Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Hi all, Am new to the site, but not to Porsche ownership, I've had a 2004 Boxter S Anniversary for just over a year, but on a whim I bought a 1987 (D) 944 S1 from a friend to use in the winter months, it has an S2 3.0 engine & seems in remarkably good condition for it age, mind it has been garaged most of its life.

It was delivered on a tralier this morning & I've been going over it listing bits that it needs, but more importantly bits for the MOT

For MOT & as a ncessity it needs:-
Front Shock Absorbers, looking to upgrade so its less walowy, but I spose it's currently down to the fact mine are like a bouncy castle...there are some M030's on fleabay...but am thinking £300 for a used set is a bit much or are they really that goody? Any views on where I can get shocks & where is best place to get them done, I live in Surrey & use Cridfords for whomI have no complaints, but they are all I know apart from Main Dealers, whom I steer clear of in case they bankrupt me...
Gear linkage kit, 'its very loose' is an understatement, its like a stick in custard is more appropriate, but not sure if its front or rear or how to fix if it is either

Need to get the 944 on the road by 31/10 as that'[s when the Boxters tax runs out & I can't face putting it through another winter.

any advice greatly appreciated

Hi and welcome to here and 944 ownership!

Ref the M030's, not sure what money they go for tbh but always raved about. All will depend on condition of course though. Not sure if there's any issue fitting to yours as opposed to an S2, really not sure about that

Ref the gear linkage, do a search here or on PCGB, I know there's a thread lurking about repairing the pin connection at the bottom of the gear lever, otherwise I guess will be the connections by the transaxle - worth jacking up and taking a look

Cheers
Andy

I would have thought the really important thing is Belts/Rollers If its been stored for a long time eg 4years since they were changed?
Otherwise you might not have a decent engine for much longer?

A 1987 car is a series two. Series one cars had the 924 derived dashboard. The S in S2 stands for Super, not series. Referring to it as an 'S1' might cause a lot of confusion and cause you to end up with the wrong advice or parts.


Simon

Suspension, from the top of my head you should have servicable front struts, which can accept new inserts. Which could be either standard items, or upgraded Koni's, the same could be applied to the rear of the car where either standard or koni dampers could be used at good value for money.

If you want to tighten up any 944, I would recommend fitting the 968 M030 anti roll bars, as these will transform the car more than almost any suspension modification. They sometimes become "unavailable" from porsche, but usually within 6 months another batch has been made and they are available again.

Gear linkage, there are several wear points, mostly caused by the combinations of mild steel mechanisms pivoting inside plastic bushes. The mild steel items corrode, getting a surface like sandpaper, which causes excessive wear everywhere where steel meets steel or where steel meets plastic.

Going from front to back.

At the front you have a gear lever which is connected to a long rod that extends to the transmission at the rear of the car, where the two are connected you have a steel pin on the lever going through a steel eye in the rod. Sometimes you get some wear in the eye, but normally you get much more wear in the pin, which wears to become a tapered barrel shape rather than a straight pin.

At the back, you have a mechanism which has two metal pins pivoting in a cast plastic bush. In theory the two pins here should not rust, as there are 4 rubber seals which seal the plastic bush where the pins go through. Unfortunately the rubber seals shrink, the grease is lost, the metal pins corrode and the corroded surface eats the plastic bush alive.

Lastly, the left to right motion of the gear lever is stabilised at the rear by a rod with two rubber mounts, these also weaken with age and cause a much more fuzzy gear shift.

Lots of people make noise about the plastic cup on the bottom of the front gear lever being worn, but to be honest I rarely find this to be the case, but it is cheap to replace.

The options

We have an uprated front gear lever we supply, which has the standard mild steel pin removed and a stainless steel one installed. Often installing this item will remove most of the play in the setup. We sell these on an exchange basis, have done for years and have never seen one wear at all.

For the rear we use several options in the workshop. One is to stripdown of the rear assembly, cleaning up the two shafts that run through the pins, and replace the plastic bush/block with a self lubricating billet item, there are plastic ones on ebay which are cast plastic and not self lubricating, which I would not recommend. We also replace the seals at the same time, and apply light grease to the shafts when the whole lot is reassembled.

Another option for the rear we are working on at the moment, is a stainless steel version of the rear linkage, which also uses our self lubricating bush, which should last forever, it also has an adjustable cross brace which is rose jointed onto the transmission and the linkage, (rather than the standard pressed steel one with rubber bushes) which is being tested on some cars at the moment and seems to be working really well. It is not a quickshift as such, but what I would call a precision shift, it removes all slop from the gear shift, and should never need replacement. We are thinking of making these also available as a quickshift where the motion between gears will be reduced.

Lastly would be to change the rear linkage with a dedicated quickshift. for years we have been selling our RaceShift and RoadShift, which are fully made from stainless steel and billet aircraft aluminium with all joints rosejointed. These have been used in racing as well as on the road for about the last 10 years without any issues and are probably the most precise gearshift available. you could literally fit a ferrari style H-gate over the gear lever and it will track through the same pattern every time with next to no motion beyond that needed to change gear. The RoadShift has a slightly reduced throw and is no heavier than a standard gear lever to use, the RaceShift has a much reduced throw, but is heavier to use. (less motion, more effort, basic lever engineering principles)

As has already been said, if the car has been off the road at all, get the belts changed. They need to be changed every 4 years or 40,000 miles in reality.

Hi, good advice, it went off the road in Nov'10, but has been dry stored since. Is this going to be expensive? Just had a quote of 500 +vat for new front Koni & setup..not from a MD, am horrified!

Hi Simon,

Thanks for that, good to know, it does have the curvy dash, so the S2 with the bumperless front a'la the Turbo is a series 2 Super 2?

Spot on! The series change (from series one to series two, usually called 1985.1 & 1985.2 or maybe 1985.5 in America) was from the early cars which had 924/931-derived dashboards, suspension and windscreens.

1986 model year onwards 2.5l 944s, along with 2.7ls, Ss, S2s and 968s are all series two cars (although the 968 was highly developed and was originally intended to be marketed as an S3/series three, which clouds the issue a little), with similar suspension, geo. dashboard and panels


Simon.