gekkoracing7

Hi there!

I have been looking over the posts....lots of great info about the 944s. I recently aquired an '88 944 5spd N/A from my buddies wife. Her father bought it new for her mum....unfortunately they have both passed away....she's sold it to me 'cause she knew I loved it the moment I saw it under the car cover! Apparently the car has been mostly sitting for the last 15 or so years....my buddy was able to get it running about 5 yrs ago....ran it around the block a few times...when he got back, noticed the rear main was leaking. There it sat for abit of a bit. He tried to start it prior to trailering to my garage, no luck.

My questions are many.....

1) I know I must replace the RMS and will examine the clutch while in there.
2) Tires are dry rotted on the outsides....new tires will be forthcoming.
3) Due to sitting so long....Timing/Balance/Fan belts......water pump too?
3a) For the Timing belt....do you HAVE to use the belt tensioning device to set
tension correctly? Is there a McGyver way of doing it without killing it?
3b) Would it be easier to drop the engine out the bottom and reseal it ?
$) Anything else I should be aware of......?

All the repairs will take place in my garage.....vehicle on jack stands...me on my back. I am an auto tech....work on Jeep/Chrysler/Dodge primarily......have worked on just about anything relatively mainstream.....so I do know my way through a vehicle.....bolts are bolts! I live in Reno,NV....its a bit cold...so work will be with the door closed!! I'm sooooo jonesing to run this baby......any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you for the time ya'all will spend reading this......

Ben

odurandina

welcome to rennlist. this could be interesting. hope you get her running....

i realize as a car tech, you know plenty about cars — but, since a beginner might read this someday, i'll put down some ideas. your engine is going to require a bit of prep to prevent more damage. there could be electrical problems, but since it's going to be a while before you get there anyway and there's plenty of people who can talk about that later. i'll just mention a few of the basics.

the first thing is to determine whether or not the engine is locked from rust. (it quite probably is)... of course, engines have precisely-machined parts that require oil. your car is 15 years out of oil running through the crank, and holding court inside the bearings and between the rings and cylinder walls — and this is a huge problem. fluids separate and seals dry up, and finely polished surfaces have now, long-since oxidized. not good. you'll need to turn the engine—but, not with the starter. worse still, success in turning the engine doesn't mean it still doesn't need to be rebuilt. the engine could fail not long after you get it running.

before engaging the starter, you'll need to refresh the timing system including the belts, rollers, and tensioner. you're down there anyway, and you must change the front seals and rotted, H20 pump, distributor rotor and cap (both very brittle by now), and also the fuel lines in the bay. *(to get to everything, the engine basically needs to come out). and once you'll have it out, you might as well do a rebuild since everything in the engine is still good.

before attempting to start the engine, you should put a couple of litres of isopropyl alcohol in the tank and fill to about 1/4 tankful of gas. this batch of fuel should then be run out of the tank with your fuel pump or siphoned off, and replaced with about 1/4 tank more of fresh fuel and a couple more bottles of drygas.... if you are eventually successful in starting the engine, the varnish from the first batch of fuel may still foul the injectors. once burning off the bad fuel, you can change the filter and if necessary, source some used injectors out of a car that had run recently....

you're also going to be flushing the radiator and replaceing the hoses.. the radiator should sent for cleaning at a radiator shop. unfortunately, the old dried up coolant also needs to be flushed from the engine. and this step will be compromised because you'll be using water from your tap.... as that process finishes, you can use 4 or 5 gallons of distilled water to allow to run through at the end so you'll have less tap water trapped in the engine. then you can add your coolant. now on the the electrical and vacuum system...


25 years is a long time for a few mice, rats, chipmunks and squirrels not to have paid the engine bay a visit... they love to chew plastic and rubber. if that doesn't get you, dry, rotting wiring insulation and vacuum hoses will. once these issues are resolved, the next step will be to work on the brake lines, calipers and clutch.

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Eric_Oz_S2

Yes - you should replace all rubber belts - they will be well past their use by date. I would recommend using a flywheel lock and the 2 pin spanner tool for the tensioner adjustment.

Water pump - there is a risk it will start leaking when you start driving it. Either take the risk of having to pull the belts off again, or change it anyway (it would probably be near the end of its life anyway due to sitting in old coolant)

No need to use the tension tool (many will argue the opposite), but you need to understand what the correct tension feels like. Perhaps you could use the old belt as a guide.

