Parts only. Not operable. No title.

[J-Dub]

really enjoying these updates! Thanks for sharing.

[Tom]

Great progress! Nice work drilling the bolt head. Did you do that by hand?!?

[jsheradin]

Great progress! Nice work drilling the bolt head. Did you do that by hand?!?

Thanks! I used a drill press, flat vise, TiN coated HSS bit, a lot of oil, and went nice and slow. The flats were soft but the core was quite hard, presumably from the threading process.

[jsheradin]

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The summer has arrived in full force. I've been racking up the miles and thrashing the car in autocross - update to come later. I could use the input of some experts first:

Since the last post, the car has picked up a tick. To myself and everyone who's poked their head under the hood it sounds like a collapsed lifter. It's come and gone a couple times but it's now seemingly here to stay. Several hours of autocross probably finished it off.





It's most audible at idle and seems to be present at any engine temperature. I've pulled off the front timing belt cover and checked that nothing has backed out or is rubbing. I poked around with a mechanic's stethoscope but didn't really find anything conclusive. The tick seems to be emanating from the cam pulley housing if anything. I've checked the torque of the cam pulley bolt and it's definitely tight. I put in a new triple square bolt when installing the adjustable pulley so it gets the full 70Nm.

When I first got the car the oil looked brand new but stank of fuel. I put in some fresh Shell Rotella T4 15W-40 within a few minutes of firing it up for the first time. It was a couple thousand miles later during street driving on this oil that the tick began. Here's the 15W-40 with a couple thousand miles and an afternoon of autocross on it. There were a few black flakes and a bit of fuzz on the drain plug.

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Idle oil pressure between autocross runs was a hair over 1.5 bar on the 15W-40 so I decided to put in some Valvoline VR1 20W-50. This brought hot (3/4 temp) idle oil pressure up to 2 bar. With the tick now seemingly here to stay I again dropped the oil. Here's the 20W-50 with about 500 miles and another afternoon of autocross on it. Again more black flakes but nothing on the drain plug this time. The oil was surprisingly dark for how few miles it had. I put one of the flakes under a microscope and I don't think it's metallic.

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In an attempt to flush out the sludge I've currently got the car on some Mobil 1 High Mileage 10W-30 mixed with a bottle of Rislone 'engine conditioner and cleaner'. This will no doubt worsen the leaking from my balance shaft covers so I'll probably bite the bullet and re-seal those soon.

The next autocross bout I plan on attending is in about a month. I'll try to get in as many street miles as I can with this oil in the meantime. I definitely want to step back up to VR1 20W-50 beforehand since I think 10W-30 will be too thin if I'm really beating on it.

In summary:

• This noise is abnormal, right? Any tips for pinpointing it?
• Assuming the black flakes clogged a lifter, does this seem like a good way to flush the engine?
• Any tips for replacing lifters? Replace just the bad ones or all eight? New or used?
• Should I just give up and get another 944 engine from a junkyard?

[Tom]

Is the noise abnormal? Well, I'd say it isn't unusual, though if everything is right, it shouldn't tick. I have one that ticks when using 20-50 oil, but it goes away on 10-40, so I mostly run that. You might also try adding some zinc additive.

I wouldn't assume the black flakes clogged the lifters... The oil ports on the lifter are very tiny, and you have the oil filter that 'should' prevent flakes from circulating. It's possible for sure, but lots of 944 lifters tick without mystery flakes in the motor. I kind of doubt anything other than removing the lifters and doing some kind of ultra sonic cleaning will help much -- if even that would. With an assembled lifter, your ability to clean out the inner hydraulics is very limited. Maybe take them out and drain them as best you can, then soak them in a solvent and pull a vacuum to get the solvent inside.

Sadly, new lifters are price-prohibitive these days. Last I checked, the dealer still had them, but it was over $2,000 for a set of 8. I assume the price will keep going up as the remaining inventory dwindles. There is an aftermarket company making lifters now, available at 944 online, but I have no first hand experience with them so can't really comment. Used lifters are an option, but no real guarantees they'll be any better than the ones you already have.

Assuming it really is lifter tick, and not something worse, I wouldn't normally think of that as a reason to replace the motor. I'd try some of the things above to see if they help, and maybe send your oil in for analysis.... But in general with a typical lifter tick, these cars can run a long time with a tick, often longer than whatever finally does the car in.

[BennSport]

Aforementioned spring weather arrived so I've been racking up the miles. So far nothing catastrophic has broken and I've been slowly sorting out issues/annoyances as they arise.

First up was 'fixing' the battery tray a bit more presentably. I used some cold-galvanizing paint and brush-able seam sealer.

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I installed a 944 specific seat belt kit which fit significantly better than than the cheap 'Universal European' one I had tossed in for inspection.

The right rear wheel bearing started making noise so I hammered in new ones. Same as the left rear, there was pretty considerable pitting on the outer race. My guess is the lip seals failed and moisture ate away at them while the car sat over the years.

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There was still a significant speed related whine from the rear so I got the trans nice and warmed up before dropping the fluid. It came out worryingly dark but didn't smell burnt. I didn't get things warm the first time I change it months ago so I'm hoping it's just sludge that was left behind. I filled it with some fancy Motul Gear 300 LS but didn't really notice any improvement.

