The oil pump

 

 

Balance Shafts: The Hidden Complexity

The 944 S2 uses two balance shafts to smooth out the inline-four's inherent vibrations, each running on single-shell bearings in their housings. These shafts are driven by their own belt system, separate from the timing belt.

Simple in theory, but here's where it gets interesting: the bolts holding these bearing housings get extremely hot during operation. On my engine, one had already snapped completely, and the other three required serious heating before they'd budge free.

That snapped bolt? It turned out to be the source of a mysterious belt whine I'd been chasing for ages. I'd thrown everything at diagnosing it - a new balance shaft belt, a new timing belt, multiple re-tensioning sessions, a new water pump, and even a full rebuild of both the alternator and steering rack pump. 😂😂😂😂

All along, it was a broken bolt allowing just enough movement in the bearing housing to create that irritating noise.

To fix it, I had to drill out the broken bolt and install a Helicoil. My engine builder then advised me to Helicoil all four bolt holes - not just the damaged one. His reasoning was sound: with the thread damage and thermal stress these bolts endure, Helicoiling them all ensures I can achieve the correct torque setting across all four bolts consistently, giving equal clamping force and preventing future issues.

Sometimes the simplest failure hides behind the most elaborate troubleshooting. And sometimes the proper fix means going beyond just replacing what broke.

The Sump (Oil Pan)

The sump itself was in good shape - no damage, no warping, just needed a thorough clean. I stripped out the internal baffling (the oil windage tray that stops oil from sloshing about under hard cornering and acceleration) and gave everything a proper degrease as the hardened oil builds up behind the windage. 

Most of the sump bolt threads were fine, but the two middle ones had seen better days and needed drilling out for Helicoils. While I was at it, I also Helicoiled the bolt threads at the front and rear of the engine - they were showing signs of wear, and I'd rather address them now than deal with a weeping sump gasket later because a bolt won't torque properly.

Engine Out 

Taking the engine out the 944 S2 is a tricky job, I took mine out from the top in two stages, the inlet and exhaust manifolds and cylinder head first, then the bottom end out after that. There is a great write up on how remove the engine from the top by Retro Steve 

This is definitely a two man job as you need another set of hands to help with the manoeuvring of the engine to get the clearance you need to get the head off and the bottom end out. I drafted in Jacob Lee for the cylinder head and Martin Cain for the bottom end, whom I am eternally grateful for for their help 👍🏾

Splitting the engine confirmed that bore scoring was a problem and that the head gasket had needed changing as some parts had rotted away. 

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There are a number of challegning areas when undertaking this job which are detailed below:

Head stub removal

These did not want to come out, the guys on the forums simply say “use the double nut method” but the bolts did not budge a millimetre. I had to use my heat induction tool to heat them up until the stud lock burnt away, then use my massive stilson to crack the studs, and then use the double nut method to remove them completely. The studs are "one use" items so they have to be replaced. I plan to use some ARP head studs which you can find for under  £200 if you shop around. 

Exhaust manifold removal 

While the double nut technique works for these bolts the clearance needed to remove the two manifolds pieces is a tricky. I found removing all the studs from the middle section for exhausts ports two and three and then tackling the section for ports one and four was the only way I could get it out. 

Injector removal

These were well and truly stuck in, all broke and I have to replace them all. Good luck, I wish you all the best trying to get them out in one piece. 

Engine lift clearance 

My Clarke CFC100 1 Tonne Folding Workshop Crane engine lift would not fit under the car! So I had to stick some scaffolding boards under the front wheels to get the clearance required. Once the engine is out the front end of the car lifts up a lot, so its worth noting that when it goes back in lift will get stuck if you don't use some boards under the tires again. 

Torque tube clearance

From the top, it looks like the bottom end will come out with the bell housing attached. But you don't have the clearance to get the torque tube shaft clear. Splitting the clutch is the best option. The timing mark fin in the bell hosuing gets in the way when your trying to get the bottom end out. Once you have figured this out pulling then bottom end is much easier. This fin was also a problem when fitting the bell housing, I am going to grind the bugger back 10mm as its a right pain in da ass and you can barely see it to use it as a timing mark the one of the bottom of the bell housing to much more useful and the one I use for the timing belt alignment. 

Once the engine was freed from the clutch and the timing mark fin had been manoeuvred out the way the engine lifted out easy.

With the Engine out it s was time to soak the with degreaser and jet wash the engine bay, but only once the hose pipe ban has been lifted 😠 

The engine bay came up clean with just a quick scrub with dregreaser and a jet wash.

The rear brakes had been refurbished and new pads, handbrake shoes and discs had been sourced. As part of the rear suspension overall, the parts for the handbrake system had also been cleaned, zinc plated and built back up.

The calipers on the 944 have some crazy anti vibration shims that sit inside the caliper pistons. They come in various sizes, 44mm, 40mm, 36mm, 34mm and 28mm and cost between £8 -  £10 quid each and you will need 16 of them in total, four per caliper. There seems to be no logic in trying to calculate the  size that is required based on the size of the piston or the hole inside the piston. The 944 parts catalogue  lists 40mm and 36mm for the fronts and 30mm and 28mm for the backs. Rather than buy new I figured I would use what I had, however, the front brakes did not have any fitted so I had to get these new. After a few purchases and returns I figured out my setup had 40mm and 28mm at the front and 30mm & 28mm for the backs.

I used a tiny bit of sealer to bond the back of the pads to the anti vibration shims and built the items back up on the bench. With the calipers back in place the hard line brake pipes and the ABS & brake wear warning senior could be routed and clipped in. 

With everything back in place was time to address the hand brake cable routing. The broken piece that comes out of the driver-side back seat floor well had been poorly welded and broke off while pulling out the handbrake cable.

After a hours of scratching my head and a cuppa I figured out how the handbrake cable worked. It’s really confusing as there is only one cable that comes out the car and therefore only one direction of force is applied to the cable. The Porsche 944 catalogue image of the handbrake cable is below:

The diagram is not up to date as the two cables do not require item 21 as they have stops that seat against the swing arms built into the cable. My understanding of the cable mech is below:

Long Cable Composition:

• Metal cable (inner wire)
• Plastic sheath crimped to the metal cable
• Rubber sleeve encasing the plastic sheath

 Connection to Short Cable:

• The plastic sheath of the long cable connects to the metal cable of the short piece.

Force Transfer Mechanism:

• When force is applied (pulling the handbrake), the plastic sheath compresses.
• This compression of the plastic sheath pulls the short cable's metal wire in the correct direction (opposite direction)
  

Once I understood the handbrake mech, it shed some light on the 5 points the cables use to apply the required force (one on each  swing arm, two on the axle carrier and the one that enters the car) The one that enters the car had snapped, as this take all the force applied to the long cable and all the handbrake cable adjustments. I bought a Porsche 911 - 1978 -83 handbrake spacing tube cut it down drilled it out 2mm to 15mm to take the handbrake cable end and had it welded into place and routed the hand brake cable in and adjusted until it felt good.