You can reseal when you change the clutch (the rubber centre will probably be ready to give way) - use the Elring brand seal.

Everything else is probably as per any other car that has sat for so long - fuel, coolant, oil, brake fluid, trans fluid, etc.

I think you should do the basics (oil, belts, brake fluid), get it going and then drive it to work out what else needs doing.

Good luck

gekkoracing7

Lol...talk about some quick responses......thank you!! Can't wait for more when poeple get up tomm!!
I know what the tension on most toming belts "feels" like....but......this is my baby...and I want to make sure the head doesn't emplode from a broken belt ....or the water pump sieze from it being too tight.....hehe!
Thanks again !!

V2Rocket

yes to timing belt, balance belt and accessory belt. yes to water pump since you dont know how old it may be, and because it sat.

you dont need the super expensive tensioner; tighten the timing belt until you can grab the longest span of belt between finger and thumb and twist it 90*. that is the right tension. do the same for the balance belt but it should be approaching 180* twist.

the engine is much easier to work on while out of the car, obviously. there's nothing that is TOO terrible to do with it in the car but unlimited working room for your body is a hand and wrist saver. engine's easy to pull too.

check wiring harnesses (easy if you pull the motor) and clean up all the terminals, a simple wire brushing should do until they are shiny again. grounds are a major cause of problems, but if the grounds are taken care of, there wont be as many issues.

if the car was running within the last 5 years then its not going to be rusted on the inside unless its been full of water. my car sat in a guy's front yard in the dirt for 7 years, yet when the engine was opened up the inside may well have been brand new.

as a chrysler tech you'll have dealt with some interesting things maintenance-wise. there is nothing too difficult on the 944; in fact most of the regular maintenance or wear items are pretty easy to change out (10 minutes for a fuel pump or starter swap, plugs take 1 minute total, 30 minutes to drop the transmission) but the biggest project will be changing the clutch (although if you pull the engine that is the perfect time to do it) as the whole drivetrain is disassembled.

welcome to the family, by the way.

Yarf

I suggest that you read the Garage Shop Manual@
http://www.clarks-garage.com/
Good Luck !

Mike C.

I would also plan on rebuilding all brake and clutch hydraulics. It might be a good idea to remove the injectors and soak them in a strong solvent for a few days. Better yet, send them to Witch Hunter for cleaning, flow check.

thirdgenbird

congratulations on the purchase. a "sitting" 944 can be a huge project, ask me how i know...

when things go wrong (and they will) dont let it get you down. everyone here is very friendly and there is an absurd amount of knowledge on these boards.

i have done a clutch, top end rebuild, front seals, and full suspension all while on jack stands. you should have no problem:


what does he charge for this?

Mike C.

Not very expensive...

http://www.witchhunter.com/

yellowline

3b) Yes, remove the engine for the kind of work you need to do. BTDT multiple times. I don't know of a way to remove and reseal the lower balance shaft cover with the engine in. The passenger side arm and motor mount in the way.

odurandina

odd how this thread gets posted a few hours after i mention about engines blowing up after they sit.

https://rennlist.com/forums/924-931-...e-failure.html

V2Rocket

that was a perfectly running car though, not a sitting one...i dont see the comparison

odurandina

maybe.

i "gotten" the feeling the car had sat a while waiting for a new owner or some work to get done.

gekkoracing7

Wow! Thanks for all the insight!! I've eben reading up on most of the stuff I have to do to get her runnin in good shape......lots of time and seems that there may be a fair amount of $$ as well. Hey, I only paid $1000 for the car....know the family of the PO...hehe....its all good. I just don't want anything catastophic to happen, so tryin to head it off at the pass!!!
Again thank you for all the responses and advice, tis greatly appreciated!

odurandina

expensive, in "Porsche?"

your engine is going to be a touchy thing. you can burn a lot of time money returning it to life, only to end up with a lot of blowby, or have something go wrong with the headgasket, and a few seconds later you've got an oil refinery.... or maybe nothing goes wrong at all. but you can add a proper rebuild to all the other stuff, or swap in another 944 engine or go even bigger. it's a roller with supercar potential.


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