Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Having just joined the forum and introduced myself, I thought it might be an idea to start a thread detailing the work I have carried out on my ’88 944S. So, this is a ‘chronicle’ telling (and showing with lots of pictures) the stages of work carried out during a long restoration.

All the work has been carried out by yours truly, apart from some welding help, so here we go.

Diving into the deep end....

As you can see from the photos, she is looking a bit sad, damaged and in need of a lot of TLC, but far too good to be broken for parts! A Cat C insurance write-off, bought from a major on-line salvage auction site.







The story will continue as a series of replies to this thread...I know you guys like pictures, so I'll just keep them coming!

...continued...




Once delivered to me I stripped off the damaged wing and front panels and welded a replacement inner panel in place. Removed three – yes, three old alarm systems and repaired the electrics. Drained the fuel tank, inspected as much as I could and fired her up. Nice…

I then fitted some replacement panels, including a fibreglass S2 style front bumper complete with original S2 lights, etc.

Then I had to drill out the locking wheel nuts (no key!)..this took an age and three hole saw blades. Once the wheels were off, I replaced the discs and pads and generally serviced the calipers.

Decided that as I didn’t know the service history and when the belts were last done (they looked fine..) I ordered all the necessary parts.

A bunch of other minor works was also carried out on a number of systems to bring them ‘back to life’.

Then took the car for an MOT inspection to put her back on the road, it actually passed! So, I was able to take her out and about…which I did (well who wouldn’t?).

However, I wish I hadn’t as I had only done about 1500 miles when the cambelt stripped teeth (rubber had perished) and the engine was toast… This was only two weeks before the ‘holiday’ I had booked to do the work on the car, as you can imagine - I was gutted.

At this point, the car sat on my driveway for some time (quite a time actually!) while I decided what to do next.

Finally got around to assessing the damage, knowing pretty much what I would find. Stripped the engine and removed the head, 8 bent valves, basically all the inlet ones. Priced up replacement valves and all the other work and parts involved and decided to get myself a complete working replacement engine. This ‘new’one would be then rebuilt as much as possible , cleaned and fitted - so the hunt began for a suitable donor car.

Found a lower mileage S (87K) that was really shabby, lots of rust, accident damage and only suitable for parts:






It's just possible that someone out there knows this car!

By the way, I still have several parts available from breaking this car, I'll list anything worth having in the appropriate section at some time..

Got it home, drove it! Then parked it up, tore into it and removed the engine, as below:







....There are a lot of engines out there that look like this!

...continued...




Stripped it down and replaced the following:

Cambelt and balance belts
ALL belt rollers and tensioner rollers
Head gasket
ALL cylinder head camshaft box seals
Balance shaft oil seals
Camshaft chain
Camshaft chain tensioner pad
Rear main crankshaft seal
Other engine gaskets and o rings - as necessary
Exhaust manifold gaskets
Thermostat
Power steering belt
Engine mounts
Oil cooler seals and gasket
Complete set of Beru spark plug (EHT) leads
Spark plugs (copper)
Distributor rotor arm and cap

While doing all that, I extensively cleaned the engine, repainted components and inspected things like the water pump (it appeared to be a replacement with no leaks and a good bearing). I had noted the oil pressure on the long drive back from the PO and it was good, so decided not to do the rod bearings.

Then replaced the following clutch components:

Clutch pressure plate
Clutch plate (friction)
Clutch thrust bearing
Pilot (spigot) bearing

The original clutch was totally shot, the rubber centre was breaking up and the plate worn. However, the flywheel surface looked good, so didn't send that off to be machined.

At this point the expense was becoming somewhat sizeable.... . But, as they say 'in for a penny'....there was no going back now.

The engine was, at this point looking good:






The story will continue!

Regards...

That looks lovely, keep the pictures coming!

Excellent work, good man!

They get under your skin these funny fat little Porsches don't they...!

^^^ They certainly do!

Here are a few more photos....

So (while I was in there*) I decided to clean the engine bay and replace the clutch master and slave cylinders along with the flexible hose….







* - 'so while I was in there' is a phrase I came to know all too well during this project, as other things do have a habit of requiring some form of attention whilst you are working on some other 'bit' of the car. Of course, the best time to do it, is while it's easy to get to. And, if you don't, you will probably regret it later!

Then it was time to fit the rebuilt 'donor' engine..

BTW, I took the engine out through the top. That was not too easy at all, so decided to put the engine back from underneath. It took a while to get the body raised and all the suspension parts off, but all-in-all it was actually easier I think. Also, allowed me to 'refresh' the suspension parts.







Once in (with a few skinned knuckles!), I did the following:

Fitted all stainless steel pipe clamps
Repaired the PS pump with a gasket kit - as these things do like to leak!
Replaced the external belts (PS and Alternator)
Replaced the air filter
Fitted a new battery

After a few ‘false starts’ and a bit more minor work, she fired up..again nice!

Then did an oil flush, new filter and oil change and a coolant flush and filled with new coolant.

The 'refresh' of the front suspension involved a lot of cleaning, repainting and replacing, as follows:

Front struts
Front wheel bearings
Front flexible brake pipes with stainless steel braided ones
Brake dust guards
Both front tyres
Bonnet (hood) struts
Front caliper seals, pad retaining springs and pins
Caliper bleed nipples with stainless steel ones
Headlamp relay rubber cover
Air filter box to AFM rubber seal

Great work, loving the pics all credit to you for taking it on and saving another S2 so many of these cars end up as parts for much less money and work that you've done so far.

It can't of been easy getting the front end up high enougth to get the engine out from underneath I struggled when I did my flex plate and didn't get it anywhere as high as that.

^^^ Getting the car high enough was a long and careful process - one side at a time...just a few more inches, then another heavy-duty concrete patio slab was added. This was heavy work! Getting the car down once the engine was in was even more entertaining!!!!

Love your red 944 with Fuch wheels, very nice!

Absolutely brilliant stuff!!!

Well done.

Nice to see some comments, many thanks for the compliments, etc...to continue...

At this point I decided to remove the 'Turbo' side sills and inspect the metalwork as the car had been standing for some time and I knew that this area was a weak spot with regards to corrosion.

Once exposed, I noticed that the outer sills had developed a ‘bit of a rash’. Rusty bubbles had formed that when 'popped' produced rusty water. If the sills were pushed I could hear 'stuff' falling off inside - this was not good!

I decided that proper repair work was needed and I had to assess the extent of the corrosion, so I broke out the grinder and this is what I found:







I can guess that many 944 owners have already seen this kind of problem...the galvanised body had lost out to water, road salt, heat cycling and 24 years of neglect.

Cut out all the rot and went off to my local Porsche breaker and specialist (Pie Performance). They had just finished stripping a really good 944 that had blown its engine. The sill panels were solid, so they cut them out for me. That in itself was a mammoth task as some of the metal is incredibly thick in certain areas (so a big thank-you to Chris and Craig at Pie!). Here is what I brought home:





As you can see, this car had been waxoyled (or similar) early on in its life, so the sills had survived really well. I had thought about getting some 'third party' repair panels and even got a pair to see how they fitted (I was not impressed). So getting a complete pair like this for about £100 seemed like a bit of a bargain, as using original metal where I could - I knew the fit would be so much better.

However, I did then spend a lot of time cleaning the panels up to get them ready for welding, but was generally very pleased with the results.