944 Turbo Mini Restoration

HSC911 said:

That's a lot of paper clips :grin:

:thumb:

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Yes indeedy - they must have thought I was into some dodgy S&M when I purchased a bulk load of them! :floor:

Saw the idea whilst perusing other car restoration projects on the web. Unfortunately the roof and window trim is showing its 30 years of age and is brittle and ripped in places so I didn't have much to clip over the edge. Used some of that Alpha Thixofix contact adhesive to glue it down, will come in handy when I finish the interior off and glue the carpet edges back down.

Spent a few hours on New Years day and managed to do a few more things -

1. Removed the inlet manifold (after procuring a deep offset spanner to reach one of the awkwardly placed retaining bolts)
2. Removed the water pump (surprisingly easily after reading all the horror stories about snapped bolts and studs)
3. Drained the oil
4. Had a mare with the oil filter which the garage must have over-tightened when the oil was last changed.

So the water pump didn't actually look that bad and the bearing feels as good as the new pump (was a Laso) but after going through my receipts it was changed during the later months of 2007 so going on for 11 years old and just over 60k miles. I was looking at the Geba pump on Design911's website the other night and must have clicked the order button by mistake :grin:





Now the oil is a bit of a horror... it has a strong smell of petrol in it but still has some viscosity. The colour looks very odd, almost like milk chocolate but the original oil was purple... last change was Royal Purple fully synthetic and I can't quite remember what used Royal Purple looks like, so it could be perfectly normal. The magnetic plug was covered in goo I set about spreading it out on a paper towel and couldn't see any metallic particles in it so wondering why it was stuck to the plug like that. Also I'm hoping that the petrol smell and perhaps the colour are more or less down to the car being off the road for 4-5 years and then the storage people flooding the engine when they tried to start it a few months ago (they never did get it started and claimed the battery was dead - which wasn't strictly true as I managed to charge it up with my CTEK conditioner fine). I've got some Shell Helix HX7 10W40 semi-synthetic ready to put in as a temporary flush oil when it is all back together.



Once I am done with the front end engine seal and all the standard service items I will be doing a fuel pressure check to make sure the fuel pressure regulator hasn't gone bad (hoping not as they seem to be around £300!). I will keep an eye on the new spark plugs to see if any of the cylinders is getting overfueled. The picture of the spark plug in the posts above is from cylinder #1 and was very black and sooty, I haven't checked the others yet...

And then there was the goddamn oil filter that Jeff Capes tightened up... I tried a oil filter socket wrench (that just slipped). Then I tried my oil filter chain wrench (it moved about a mm or two and then proceeded to start squashing the filter and punctured it). I then resorted to the screwdriver stabbed through the side method and still couldn't get enough torque to get it to turn (perhaps needed an extra long screwdriver). So now I've decided to sacrifice my oil filter socket wrench and stuck it to the top of the oil filter with some araldite. Going to let it cure for a good couple of days and then give it another go. I'm hoping that should do the trick as I've had good results with araldite before. If that fails than hell knows what I will do - probably cry! :sad:

Always coat the sealing washer with oil when fitting a new filter they do not need to be silly tight, hand tight and a nip !
I have tons of 944 turbo bits if you are stuck for anything, probably got one in a box
:grin:
My car has refused to start, replaced the hall sensors, speed and refernce, DME relay fine, ECU fine, still no spark or fuel......it is starting to push my buttons now.
Just realised that I have had mine " back" for 11 years now, owned previously, when it is fettled they are great, full brake rebuild last year, cooling system this year when up and running again.
88 Turbos S Solid Black (M758)

Hi Jim,

Just in case it is the same problem you are experiencing, my old 944T was a bitch at times for starting. It was eventually correctly diagnosed by D&G as the connections with the DME failing. It was as if someone had previously put the relay in incorrectly and it simply did not allow the pins on the relay to bed correctly.

Worth a look I think, good luck.

Cheers, Keith.

Definitely sounds like the DME if you aren't getting fuel or a spark, have you tried jumping the connections on the fuse box to see if you can get the fuel pump working? That will help you rule out if the fuel pump is bad. The injectors shutoff automatically if there isn't enough fuel pressure in the rail.

http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/fuel-05.htm

Cheers all for the replies, I carry 2 spare DME relays, checked mine out on a friends car, that said I will check the connectors on the relay board, removing the immoboliser this weekend which is at least 15 years old as a Thatcham approved jobbie wires into the ignition and fuel circuit, I will get there and let you all know when I do.
A previous dodgy start issue was a tiny bit of corrosion on the King lead connector on the distributor cap which caused some head scratching initially.
:?:

well after much faffing and fettling my car is up and running after a total non start issue, I suspected flywheel hall sensors, changed them out and no joy, stripped an immoboliser out today and tried again, NO !
Back to basics and numpty here had not got one of the sensor plugs fully home, now purring and tick over seems smoother, just need to sort my cooling fans not kicking in, changed the rad sensor, fans okay when jumped, wiring from sensor to fans fine ?
Anyway if anyone is after flywheel hall sesnsors here you go Bosch 0 261 210 028, originally fitted to BMW 6 cylinders as a cam position sensor, I got mine for £38 each the only difference between the originals is that the lead is slightly longer, Porsche near enough £200 each and ECP £174 for the original part number.
At least I can now pull it out of the garage to but the interior back together.
:thumbs:

Just catching up on this thread and for the OP ..

