Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

The engine change is a tricky one as the letter of the law says that it can have an engine swap so long as it is the same manufactured year (or earlier).

However, as these dates for classes are purely made up by the MSA they kind of recognise that different engines are acceptable so long as they're the same spec/output as was originally fitted.

eg - 2.5 8v 1983 car with a post 1986 2.5 block = fine
the same car with a 2.7 or 3.0 would be verboten.

To add a little clarity to my post: if you have a 1985 built series two/MY86 car which has a later 1986 manufactured MY86 engine in it then they wont be able to tell from a cursory inspection, which will suggest that it is the correct engine (unless it has 86 year stamps evident!). If its an '86 manufactured 1987 model year engine then it will be easier to spot and then youll be relying on the leeway that Ben has mentioned above.


Simon

It's exactly the same engine. I made sure of that so it was a simple swap.

I've not updated this for a while so a quick rundown of the last month or so...

The car spent a bit of quiet time in the garage after the last big rally in December. I had it out a few times but by and large it just sat on the rack relaxing.

[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/NasBttUy[/url]

It had been running a bit lumpy since I submarined it through a gnarly ford in Scotland so I had a bit of a tinker with the ignition and found the inside of the distributer was not too happy. This was brand new just 500 miles earlier...

[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/0BsyHBnV[/url]

A bit of electrical contact cleaner and emery board cleaned it up and it did run sweeter. Michael my mechanic thinks it is allied to a problem with the starter motor so I've just bought a recon unit which should arrive later this week.

I'd also killed the aux lights by hitting water with them on and the tiny H7 bulbs detonating due to cold/hot issues. They were a bloody nightmare to sort, each lamp was full of a bazillion tiny pieces of crystal with only a pea sized aperture to get them all out of. I did my best and got most of it out and replaced them. And then there was light...

[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/laOE4yQY[/url]

Next it went for a little holiday to Michael's workshop for a few bits. First off the nice spanky new Bilstein B6 sports dampers. I particularly liked his trick of using the ramp to compress the springs to get the top nuts on

[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/DJdXDdUk[/url]

[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/TFd4qVkM[/url]

Next was the cage, as expected this was a 5 minute job. Erm, actually it was a bit of a cluster fuck as I'd taken the roof out and with the cage installed it wouldn't go back in and fasten down. Aaaaaargh. Cage out, roof in, cage in. What a moron I am...

[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/OZj1STMw[/url]

Then the car came home for a bit of a clean up and prep. I roped various children in to assist.

[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/eDBEzbmA[/url]

[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/vxDcieBC[/url]

And before we knew it the car was ready, almost.

[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/9Dgumyae[/url]

It needed a quick bit of tracking after adding some neg camber to the front so a friend stepped in and lent me the use of his multi million quid Mercedes dealer workshop It was well swank.

[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/ADbZePNe[/url]

Saturday saw the car out competing in the Mini Miglia Rally which took us through North Yorkshire, Lake District and parts of Lancashire. The car went well, still needs a few tweeks with the front geo though.

[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/v6eLWUGr[/url]

[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/gpaDQpo9[/url]

That's about it. My eldest daughter wanted to have a fun start to the day today so requested some Blomqvist skidding to school, was only too happy to oblige.

[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/3K6825oS[/url]

And then it went back to my garage to join the rest of the gang, presumably to talk about the size of the tits on that M6...

[url]|http://thumbsnap.com/zPVbG4AC[/url]

End of update. Phew.

Absolutely fantastic!

I'm just prepping the car for it's first proper outing of 2014, the Rallye des Jonquilles in northern France this weekend.

Summer wheel set back on and a new set of FIA friendly steel wheel nuts. Got these from Porschapart and for the price (around £40 I think) they're very good quality.



Been a bit naughty here with the sticky plate but I want to aid the cooling so I'm going to drill out the standard plate mount so I can get as much air as possible up and into the engine bay. We'll also consider running some ducting each side to the front brakes.



The roundels are on now too though still need to put on the bits over the rubbing strips, will try and get round to that before the off on Friday.



My old starter was starting to fail so Bow Runner kindly rushed his spare up to me. His was the original fat bodied starter (mine had obviously been replaced at some time as it was on a skinny starter). Now I don't have to gulp before starting up, especially from hot. I'll recon the old unit and keep in the spares box.