Re-assenbleing the in car handbrake mechanisum was difficult as I coudn't find any infoirmation online about how it all came togather, it is not complicated enough to document, but too complicated to remember a year later. I took some pictires just incase I had to take it apart again. 

Next was the brake pipes, the long pipe from the front of the car to the rear had already been replaced with some stainless pipes with PTFE cores. So it was just a case of replace the rear pipes with the same. The brake pipes where ordered made to measure by Hosetechnik as the pipes from the rear callipers are hard lines, I only needed two flexi pipes one from the drivers side trialing arm to the T-Junction at the back on the same side and another long one from the same T-Junction to the trialing arm on the passenger side.

The tappets were really loud on the 944, one of them had collapsed and made a loud metallic noise whenever the car was stood for long periods of time.

I used the video irina25661 to help me figure out what I needed to tackle the job, and the whole job is detailed in the the article in Clark’s Garage website. The camshaft chain tensioner guide is also here

The 944 lifters are really expensive at £80 a lifter and you need 16 to replace the all and few guys on the 944 forum have had success replacing them with VR6 8v lifters which are much cheaper at £160 for a full set of 16 INA ones. The comparison of the lifters is below

 

These is a load of information on replacement tappets on the Porsche Club Forum I got some INA 420002210 tappets from AUTODOC. 

Removing the lifters is a complicated process as the all the belts need removing, the camshaft pulley and the rocker cover as well as the cam towers. I did a post showing how to remove the bel

To remove the cam tower bolts you need a 8mm 12 point splined socket. The bolts are only torqued down to 20nm but after 35 years in place they did not what to come out and eight out of the 16 bolts stripped the spines. 

I used my bolt grip extractor tool which easily pulled out the problematic bolts. However getting replacement was a problem as they are on back order with Design 911, I tried a nut & bolt specialist rather that ordering online because of the long wait, but the head on these bolt and very small and the cam cover would not fit on so I had to order some from RosePassion Porsche parts specialist in France. 

The tappets fitted prefectly and slid into place on a bit of oil was applied to them. Don’t forget to block the oil ways with some rags to stop any bits flying down the oil ways. 

With the cams out I could fit a new timing chain, the new chain came with two different coloured links that are used to align the cam chain markers with. 

Put the cam back in with the marker in the vertical position. 

The camshaft timing gear covers where both screwed on my 944, I had previously had put some helicoils in the front cover as the bolt holes disintegrated when I tried to put it back in place and the mounting point snapped on the rear cover when I did the belts back in May 2024.

A new rear cover was sourced from YouTrade 944 in Poland via eBay for £80, it took me two months of checking as these are impossible to find, there are lots of front covers which are easy to find for about £50 from eBay. I transfers the camshaft timing sensor on to the new rear cover and fitting to the car

While I had the timing and balance shaft belts off I decided to change the water pump. I was unable to get the whole 7.5 litres of coolant, maybe 5 litres came out from the radiator and expansion tank. However 7.5 litre went back in. 

As I planned to used Evans Waterless I had to add the preparation fuild to get rid of all traces of water and then add the red waterless coolant. While the water was out the car I changed the water pipes for some silicon ones. 

While the engine ran a lot smoother and quieter there was still a light ticking noise. I suspected this was due to the state of the cylinder bores as at 156k they will be worn. I quick check with a bore scope confirmed this. 

So it was time to split engine and check out the head and work out what to do next 😵‍💫

 

While 18 inch Porsche cup wheels looks nice, I still wanted the option to go back to the original 16 inch design 90’s that came with the 944

The wheels we refurbished by The Wheel Specialist in Leeds 

The wheels came out well and main man there Brain Scott did an amazing job refubishing the original Porsche metal centres which I had rattling aroudn in some box for 20+ years. 

I do love a flat-bottom steering wheel. The centre was a bit worn on this unit so I had to spray it to clean it up and then treat the leather to some creams. The blots we also a bit rusty so some new one were obtained from Demon Tweeks   

While this wheel was good for the two year build of the car, where I in in and out the car with dirty, greasy hands, its wasn't going to be the final wheel. The Momo Mod 07 Black dished wheel was on my list  for the finial wheel with a Porsche crested leather horn push.

The exhaust needed changing as it was rusting away, and while my previous attempt to fix the hole with speed tape had lasted 2 years I was not 100% happy with it.

The Porsche 944 S2 exhaust system features sophisticated dual-skin construction, utilizing inner and outer layers with an air gap to manage heat and sound. From its tubular steel manifold through to the single exit tip, the 2.5-inch diameter system delivers the car's characteristic exhaust note.

The mounting system is particularly clever. The front two mounting points consist of four key components: a U-clamp that secures around the torque tube, a primary hanger bracket, a rubber isolation block, and a secondary hanger bracket that connects to dedicated mounting points on the exhaust system itself. This setup provides excellent stability while isolating vibration from the chassis.

The front, rear, and back box mountings are below. On the 944 S2, there are two rear mounting points one of each side 

Hayward & Scott made the new exhaust. It’s a manifold back with a straight-through silencer in the front pipe and back box, and the tail pipe size and shape can be customised.

The rear heat shield was royally screwed so the guys at MOTOBÜRO made up a replacement heat shield for me.

I went with an oval end rather than a round one, as it suited the back end better. 

The old locks of the Porsche 924, 944, and 968 tailgates also often creak and rattle while driving.
The cause lies in this silicone insert:
In hardly any vehicle, the original rubber inserts in the lock are still intact so that the pins of the rear boot window can move undamped by body movements back and forth. 
The formerly white material is still wholly preserved in hardly any vehicle and is usually discoloured and darkened very dark. The funnel-shaped insert is pressed from above into the locks of the boot lid. After cleaning and lubricating the pawls in the lock, you can simply squeeze the rubber inserts into the lock from above.

I also replaced the boot seal, as the one in place looked a bit beat up. The one from hosequip fitted well and did not require any sealant or heating to fit. 

The most challenging part was aligning and releasing the latches. Forget aligning from the inside, as it did not work at all. I aligned them from the top and one side at a time. 

The lens removal and reinstall are well documented on Only 944s 

The Modification Process

The project began with removing the original light clusters, which presented an unexpected challenge. The previous owner had secured the lens using copious amounts of Tiger Seal adhesive. This led me to discover a fantastic tool I'd never encountered - the Caramel Wheel. This remarkable tool quickly removed the stubborn Tiger Seal and the Porsche decal beneath the light cluster.

