Back from the body shop!

Yesterday I could finally pick up the 944 after the extensive body repair. Those guys did a great job:

The new rear panel, a new bumper and rubber strip mounted, perfect straight lines...

The PORSCHE decal and the 944 badge will be added soon. I think I will use some vinyl to black out the area between the rear lights - as it has been before the repair:

On the inside:

I already started re-assembly. To affix the carpet on the sides of the trunk, Porsche uses some plastic clips which wear out when you remove them. I found a neat little 2-piece clip which works perfect:

You can easily push the centerpiece in, so the legs of the clip spread out, when you pull the pin out again, the clip can be removed without any damage.

They come in a box of 6, for ~6€. the only thing I hate about them: They are originally from a French car... Everybody who knows me, knows that I am not really the biggest fan of French vehicles...

Amazing discoveries (of the unpleasant kind) and: Help is near!

As mentioned, the Porsche got rear ended, about a month ago. In the meantime the insurance issues are almost fully solved, so I started the dismantling. What I found was not so nice!
To make sure the Strosek bumper will fit properly, it was glass-fibered onto the metal and the paint was removed, so the bumper was laminated onto raw metal. Apparently the whole area wasn't 100% water proof, so, over the years water entered those areas and did a good job!

look at the butchery to make the bumper a good, flush fit!

Obviously, this panel has to be replaced! I contacted my local Porsche dealer just to learn this specific panel is NLA!(no longer available). I searched the internet and found a British company which advertised this panel (for crazy amounts of money) - but it was my only chance, So I ordered online and tranferred my hard earned money - The next day the company replied: Sorry this part is NLA, we will refund your money!

Now I was screwed - how to repair the body without the proper panel? Just by chance I browsed ebay.de and - believe it or not, exactly this panel was in an auction, ending 3 days from there. I entered a bid in the last second and luckily (again) I was the only bidder and got it for a reasonable price.
Today it arrived and I have to say that I am well chuffed, it is dent free and was shipped in a lot of protective material - see for yourself:

 

lowering job, part 2; a new stainless exhaust and a crash!

2 weeks ago, I was able to finally lower the rear end, too, now the stance is just right!

I had several issues with the front struts, there were knocking noises which I fixed after several removal and assembly sessions.

Last weekend I installed the stainless Dansk exhaust. This is the old, tired exhaust (I know the heat shield needs some work, as well as the diff housing...)

and the shiny new Dansk exhaust:

Note the modified rear hangers to accomodate the rear bumper without exhaust cut-out

and I replaced the amber indicator lenses with clear ones:

I was well chuffed and all was good, until this morning, when I got rear ended on a red light:

rear apron badly reshaped:

Apparently it flexed back, as the flange on the trunk floor is also heavily deformed!

The damage is severe, luckily I got away with a little shock and some neck and headache! I hope all goes well with the insurance. The sad part is, that the vehicle was damage free for 31 years!

lowering job, part one

When I visited the Sommerfest of Mittelmotor recently, I bought a set of lowering springs with TÜV certificate which I installed yesterday. The ride is not more firm, still comfortable. This is the comparison between the og Porsche springs and the new, progressive wound springs:

 

The difference in height and especially the progressive style vs. equally wound og springs:

 This is the result, the rear will be lowered too in the new future...

Oil cooler: new seals for an environmentally friendly engine!

On a 944 engine the oil cooler is IN the engine, cooled by the engine coolant. Lately I found out that the housing of this cooler was leaking, leaving a small puddle of oil wherever I parked. This is not only bad for the environment, I personally hate these things!

Thanks to Youtube, there are countless tutorials how to repair this. The new seals + some special sealant weren't that expensive, but it was quiet a job!
You have to drain the oil and the coolant and the housing is in a not too easy to reach area, directly under the exhaust manifold !
On the bright side, none of the screws gave me a hard time, they all could be broke loose without drama!
Upon disassembly I found some issues, this repair had been done before, but poorly executed:


The seal wasn't placed correctly.
Also, there were 3 shims under this seal - which -at this time- I thought was a failure... because usually, only 1 or 2 are being used


During assembly I measured the height from the sealing surface to the deck of the housing. The allowed dimension is 0,0 - 0,25 mm gap. I also had to install 3 shims in order to meet this spec.
This is the situation without any shims - a big gap:

After I cleaned all parts and their sealing surfaces...


... I used the Curil-T sealant which Porsche recommends here prior assembly of the seal itself:

During assembly a special tool is required to align the housing to the engine block in order to allow the oil pressure relief valve to work without issues!

Now everything is back together and appears to be oil tight - actually for the first time since I own the Porsche it is leak free (knock on wood!)  - at least: oil leak free...


Because, the next issue is already found: The right quarter windows seal is leaking:

 
The new seal is already ordered from Porsche and will be installed in the next few days...

Whistling noises

Lately I 've heard a whistling noise from the engine bay. The rubber grommet between the brake booster and the check valve leaked a bit of air. Upon closer inspection I also discovered another bodge of a previous owner. Apparently somebody broke off the little tube on the forward end of the valve and sort of glued the hose onto the valve housing:
The old check valve:

Missing tube and "glued-on" hose:

Old and new:

Rubber grommet: Spot the difference in diameter between new and old!

Final assembly: Another problem solved!

 

Final remark: After I ordered the valve from Porsche, I found out that the same part number (477 611 933 A) can be purchased from Volkswagen Classic Parts for half the price!

Porsche: 36,39 €

VW Classic : 18,96 €

freshly detailed

Even though the 944 gives me some headache currently, I spend time today to make it at least look good again. When I polished the old paint the first time, I didn't seal the surface afterwards, no wax, no sealant at all. So the dirt had a nice open surface to creap into it. It looked really terrible after a while, but today I washed, clayed, polished and waxed the paint, now it is all good again:

Honk if you're horny...

This bumper sticky gave me headaches when I first saw it in the early 80's. At that time no dictionary gave the information what horny meant...
Now I am a little wiser :-)
Unfortunately, this horn wasn't able to honk anymore:

Luckily, the Porsche has 2 horns. But the other horn had a loose connection, resulting in no noise at all when I hit the button. The other horn is reconnected now. Because sometimes you need to honk - for different reasons ;-)