Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

'scuse the double post, got a bit further on sunday though and this is acting as a nice worklog

My previous attempt at sealing the rear light failed bigtime, lots of light showing through! Thankfully I did a visual check before chucking the hose on it...

Attempt Two: ALL the sealant! (Don't ask me why I got blue stuff - at least it matches my hoodie... )



Pulling it off again verified that the sealant was making contact all the way around the aperture, fingers crossed for the test! Next time I'm following peoples advice and making up a neoprene gasket.

After some solid advice from tr7V8 and pilch on here the inner bearing race came off without a hitch.
"Dremel, cut a slot & welt it with a sharp cold chisel" - tr7v8





And the stub axle cleaned up nicely with some dremel help:


Now I'm having a bit of a puzzle over how the whole thing reassembles, as the only way it makes sense to me is if there is a spacer between the inner ring of the inside bearing and the end of the stub axle, however there wasn't when I took it apart. I need to check the I/D of the spacer that I did take out. At the moment I'm thinking that the clown who last put it together had the spacer in the wrong place!

And lastly, sitting pretty after a productive weekend!

Good work, keep it up.

You can download an ADF of the parts catalogue either from one of the stickies here or directly from the porsche website. It has exploded diagrams (and obviously part numbers) of all the assemblies. This should help you figure out the spacer/ not spacer issue.

Nice work Gryphon. I am impressed. I was cold working on my car in the garage this weekend - you were outside and in the Midlands!

What Sealant did you use to seal the rear lights in place? I have found something called Grenville Black Silicone sealant, but is screwfix Dow Corning just the same? You mentioned a Neoprene gasket, does anyone make these?

I will be trying to drill out my front trim screws tonight! Car must be on the road and ready by end April!

Thanks, it actually wasn't too chilly, had sun most of the time. The odd shower caused a mad rush to get tools back in the garage though...

For sealant I went on ebay and found a non-setting gasket sealant, it was £6 but obviously the wrong colour! (although you can't see any from the outside so no biggie) From other posts on the forum I believe people have made their own gaskets from neoprene sheets - probably easier (and less messy!) than sealant.

I did try drilling the front screws but found it very hard to keep the drill central and chewed up the bumper a little - that's when I went to pushing them out which was far easier! Good luck

I had a chance last night to go through all my parts from the stub axle - I am indeed missing the inner bearing spacer.



It seems that whoever did this job last neglected to fit it, and it looks like the car's done a lot of miles like that. hopefully nothing else is damaged as a result!

New spacers ordered from OPC. £8ea and free postage. So not accustomed to decent value service from a dealership! Now to disassemble and clean the other side while I wait for those to arrive...

looks like a good base to start with and I love the fact a)this place is such a great help b) parts are available unlike when I was after stuff for my old ur quattro and s2's.

Keep up the progress

Got to love BST, now I have evenings to get my hands greasy as well

First off, finally checked the timing and balance shaft belts - both looking clean and new, and from a twist on the long straight section are OK tension wise - they're due their 1000 miles re-tension shortly anyway. That's a bit of a relief!



Nearside rear stub axle with new bearings and spacer went together problem free (other than some good jiggling of the driveshaft to seat it in the stub axle without removing the exhaust). Wheel is now mercifully wobble free, I'm a happy bunny.

The missing spacer:


All back together


Last night I started pulling apart the offside rear hub while my gf attacked the engine bay a little. First was check under the battery where there was a decent amount of surface rusts, no holes though! Pulling out the remains of sealant and old paint revealed more rust, All of which is now sitting under a layer of rust remover. I'm thinking that a good coat of underseal may be a good idea for this area rather than hammerite or a spray paint?



The front mount for the airbox was also annoyingly rusted so that came off:


Only to reveal that the studs on the airbox were missing, and that the airbox had been broken and badly glassed... Anyone got a lower section of the airbox hanging around?!




The rear hub I was working on came apart ok until it got to the inner seal - it's totally seized in. Hammer and punch isn't shifting it at all. I'll borrow a seal puller for the weekend but don't hold much hope. Any thoughts? Last ditch attempt is carefully cut the lip with a dremel and try rip it out with mole grips, but hopefully it doesn't get to that!

More bad news, seems the paint job was hiding rust. I'm asking myself why I ever trusted a word that garage said
Top of the front offside wing has started looking rather bubbly, which isn't an area I'm aware of as a common place on these...