Decluttering the Rear End

Speaking of the Porsche decal, I decided to leave it off after removal. The rear of the 944 S2 already features multiple Porsche badges—one on the black boot spoiler, another on the number plate holder, and traditionally one under each light cluster. Removing this redundant branding helps achieve a cleaner, more modern aesthetic that complements the updated light clusters.

LED Upgrade

To complement the visual upgrade, I also took the opportunity to enhance functionality by replacing the standard indicator bulbs with LED alternatives. This modification mirrors what I'd previously done with the front indicators, providing significantly improved illumination. However, it's crucial to note that this upgrade requires an additional modification:

The Result

Removing the orange lens section, eliminating redundant badging, and upgrading to LED lighting have resulted in a more modern appearance while maintaining the 944 S2's classic charm.

Getting the Axle Carrier back in place required some force, so I used a jack and a block of wood to push the axle carrier mounts into place. Remember to remove the rear support brace as the axle carrier fouls this on the way up and you actually cannot assemble the handbrake cable with is attached to the car. 

The fresh underseal and the new polyurethane bushes did not help, but the jack and a block directly under the pivot points and slightly pushing out the bush enclosures helped. It will lift the whole car off the axle stands on the side you are doing, so it's wise to make sure you have some blocks of wood under the car to keep the car from crushing you and being left in the garage until your rotting corpse smells so bad that one of the neighbours rings the Police. 

With the axle carrier in place and the swing arms next, to go back on, I found that the weight of the rear brake discs made it nearly impossible to get these back in place on my own as the units are so unbalanced. After removing the rear discs, the units slid in place, and I could put the bolts in place. Don’t bother tightening these up yet, as the geometry will be all over the shop, and you will have to make a few measurements to get you at least in the right direction so you can drive the car to someone who can set it back up. 

With the axle carrier, swing arms and drive shafts back in place, the Gaz gold coilovers were fitted. I had decided when I started the rear suspension refurbishment to ditch the torsion bars and go with coil over the springs so I could easily change the ride hight at the back end to get the stanced looked and ensure that sagging backend look was addressed as everyone likes a good looking rear end 😆

It's worth checking out the clutch wear to determine if you need to replace it. I found this guide on the internet: Clutch Wear Check. The check told me the clutch was about 60% worn, so I estimated it was changed at about 100K and had another 50K left. 

However, the car did 100K around 1999, and I figured it would be an old rubber-centred clutch. The rubber would be 24 years old, so it was best to come out and replace it with a spring-centred clutch. This would also allow me to replace the clutch fork and bearing. Also, as all the rear suspension had been removed, the job was 50% easier. 

Before starting the job, it is worth watching a few YouTube videos. I rattled through the following to gain the much-needed knowledge and to figure out what parts I shoud replace regardless of them being worn. 

Old Timer 944

Pelican Parts

Van Sevonson

Removing the gearbox and dropping the torque tube was easy. However, removing the bell housing connected to the engine was difficult. The car must be high enough to get a slide hammer in to get the clutch fork shaft out. I had to get a really short slide hammer to help with this. The bell housing blots are at funny angles. No combination of socket extensions or universal angle joints could get these out. What worked for me was a really long 19mm ring spanner, I tried putting some pipe over a smaller one, but it just slipped off when I tried to loosen off the bolt.  

With all the parts off, I managed to get to the clutch and flywheel. The clutch had been changed in 1998 and was about 50% worn.

The flywheel had some glazing and a noticeable high spot around the centre of the clutch matting surface.

I resurfaced the flywheel and purchased a reconditioned clutch fork from 60 Degree Motorsport. Their forks were cleaned and Cerakoted, fingers were welded back up, and bearings were replaced with IGUS composite bushings for long, trouble-free service life.

All the guides advise changing the clutch bearing, guide tube, clutch fork pin, and crank seal while you're down there, which I did because it was cheap and a pain to get to if they fail later. 

I ended up slotting the bell housing as on the 944 S2, there is only one sensor, so the hole was tiny. 

I set the gap for the flywheel sensor to 0.8mm, bolted the bell housing in place, and pushed in the fork pin. Once that was done, I refitted the torque tube, exhaust hangers, and the two support braces under the torque tube. I replaced the foam inserts, which are still available directly from Porsche at around £115. Also, mine looked like some mice had been at it.   

Bolting up the bell housing and torque tube was reasonably straightforward. I got the metal parts under the torque tube powder-coated and the gearbox cross-members at CAS coating. Using this post as a guide, I also fitted an upgraded gearbox mount filled with urethane. 

I could replace the differential output seals with the gearbox out and install the Only 944 Short Shift Kit.

 

The middle section on the 944 gearboxes are steel rather than aluminium, this steel sections always goes a rust colour, a good blast with the wire wheel on the grinder and some heat resistant sliver paint cleaned it up.

I also replaced the front mild steel gear lever in the cabin with an uprated stainless steel one from JGM Porsche.

Getting everything back in place was easy, with the only tricky bit being lining up the holes for the torque tube coupling. If, like me, you moved the torque tube bar while separating it from the clutch housing, the two parts will not line up. To resolve this, you can attach the coupling to the torque tube, tighten it, and use a crowbar to push the bar further into or out the clutch hosing until you can align it with the slot on the gearbox input shaft. You can use a little hole in the torque tube as a leverage point. 

 

The whole thing took around 16 hours over four weekends. It's definitely a two-man job, and a gearbox jack makes getting the gearbox back in place a lot easier, as it is a tight fit. With the new upgraded version of the clutch, the clutch pedal felt a lot more usable, making the bite point a lot more gradual than on/off as it was before.

The gear sector kit makes sifting really nice. The change is a day-and-night difference: quicker, more direct, and with a much better feel.  

The camshaft chain pad needed changing as they were visually worn. The removal process is not difficult. However, the washers are small and will quickly drop into the engine oil channels, so ensure you stick some rags down them before taking the tensioner off.

While the cam cover was off, I cleaned it up with some paint stripper and sanded it down.

I sprayed the cam cover with VT Wrinkle paint, replaced the seals, cleaned up, and zinc-coated the bolts. The fuel lines need to be removed to get the cover on with the seals in place, as sliding the cover under them does not work. 

Got the spark plugs and leads back in and connected everything back up, The cam belt cover came up well and with the cam cover made the engine look fresh-er, once the crinkle paint it cured and crinkly all over it should look cool 😎

Fitted a strut brace and replaced the fuel lines with some braided ones 

Decided to clean up the inlet manifold and the metal cover which is for the fuel injection resistor, on the far left of the picture next to the clutch reservoir.

The before picture, with a test spot I cleaned up, is below:

This is how it looked after:

Cleaned up the panels under the bonnet and fitted some new sound proofing from RarePorsche Parts 

There are many seals on the front of the 944, and it seemed like most of them were leaking. Design911 sells a kit for all the seals; however, the crankshaft-toothed seal will also need changing as it wears and pushes oil out onto the belts. 

