1990 944S2 Cabriolet

['orrible]

I'm new to this so please bear with me as I'm not sure whether I've sussed out the photo posting side of things yet and the pictures aren't great quality anyway. However, if this works I'll take some more (when it's clean!) and post them later.

The car is 23 today and I thought that I'd share it with you guys as some sort of weird birthday prezzie.

Anyway the car and my history with it:

I've owned it for over 10 years and it was bought as I used to see a Guards Red one running around in the early 90's and always liked the look of it, so I decided to treat myself when the ex Mrs decided that I was too old for tearing around on large motorcycles. Ex being the optimum word here as the bikes have reappeared too, but that's a story for another time.

Back in 2002/03 you would have thought that tracking down a good example would have been easy, I know that I did. However, this proved to be far from the case, as I looked at loads of over priced and mis-described heaps of ***t before finding this one and even then it was advertised as a 2.5! There was no way I wanted a white one at that time, but I think that the colour actually suits it now.

Other than servicing it annually (which means fresh oil every 3k miles or so) the only things I've had to do are clean the contacts/resistor in the blower motor to get more than one speed, replace the slave cylinder, fit a new clutch, fit a recon steering rack and new pipes, replace all the brake hoses with braided, renew brake fluid three times, fit new front discs (two sets of pads in 10 years,) skim the rear discs and fit new pads, do three belt changes and fit new cam chain slipper pads, plus replace the handbrake shoe return springs and strip the calipers due to 'plate lift' making pad replacement impossible without bodging (grinding down the pad back plates to get them to fit as some do!)

It's just passed another MOT with no advisories (I replaced the steering shaft as a precaution due to play in both UJ's) so hopefully now all I have to do is enjoy the roads around the North Yorkshire Moors with the top down.

Before anyone asks; the sills aren't rotten as it only gets wet when I wash it. The clock still works and the interior/hood are absolutely mint























Chris

['orrible]

After owning this thing for so long and being inspired by some of the threads, especially the 944 and indeed 924 action on here, perhaps it's time to make some changes to set this apart from any of the other well kept 944 Cabs out there.

Come on guys, sensible suggestions please and be aware that any mods need to be reversible and subtle! Oh yes, and it will need to share garage space with the latest addition to the toy box.....

[spandelly]

Nice rides

[sumpcracker]

OH my god. That is clean!
C
L
E
A
N

I see 944s every day at work and there is a massive shortage of clean cabs, often rotten to the core!

['orrible]

Thanks guys and yes it is clean. It's done less than 90k miles and they'll be nailing my coffin lid down before I sell it!

As I said, I'm sad so it doesn't go out if rain is likely and seeing salt is a massive no no! However, it does get used and used hard sometimes, so I'm not a complete nancy boy.

I am wondering about changing it's appearance slightly, without going mad, but I'm really not sure.

Gav, any views?

Chris

[bstardchild]

Welcome and you really aren't helping me out with this post

[sumpcracker]

If you own a car long enough you are going to want to mod it a bit, i would fit some tasty Porsche wheels (and keep the old ones) 18" Veloce 3.6 would look spot on with this imo.
Clear indicators would change it a lot and simplify its look but i do like the orange on it.

Bstardchild - I look forward to your new thread

[bstardchild]

Oct 4, 2013 21:32:30 GMT sumpcracker said:

If you own a car long enough you are going to want to mod it a bit, I would fit some tasty Porsche wheels (and keep the old ones) 18" Veloce 3.6 would look spot on with this imo.
Clear indicators would change it a lot and simplify its look but I do like the orange on it.

Bstardchild - I look forward to your new thread

A lot to do before I venture into porsche territory

['orrible]

Oct 4, 2013 21:32:30 GMT sumpcracker said:

If you own a car long enough you are going to want to mod it a bit, I would fit some tasty Porsche wheels (and keep the old ones) 18" Veloce 3.6 would look spot on with this imo.
Clear indicators would change it a lot and simplify its look but I do like the orange on it.

Bstardchild - I look forward to your new thread

Hmmm....I recall seeing a 964 running those wheels and you could well be right.

I was wondering about a dishy set of cross spokes of some description and certainly want to avoid the usual 968 mirror and cup wheel thing.

I also like the look of teledials, but I'm a bit odd and they aren't big enough!

Like most people budget is an issue too so I'll just have to keep an eye out.

Whilst seeing it sat on its bum appeals, I also like to drive it and as North Yorkshire to the south coast isn't unheard of I need to be sensible.

Bstardchild; I see you appear to have an Opel fetish...I'll have to introduce you to my ex gaffer.....!!

[SparksECM]

Nice to see another member on here from 'boro. Seen the car about a few times and it looks great, it doesn't help my need for a 944 in my life though.

