Idly browsing auction sites carries with it serious risk: In September I became the proud(?) owner of a "1985 Porsche" being sold by a nearby trade school. I purchased it sight unseen based on a terse 6 word description and five blurry photos. After that sank in I made the pickup arrangements, roped in a couple friends, borrowed a trailer, and went to claim my prize. Despite the tow rig topping out at 9 PSI of oil pressure and a few rain clouds, the car was now in hand.
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Upon further inspection I now owned a sun-baked early 1985 944, 8V, 5 speed, clocking in at 138k miles. It has option code M456 meaning Koni shocks and big swaybars from factory. Running the VIN showed it was last registered around 2003. The chassis is seemingly straight, the car is virtually rust free, and all the mechanicals look to be intact. The car was originally Zermatt silver, then it was black, and now it's white. The student's masking job left a little to be desired but the paint job is overall fine.
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The engine had oil so we of course popped it on the charger and tried to fire it up. Amazingly the engine ran but only on the fumes of brake cleaner. Some percussion brought the fuel pump back to life but the injectors were totally unresponsive. Taking a closer look revealed they were plugged solid with mystery brown crystals. Draining the fuel tank seemed to corroborate a vehicle that had not run in 20 years.
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I let the injectors buzz in an ultrasonic bath for a few hours with a noxious brew of solvents, force fed a square wave driver signal, smacked some sense into them, and eventually they all freed up. Popping them back in and hitting the key let the car idle for the first time in seemingly two decades. The coolant system was bone dry and filling it revealed a small radiator leak. Despite that the car had no problem putting up and down the street.
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When someone buys a car they must always get the title - or so the title office man tells me. Having just a bill of sale left me in a tough spot with only a few routes out. If you ask very nicely the title office will give you a super secret instruction packet describing how to persue a 'court ordered title'. The process varies state to state and even county to county but the general idea is that you need to:
- Prove you now have possession of the car, that it has no leans, wasn't supposed to have been crushed, and isn't reported stolen
- Prove you tried to contact the last title holder on record
- Prove that it's a road legal and roadworthy car
- Beg a common pleas court judge to sign off on everything
Most of the steps are just legwork: printing receipts, going to various offices, filling out forms, sending letters via certified mail, and getting things notarized. The road legal part involves having it inspected by the state highway patrol which meant I actually needed to make the damn thing road legal.
The closest inspection station is about 2 hours away via twisty backroads. You're technically allowed to trailer it there but, as part of the inspection appointment, they give you a day pass to drive it without registration. The choice was obvious. So how does one take an old sportscar that hasn't run properly in two decades and make a 4 hour road trip? No clue. I've never even seen a 944 up close until now. The following describes the past 8 weekends of my life.
After skimming Clark's Garage and watching some NC944er, I assumed the service interval for everything had lapsed and decided to dive straight in. The first item on the list was new gas struts for the hood and trunk so I can stop bonking my head. Following that, the timing and balance shaft belts were dry and cracked so I did a whole overhaul - new belts, tensioners, rollers, etc. While I was in there I popped on a new turbo style water pump and carved out the plastic cover to fit. The electrical connectors for the engine position sensors had disintegrated so I installed two fresh units and set the spacing.
The O2 sensor was in a sorry state and attempting to remove it destroyed my bunghole. It was a pretty quick job to drop the exhaust and weld in a fresh one.
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The tires on the car were a bit past their prime so they were replaced with the cheapest ones available. I took the opportunity to scrub off the rest of the flaking clearcoat. Hopefully the bare alu doesn't corrode.
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The AC system was dry and the compressor roared at an impressive decibel so I decided to just rip it off. The alternator was relocated with the help of a non-AC bracket and the belt size changed accordingly.
An eBay aluminum radiator was installed with a couple new coolant hoses. I burped the system a couple times but I don't have any fancy vacuum bleeder. The fans kick on and off and all seems perfectly happy but the gauge consistently reads between 1/2 and 3/4 temp. Is that a normal temperature reading on these things?
I changed the engine oil, gearbox oil, and topped off the power steering fluid. This revealed a leaky steering rack which I decided to ignore. The brake fluid is very dark so I decided to flush the system. After immediately snapping off a bleeder I decided to worry about that later.
Although the engine certainly ran it was quite unhappy at idle. Taking a closer look revealed every last vacuum line was cracked and split. I decided to bite the bullet and overhaul the whole vacuum system with a nice silicone replacement kit. With all that sorted it purrs beautifully.
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The interior was aromatic and the seats did not move no matter how much you scooted your butt. I traced these issues down to a leaky sunroof seal and a gaping hole in the battery tray. One day I'll come back in and fix it properly (or so I tell myself). Given the amount of moisture I decided to rip out the carpet and see what I was in for. Amazingly there's just a whiff of surface rust. A hammer and some penetrating oil was enough to free up the seat sliders.
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