 The parts you need to replace all the leaking parts are below: 

Left Balance Shaft

• 999 113 282 40 Shaft sealing ring
• 928 105 139 02 Spacer sleeve
• 944 105 321 00 Gasket/small O-ring
• 999 701 652 40 Large O-ring

Right Balance Shaft

• 999 113 281 40 Shaft sealing ring
• 928 105 139 02 Spacer sleeve - bought
• 944 105 321 00 Gasket/ small O-ring
• 999 701 652 40 Large O-ring

Crank Seal

• 999 707 283 40 Round seal
• 944 107 161 04 Toothed sleeve
• 999 113 331 40 Shaft sealing ring

Removing the required parts is a "long thing, " so it is worth watching a few videos to learn how to remove everything from the car. Before you start, you will need a flywheel locking tool to lock the engine TDC. You will also need a special belt tensioner spanner and another tool to remove the balance shaft pulleys. I also got a camshaft locking tool, which did not fit and was not worth the effort to get it to fit in the end, as the camshaft pulley does not really move, so it does not need locking in place. To measure the belt tension, you will need some Optibelt - OptiKrik tools, 0 & 1 are needed.

I got the job lot from eBay, from Rare Porsche Parts (RRP) who probably got them from some other idiot who did the work and decided to sell the car to guarantee he would never have to do it again, as it is a proper crap job 😡

Below are all the seals and sleeves. In my case, the worn sleeves and the o-rings for the balance shaft casings are causing the oil leaks. You can see the scoring on the crank sleeve with the oil pump gears on below: 

Adjusting the tension on cars with spring tensioners:

1. On the front plate of the spring tensioner, there are three fasteners. One holds the roller in the tensioner. The other two are used to tension the belt. To tension the belt, simply loosen the lock nut on the pivot arm (top fastener) and the locking bolt (lower). 
2. Using a pry bar or balance shaft pin spanner, you may want to gently nudge the tensioner in the release direction (i.e., more tension on the belt). Sometimes, the spring tensioners like to stick after sitting for a while. Once you're satisfied that the tensioner has been released, tighten the 
3. tensioner lock nut/bolt.
4. It is worth noting that the idler for the timing belt and the metal guild rail need to be removed to measure the belts' tension. 

Timing Belt Tension

• New belt - 4.0 ±0.3
• Used belt - 2.7 ±0.3
• Optibelt Tool - 40 lbs 

Balance Shaft Belt Tensioning

The idler balance shaft belt idler pulley must be removed to measure the belts' tension.

• Old style belt (15 mm wide) - 2.7 ± 0.5
• New style belt (18 mm wide) - 3.5 ± 0.5
• Optibelt Tool - 28 lbs (20 lbs is the reading to aim for here; see comparison with Porsche Tool below)

Adjust the balance belt idler roller such that the clearance between the roller and the belt at the lower balance shaft sprocket is 0.5 mm. I used a 0.5 mm feeler gauge. When properly adjusted, torque the locknut to 45 Nm (33 ft-lbs).

Auxiliary Belts

Alternator belt tension to 85 lbs (110 lbs using OptiBelt)

Power Steering Belt - 5mm deflection (70 lbs using OptiBelt)

 

Comparison with Porsche tool

 Check out the post -  P9201 Tool vs Optibelt tool. The values mapped to these below:

• Optibelt Tool - 40 lbs- Timing Belt
• Optibelt Tool - 28 lbs - Balance shaft belt 
• Optibelt: 110 lbs - Alternator belt, across the TOP span of the belt (between crank and alternator)
• Optibelt: 70 lbs -  Power steering belt - across the bottom span

Manual belt check

Timing belt- 90 degrees twist with thumb and forefinger

Balance belt- 180 degrees twist with thumb and forefinger

Water Pump Method: I could just about turn the water pump pulley with the belt tensioned without the belt moving. You need a good grip. I used some mole grips to get it moving, and then after that, I could just slightly turn it with my hand.

Dropped the oil and added a new oil filter and some of the new Porsche Classic Motoroil especially made for the Porsche four cylinder water cooled engines found in the transaxle models Porsche Classic Motoroil

 

The parts you need are listed below: 

• Voltage Regulator with Brushes A-Circuit, 14.4 Voltage  -  Bosch 1192052015, 
• Premium Quality Bearing 6303-2RS 54700 17X47X14mm
• Premium Quality Bearing 6201-2RS 53200 12X32X10mm
• Capacitor, 2.2 µF - 2.2MF Blade Terminal End Replaces -  Bosch 0290800036

Cleaned up the case and replaced the rear bearing

Cleaned up the bracket and had the bolts zinc coated along with the adjuster bracket

The alternator belt tension is 85 lbs, which works out at 110 lbs using OptiBelt tool on the top span of the belt (between crank and alternator)

The 944 lower shock mount is the weak point in the coilover conversion setup, and some of those crazy Americans have posted pictures of the bolts sheering off.

I figured I best address this as the roads up North in the UK are grim with potholes everywhere.

The rear coilover also catches at the bottom of the trailing arm, so spacing them out is also required.

I got some Porsche 944 Coilover conversion lower shock upgraded mounts made. These were CNC machined in Devon from 4130 steel. Type 4130 steel is an exceptionally tough metal and is most often implemented as structural steel and used widely as aircraft steel.

The brake disks and hand brake mechanism needed to come off as I was not disconnecting and replacing the handbrake cable, especially as I had already pulled up the carpet and glued it back down as part of the rust prevention process I did earlier. The rear callipers and discs came off as expected, but the hand brake is a little different as it used shoes inside the rotors 😕 Pelican Parts have a guide for the parking brake shoe replacement, which I found helpful as I could not for the life of me get the brake shoes off. 

The drive shaft was quickly removed from the gearbox and, unlike front-wheel drive cars dropped straight down, clearing the gearbox. Both CV joints on the drive shaft had excessive play and needed replacing. The gearbox output shaft seals were also badly worn and needed replacing, as the whole area was covered in gearbox oil. 

The driver-side swing arm did not come off easily, the arms are alloy, and the bolts are steel, so they corrode and feel like they have been welded in place. Heat is needed to get these out cleanly, and because the alloy soaks up a lot of the heat, you need to heat the points the bolts mate with the alloy up for much longer. 

Bolt 31, from the diagram below, snapped off in place. I think this is because I tried to undo the bolt rather than the nut at the back, so I recommend staring at the back, and if the bolt is stuck in place, deal with it once the arm has been removed from the spring plate and away from the car. I used heat and the pipe wrench to remove the leftover stud.

