03Feb2012
Rod Bearings LSX
Thought I had a few minutes today to torque the new rod bearings into place on the LSX motor. Never fails when you are doing something important that you get bombarded with phone calls and visits 🙂 I think I retorqued these about 3x each as you don’t want to guess which bolt is at which stage after you forget, lol. The LSX motor takes the torque in two steps, 15ft/lbs, then a 75 degree rotation. Ready to go. My …
02Feb2012
SP3 (951) build continued
Finished up most of the suspension today, with just a few bits here and there to take care of. Rear sway bar off the car ready for replacement Setting up the rear drop links for the weltmeister adjustable sway bar. Oh yea! Then it was time to ditch the AC compressor and move the alternator down. Old hunk of weight out of the car. And the Alternator out. And the alternator back in with Rennsport’s AC Delete bracket. I also …
10Jan2012
951 Suspension Upgrade
This low mileage 951 suffered what all 25 year old cars do….worn out shocks and struts. Most people don’t notice the effects of weak shock absorbers. I notice it right away when getting in the car and the car feels overly floaty on the road. Not how a Porsche should feel. So it was time to ditch the junk Sachs/Boge shocks and upgrade to some Koni’s. Shiny new Koni’s 🙂 Old front struts. The old dust bellows and bump stops …
21Nov2011
Porsche 944 Turbo Replacement
Been waiting on a turbo core to be rebuilt for awhile, and it finally showed up today, so I set about replacing the turbo on this 944. The compressor nut had come off and the turbo essentially ate itself due to the loose tolerances. Not a good situation, but I think we have it under control. Luckily we had a couple of cores laying around so we didn’t have a dead car sitting at the shop. Bibbed up and ready …
31Aug2011
Dragon Part II:
Figured I’d make the rolling chassis a little lighter: Out she comes 🙂 I’ll put this thing on a stand at the shop and go through the bottom end. My guess is the head is warped, so a trip to the machine shop will confirm that. If so, then I know the bottom end is good. Once I get my other charlie arm back, I can button up the suspension and load it back on the trailer for it’s journey …
10Aug2011
PPI’s The Paint Meter Never Lies
Having someone qualified to perform a PRE Purchase Inspection BEFORE you buy is always a good idea. Being able to spot potential or current mechanical issues, previous accident damage, etc is critical when buying a car, so you can have an idea of what repairs you may be facing in the future, Ie, money out of your pocket. Unfortunately, I end up doing a lot of POST Purchase Inspections after someone had purchased a car, and they never really enjoy …
03Jul2011
951 Coolant Leak
Had a mystery coolant leak in this 951 🙂 Typically when a you start finding coolant on the driver’s side or around the front of the car on a 944, there are a couple of quick (and likely) spots to check. The first one is the coolant port on the radiator for the small expansion tank hose. This is just a screw in fitting with a paper gasket. Over time the gasket will shrink, or the plastic will become brittle, …
20Jun2011
944T Part 4:
Took some time this weekend to get the head cleaned up and ready for the machine shop. My initial thought was to put in valve seals and slap it back on, but after seeing some very slight coolant erosion in the face, I decided it was best to have the head resurfaced to clean up anything that my cause an issue. Dropped it off this morning, so hopefully will have that back in a few days. Head off the car. …
15Jun2011
944T engine work continued
I got the 951 up in the air today and started poking around a little more. Always exciting to see what you will run into next. My plan was to retension the belts to the correct spec, then start on the headers. Ummmm not so much. ROFL. Some people shouldn’t work on cars they aren’t familiar with, lol. We all have our moments, but this is AWESOME! Some things put a big smile on my face. Needless to say, this …
12Jun2011
944 Oil Leaks Part 3:
Before heading out of town I was able to almost get the 944 back up and running. Just waiting on a set of spark plug wires and we should be able to fire this thing up. Cam tower reassembled and ready for install. And back on the car: Oil cooler housing removed from the car and ready for some cleaning. New seals on the internal cooler: And the block cleaned up and ready for install of the cooler and housing: …