944 Turbo S - Project Time

[eldavo69]

Car is idling really roughly when cold and cuts out from time to time. Whipped out the multimeter and the DME temperature sensor was way out of spec so I have a new one waiting to go in, 30 minute job in the next few days.

Some harness pads turned up in the post too, should make long cross-continental drives a little more comfortable:

Also finished gutting a spare binnacle surround/centre vent trim:

Made some little 90 degree brackets, drilled and tapped them for a thread and epoxied them into position:

Took my bit of carbon and my gauge, a jigsaw, a drill, a Dremel and some sandpaper to come up with this:

Installed it, wired it all in, sat back to admire my handiwork and noticed that the weave on the carbon around the boost gauge goes in a different direction. Luckily it's only £5 for another A5 sheet of 2mm carbon so I'll replace the lower piece:

I really (really) don't like the blue gauges but the boost one was already in and the oil temp one was dirt cheap. I want to replace them both and add an AFR gauge too - all from Innovate Motorsports but that will be nearly £500 so it can wait a while!

Next up is a dyno tuning session on Thursday morning to set the boost levels and fuelling whilst being able to monitor AFR and EGT under load in all gears.

And once that's done, I have a trackday booked for Croft circuit on Saturday the 1st of June so that should be a great pre 18-30s shake down. Will get pics and video (hopefully not of the Patently variety)

[eldavo69]

Day of truth today, my big concern was whether the fuel pump would be up to the job of keeping the AFR safe once the boost was dialled in.

The news is that it's all good, mixture is spot on in all gears under load and the boost got wound up to 18psi.

So close but so far when we got 299.6bhp in 3rd gear but then in 4th gear we got 308.4bhp and 313 ftlbs of torque

Next step will be to sling it on a weighbridge just because.

All revved up for Croft on Saturday now!

[m4ttm4son]

Great update and good to see it's running healthily

[Mook]

308bhp :D

[eldavo69]

Have been chasing an erratic idle for the last few weeks. It's either sitting at 2k rpm or hunting and dying.

This is caused by a faulty DME temperature sensor or a vacuum leak. Hunted everywhere for a vacuum leak and then changed the DME temp sensor but still no joy.

Had another look over it and the J-boot that attaches to the Air Fuel Meter was loose. Tightened up the jubilee clip and it's now rock solid.

Also drove the car up the ramps to fit the front "batwing" undertray/splitter but then realised the extra 1" of the tray at the front of the wheels meant I couldn't clear the ramps to get it back down. Oops!

Used the jack instead.

[eldavo69]

Met up with Fizzbitt at Croft circuit last weekend for a trackday:

Had a great (but knackering) day and learnt a lot from the instructor - namely stop being so hard on the brakes!

He may have had a point as I managed to flat spot my front tyres, which was a major arse as they're Cups and were quite simply awesome:

They'll make great slicks I'm sure!

I was aware that the discs were getting quite worn and would need changing this year, possibly a winter project but my lead foot means they need doing now:

Major lippage going on too:

And although they have plenty of meat left on them, it would seem the standard pads don't like the abuse either:

New front discs ordered and I've decided on some Mintex M1144 pads too, just need to order those as well.

[eldavo69]

Big thanks to Fizzbitt for a great day and not turning into a quivering mess in the passenger seat whilst I explored a steep learning curve.

I, on the other hand made a somewhat nervous passenger, especially when things got a little squirmy.

I will say this though - it's a brave man that accidentally powerslides another man's pride and joy onto the main straight. Especially when that other man is sat next to him!

GoPro footage to follow

[eldavo69]

Stripped the brakes down:

Painted the dust shields black and the brake cooling deflector plates silver and fitted new Pagid discs and Mintex M1144 pads:

Also added another chavvy sticker, hopefully the first of many:

[Mook]

I think I can see your problem - bungee cords don;t hold calipers on too well

And painting them silver - does that make them deflect all 900 degrees of heat..? :D

[DanG]

Dave,

I meant to post earlier, there is a guy on the PCGB forum selling some 944 turbo parts inc a gearbox for £100 ! (its missing the LSD, but as a spare for a track car....)

[eldavo69]

I don't subscribe to the concours mandate of polish it until it's a mirror.

I just paint it with Hammerite so it looks clean and doesn't go rusty! Plus the silver will reflect off all the heat obviously

Dan - I had seen that and thought about it but (touch wood) my gearbox is in fine fettle and I'm not looking to take on anyone else's bits of projects right now.