The three bolts you need to take off can be viewed using the diagram above and below. The bolt 30a  connects through the arm, spring plate and ARB drop link. This is also difficult to get out because it seizes into the rubber bushed of the drop link. I found heating the rubber was the easiest way to deal with this and factoring in replacing the bushes with PowerFlex bushes or rose jointed drop links  

Removing the bolt that goes through the shock and into the swing arm was the most challenging part of this job. The bolt was solidly in place, my 800nm impact wrench was just stalling and engaging the clutch and cutting out. When I tried to loosen it with a strong arm bar, it felt like the would pull the car off the axle stands. I tried removing the swing arm with the shock attached and applying heat and removing it, but that also did not work. 

I ended up cutting the bottom lung of the shock open and removing the rubber bushing and found that the metal sleeve on the shock that the bolt goes through had corroded into the swing arm and the top of the bolt. After applying heat to the point where the sleeve and arm meet, the impact wrench easily spun the bolt out. 

The exhaust does not need to be removed to remove the passenger side swing arm, but since the torque tube was also coming off the car and I was planning on fitting a new stainless steel exhaust, I took it off.

The passenger side swing arm removal was similar to the driver side, and while none of the main bolts broke off or was seized in place, two of the smaller 10mm bolts that hold the brake disc dust shield snaped off.  I also found that the hand brake mechanism on this side of the car had seized, causing the rear brake to bind, which I noticed when I was driving back from the MOT centre.

Both rear bearings were shot in the swing arms, and hubs could be easily rocked by hand. These would need replacing and as they must be pressed in. I may need to visit an engineering shop to get them sorted. 

Pulling the bearing race was easy using the screw fix "once use only" inner bear puller at £19.99 a pop. The metal the threaded bars are made of is so cheap if you look at them funny, the thread crosses. I used a chisel and a lump hammer to finish the other side.  

The rear axle carrier was not easy to remove as the passenger side main bolt bearing flange bolt (no. 19 in the diagram below) connecting the flange to the car was seized. This had to be cut out using two cuts on either side of the bushing with a reciprocating saw and a new Milwaukee carbide-toothed blade. 

Bolt 17 was also problematic to remove as it ran through an alloy spacer that had seized the bolt in place. This bolt snapped and had to be removed with heat and a pipe wrench. Even with the head of the bolt snapped off, the flange could not be removed as the spacer fused the two parts together. 

 

Tools got mash up

I bought a 3/4 impact gun from Machine Mart (now called the Big Daddy). It had the bolt off in a few seconds, and at less than £140, it is cheap compared to the battery-powered Impact Wrenches that can do around 800NM of torque, which are all about £300+ 

There are lots of information and PDF workshops available to download on the internet but I found finding the information about the correct part and the right way to dismantle a section of the vehicle and put it back together was challenging until I discovered the Porsche 944 parts catalogue. 

The catalogue contains exploded diagrams of all the components, the parts numbers and the model information.

You can grab a copy of the parts catalogue for your 944 from Porsche's web site here 🠊 944 Part Catalogue

The parts catalogue does not contain the torque settings and these need to be looked up in the workshop manuals for your model, I have grabbed a number of these manuals from various online sources, which can be accessed here 🠞944 Workshop Manuals. I pulled together the Word documents "944 S2 - Volume II - Transmission.docx" &  "Porsche 944 S2 Workshop Manual Volume 3  Chassis.docx" which I found the most helpful. 

The get to all the places needed to spray Fluid Film the front seat and the rear carpets where removed. The front plastic arches and the battery was also removed. 

Behind the space saver there are three gromets that can be removed to spray the space behind the back panel.

The bottom of the doors can be accessed via the door vents 

The back of the front wings can be easily accessed and treated with the wheel liners removed. 

While the wheel arch liners do provide some protection this area is known to rust from crap that gets in from the road. I did use the Fluid Film on these spots but after a day the oil had been socked up so I ended up using Por15 on these spots.

Clearing the body water drains also help to ensure the water drains outside of the car rather than into the car. 

YouTuber RockCrawlingDude created a video detailing how to clean the water drain points. His 944 is an older one but its the same apart from the battery in his motor is in the front and mine is in the back

 

The battery is in the back of the 944 and there is only one tiny earth wire attached to a point in the boot. Although I had no problems with a bad battery ground, I figured a better ground cannot be a bad thing and may help with the slow crank speed of the starter motor. 

I added two additional earth wires and a new earth point to help get a better connection earth from the battery to the car's chassis.

I used spare copper car audio battery connectors as they have lots of options for cables.  The middle wire was the original earth wire, and two more were added.  The new earth wires are actually eighty-gauge copper-stranded car audio wires for powering amps. The original earth wire looks like a Cooper 4 gauge wire. 

I used the rear light earth point for the third earth wire 

.

When I did the driver side pedals I found the floor had some surface rust so figured I get the seats out and check and treat the rear floors if needed.

The passenger side checked out ok with just the sound proofing being loose and needing replacing. 

Once the paint was dried, some new sound proofing was fitted 

The two rear fender buckets at the back of the car are potential rust points. The battery tray and the section under the tray are especially bad for rust, that if left will cause major issues. 

The tray was in good shape and just needed a quick blast with the wire wheel, some rust converter spray for good measure and a lick of hammerite.

Under the battery tray was a bit of a mess and full of black greasy substance, after cleaning  the black stuff away with a jet washer, and using my endoscopic camera, some surface rust could be seen.

You can seen the roof drain plastic pipe in the picture below which can be pulled out the way to get at the areas underneath it.

Used Jenolite Rust Converter on all the areas 

The area under the battery tray and the driver side bucket are now ready for the Fluid Film coating to help keep the rust from coming back.

Found some rust.  Two holes, one at the back of the passenger side sill and one on the passenger side floor. The rear sill hole was picked up on the last MoT, and there was an advisory for it as it was ten inches from a suspension mount.

After cleaning up the rust with the wire wheel, I cut out the rust out ready for welding. The two holes can be seen below: 

This other hole is on the other side of the inner sill. You can see the nut for the back of the belt bolt.

Treated the areas around the rust and sprayed as far in the inner sill as I could reach and the gap where the seat belt mounting point lives (the second inner sill) with some Jenolite rust converter.  

This provides a base for the wax oil to sit on top of and should stop any rust from developing and spreading further.

Access to the inner sill is via the plastic grill on the door pillars, and once the front seats are removed, you can access the secondary inner sill.

Below are the areas you can reach via the plastic grill on the door pillar. You can see here that there has been a repair before at the back of the driver-side sill. The large round hole provides access to the secondary inner sill.  

The passenger side inner sill is below. You can see here that a repair was also done, but the section beneath the repair has rusted away. This happened because the rear window seal did not keep out water, as the bottom lip it mounted against was slightly rusted. This has been cleaned up and painted, and the rear windows were re-sealed when the rear speakers were installed. 

