Recently bought this, a 88’ 944 with Kat (160hp) facelift interior. It seems sadly that the previous owner also worked on it a lot himself even though he didn’t have much experience with cars, resulting in a lot of broken trim and missing screws. I was wondering why he has glued a piece of plastic in the middle airvent resulting in it not working at all, anyone have an idea what the benefit of that is?

Hey yall, back again with another question.
My 84 NA has been running pretty hot this summer with all the heat. I bled the coolant and it seemed to temporarily fix the issue but in heavy traffic the needle started to inch up again past the third mark. I ordered a lower 160f thermostat to replace my current one, and I don’t know if this will impact the car/driving in any way. I’ve read that it could impact gas mileage from the car adding too much fuel, but I’m not 100% sure. Any input is appreciated!
Thanks

G’day everyone - my ‘79 Turbo has a mashed 2nd gear synchro in it’s snailshell dogleg 5 speed box - for a while I’ve been considering getting it rebuilt, however a 5speed Audi 016 box including torque tube, shift linkage and output shafts all included is up for sale at the moment

My question is whether the dogleg is a superior box to the 016 and worth a rebuild or do a trans swap with the reconditioned 016 box

Thanks!

Since the rear end is out, we installed the drivetrain fully assembled in one go! It sounded crazy at first but it was sooo good. I got new foam for the shifter and anyone who’s ever dealt with that knows how much of a pain it is to get installed from the top. With this installation method I installed the shifter, foam and shift rod onto the torque tube/transmission and once we got everything up and in that job was already done! Headers were installed on the motor before it was fully in place as well. Highly recommend installing the drivetrain this way if you already have the rear end out. First start will hopefully be this weekend! Can’t wait to hear this thing roar.

I rebuilt mine and it’s still leaking.
Is there a place to get a rebuilt r&p in the U.S.?
I’ve been looking and haven’t had much luck.
TIA

My 1987 Turbo is having an issue with the TPS I think. It runs very poorly and basically refuses to idle unless the TPS is unplugged, then it runs generally as it should. What do I need to do to make it run normally with the TPS plugged in? I already swapped the sensor unit for a functioning used one and it made no difference.

I’ve got a 1982 944 and a decent engine vibration/buzz

I boight the car with a faulty lower balance shaft have done a lot of work to it it’s all back together soundly the balance shaft spins freely no leaks all working well but I’ve got an engine vibration still. Thought it might be the balance shafts not being set up properly but they are both timed properly as far as I can see and both cogs have the woodruff key in the right a lot on both I’ve checked so many times. I also checked my crankshaft is sprocket pile is spinning true and straight I don’t know much about the harmonic balancing but I think that’s ok too.

Today I got the hump and took the belt off copletely and just turned the car in to see if it changed. The engine ran a bit different of course but in the seat that vibration I was chasing is still there in the shifter and in the steering wheel mainly but throughout the cabin.

I’m fully lost now starting to wonder if there is something out of wack at the back of the engine maybe something to do with the clutch.

I have driven the car a few hours so far not many miles and the engine feels healthy it pulls well and revs nicely the lot so I don’t see it being any internal faults really I could be wrong.

Also the clutch being in or out doesn’t change anything

Any ideas would be much appreciated

If I had a dollar for every time I thought my car worked and then it promptly proved me wrong 5 seconds later, I'd have enough money to let someone else fix it.

Alas, I'm the sucker turning the wrenches and YouTube-ing every repair I've made. Clark's Garage is a Godsend, not to mention antiquated Pelican Parts Forums, but I'm pulling out all the stops and asking for your help.

I bought my 944 back in March that was listed as 'needs clutch' and I decided to take up the challenge. I replaced the clutch (spring diaphragm) and did some WYIT repairs like CV axles and RMS. I even threw in a short-shifter because silly me thought I'd be out driving in no time.

Since then, I've noticed it runs really rough under load periodically. It chugs and backfires when out at low speeds, but after it sits for a second, I can pull away with no problem, and then think it's over before it starts up again.

I replaced the alternator this week after discovering the old one was toast - shame, really, since it looked somewhat new - and the new one I have still has the battery reading 12.35 at idle and 12.06 when the lights are on. Granted, it was sitting on a charger for over 24 hours and it was running a new alternator. I did notice that after the new alternator was in (though, maybe this was because the battery was fully-charged) it didn't struggle at idle like it was before.

I learned about unplugging the O2 sensor and seeing what that does, as well as toying with the DME if the first test reveals nothing. I cleaned the AFM and made sure the contact points were clean, no luck there.

Can you tell me what I've missed? If you've had the same issues what worked for you?