[DanG]

Famous last words! :D

I am still kicking myself over a few parts I have seen but decided to to buy.

In fairness I dont know the market for your era, but the supply of older stuff has all but dried up as prices of complete cars has gone through the roof.

[eldavo69]

Removed the horrible aftermarket gearknob that rattled as it was a poor fit and put an original item back on.

Replaced the leather gaiter with a new one and a nice engraved aluminium shift pattern insert to replace the grubby plastic one:

[eldavo69]

Not done much in the last month due to lots of work but some things needed sorting.

After Croft there was a rattle at idle and between 2500-3000 rpm so I dropped it off to be diagnosed.

The vibration was from the pipework that connects the wastegate in with the exhaust. The compression olives that seal between the joints were corroded away to next to nothing. 3 new olives at nearly £20 a pop and then some heatproof nuts at a staggering £7 EACH!!! meant £98 in parts alone.

It also turned out that the wastegate pipe had a small crack in it, but it was welded and ground down better than the finish on the rest of it. All back together and still a rattle at exactly 3000rpm - arse.

Turned out that it wasn't my fillings from the KW Clubsport suspension but it was the starter motor heatshield and 30secs spannering had it fixed whilst up on the ramps.

Car given a decent shakedown and then brought out last week for a wash and check over all ready for 18-30 next week.

[ATTACH]48986[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]48987[/ATTACH]

[eldavo69]

When I went back to get the heatshield rattle sorted it was noted that my front wheels were making contact with the edges of the brake lines on full lock.

The original hoses sat in grommets in the shocks but I have upgraded hoses and shocks so the guys made some grommets up and fitted everything with a quick check over.

But . . . The 4 post lifts the garage use don't really go quite low enough for my car. They're a Porsche specialist but my car is the lowest they've worked on and seating the lifting arms normally involves one guy heaving on the wheelarch whilst the other gets enough clearance to fit the arm underneath.

Whilst it has been put on the lift, the arm has obviously made contact with the edge of the sill and left a small dent in the stonechip on the bottom of the sill.

A good poke around has revealed that there is a very small rust blister on the very bottom of the sill. It is next to a drain point and is bilateral too. My car has had both sills replaced previously and they are sound inside and out so this really is just cosmetic as you can't see it at all unless you are underneath the car. (Something I hope to avoid displaying on 18-30).

My bodyshop guy says he'll chop both sides out and replace with new metal as preventative maintenance before the winter as well as blow over the front end to get rid of the stone chips.

[eldavo69]

Closer inspection revealed that my front PS cup tyres weren't exactly round anymore.

You can't get them in 16" size anymore so I've replaced the fronts with a lightly scrubbed pair of M compound Yokohamas;

[ATTACH]48992[/ATTACH]

[eldavo69]

A set of Cup 1s fell into my lap yesterday at a price I couldn't ignore, they've got a few scuffs but the tyres (Fulda Carat Exeleros) are hardly used.

[ATTACH]48996[/ATTACH]

I was thinking of a straight gloss black refurb the same as my track wheels but having seen this picture of a Cup 2 wheel, I'm now thinking of gloss black with a silver outer rim (no giggling at the back Garcon):

[ATTACH]48997[/ATTACH]

Thoughts?

[Mook]

Because of the colour of the car, how about anthracite in the middle, rather than black?

[garcon magnifique]

With gold centres?

Actually, I like Mook's idea.

[eldavo69]

Hmmm, I had been toying with Anthracite centres but the spoiler and "Twbo" sticker are in gloss black with the black stone guards but maybe a bit of photoshopping is necessary to judge the effect.

I fitted the driver's side stone guard last night:

[ATTACH]49001[/ATTACH]

And here's the dent from the lift:

[ATTACH]49002[/ATTACH]

[NewNiceMrMe]

How about leaving them standard? Novel, I know.

[eldavo69]

Don't you have a mpg reading to fret over?

[Tipex]

The Stone guard doesn't look right, I'm sure it is in the right place, but it looks like it should be much lower down.

[eldavo69]

The stone guard sits above the stonechip paint along the sill.

It is in the right place, just your eyes

The black guards are aftermarket as the originals only come in clear.

[Tipex]

As I said, i'm sure they are in the right place, get the clear ones then, those look gash!

They'd look less gash if they extended right to the bottom of the sill, but they don't.