 

With the seat removed, you can remove the old soundproofing, which has dried out and was loose. 

The hole below can be used to access the secondary inner sil. The seat belt mounting point is directly behind it. I am unsure why this area has rusted through on the passenger side floor. The rust has started from outside the car, maybe from a previous repair, as the sills typically only have one lifting point per sill. A second set has been welded in at the back of the sills of this car near the rust spot. So maybe the old one collapsed 

The welding looks good, but left a welding smell in the car. Which I aired out by leaving it for a few days with the windows down and the sunroof out. 

  

 Lowered the front by 30mm which is about as far as you can go without up setting the steering in the front.

Before

After

Cleaned up the scraps on the front bumper with some scratch-removal paste and the buffer so I could see the actual damage from the spin.

The polish removed all the dirt and left a clean surface for the touch-up paint. I used a kit from Scooby Paints (back in the mix). Their kit has a high-build primer, colour-matched paint and a paint-polishing compound. Their lacquer-free formula makes the touch-up process a lot easier and not as messy as other kits. After filling in the scratches with primer, I fitted the bumper lights and once the bumper lights where in place, the air box could be refitted.

The front nose cone can be refitted after the air box is fastened in. 

The primer was left to harden overnight, and then the paint was applied and left again overnight to set before the polishing compound was used with the buffing wheel to smooth the touch-ups out. The front end was polished using Meguiars Ultimate Compound and then waxed with Collinite 915 Marque D'Elegance Wax

While not perfect, the result was good enough to hide the scratches from sight when looking directly at the front of the car. The touch-ups can be seen on close inspection while the vehicle is stationary, on your hands and knees, with a head torch.

 

Replaced the clutch master ands slave cylinders, master cylinder was totally busted and the piston had popped out the unit. 

New parts came from 911 Design and were reasonably priced, for a change. 😃

  

Bleeding the unit was fairly simple with the use of a brake pressure bleeder, a one-man brake bleed kit on the slave cylinder nipple to do the bleeding and a syringe to remove the excess fluid from the reservoir. With a few opening and closing of the nipple the fluid was air free and the clutch pedal returned as expected. 

The master cylinder leaked all its fluid down the back of the carpet and soaked the soundproofing. I used the jet wash to clean the break fluid out and left it to dry for a few days. To get to the soundproofing, you have to take the gas pedal out and the rear hatch release button, then you pull the carpet up and pull the piece of soundproofing out for cleaning. 

Removing the pedal and carpet is detailed in the previous post Sticking Throttle Pedal 

 

The Front brakes needed some fettling as when I was taking the driver side one off the main feed flexible pipe snapped off in the unit. At that point I figure it's not worth trying to loosen off the bleed nipples or any of the near side calliper fittings and cut the flexi on the passenger side and stuck them in a plastic box. 

Took them to GB Automotive in Wakefield who did a excellent job refurbishing them for only £265 which is much cheaper that the £475 online prices. 

New Pagid discs are from Euro Car Parts,  £110 for a front set which was the cheapest Pagid disc price I could find online. 

Got some new some new brake cooling baffles . These where difficult to source, but cheap. I had to get one for Rose Passion in France and the other from the USA which was a second hand brand new item. 

The plastic holder for the ABS and pad wear sensor was smashed on both sides so replaced them with some new units from Part Works in Germany. 

There is an earth wire connected to the shock which is for the ABS. This was brown wire on both sides had snapped where it connects into the connection block. New looms are expensive and hard to find. On eBay some 2nd hand units are £50-ish each and new units from £230 for both sides (on back order)

I ended up buying a second hand ones for the passenger and driver side from eBay

The old pads looked fairly new so gave them a light sanding and stuck them back in. 

Please with the end result 😍 

 

 

Putting everything back in place should have been fairly easy as all the parts and bolts had been cleaned up. The wishbones, the new Porsche 968 caster eccentrics and rear mounts were the first items to be fitted.

 

The steering hubs, shocks and springs were next, These went on with no issues 

The last thing to bolt up was the ARB, I find it easier to do this last as with the ARB connected the wishbones are a little loaded and less compliant, so getting the shock absorbers on is difficult. 

The ARB mounting points are a little flimsy so fitted some braces to stiffen them up. The 944 uses a set of single drop brackets to secure the front ARB. During cornering these brackets flex, and by doing so they reduce the effect of the 944 front sway bar.

The  braces reinforce the weak factory sway bar mounting bracket by triangulating it to the front cross member. This prevents flexing that can lead to fatigue failure of the factory bracket, mine was “Shafted” and I spun the car coming off a round about at slow speed in the wet. 

 The  bracket also improves ARB  response by stiffening up its flexible mounting bracket. Hopefully they will eliminate the bracket flex and and keep the cars stance level when pushing through the corners.

The tracking will be wildly out, because the engine beam had come out and caster eccentrics and rear mounts were replaced with the newer Porsche 968 items as per instruction from Porsche tech bulletin in September 93 for fitting 17” wheels 👍 I plan to just set the thing up by eye then get it to a shop sharpish to get the steering aligned.

  

 

Found a bit of surface rust underneath the front rails where lower engine beam mounts to the car

Wire brushed it back to metal with the angle grinder  and did a coat of primer and painted it with some white paint. 

The brake dust covers on the steering knuckles were rusted away on both sides, and replacing them required the hub to be stripped down. Van Svenson's three-part YouTube details how to strip down and replace the bearings. 

The dust cover bolts required heat to get them out, and unfortunately, one broke off, as I did not use enough heat. So I will be using that pillar drill again to get that sorted.

Managed to source some new brake dust covers from 944 Online, which is a company in the USA, for £74.92, including postage for a pair. However, there will be an import tax to pay on these. Regardless of the import and handling fees, they will come out cheaper than getting them in the UK where they are just short of £200 per side from Design 911

Replaced the bearings, as there had been a number of MOT advisories regarding the front bearings, over a three year period. This was fairly easy once the hub was heated up and very cheap at £60 for a full set of four bearings. However the tools to do the job pushed the price up as the drifting kit was £25 and the bearing grease tool was £20 and the grease gun £27 and the grease was £10, which is a total of £77 in tools. The grease gun and tool for greasing the bearings up did not work, so I would advise to save the money and just grease the bearing by hand especially as this is the second grease gun I have bought from Amazon that did not do the trick😠

Heated the hubs and drifted the old races out, cleaned up the bearing race seats and then drifted the new bearings in with a bit of heat to help, greased the new bearing and put the whole thing back together following the instructions in Van's bearings part 3 video.  

The 944 has a lot of large sized bolts and really thick bolt spacers, replacing them is expensive. So cleaning them up and reusing is the only cost effective way to go. After watching this video on hot Bolt Bluing I decided to try the bolt restoration process of soaking, buffing and bluing. 