That's it really. The car is in with RPM as we speak for a full geo setup now the entire suspension has been replaced. Looking forward to getting it back tomorrow and starting the final prep and pack up. Then it'll just be 3....2....1....

Just updating this so it provides some motivation. I've spent the spring and summer focusing on my other project. It's been a lot of fun but is now up for sale as a Group 4 Alpine A310 rally car has come up that I want so funds need to be shuffled somewhat. I'll miss it. I'm a straight six man at heart despite my nasty Porsche fetish ( ) - there is only a few months between the BMW and my 944 but the difference is quite profound! The E12 is knocking out around 260bhp and around 245 torque. It's not a heavy car either so it goes like an absolute rocket. I've done about 4500 miles in it this summer and it hasn't missed a beat. It has had about 300 hours on it though!



Anyway, enough of the BMW stuff.

The time has come to get the 944 into a more useable state. It is currently totally stripped for classic rallying. It is a superb tool for the job but is such a hostile environment inside that it means I only really use it for competing.

What I'm planning to do over the next few weeks is to try and take away some of the noise, boominess and general hardcore-ness and create a kind of 944 RS Lightweight interior. Once done I think I'll use it a bit more.

My initial thoughts are to cover the transmission tunnel in a heatshield type foil and then a light open-weave grey fabric. I'll also do similar with the boot floor. My wife has just done a sewing course so I'm getting her to make me a couple of light starched canvas bags that will be a bespoke fit for the two sunk areas by each rear wheel.

I'm also going to have a think about the roof. Currently it is entirely stripped back. I may think about getting some of those foil covered bubble wrapped pieces, get wifey to cover them in alcantara and glue them up onto the roof in pieces cut to fit. Who knows, will give that some more thought.

There are a couple of mechanical bits that need addressing, nothing too big though. The first is a wobble under braking which is definitely not brake related. Will have a look. I also want to get the smoking under full throttle when very hot sorted. Not sure where to start but wondering if it's a fuelling issue.

That's it for now. Will get off my arse and get cracking over the weekend.

Replacing the squab for the rear seat will remove a massive amount of noise.

Hello Simon, long time no speak.

The rear seat base is still in.



The MSA insists that if a car had a back seat at point of manufacture then you have to retain the 'general idea' of it. I stripped it down and cut away all of the sound deadening. Now it sits like above with just the fabric/padding. In total it weighs around 1.5kg in place of the 16.5kg of the entire original seat assembly (not counting sound deadening too.)

My S2 isn't too bad with the carpets in (no soundproofing, no rear seat, boot carpet still in)

I think the carpets make the interior far less boomy.

The 8v 944 gearbox noise is very prominent without a boot carpet, my S2 appears less noisy, but I've kept the carpet for now.

No, no, no. The BMW would make a fantastic Pre 86 Classic race car, and maybe a great car for something like the Tour Britannia.

How's the little black 944 going Ben?

Not too shabby thanks.

It's getting a lot of love at the moment in the workshop. 2 things happening simultaneously - first is prepping the car after last season. It needs new rear dampers, rear wheel bearings, new top mounts, steering U/J etc. Just general rally wear and tear. Along side that I'm building a pure competition engine that'll have a knife edged crank, forged rods, uprated cam and lifters etc.

I've also bought a rare OEM LSD from a very kindly bloke here on the forum. Thet'll be going in with a new clutch and lightweight flywheel.

The car will be on the Mission Motorsport stand at the Festival of Speed in a few weeks. I'll also be slinging it up the hill. I've also decided to start competitive hillclimbing in it so all in all it's going to get a bit of a workout this summer/autumn!

A few pics of misc stuff going on. Am fortunate that my mechanic also runs a media blasting business for classic competition cars!:











And a few of the car while awaiting work. I dropped it off yesterday and will be helping out for a few days and then collecting it again in 2 weeks. Then I'll give it a damned good kick in the guts on my 'proving roads' up over the top of the Dales and then to Goodwood.

ah excellent news! I may even see you at Goodwood.

Have you had any issues with plod about the front number plate or at MOT time?

No on the plate, but that's because I have 2!



The one on the bumper has had all the glass fibre behind it cut out and ducted so as to get more air in for engine and brake cooling. I only really take the proper one off when rallying or when on the continent (also rallying). It works very well and there are no rules to how many plates you can have (as long as they're all the same!)

I did used to have just the one vinyl on the DS - for exactly the same reason. That was metal we drilled out though. Also worked very well. You can just about make out the drilled original space for the plate here.