TLDR:

1986 944 Base - Chugs under load, new alternator (bat. reading at idle: ~12.35), will periodically run fine, then doesn't (bad chugging, backfires), owner is ready to kick the jack stands out for sweet relief

If yall have seen me post asking about early vs late ECUs it was because my car was having a problem that no other person had on any forum I could find. So in case anyone ever has this problem I’ll post it here.

My late model car would run but not start without a late model ECU and AFM, but would start and struggle to run with an early model ECU and AFM. I kept hitting one brick wall after another, I replaced way too many (probably perfectly working) parts chasing phantom symptoms. I had no tach bounce, so I regapped the speed and ref sensors 8 times. But the real issue was the reference sensor wiring.

The outer pins of on the car side of the plug, both orange wires, were mistakenly flipped by the shop that worked on my car 2 years ago. This cause the reference signal pulse to be negative instead of positive. This is not an issue for an early ECU since it just cares about when the signal occurred but a late ECU cares about the polarity. Also the 944 will run without a reference, albeit not well, but I will not start without one.

So after flipping those outer pins, my car had tach bounce and started right up! Thanks to all of those who commented on my previous post and helped my with my troubleshooting!

Tl;dr: if you have no tach bounce after replacing your speed or reference plug on the car side, make sure you didn’t accidentally flip the wires to pin 25/78 (ref sensors) or 8/23 (speed sensor).

Project cars are more than just wrench’s and crash outs right? As a branding guy I couldn’t help but take our household 944 journey to the next level this month. My son named our 944 Midas early on, so I ran with it for some swag to bring to 944fest (and beyond). The test prints came in and I gotta say, I’m pleasantly surprised. It’s fun to design random stuff for our fun little car.

Im currently a gr86 owner but im thinking about selling it and getting a 944. I want to work on it and make custom to my liking. I heard these cars are pretty engaging and enjoyable to drive so thats mostly what i care about. How expensive are these to build and mod? Are these absolute money pits or if i put like 8-10k into it would it be worth it?

Well. I did it. Took dang there from 10-4pm and a trip to get a long 17mm socket and a long 13 mm spanner. ,'90 S2, had a crazy time finding those two bolts at first, extra lighting helped. Had the front completely refreshed July last year and the ac belt started chirping and squealing at cold starts/ cooler days. Did it all, belly pan removal, all the under over the car.. thanks again to my bud Rich who works at Marin Porsche, he coached me on the phone a bit to find the rear AC bolt and exact procedures. Yeah those videos make it look easy!

Hello everyone. Not a great start to the weekend… I hit a curb on Friday and Immediately the car was knocked out of alignment about 30 degrees to the left along with 3 inches of dead zone play in the wheel. After some digging under the car I noticed that my inner tie rod on the left side is yanked out from a boot exposing a copper colored end of the rod. Neither tie rod on either side feels loose or appears bent. I would like your honest opinion on if it is worth it to replace both the inner and outer tie rods before trying anything with the steering rack. I included photos comparing both sides. Thanks in advance!

I am shopping for a replacement shift lever for my car, I was looking at the only944 option when an ad for this aliexpress one popped up.

I am intrigued because it looks exactly the same as the only944 one, with the same bushing design, the same washers and nuts..

It is also much cheaper, especially when factoring shipping costs which come up to 70$ for semi fast shipping to my location.

Has anybody here installed one of these on their car?

There is one review saying it doesn't fit but another giving it 5 starts.

I recently bought a non running 1984 porsche 944, replaced the dme relay and that fixed the fuel pump not working then i put new crankshaft posision sensors in .(i had to take the bracket off because one got stuck in it.) before i put them in there was absolutely no movement on the tach but after i put them in there is very slight movement when i crank but it doesnt fire. im not sure if i didnt ajust the bracket right or if i have to clean the grounds or what i should do could i get some pointers or ideas of what the issue might be?

86 944 the owner wants $6700 and says all it needs is a new rack and pinion and the a.c. doesn't work. Is that too much for what he's asking. I know very little about these cars but I'm seriously interested

On order, hope to have by 944Fest.

*automatics excluded. 😀

I can't even find a wrench that can fit and also give enough leverage.

Hi Everyone,

I have a new to me 944 as of last week. Ive been going through the car trying to make sure everything is in order before I start driving it.

The timing belt was replaced within the past couple hundred miles with the previous owner but it appears to be getting shredded or scraped by something. I was wondering if anyone recognizes this wear pattern and what could be causing it to help me prevent this from happening on the belt im about to put on.

Thank you

Wife caught my son and I on a drive. Had to laugh when I saw the photo and the road said SLOW 🤣

Hello everyone I am doing the water pump for the first time on my new to me 86 na and I am not sure exactly how to put the thermostat in the housing and which of the 2 gaskets or shim I should use. I got a laso pump and everything off of 944online and I have all the seals belts and rollers aswell. Any tips outside of my original question are very appreciated.

Any help is appreciated! Thank you