After 30 years the bolts typically come out looking like these below: 

Cleaning the rust away was done by soaking the bolts in white vinegar. This did a great job of getting the majority of the rust off the bolts after a 48hr soak.

The wire wheel gets rid of any of the rust left over  and creates a nice smooth surface. Using the wire wheel on the desk buffing machine is tricky as if you get the angle wrong the wheel snatches the bolt and fires it out back at ya at some speed. It’s a good idea to press lightly on the wheel and use a nice clean angle. As some bolts are thin you cannot use the platform so wear some thick building site gloves to protect you fingers. 

I tried heating the parts individually but it took took too long, instead I would heat the bolts in a stainless steel bowl and then pour oil over them, drain the oil back into a containers, dab the oil off the bolts and reheat. The second reheat is the most effective one and because of the oil on the bolts you get that flambé effect which gets the bolts nice and hot for the final quench. 

Here are some of the blued bolts I did, on the longer bolts I only did end using the blowtorch and heated individually 

The front suspension eccentric strut bolts are identical to the Golf Mk1 bolts which can be cheaply purchased from Heritage Parts rather than Porsche as they are loads more because of the Porsche Wanker Tax (PWT)  the part number is 171407265 which matches the VW part number

Managed to find a set of rear Porsche Cup Speedline replicas. 

Veloce 3.6 Sterling Silver

The rears are 9.5/ 18 inch et47 and will need 265/35 ZR18 tires 

Following on from Porsche 944 B6 Conversion pt.1

Porsche Leeds messed me around for two months with my order for some 968 Club Sport springs, which lower the car 20mm lower than the 944 S2 springs. 

After a bit of digging around, I found I could not find any 944 S2 lowering springs also. 

After more investigation, I found that the 968 CS and 944 S2 springs have the same spring rating, therefore some 30mm 968 lowering springs would do the trick. 

Managed to build up the shocks with springs with the aid of a newly purchased KATSU Coil Spring Compressor

The top nut needs tightening to 77nm which I managed to do in the vice. 

This is a rather painful job as the screws you need to remove to get the lens out are always rusted because of the corroding from the crap off the road. You can get them out via the back of the bumper but you have to remove the wing liners and front section where the air filter lives. 

When disassembling the glass, the bolts often break off due to rust or the fastening points of the housing break off. The "metal inserts" of the original housing get stuck due to corrosion and cannot be removed, the fastening points break off. Drilling out the metal inserts is almost impossible and new units are unavailable.

Porsche 928/944 supplies new fog light housing units with stainless steel inserts. Check out their funny YouTube video

Added some fog light covers from Rose Passion & Automation

The covers come with a mounting bracket on the inner side of the lights, which does not look like it can hold the covers in place, so I used clear double-sided Gorilla mounting tape to stick them onto the expensive fog light trim finishers on the outer side 

Having striped the wishbone down Wishbone Overhaul pt1, I finally got around to changing the ball joints in the wishbones

Used the YouTube video from Roaring Tigers Garage blokes Stephen and Ryan. You definitely need another set of hands for this, so enrol a friend to help (thanks for your help with this one, Martin) 

Getting the wishbone bushes out is easy, I followed Chris Walford's front control arm bush tutorial and used some Superpro bushes. The Superpro bushes come with shims and are easy to fit. The bushes were from Design911 and are listed for 944 S2's. The part is number SPF2935K and is listed on the SuperPro for Porsches 911,964, and 933's. Looking at the Powerflex site, their PFF57-101 equivalent bush fits the  911,964, 933 & 944 S2. There are also fitting instructions for the kit.

Once the bushes and the bush cups are out, its a good idea to clean up the bush housing as mine where really rusty. 

Porsche posted a tech bulletin in September 93 regarding the suspension upgrades needed to run 17" wheels. The bulletin states: 

New caster eccentrics, rear mounts and nuts must be installed in the front control arms. This change is necessary due to a change in caster specification on vehicles equipped with Porsche 17" wheels.
Interestingly the arch lips have already been rolled, which was also recommended in the Tech Bulletin   

Front suspension Part Number & Quantity Required
1. Rear Mount 951 341 023 00 x2 
2. Eccentric 951 341 431 02 x2 
3. Nut (torque to 100 Nm) 900 910 115 02 x4 

These 968 parts and are required for the additional caster needed for 17 inches wheels.

As I intend to use 18" wheels, this modification is definitely needed. Some info on the upgrade can be found here. However, it does not recommend running larger than 17" wheels. There was an option on the 968 for 18" wheels, and lots of the guys on the Porsche 944 forum run them, so I don't believe this will be a problem with the correct castor settings, as the front suspension will be identical to a 968.

 

Got a new headlight loom from eBay, with separate relays.

The loom came with the instructions below: 

Now the other end, you have 2 relays and again a headlight connector and a negative/earth. Attach this earth to the negative terminal on your battery. Now you will also see there is a male h4 connector this plugs back into the current loom so that you have the switching required to control the headlights.

This is the final part, the positive feed and fuse. Attach the ring terminal to the positive on the battery. Depending on the year of 944 your battery could be mounted in the scuttle or the boot. There are a few options, the easiest is to take a positive feed off the alternator terminal as its fairly close to the front of the car. You can also extend the positive feed back to the battery.

I used the left hand feed for the switching feed for the relays and connected the positive feed to the alternator. The left hand side of the car has a nice space for the relays and a good earth feed. On the right side I used the head light metal frame for the earth, however, the left side the frame is not earthed? I did not have the issue with the "dim dip" on my 1989 944 S2 that some owner have reported, I think that was mainly on the earlier models.

Common ground and fuse for alternator positive feed

Cleaned up the thread on the motorised head light adjustment and added some grease to help it run smoother. 

Ran the positive the wire to the alternator and inside the rear cover via the rubber sliding  cover on top for the feed back to the battery.  Replaced alternator cooling ducting as it had perished. 

This piece of work took much longer than expected due to the how tight the wiring is and the fact that the pops pull the cables and the is wiring exposed to a certain amount rain water when popped up so all the positive connections need to tucked away or insulated. 

One fitted my pop up lights and bumper lights behaviour was, I think matching the standard setup, but because it so Porsche weird I wasn't sure. They now operated as described below: 

** Sidelights on **

Pods down and 5w bulbs on within bumper units. 

** Dipped beam **

Pods up and headlights within pods on, plus  5w bulbs sidelightb on within bumper unit and headlight in bumper unit on

** High beam **

pods up and headlight plus high beam on in pods, 5w bulbs slidenlight on within bumper unit + headlight plus high beams within bumper unit. 

Switching from dipped beam to sidelights leaves pods up, with no lights on in pods. Pods will only come down if switch light is completely off. So flash is a bit weird. 

