Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

I have had an 86 944 for nearly 3 years now but being a submariner in the RN I have not been able to do the work it requires, I was looking to restore it, but it is rotten and has been bodged with non standard bits to an awful standard before. The interior is full black leather and literally like new. Here is the awkward bit, I have recently acquired a square dash model with a great body including inner and outer sills and associated areas which also has less than 100k on it. As much as I like the oval dash interior, I believe the work involved to swap is huge, the interior on the early car is shocking but tbh the square dash style is growing on me a bit. The 84 car is also auto, would it be worth swapping my manual box into it. Whatever route I take I would like to rebuild the other shell as well, as I am a time served welder and have just bought a new Portamig welder.
Open to any suggestions
TVM

Hi..I see your dilemma. But, as you have kinda stated that you would like to rebuild the '86 shell, that really means that you can't use the gearbox from that to do an auto to manual conversion on the '84 car. So, it looks like you really have two project cars here! The conversion to manual is pretty straightforward but can be time consuming and expensive. You will have to change the bellhousing on the engine (or at a minimum fit the clutch release lever assembly), fit a set of clutch plates and a thrust bearing and possibly a new flywheel. Fit the clutch hydraulics and a pedal box. Fit all the gear rod linkages and I think you might have to change the drive shafts too as they might be a different length on the auto transaxle to the manual one? I am sure someone can advise here. I think that generally when someone tries this they literally tear everything out of a donor car (box, tube, engine the works) and move it all across. Alternatively, they simply sell the auto and buy a manual car...

If it were me, I would stick to keeping the cars as they are, do the welding and any other work required on the '86 to get that up-to-scratch, then find someone who is breaking an early car that has a good interior and get that for your '84.

Not sure if any of that helps you out..but good luck with your decision!

Sound advice I think, The earlier car could be back on the road with a new interior and a bit of brake work, I will have to tink about this one.

The oval dash won't fit the square dash car without masses of work, but I can't see why you can't fit the Manuel gearbox drivetrain from the late to the early car, if you felt the urge.

Yeah I have googled changing the dash and it is horrendous, the gearbox though looks a realistic proposition.

I'd keep the square dash (getting rare and look more classic car than the modern style oval) and swap out the rest of the interior if the square dash colour is the same, so what if its cracked that's character.

You could always keep the gearbox and parts you need to do a swap for another time and just get the car up and running for now.

I have a early auto and the kick down is great fun but the rubber flex plate will eventually go and these cost £1000 to buy, I replaced mine once so I know how much work is involved dropping the box to get to the bell housing area (lots of crawling around on your back if you don't have a garage lift)

Good luck whatever you decide

This may sound harsh but in your shoes I would be tempted to sell off both cars, and get an oval dash manual car (or a square dash manual). A dash change is not pleasant (I have changed the heater matrix in a 944 before, and yes, it does require patience), but swapping the gearboxes across is also not a pleasant job by any stretch (dropping the rear suspension being one issue).

In the long run it will be the easiest in addition to saving on aggro and potentially costs. It is hard to step away from a car you have grown attached to though.

I think I will concentrate firstly on the earlier car and probably stick with the auto box for now. I am not to keen on the brown interior and it needs new door cards anyway, I am though thinking of getting hold of a black interior if these are available and using the good seats from the other car and the carpets. It is a good job I am not in a rush lol

If you have everything then it isnt such a big job. The gearbox with the hall effect sensor and the wiring loom will make it relatively straightorward.

The biggest job will be fititng the heater into the series one car, when thats in then everything else will plug in.

Id probably use the seats, keep the tunnel mounted seatbelts, fit the superior series two carpets and any trim which is better (door cards dont quite fit but they can look better than poor originals) and look around for a good early dash. I have one which used to be perfect until about five years ago when a couple of tiny cracks appeared. Its stored in a garage and they appeared whilst it was stored: since then they havent advanced. Id sell it to someone who was restoring a good car which they were going to keep, if thats what you choose to do.

One problem using the later carpets: theyre two part in the front, which is covered by the elongated centre console. On a series one car youll need to fit a cassette box too, in order to cover the join and hold the pieces down.



Simon

Really appreciating all the advice, I am looking at this as a longer term project, so do not mind a bit of work, the older car has an electrical gremlin also, it starts on all four cylinders then drops to only two, any ideas? Whatever I do I will start a thread.

Should of asked, which is the small job the dash or gearbox!!!

The dash. If you have a series one type transaxle with no way of powering the speedo and youre trying to bodge the series two instruments into a series one loom then its a nightmare.

If you have the later transaxle and a car to donate its loom then swapping the dash isnt anything like as hard as the accepted wisdom (much of which is hearsay because very few current owners had experience of the cars when this was worth doing from a commercial perspective), suggests as you really only have to fit the series two heater... Far from easy but far, far easier than fitting an oval dash an instruments/switches into an otherwise standard series one car.

Hi..I think 944 Man was referring to the fact that the early cars has a speedo driven by a cable, and the later ones had a hall effect sensor on the gearbox......yep I just saw the reply above ^^^


If you have everything (which you do in the '86)...such as the wiring loom, heater, and done the gearbox change..then the dashboard change is not such a big job. But by then you will have stripped so much from your '86 that it probably wouldn't warrant repairing!

Your starting on 4 and going down to 2 cylinder problem looks like a DME issue. The injector drivers might be on their way out, or a cracked track, dry joint in the DME is causing this problem. Sounds like everything works when cold, then as it heats up, something expands and a connection is broken, this is typical behaviour for a dry joint (or similar). You might need to open up the DME and inspect the soldering using a mag glass.

I have an oval dash model and a square dash model, between the two would I have the right parts? but as said earlier the early interior is growing on me and is it worth keeping the cars original?