Also, bought myself a set of cookies (really not keen on the teledials, especially the 6J fronts as they make the front end look far too weak, and really need some spacers...) Set myslef the task of polishing the rims then repainting the centres black... going to take a while!

Welcome to Cookie Cutter world.
I have the same issues with my car. The air box on my car is broken too.

Cookies look ace, with the right spacers. I need to polish the lip on my set.

Ear infection is rendering me useless at the moment.

R

Good progress

Thanks guys. She was back on the road over the weekend, brought a smile to my face!

Handling seems a fair bit better with the rear wheels no longer wobbling! Still feels like it's diving onto the front outer wheel while cornering, even under acceleration. Lots of playing to do yet!

Couple of new questions:
I'm getting horrendous belt whine when the engine is cold - I think this is from the aux belts. They were loose and squeaking previously so I tightened them to a recommendation I read on clarks (and now can't find to link to...) which was about 1/4 inch movement of the belt on the bottom straight. Any thoughts on how tight these should actually be?

There was a lump in the underseal on a floor panel so I went digging - the floor panel has cracked under the rear mounting of the outer drivers seat rail. There's no rust, it's clean metal but looks like something has punched through from the top and left spidering cracks in the panel in two places. Initial thoughts are it's rather odd but shouldn't be too bad to weld... Is this a known issue? I still need to take out seat and carpet and see what I find...

Hi,

I can't comment on your potential welding issue, but the photo you posted of potential rust on the top of the front wing looks like moisture under the paint. From what I've read this is the result of spraying the car in a damp environment.

Hope that helps

Matt

I agree looks like micro blistering a common respray defect

Interesting work there Gryphon,

Great reports and photos - its been an interesting read

Looking forward to hearing more on progress!

Thanks guys! While I can generally work out the mechanical/electrical bits, paint is something I have no experience with. None of my previous cars have had paint that was worth looking after. Sounds like that isn't rust then, but as it's moisture I presume it could lead to rust, so best to get it sorted asap? The paint job needs to have a proper machine polish to get rid of some of the orange peel anyway so was planning to take it to Greg Howell in Southam at some point to get his thoughts on it. (He's recommended in the praise/grumble section, has a good looking website and is local ) I have no idea how thick the paint is... I assume the microblisters require sanding back and respraying?

Thanks Blackadder. It all feels very simple compared to what some of the very impressive project logs on here are doing, but I know when I was looking to buy my 944 I was reading every little restoration log I could find - and it's always nice to get some encouragement and advice!

I had intended to work through all the mechanical bits I wanted to do first, then focus on the aesthetics, but now I'm using it for commuting I can't help but think the cabin needs a bit of love. Front seats are very ripped and getting worse with use and the dash is very cracked etc. Has anyone had any experience with the leather 'stick over' dash covers such as these ones 'J F Customs' does one ebay? I imagine they would be a pain to get right and would look awful unless fitment was spot on, but if you got it spot on could be sweet. I was considering getting the door pocket covers to have an experiment with as the carpet covering on mine is separating nicely...

Doing those covers would also mean I need to pick a highlight colour for the car. Brake callipers need re-painting anyway as they were once gold but now very flaked, and as the interior is black anyway it would be good to keep the highlight consistent. I was considering yellow - I know black and yellow has been done to death, but as long as there is only a bit of yellow I still like it, especially for stitching. I'm also considering a bright blue... I remember sitting in a Jag XKR with black leather/blue stitching and it looked excellent... decisions decisions... (Sorry if that upsets people who like stock! The cost of having the dash repaired as stock seems prohibitive, and I can't see the value of a square dash Lux being particularly hit by it. Happy to hear peoples thoughts though!)

Am also a little tempted by the Turbo seats Richair has FS. Haven't looked into fitment yet (may not be possible/not sure I want the temptation if it's easy), but I imagine sorting my seats would cost more, and I would definitely like the extra bolstering! Maybe kinda sacrilegious popping Turbo seats in an early Lux

Hi there. I have just taken the dashboard out of my 924 to sort a leaking heater matrix, sort out some wiring and to recover the cracked dash. I was also considering the leather covers but have been put off by my local trimmer who has said that these kits are a poor fit. My dash has been recovered by a PO with vinyl. I have decided to go down this route again. Woolies are sending me some vinyl samples. I will only be recovering down to the moulded swage line and I will hide the join with a bit of trim. I will post up some pictures when done (hopefully within the next couple of weeks).

David