** Flash **

At the moment. 

If pods are down, the flash happens in the bumper units only and the pods stay down.

If pods are up and dipped beam is on, flash happens in bumper unit and not the pods. 

If pods are up and dipped beam is off and side lights are on flash happens in bumper unit and 

the pop ups. 

*** high beam (not flash) ***

If pods are down, nothing happens 

If pods are up and dipped beam is on, high beam comes on in bumper and pods. 

If pods are up and dipped beam is off and side lights are on high beam come on in pods and bumper. 

There is also fog light blubs in the bumper which come via a foglight switch on the dash but that does not change the way the Pods, side lights, main beam and high beam lighting works. 

Or does it 😱

The Porsche 944 is a sports car manufactured by German automobile manufacturer Porsche from 1982 until 1991. In total, 170,978 models were made across the range. Only 14,071, 944 S2 cars were made, so second-hand parts are hard to find. 

For the 1989 model, only 7,632 were made. Luckily, the S2 shares many parts with the 944 Turbo, which adds another 4k worth of cars to the second-hand parts bin. 

If you compare it to a popular hatch from the same period, production numbers are surprisingly low. The Golf Mk1 or Mk2 had over 6 million units made for each car model.

• Currently, 406 Porsche 944 S2 Cars are on the road in the UK.
• The number of Statutory Off the Road (SORN) Porsche 944 S2 cars in the UK was 644 in 2021/Q4

944 

944 Turbo (951/952)

* - Includes 12 Turbo S (951) / SE in UK (952), factory built prototypes of which 10 were exported to markets outside Germany.
** - Includes 1635 Turbo S
† - Includes 251 Turbo Cabriolet. A different source, Jerry Sloniger's article in the October 1991 issue of Excellence, indicates that the factory built 525, of which 255 were exported to markets outside Germany.

< >"CUP" designates a cup car which is a special edition race car.

944 S

* - Includes CS - Club Sport's built for US, and ROW markets.

944 S2

944 S2 Cabriolet

 The 944 turbo that inspired my vision sold in 2021

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1989-porsche-944-turbo-22/

Some history about the car on YouTube

Stripped out the hubs, brake discs and wishbones and removed the ball joints and bushes from the wishbones  ready for blasting and powder coating 

 Cleaned the seats and carpet with a 

Vax SpotWash Spot Cleaner

 The LCD on the clock was badly damaged,  used this guide to replace it. 

Porsche 944 Repairing the digital clock

Cut the shocks and got the guys from Motobüro® to weld in the new threaded collars. 

Used another one of irina25661 youtube videos to help with the conversion 

 Converting a late Porsche 944 to Bilstein shocks

Got the shock cases welded by Motoburo and powder coated ready for the new Belstien B6 shocks 

Removed the front suspension. The shocks are sealed, planning to use a Bilstein B6 Sport Insert 

Removed the brakes

The windscreen was full of light scratches which made driving at night interesting. 

Used these YouTube guides and the Ceriglass kit product to clean the windscreen

Glass cleaning

How to remove glass defects

 This is a pain to fix

Two pairs of hands are defo better than one here

I used this guide from Clark’s Garage 

Managed to source some front lights, one new and one second-hand

Polished up the second-hand one as best as I could 

New Light & 2nd hand light comparison

 Added a new car stereo 

Replaced the ash tray with a 3D printed tray 

Added an Apple mag safe phone holder and charger 

Replaced the arm rest frame with a new one as the hinge was gone the old unit was held together by gaffa tape

Loads of information on the internet on why the rear hatch delaminates and how to fix them

I ended up using black stickaflex as I have always had amazing results with it.

The new stuff is a bit shiny compared to the old but hopefully the sunlight will sort it out over time

The rear speakers were shot, and the rear needed some 6-inch speakers to bring a bit more bass to the sound. Used some old JL audio XR's 650s and some 10x5 inch grills.

It was a difficult job as the rear window quarters had to be removed, and the trim around the windows needed carefully unpicking and re-glued. The hole in the rear trim also had  to be enlarged to allow the sound from the 6" speaker to get into the cabin. The windows also had to be sealed back in again just to ensure it was a water-tight fit. 

Window out

Found some rust

old JL Audio

Added soundproofing and hid the crossover behind the panel

Reused the old speaker mount metal plates

Driver side

Passenger side

 The dash lights are poor on the 944 👎

Used this guide to sort out the LED's and used some Aviation speed to sort out the reflectors, which I think made the biggest difference. 944-dash-leds-a-reference-post

If I had to do it again, I would just replace the standard bulbs with new standard ones and sort out the reflectors. 

The car suddenly stopped recording mileage ? 

Followed this YouTube video Repairing my speedometer/odometer Gear.

The whole cluster needs stripping down 

The blue gear is what you need for a 944 S2 1989

You can see the old gear is missing teeth, the plastic had gone so soft and it was almost melting away. 

 Added some new sun visor clips and new light switches and LED lights. Used VW Golf Mk1  light switches as they are exactly the same, the sun visors actual look the same as the one on my VW Mk1 soft top 

 The idle and acceleration seemed inconsistent, with a notable flat spot moving out of idle to 2000 rpm 

I suspected this was the  AFM and used this guide to fix it

 http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/elect-22.htm

I did not take any pictures of mine in bits as I was desperate to get it back in the car and test it. 

I used the bend method described below, to move the arm on to new contact path and out of the grove it had created after 30 years of moving in the same arc. It worked and removed the flat spot. 

Instructions are 

Place a piece of paper between the wiper arm and the potentiometer conducting strip. Change the position of the wiper arm by pushing down on both sides of the back part of the wiper arm (see arrows in picture below) to the arm slightly. This effectively  changes the length of the arm such that the contacts on the bottom side of the arm will ride on a different (ungrooved) part of the conducting strip.

While trying to track down my battery drain problem

I replaced the DME relay with a solid state one 944 solid state DME relay

Then the car stereo with am Alpine single din head unit UTE-200BT

None of these upgrades fixed the problem, found this post on the Porsche 944 Rennlist forum and replaced the door switches which fixed the issue solved-my-battery-drain-problem.html

The new door switches are £30 a side 

Took the old girl out for a spin to Toby's and then to the Motorist 

 The speakers are bad and made of paper that is over 30 years old 

Stuck some Alpines in the front the resprayed the grills 

 Replaced the spark plug, dizzy cap and rotor arm with parts from Euro car parts got a cracking deal 

https://www.eurocarparts.com/distributor-cap

https://www.eurocarparts.com/rotor-arm

https://www.eurocarparts.com/spark-plugs

Got the lot for £66.20 quids with their weekend 40% off discount code 

The car is running a lot smoother. 

Picked it up from the Isle of Man