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The CVs made an occasional popping sound, particularly if there were two people in the car, so I decided to take a look. They all had crusty grease and showed a decent bit of grooving. I could probably have just repacked them but I went ahead and rebuilt the axles with some new GKN CVs.

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Whenever sitting in neutral with the clutch out there was a moderately alarming whirr. Given that the clutch chattered a bit and would slip if you abused it enough, I bit the bullet and pulled the drivetrain apart. In addition to finding a mouse house in the shifter foam, the torque tube bearings were indeed shot.

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The flywheel had a couple hotspots but a local machine shop was able to clean it up.

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The transmission selector shaft evidently had a bad seal so I popped in a new one. The shifter was not what you'd call precise so I put the full Only944 shifter kit on. Not sure I'm a fan of the throw reduction but it's certainly a lot snappier.

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Are you not a fan because there is too much or too little throw reduction?

[jsheradin]

Are you not a fan because there is too much or too little throw reduction?

I find that it's on the stiff side, particularly fifth gear. You have to be firm, deliberate, and make sure it's truly slammed in before letting out the clutch. With such a rigid connection there's a handful of notches that feel like detents and can make you think you're in gear when you're not. Some of that might come down to my questionably loud 150k mile trans.

It's by no means bad but if only944 made a version of this kit with stock throw I would probably swap to it.

[PSU_Crash]

Are you not a fan because there is too much or too little throw reduction?

I find that it's on the stiff side, particularly fifth gear. You have to be firm, deliberate, and make sure it's truly slammed in before letting out the clutch. With such a rigid connection there's a handful of notches that feel like detents and can make you think you're in gear when you're not. Some of that might come down to my questionably loud 150k mile trans.

It's by no means bad but if only944 made a version of this kit with stock throw I would probably swap to it.

I run the same linkage and short shifter. I couldn't be happier with it! My old linkage was like rowing a boat to find the gears. ALL the rubber was gone.
That said, I know what you mean about it being a little tight. I have assumed it would loosen up a bit over time. It is very precise (and that is the idea). At the moment I only have a few hundred miles on it. I'm learning the feel and in another couple hundred miles I won't even notice.
I plan to hit 2 autocross in October, so that will be the test.

[ROB III]

@jsheradin
I must say, any time I need some inspiration as well as an example of clear determination to get to the root cause of an issue and correct it, I just read this thread.
Thank you for the posts and thank you for joining this corner of the Porsche world of ownership.

[jsheradin]

I ran the 10W-30 engine flush concoction for about 600 miles. The tick went away when cold but would come back once the engine was up to temp. There was nothing of note in the drain pan after dropping it, just some dark oil but seemingly no flakes. I now have about 2000 miles on some PennGrade 1 10W-40 and it seems to like it. The tick is gone when cold and, although present, it is barely audible when warm. It's faint enough that I'm comfortable just keeping an eye on it. Thanks for the recommendation. Idle oil pressure between hotlaps is a hair under 1.5bar but shoots up to 4-5bar if you rev it.

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With winter rolling in I'm happy to report that the 944 has survived the year. I've been regularly flogging it in autocross and using it as a daily driver. Here's what I've done over the past few months:

Without the leather covering, the stock steering wheel isn't all that great. After contemplating re-covering I went with a classic Momo Prototipo (PRO35BK2B with MOM-8010 adapter). I added a 1" spacer after some street driving which feels about perfect. The brakes faded tremendously when hotlapping which I blame on old oil-soaked pads and formerly rusty rotors. I put on a set of EBC 'red' pads and dimpled slotted rotors (GD141, GD485, DP3345C, DP3346C). I knocked in new front wheel bearings and seals while the hubs were off. The new brakes have no problem keeping the tires at the threshold of traction and I have yet to feel them fade. They squeal when cold and make a lot of dust though.

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I ran a few more events and really started to learn the car's limits. The 40 year old bushings were definitely showing their age. The car leaned a lot in the corners, steering wheel center changed a little between laps, and the back end shimmied on corner exits. After (briefly) contemplating options I blew the car apart for a full suspension rebuild, spring rate change, and ride height adjustment. I went with nearly all delrin bushings, 300lb/in front springs, 29mm torsion bars, and shot for 25" ride height measured to the top of the fender well. I'm on 215/60R15 tires but plan to run 225/50s eventually which should drop it another ~3/8".

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The torsion bar carrier was easy enough to drop out and clean up. The new delrin spring plate bushings required some honing to fit properly. I indexed the new torsion bars per Clark's Garage and everything fell back together without much fuss. I was within eccentric bolt adjustment range on the first attempt. I made a quick 3D printed jig to help with spring plate angle measurements. I can upload the model and measurements if anyone wants them.

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I converted the front struts to coil-overs, put in adjustable strut tops, delrin steering rack mounts, new swaybar bushings, and triangulated the chassis side swaybar links. I had already replaced the tie rods, control arm bushings, and ball joints shortly after I got the car.

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With the car back on the ground I gingerly drove it to a nearby Porsche specialist shop for a sporty alignment. I ended up with about -3deg front camber, -2deg rear camber, 1/16" (at the rim) front tow in, 1/16" (at the rim) rear tow out, and max positive caster.

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