['orrible]

Oct 5, 2013 10:52:36 GMT SparksECM said:

Nice to see another member on here from 'boro. Seen the car about a few times and it looks great, it doesn't help my need for a 944 in my life though.

Hey thanks and after many years with mine I can thoroughly recommend one, just be careful and look at a few first. Even 10+ years ago I looked at loads of ***t before I found a good one.

[Clement]

Beautiful car, althugh the first picture let me think that it was actually covered in algae

As for wheels, there aren't that many different styles but these are nice:

['orrible]

Oct 5, 2013 11:51:34 GMT Clement said:

Beautiful car, althugh the first picture let me think that it was actually covered in algae

As for wheels, there aren't that many different styles but these are nice:

Oops....sorry about the photo's I blame the camera on my phone!

The suggestion for the wheels is appreciated, thank you.

[ChasR]

Oct 5, 2013 9:39:18 GMT 'orrible said:

Oct 4, 2013 21:32:30 GMT sumpcracker said:

If you own a car long enough you are going to want to mod it a bit, I would fit some tasty Porsche wheels (and keep the old ones) 18" Veloce 3.6 would look spot on with this imo.
Clear indicators would change it a lot and simplify its look but I do like the orange on it.

Bstardchild - I look forward to your new thread

Hmmm....I recall seeing a 964 running those wheels and you could well be right.

I was wondering about a dishy set of cross spokes of some description and certainly want to avoid the usual 968 mirror and cup wheel thing.

I also like the look of teledials, but I'm a bit odd and they aren't big enough!

Like most people budget is an issue too so I'll just have to keep an eye out.

Whilst seeing it sat on its bum appeals, I also like to drive it and as North Yorkshire to the south coast isn't unheard of I need to be sensible.

Bstardchild; I see you appear to have an Opel fetish...I'll have to introduce you to my ex gaffer.....!!

I echo Gav's suggestions. Veloce wheels are not cheap, but they do sell on well.

Your car does look to be stunning and with all of the right areas attended to when they should be . It is lovely to see such a straight cabrio .

The biggest issue IMO with wheels on the later car is the offset of them (IIRC they are around ET50-62), making choices tricky. This is something the earlier cars can have IMO a little more freedom with (they can take more dish due to the differing suspension (Their offset is more like ET15). 928 wheels do fit, although they can look odd. 16" Positive Offset Fuchs Gullideckels, although these are now obscenely priced in part thanks to the 911 and VW crew, and their scarcity. Teledials would look great, but again, in 16" Turbo (and the last 2.7 'Celebration) car formats they are very hard to come by (I have probably only seen one set on a car, although they did suit it well). Maybe with some stretch you could run a bit of dish :



Keep up the wonderful progress. It shall be interesting to see what direction this car takes .

[Porsche]

18" split rims are the way to go in my opinion.



Or maybe some 18" Fuch style rims?

['orrible]

Oct 6, 2013 15:31:05 GMT ChasR said:

Oct 5, 2013 9:39:18 GMT 'orrible said:

Hmmm....I recall seeing a 964 running those wheels and you could well be right.

I was wondering about a dishy set of cross spokes of some description and certainly want to avoid the usual 968 mirror and cup wheel thing.

I also like the look of teledials, but I'm a bit odd and they aren't big enough!

Like most people budget is an issue too so I'll just have to keep an eye out.

Whilst seeing it sat on its bum appeals, I also like to drive it and as North Yorkshire to the south coast isn't unheard of I need to be sensible.

Bstardchild; I see you appear to have an Opel fetish...I'll have to introduce you to my ex gaffer.....!!

I echo Gav's suggestions. Veloce wheels are not cheap, but they do sell on well.

Your car does look to be stunning and with all of the right areas attended to when they should be . It is lovely to see such a straight cabrio .

The biggest issue IMO with wheels on the later car is the offset of them (IIRC they are around ET50-62), making choices tricky. This is something the earlier cars can have IMO a little more freedom with (they can take more dish due to the differing suspension (Their offset is more like ET15). 928 wheels do fit, although they can look odd. 16" Positive Offset Fuchs Gullideckels, although these are now obscenely priced in part thanks to the 911 and VW crew, and their scarcity. Teledials would look great, but again, in 16" Turbo (and the last 2.7 'Celebration) car formats they are very hard to come by (I have probably only seen one set on a car, although they did suit it well). Maybe with some stretch you could run a bit of dish :



Keep up the wonderful progress. It shall be interesting to see what direction this car takes .

Thanks guys, I'm actually overwhelmed by the positive response. To be honest I've been around for a while and I've been looking at what you guys do and I was a little worried that an unmodified hairdressers car, allbeit a really tidy one, wouldn't really float anyone's boat.

