Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Hi all,

As the title suggests I'm new to all things 944, well l fairly new. Back in the summer I purchased a slightly damaged 1988 2.7 944. The previous owner had managed to have a disagreement with some metal railings in the car and the drivers wing, badge panel, lower bumper, lights etc had to be replaced. Luckily there wasn't any major damage to the frame or steering, just a little deformation of the headlight bucket on the drivers side which, after a few house of metal bashing (I'm a training silversmith and blacksmith, which came in handy) all was sorted.I managed to get all the parts from one guy updating his 88' 944 to the S2 front end, well except the wing. That finally came from a guards red (pink) 944, with little rust thank god.

All was well until I went to examine the dreaded sills. I'd done my homework, and had been told that both sides had been replaced recently. Sure enough, looking down through the grill on the door all seemed quite good. However, once I'd fixed the above I used a camera to get in closer and soon found a lot more rust. Far from fixing the problem the guy had just welded over the old rust, and to top it all off had used filler and mesh to seal the bottom of the sill. The intermediate sill had all but turned to dust!

So, faced with a big bill to replace or part the car out I decided to learn to weld and tackle the job myself. Might as well see the bright side. It's forced me to do that. The rest of the car is in great shape (I've even taken out the whole interior and reconditioned it), and in for a penny and all that.

Anyway, the newest problem is that there is a little bit of corrosion around the windscreen, just under the rubber seal. I need to tackle this, but really don't want to take the whole screen out. It looks like the rubber seal simply pushes into the gap around the windscreen. Is this the case, and can you get hold of them fairly easily? The car is an oval dash model, so doesn't have the metal windscreen trim that seems easier to find on the internet.

For those interested I'm trying to update a facebook page of the project. https://www.facebook.com/Porsche-944-867456730003489/

I've also restored a 1982 DeLorean as well, so not completely new to the whole thing. https://www.facebook.com/thedeloreanproject

Thanks guys

Mark

Hi Mark and welcome

The outer seal you will need is the one used on the 993, part number is 99354192500
From memory, it's around £45

Like the face book thread
Car is looking good

Thanks both. Yeah, I think the car is worth the trouble. Plus I'm hooked now after driving it. I just need to keep on top of the tread, lol.

Thanks for the tip on the seal. I'll hunt one down. Is there a retailer that people recommend?

I am very new to Porsche ownership but I have had good service from Porscheshop in the Midlands. Put them into google for online shopping.

David

Found one from a retailer in Germany on good old ebay. Genuine and brand new, £39 delivered as well! Bargain.

On another point where should the drain holes on the sills be, and what size are they? Obviously my 944 had lost all these to rust, then the terrible bodge job done by some cretin. They really ripped off the lovely old guy who used to own it.

Anyway, as I'm pretty much fabricating the bottom of the sills myself I could do with knowing. Looking on here the originals had special plugs that allowed water out, but also kept the dirt out of the sills.

Thanks guys. I'll try and post some pics of the repair work asap.

An ordinary garage that just does MOT welding rarely does a proper job, just one that gets a ticket.
My wife has an MX5 Mk1 and these little cars rust where the seat belts bolt and access is through the sill and most old MX5's have been butchered in this area by MOT garages.
Look at most old MX5's and the sill just in front of the rear wheel arch will have an unsightly bulge where the fault is.
I did my wifes car myself several years ago and you cannot tell that its been done.
World of difference between a restoration job and what most garages do.

its very difficult to fabricate the cills as they have quite acute angles and subtle curves, much better to just pay the £180 a side for OE cills, the ones on e-bay are not properly shaped....the drain holes in the outer cill are at the base of the dip, probably 3 or 4 along the cill, hope this helps

Here's one of my genuine sills during fitting. There are drain holes along the bottom edge, plus the pinch seam has gaps pressed into it.

Yeah, I have the ones from a Porsche specialist, although I'm not sure they are perfect they seem to fit very well. As part of the rebuild I've re-build the base section of the inner sill. Fairly pleased with the result. I've fabricated that section out of much thicker stock than was used originally, not to mention also fabricated the rear suspension bolting section as well. It's taking a while but it'll be worth it. Both sections are now out of 3mm stock, which should make for a more rust resistant end product.

Lol, as I was writing this you put up that pic white944. Perfect! I can see exactly where to place them. The ones I have have that return seam, so just a matter of drilling a few round holes I think. A pictures certainly is worth a thousand words.