Porsche-O-Phile

Okay, this is a poll to determine the single most evil, diabolically placed, impossible-to-remove or just generally infamous bolt on a 944.

It's not necessarily the one that requires disassembling the most stuff to get at (unless there is an OBVIOUS way that the bolt in question could have been made more accessible), nor is it the one with the highest torque spec (although this can certainly be a factor, especially if it's one that you can only get at with a 3/8" ratchet, two 6" extensions, a wobble and another 3" extension and socket to get at).

So let's hear those horror stories!

Here are my choices:

(1) The dipstick tube-to-intake manifold bolt on a 951
(2) Flywheel bolts (virtually any)
(3) The long turbocharger bolt on a 951 (it's allen head, $18 to replace AND impossible to get at!)
(4) The middle one at the header-to-crossover pipe flange
(5) ISV-to-bracket behind the airbox (early n/a cars)
(6) That one at the front of the head at the front cooling passage that ALWAYS snaps and ends up having to be drilled out. . .

I'm sure I'll think of others.

kennycoulter

i had the most trouble with one of the through bolts on the cat pipe to the" headers"

ahofam123

I hated removing the upper passenger side bolt on the clutch housing. Its not fun trying to manipulate a set of sockets, extensions and universal joints into that small space, while at the same time having to deal with the fiberglass falling off onto your arms.

jmporsche944

the clutch master cylinder bolts are tons of fun too

iloveporsches

I agree. What a bitch those were. Especially since they were no longer nuts but nice round blobs of rust.

seb928s

The upper intermediate shaft bolt on the 951. Two men job there since one with small hands has to reach up from under the car with a small 13mm wrench while the other has a 2 foot extanison with a 13mm shock.

josephsc

What? No poll?

Mongo

those are chickensh*t components. How about trying to replace the rear balance shaft seal? That is a PITA!!!!!!

silverBean

I'd say the lower alternator bolt, the short one. It is damn near impossible to get a wrench over the nut on the backside and you can barely rotate the bolt with how much room you have. It took me about 20-30 minutes to take it out and longer to put it back in. And I have had the privelage of doing this procedure 3 times since owning the car!!

Porsche-O-Phile

The poll options can only be like 100 characters long. . . Plus there are SOOOOOO many good candidates I dunno if only 10 choices are enough. Plus I don't personally claim to have turned EVERY bolt on a 944 (probably most though) so there might be a few "good 'uns" that I'd miss. . . I wanna' hear what the others have to say.

I really despise that oil dipstick tube bolt. All that for a dipstick tube.

Actually, thinkin' about it I think the WORST I've had to deal with is the wastegate bracket to torque tube bolt (upper one). I literally wasted an ENTIRE weekend putting that thing in. Literally about 12 man-hours of work for one, uno bolt.

yellowline

#6 gets my vote. I'm so glad that hopefully I'll never have to deal with it again.

Zero10

Hahaha, that f***@$%@#$%@$!@$%$ing dipstick bolt...
Man, it's like 1 1/2" long too, _THAT_ helps...
It took me over 2 hours to get that one bolt in when I was putting my 951 back together. In doing that, I lost 3, they got stuck on the way out the bottom, and I ended up replacing it with one that is only about 1/2" long from partsource, because I ran out of bolts, lol.

That one gets my vote!!!

Yabo

Yeah that bitch broke my block!

I say the one exhaust manifold nut if your trying to take it off with engine in the car and nothin else taken off. I think its the upper one on cylinder 1? one of them is really bad and you can only get about a 1/4 turn each time.

Legoland951

The turbo to downpipe bolts is BY FAR the most difficult on a consistent basis. Its practically impossible with the engine in the car and makes the dip stick bolt seem easy.

marky522

hey dont forget the bolt to get the clutch fork off, the one that always shears off... Or the cheeseheads on the axles... for you 924 guys, the 3 threads in the pilot bearing that always strip off instead of pulling the pilot bearing out...

Mark