New POS project vehicle!

[J B]

Eager to hear more about what's gone south on the car.

[CurtP]

Ok, who wants to see my progress? From this:





To this:

[Z]

You sold your old house, bought a new house in a gated community and your new neighbors didn't want you to bring your project Porsche with you so they chipped in a bought you one that met community standards?

[CurtP]

Who says I have to take pictures in front of my own house?

[AgitatedPancake]

so your in someone elses lawn?

Lookin awesome man, trying to make a decision on the wheels though, dunno if I like the new ones or old ones better. Ehh I think new ones

[CurtP]

Regardless of what others think, I have friends who own houses.

It's another 951 though. The one I had is being parted out. I'm keeping a few parts off of it for the new one. The new one is a year newer (1987) and near perfect. It already has most of the mods I'd want to do and I got it for a good price (less than $8k). I'll be the third owner.

There will be a couple of things that I want to change - like the blue silicone hoses under the hood. I like things to look clean and those stand out too much. I'm probably going to retrofit the rear wiper and the headlight squirters. The only thing wrong with it is the AC doesn't work - compressor is good, but it uses R12 - I'll probably convert it to 134a.

Those rims are the Turbo Twists which everyone seems to want. Expensive, so I'm glad they're already on. 17" vs. 15" for the phone dials. It already has the 968 door handles on it too. Now if I can just find a 968 6-speed manual transmission...

I'm picking it up Friday. More pictures >HERE<

[Z]

Congrats! I thought your post implied that your project vehicle was done (which of course would be relatively difficult!), not that you had actually replaced it.

"Phone Dial" wheels? I bet there are a few people on here who have no idea what a phone dial is!

[JohnBoulderCO]

Phone dial, yah. When was the last time you saw a phone booth? I bet even fewer know what a party line is.

[Z]

Phone dial, yah. When was the last time you saw a phone booth? I bet even fewer know what a party line is.

My grandparents were on a party line!

[CurtP]

Congrats! I thought your post implied that your project vehicle was done (which of course would be relatively difficult!), not that you had actually replaced it.

That is exactly what I was trying to imply

I really wanted to take on the project, but it just wasn't worth it in the end. I'd be in it at least $10k in parts - everything rubber needed to be replaced, some of the wiring harness had dried out and the insulation was falling off, suspension bushings would have to be replaced, front wheel bearings, timing belt - the list just kept getting longer and longer. Plus body work and paint, which I wanted to do myself, but the bodywork needed is beyond my scope. The clutch is toast and the book calls for 24 hours to replace it if it doesn't have the 2-piece cross-over pipe (this one doesn't).

Now I really need to get off my ass and get the 5.9 sold!

[ILikeMud]

Phone dial, yah. When was the last time you saw a phone booth? I bet even fewer know what a party line is.

I repaired a party line the other day.
Pain in the facking ass!!

The new 951 looks sweet Curt.

[CurtP]

I drove it home with no plates. 130-some-odd miles and found some interesting characteristics. I'm definitely going to have to get the AC fixed. Miserable ride without it. It's also been great to have a parts/reference car. The guy who had it didn't do a very good job at installing mods and I've been actually de-modifying it. He had the boost cranked up to 18psi on the stock KKK turbo

I've already removed the Lindsey Racing hot-wire MAF and went back to the stock airbox and vane MAF. I've removed the computers and went back to the stock ones from the '86. I've had to patch the wiring harness wherever the guy touched it. The coax and triax cables going to the computers were hacked and being held together with crimp butt connectors, there was a huge wiring mess from a shitty radio, amp, boost gauge and narrowband O2 gauge installation. All that shit has been ripped out. It needs paint, but I wasn't expecting 21 year-old paint to be in very good condition. Many screws were missing and he loved to use JB Weld on shit he broke (like the power window switches).

The leather is filthy and it needs new carpet. I'll probably order new OEM carpet and have the dash pad recovered in leather. I've been reconditioning the seats with Leatherique and I'm about to go outside and hit them with my heat gun to get it to really soak in.