Im not keen on that oil colour young man .. that looks very much to me like a coolant / oil mix , which on these cars would indicate a headgasket failure .

When its all up and running and every thing seems fine , no misfires etc then i feel an oil change after 500 miles is in order .. im not trying to scare you or anything but i would like to see black oil come out .. brown is not so good for what ever reason .

Frenchmeister said:

well after much faffing and fettling my car is up and running after a total non start issue, I suspected flywheel hall sensors, changed them out and no joy, stripped an immoboliser out today and tried again, NO !
Back to basics and numpty here had not got one of the sensor plugs fully home, now purring and tick over seems smoother, just need to sort my cooling fans not kicking in, changed the rad sensor, fans okay when jumped, wiring from sensor to fans fine ?
Anyway if anyone is after flywheel hall sesnsors here you go Bosch 0 261 210 028, originally fitted to BMW 6 cylinders as a cam position sensor, I got mine for £38 each the only difference between the originals is that the lead is slightly longer, Porsche near enough £200 each and ECP £174 for the original part number.
At least I can now pull it out of the garage to but the interior back together.
:thumbs:

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Awesome glad you got the car running :thumb:

deMort said:

Just catching up on this thread and for the OP ..

Im not keen on that oil colour young man .. that looks very much to me like a coolant / oil mix , which on these cars would indicate a headgasket failure .

When its all up and running and every thing seems fine , no misfires etc then i feel an oil change after 500 miles is in order .. im not trying to scare you or anything but i would like to see black oil come out .. brown is not so good for what ever reason .

Click to expand...

Pretty sure there isn't a coolant leak - the coolant level in the expansion tank was still at the top. The oil does however smell of petrol...

Coolant was in very good condition and there was no oil in it - it was still red and translucent.

Head gasket was replaced a few years ago.

Also the spark plug on cylinder #1 was very sooty (haven't checked the others yet).

I've got some Shell Helix HX7 ready to put in for 500 miles to clean the internals out and then if all is good back to Mobil 1.

It was stored for almost 5 years without being run so I guess there will be some condensation build up inside the engine mixing with the oil? and also I'm wondering if the storage place flooded the engine as they did try to start it when I went to pick it up and told me they couldn't as the battery was flat. However I did see it running back in August and it wasn't too lumpy.

Had another bash yesterday and we managed to get the oil filter off after I'd sacrified my oil filter wrench by gluing it to the filter :sad:

Next problem is the damn spline socket bolt that holds the timing gear on the cam shaft. Yes you guessed it I stripped it after making it turn a few mm. I've got some cobalt drill bits arriving tomorrow so will drill the head off the bolt and from what I've read the tension should then be released allowing me to remove the timing gear and get to the camshaft front seal. Apparently the bolt should come out with finger pressure once the head has been drilled off.

Whiteknight, no need for fancy Dan Mobil in these engines I use a good quality 10/40W semi synthetic.
Fancy synthetics were not about when these engines were developed, I use Fuchs Titan Semi Synth 10/40 no problems.

Very true .. the oil colour could be down to a number of reasons .. i just point out what i see

Basically for this and things like the spark plug then you need to get it running and do a few miles .. then you will find any faults ..

5 years is a long time for a car .. i wonder if its like dog years :?:

Oh I've missed a week

So my drill bits arrived last week and I managed to drill the head off the cheese head bolt but the shaft was well and truly stuck inside the end of the cam (more on that further down).



I also managed to get all but one bolt from the turbo assembly and that one is proving to be a right pain in the ass - I'm going to try a crowsfoot wrench on it as the access is extremely tight.



This is all so I can get to the blooming air oil separator and replace the seals.



And today I finally beat the damn spline bolt on the camshaft with the help of some stanley vise grips (and penetrating fluid that has had 5 days to soak in - was right down in the thread so worked a treat).



Finished off by removing the front covers for the balance shafts and camshaft to get the old seals removed and clean them up before refitting.



Next jobs are -

• 
  Get the last bolt off the turbo
  Clean-up front of engine
  Replace crankshaft seal and oil pump drive gear
  Fit new balance shaft and camshaft seals
  Fit waterpump

I've also been drooling over a nice new hose set for the oil cooler lines as they look well shabby - will make up a set of stainless braided lines.

Keep us posted, done nothing on mine, I have a 1 1/2 garge error at my mum' s with more room than the garage at home, going to drop the coolant and change the thermostat as I suspect no flow in the radiator which in turn us not triggering the sender in turn bringing the fans in.

I understood all of that except the 1 1/2 garge error that has me scratching my baldy head :?:

I think he meant 1 and a half garage over his mum's house?

Frenchmeister - have you tested the fan relay?

Yep, fan relay fine, going for thermostats next, 1 1/2 garage, I own another garage down at my mum's place not quite a double but a 1 1/2.
Allows me to have some room working in my cars rather then being a sqeeze working at home.
The other garage is painted out with power and a fan heater, work benches etc, much more comfortable :thumbs: