944 Restoration
 

OK, maybe my title is a little off, but I didn't know what else to call this.

A buddy of mine has a 944 (I don't know the year or variant) which has been sitting covered in his garage for about 8 years. I volunteered to help him get it running again. At a minimum, I thought I should do the following before turning the key:

Change all fuilds/filters (engine oil, coolant, brake fluid, air, fuel, tranny (manual) and diff)

Plugs, distributor cap, rotor

All water hoses

Battery

What about replacing the brake master cylinder? Clutch master/slave cylinders?

Am I forgetting anything?

Thanks,

Chris

Probably the timing belt and balance shaft belt because they will probably be dryrotted although they may look new. On my car the timing belt looked practically new but I broke it doing the clutch job with a wrench.

Save yourself a lot of trouble, use a 12 gauge and put it out of it's misery :)

*ditto

All that you mentioned plus the timing belt and ...

1. when doing plugs, pull them and spray some oil / lube / wd40 / marvel mystery oil, etc.. down the hole b/c rings may be siezed.

2. before starting, pull fuel pump relay / fuse (if separate from dme), turn over by hand a few times noting resistance (if any) for frozen / stuck rings), then crank a few times to build oil pressure. If all is well, reinstall fuse / relay and fire it up.

3. Check immediately for leaks (fuel oil coolant) and open exhaust (no critters or nests).

Clutches can seize too ... even if clutch is in when starting, don't have it in gear. I'd start with clutch in, gear shift in neutral. Make sure handbrake is on and / or wheels are chocked.

Good luck. :)

Why does he want it to run? Is he really going to drive it? It sounds like a lot of effort to bring this back from the dead.

I would skip the tranny fluid until you can get it to run and warm it up. Check the brake rotors and pads as well, they probably glazed over in that time. Once you get it going, it'd be nice to make it stop!

Drain the fuel, put in good gas, light match, walk away...





































oh. almost forgot, roll it out of the garage first..... :twisted:

Check the oil. MAnually turn the engine over to see if it is free. Crank it over w/ coil wire disconnected and fuel pump relay removed. If OK drain fuel and put 1 or 2 gallons in it. I wouldn't worry about the t-belt unless you can do it easily.

Once you've checked that the engine turns over and will do so with the starter. connect the fuel pump relay and coil wire and try and start it. Do not rev the motor due to the old belt. Once it is running, change everything.

It is his wife's car (and there is a hefty dose of emotional attachment to it). He wants to get it running before she retires from the Air Force and surprise her, and since she is in San Antonio and only home infrequently I'm going to trailer it to my house and hopefully get it running and drive it back to his place near Annapolis.

The "rest of the story" is that I brought home three bikes in boxes from my buddy's garage last weekend. "Take 'em reassemble them, and give me a fair price" he said. They turned out to be high-end Cannondales and I was going to disassemble them and return them (much to the chagrin of my sons, who love them) when I came up with the hair-brained idea above.

Hey, I rebuilt a Triumph TR-6 that was in much worse shape and had sat for a much longer time. . .how bad can it be? ;-{)}

Thanks for the advice and humor!

Meh....don't listen to all the naysayers.....you're a good guy for taking this on. (Cannondale bikes....wow!)
Despite what THEY say, many 944's are worth saving....but then I'm biased, obviously.

Since it is his wife's car, it's entirely possible that whatever put it in that garage wasn't 100% catastrophic.
If it was something REALLY terrible, they probably wouldn't have bothered to keep it. But it would be good
to ask them the circumstances...might help you pinpoint
any problems.

Anyway.....Unless it had a major problem that put it there to begin with, I'm betting once you do all the stuff
you mentioned.....it'll start right up.

Good luck and if you need a hand, let me know....I'm not far from you...I think.