I also took out his MBC and installed a 1-bar fitting that I have. I want to see how she runs and I'll go from there.

[CurtP]

Shit. I guess I need to update this. So much has happened with this car. I've replaced the dash with recovered non-airbag dash and ripped all the airbag shit out. I've found so many problems that were caused by the previous owner. At one time there was a dash fire and yesterday when I tore the interior out, I found a really shitty splice job right by the e-brake handle. So now the new dash is coming back out, the whole harness is getting pulled and I'm going to take the one out of the parts car. Guess this is why I was having weird electrical problems all the time. This car was an electrical fire just waiting to happen. I'm trying to get all the old sound deadener out and was going to use Naval Jelly like I have in the past, but then remembered that it destroys all the seam sealer too. So I'll be in there with a heat gun and a scraper today trying to get the rest of it out. Carpet was fucking nasty as shit too. No OEM carpets are available, so I went with a Feintuft velour from World Upholstery. Retarded expensive, but the carpet is the nicest carpet I've ever seen. Even better, it's incredibly light too.

Replacing the front struts with factory Koni adjustable (M030 suspension). I have matching rear shocks, but I need to see what Koni shocks I have back there - the previous owner had just installed brand new adjustable, and they might be the same.

Pictures forthcoming. There's a few of the new dash already out there. www.geek-racing.com

[AgitatedPancake]

thats sick man, cant wait for new pics =D

[CurtP]

Uploaded a few last night.

This is where I got to on Saturday. Interior stripped and I started taking out the asphalt sound deadeners.






Found numerous issues with the wiring harness, including this nice little number of half-assed soldered/heat shrunk connections, then a couple of inches down from that repair, a butt crimp connector on the same wire:




So I took out the new dash and ripped out the wiring harness. The harness in this car is nowhere near as modular as the ones in the ZJ.








The harness is out, but I ran out of light before I could take pictures. I'll have to start tearing into the parts car so I can get the harness out of it, but I'll have to make some changes to that one. I also broke the fucking studs that stick through the floor that hold the throttle pedal to the floor. I'm going to try to either use a pedal that hangs off the linkage (like GM used to), or have something welded to my linkage. I really don't want to use another floor mounted pedal.


So much for just replacing the carpet. I can STILL smell the nasty ass jute and deadener. That shit is in my sinuses and soaked into my hands. I've had three showers since I stopped working on it and I can still smell it. FUCK!

[ILikeMud]

Nasty.

I use to hate wiring stuff but lately I've started to really enjoy it. Doing soldering and all that fun stuff.

[CurtP]

In case anyone is looking for cloth harness wrap - VW part number 000 979 950. It doesn't leave that sticky residue like electrical tape. Eastwood has a similar wrap along with adhesive-less vinyl harness wrap. The VW stuff is around $10/roll and should be available at your local dealer. I doubt anyone cares, but I thought I'd throw that out there.

I was considering fixing this harness, but I really am tired of fucking with it. I'm trying to figure out what happened. At first I thought they replaced the harness after the fire and they spliced it anywhere it left the dash. But the wrap on this harness looks burnt right behind where I think the fire originated. So now I'm wondering if they started to replace the harness, then gave up and tried to put it back together again. I'm finding broken/cut wires tucked into wire bundles, wires with cracked insulation and sharp pieces of soldered wire sticking out of the heat shrink. Some things have never worked on the car (passenger side mirror) and I've had several intermittent issues that I've never been able to track down.

I didn't work on the car tonight, but I did clean and condition the leather on the dash (since it's sitting in my room)

I think I'll start working on the sound deadener insulation removal again tomorrow night. I have B-Quiet deadener on hand, but I had to order barrier. I went with Second Skin Luxury Liner Pro - I hope it's decent stuff. Between the factory carpet and dampeners, I'm expecting to save 30-40# with the new stuff while making the ride better.

Shit - I still have suspension stuff to install too

[CurtP]

I'll have to put up more pictures soon. I'm about 3/4 of the way done with the removal of the old sound deadener. What a PITA. But the fun doesn't end there! Newest find - last night after wiping down the driver's side floorboard with lacquer thinner, I looked up and noticed something strange about the windshield at the A-pillar. Well, it looks like I'm going to send the car off next week to the body shop, so I decided to pull off the windshield trim. There is a 3/8" gap down either side of the windshield that was being covered up by the trim. No wonder my floorboards were always wet after a rain. I thought it was the sunroof leaking (and it is). They used the wrong windshield - it's made for an early 944.

So now begins my quest to strip the entire car to get it ready for paint. I'm thinking about removing the air plenum too so I can get to the entire firewall. This ought to be fun...

[CurtP]

Stripped, and ready to head to the body shop:

[CurtP]

A couple of new pictures from the body shop posted on my website: http://www.geek-racing.com/Site/Pors...y_work.html#30

Of course this couldn't go without a snag. When I gave him the paint code, I gave him Zermatt Silver, but I wasn't absolutely sure about the color. I just got a phone call saying that the car is painted, but it isn't quite the same color as it was. The original paint was "Diamond Blue Metallic". Uh, what? Sounds kind of retarded to me. So now my car will be Zermatt Silver instead. I think I like the original color a little better, but I kind of like Zermatt too. The new color is silver paint with gold(ish) metal flake and it changes colors depending on the light. Bright sunlight - silver. Overcast - beige. Dusk - silver/gold. Some pictures of other people's cars:

[nierace]

Its not bad I think I like it better than your original color to be honest. But arrest me red would have been better than either

[CurtP]

Ah, red. What most people refer to as Porsche Guards Red, even though it was only available on the '82 and '83 944. For my year, it would have been Malven Red, India Red, Maraschino Red Metallic or Flamingo Metallic (which I think is more pink than red).

Red was definitely more popular. It seems that EVERY NA 944 I see is red. Quite a few 951s out there like that too, but luckily no where as many. My Z4 was Bright Red - my first red car (and probably my last).

Doors are coming off for the jambs to be sprayed. Since there's no weatherstripping, this should be pretty straight forward. My only worry is under the hood.

[ELLLLLIOTTTTT]

The zermatt looks sweet!

This is really making me want another project vehicle. I ran into an old '76 Audi that is in fair shape for a steal of a price. Only problem is that getting parts for it would be near impossible.

[CurtP]

I found another vendor for factory parts - Sunset Imports. I ordered new rubber weatherstripping for the entire car and it was almost half the price of where I was getting parts. AND I know that everything I order will be OEM. Some of the shit the other vendor sent me was aftermarket and they don't bother to tell you that on their website. I wish I had found Sunset a while ago. The only downside is that you have to call them - no online catalog. Not really that big of a deal, but it sure is convenient to click through a order process.

AND the hits just keep coming. Last night I was working on the new interior wiring harness - pulling off the old wrap and inspecting wires. While this harness is virgin, there are four 12 gauge wires in the main trunk of the loom with failed insulation that run the radiator cooling fans. A definite fire hazard if they ever came into contact with each other. Guess I'll be placing a order with McMaster sometime today.

But there is good news too - I found another source for loom wrap. The VW stuff was $10 for 55yd. I found another wrap that was less than $5 for 100yd. And they offer quantity discounts. I have 25 rolls being delivered today. I may use it for a Halloween costume. I'll be dressed as a black mummy

[CurtP]

The zermatt looks sweet!

This is really making me want another project vehicle. I ran into an old '76 Audi that is in fair shape for a steal of a price. Only problem is that getting parts for it would be near impossible.

Research parts availability (and the cost for those parts) before writing it off. What motor? What model car? Expect to do a lot of maintenance that was neglected. You can also count on replacing all the rubber weatherstripping, having any glass that's set in urethane to have to be either reset or replaced. I'd also consider rebuilding the wiring harness as mandatory after seeing what I've seen on mine.

Still, I'd look into it if I were you. It's nice having a project vehicle again and I've been driving the 'Niner for the last few days. I've forgotten what a nice vehicle it is.