.
The amount of play was unbelieveable and everything was totally worn our:
This is the sloppy shifter in fifth gear:

I used the excellent instructions to exchange the original shifter for the new one. The axial bearings were greased with silicone grease:

and the ball cup and shifter plate were cleaned:

everything re-assembled and loctite'd:

final assembly:

... and a much firmer shift feeling and less slack in the shifter!

Instrument cluster illumination

Another weak point of the Porsche 944 late models is the illumination of the instrument cluster. The idea was to guide the light from the bulbs on the carrier through these prisms to the front side of the cluster for indirect illumination of the bezels.
The light prisms which are chrome plated loose their shine and the chrome corrodes and starts bubbling up.
This effects the amount of light which actually reaches the cluster in a dramatic way.
This is the cluster and the 3 light prisms:

 You can clearly see the bad surface of the prisms. They are made of PC and hot-caulked to the bezel:

These plastic domes need to be carefully removed, then you can pull the prisms off:

 

This is how bad they look:

Removing the chrome surface and "re-chroming" is necessary. Of course, I can't chrome plate plastic parts by myself, but I have a plan...

wet sanding with 1200 to start with:

followed by 3000 wet sand paper:

and a polish with UNIPOL for the finish:

Now this one is almost translucent again!

A before / after comparison:

and all 3 in polished state:

(I didn't remove the perfect chrome finish in the areas which were stuck inside the cluster. This might be a good way to compare the before / after surface shine...)

Coming from the RC hobby, I have used an -almost- chrome like paint for some RC car bodies, so I try to give it a shot with this paint... 

The RCC color code of the paint is RCC 940 Chrome. It comes in a tiny 150 ml spray can.

After a lot of very light coats of this paint, the prisms have a good amount of shine again, but it doesn't really look like new again:

maybe not perfect - you can see the "original" chromed areas are more shiny -  but good enough for a reflection of the camera:

and the finished article:

For comparison: This is what I started with:

Afterwards I exchanged all the light bulbs in the cluster to bring it back to former glory...

Tommorow the cluster will find its way back into the car - so I can check if this job was a success...