Even though I do know one end of a spanner from the other; I look at some of the skills on display on here and I'm blown away. I'm a tad embarrassed to admit that I'd much rather avoid fixing things and prefer to change stuff before it breaks, but hey at least I do it myself and will continue to do so.

As I said previously I have absolutely no intention of ever selling this car, so maybe it's about time I made it a little more individual and I value the opinion of those that have the experience of having done it.

My only previous experience of any mods is engine work on my old Mk1 XR2, Alfasud Sprint Veloce and Alfasud Ti, and that seems like a lifetime ago, so feel free to add any further suggestions as my friends just don't get my love of old cars and would prefer to drive something souless with enough electronics to wipe their ***es with when it all goes horribly wrong! Having said that; the engine is staying as Porsche intended and I'm not touching the paint......!!

Obviously this isn't my daily and it will be parked up for a few months, so budget permitting, let's get to work!

['orrible]

As this was last updated Oct 2013, it's probably time I pulled my finger out. So here goes:

To be honest, apart from refurb of the wheels, not a lot has happened over the last year or so really, until now that is!

Now, as I've said previously, I've owned this for some time (12 years this year actually) and have no intention of selling it. However, it is beginning to test my patience a little!

Just before I parked it up for the winter, late last year; I'd noticed a little misfire when first staring in the morning and a very slight drop in the coolant level occasionally (I'm a bit OCD about checking all levels on my cars I'm afraid)but this was intermittent and sometimes the level actually seemed to increase from the last time it was checked when cold, so I marked the expansion tank and it was definitely fluctuating when checked from cold.

Anyway, a change of plugs cured the misfire and there was no sign of anything untoward when I looked at the old plugs, but there was a slight emulsification in the oil filler cap and dipstick tube, plus a small amount of white smoke on start up sometimes, not all the time, but this could have been due to the short journeys to work and back, or so I hoped!

I don't posses a block (sniff) tester so as I was passing my local garage one day I asked them to test it for me and it recorded a negative result. However, I still wasn't 100% convinced that the HG wasn't starting to leak, so I had the cooling system pressure tested and the pressure stayed constant without any leaks, but I was advised to change the cap, and I connected a pipe from the expansion tank to a clear plastic bottle to check for any overflow of coolant.

Immediately after the pressure test I drove the car around 3 miles to work and noticed that the coolant was very rapidly being expelled from the expansion tank, which had never happened before. However, after bleeding the system it stopped, and hasn't done it since.

You may think that would be the end of the story, but no, I still wasn't convinced that there wasn't a problem developing, so I decided to carry out a cylinder leakage test, as I'd rather change the HG before it becomes an issue. But I don't want to start stripping it to pieces unless it's absolutely necessary as I could just be being a little paranoid.

So, on Saturday 24 Jan, armed with a freshly purchased cheapy leakage tester from you know where (a big mistake!)I carried out a leak down test.

Engine was warmed through first and the cam cover was removed to check that valves were closed etc. The correct firing order was followed. The expansion tank cap, dipstick, oil filler cap and inlet pipe to throttle body were removed.

I added a secondary regulator to our air line to reduce the line pressure to around 80 psi, as our compressor throws out 150psi and calibrated the second gauge to 0%.

I connected it up with the first gauge on the tester reading approximately 15 psi and guess what, the b****y gauges never moved on any of the cylinders, which, in theory is 0% leakage!

Given that the ruddy thing is almost 25 years old and has never been touched internally after 80k + miles, this is almost impossible, so I backed the motor off TDC so that air was rapidly escaping from the throttle body, and again the gauges never wavered!

So there we have it, a defective leakage tester and despite playing with it for most of the day I still couldn't get anything resembling an accurate result, not in my opinion anyway. Especially as I could hear air escaping from the exhaust and I 'thought' that could hear something in the expansion tank too, but I couldn't be absolutely certain.

Now, air coming out of the exhaust is likely to be an exhaust valve issue, but I've no idea of the percentage of the leakage and as it was all four cylinders, it could be just normal given the mileage, but who knows. However, 'if' I did hear air in the expansion tank, it would show that the HG is staring to leak, that's my theory anyway.

Anyone else have any views? By the way, it's never overheated and there is no sign of oil in the coolant and only a very small amount of emulsified oil in the cap and dipstick tube.

Chris

[paulwoods]

It's Lexus V8 time

[fer4l]

I'd keep an eye on it but not tear into it just yet

Slight changes in level could be due to nothing more than different ambient temps when measuring 'cold'

And condensation (a by-product of short runs) can cause minor emulsion in the oil, of course

If a cylinder was leaking into the coolant it'd generally fail both a sniff test and a pressure test

All IMHO - other opinions are available, etc.!

Good luck

Matt

[fer4l]

Jan 27, 2015 18:56:08 GMT paulwoods said:

It's Lexus V8 time

As I say, other *much* more sensible opinions are available! :-)