Bit of a project/toy

The Edge · 20 Dec 2011 at 21:26

I don't normally go for this sort of thing, but this was far too good to refuse

1982 Porsche 944 2.5. Only an 8 valve, but i think that's all they did back then.

Came with all leather interior (In bits), two engines, 4 new tyres and a full service kit. Allegedly it didn't start, but it went on the first crank when we unloaded it. Just as well we didn't try it before.

Best bit - one of the more recent former keepers was the bbc!! Wonder if Jeremy sat in it?!

All for the princely sum of..............£200.

It needs a good polish initially, the engine putting back together properly, interior assembling, brakes fixing and then it'll be MOT time.

Assuming it doesn't look like becoming a total money pit it'll be repainted over next winter and a new/secondhand dash fitted.

More pics tomorrow, was losing light when i got home.

The Edge · 20 Dec 2011 at 21:47

It doesn't seem to bad. There is no sunroof, therefore the sills are solid which is normally a weak point on these.

ideally you'd definately paint it, put a new bonnet and nearside wing on but thats about it bodywork wise. It's definately had a clonk on the front at some point and the bumpers and trim need to be alogneed properly. The tracking is also miles out, as in 1/4 turn of the wheel out when going in a straight line!

It's done 129k.

Hoping to have it on the road by March/April.

The Edge · 20 Dec 2011 at 21:48

shauncr91 said:
Owned by the BBC? Wasn't one of the budget Porsches that got ragged round the track was it?

Quite possibly. Obviously your first thought is top gear, but they use cars for other stuff too.

The Edge · 20 Dec 2011 at 21:54

the sills are solid. first thing we checked!

The Edge · 20 Dec 2011 at 21:55

It came with two engines, the one in the car runs. The other is out of an auto version

The Edge · 21 Dec 2011 at 18:41

Took some bits apart today, i'll post pictures later.

The sills are rock solid, but then this one has no sunroof. The motor for the lights up/down doesn't work and both rear light clusters are goosed due to corrosion. The key i have fits the tailgate but not the doors.

The essentials so far:

Cambelt/balance belt + rollers
two door locks
Headlamp motor
pair of rear clusters
handbrake shoes.

It's going to be easy to spend a LOT of money on this, but i'm initially going to try to get it presentable and driveable for less than £600.

The Edge · 22 Dec 2011 at 08:42

commited said:
Nice one, that's a very early one!

The guy i had it off was adament that it was the second imported and the oldest one left.

I'd like to verify that, but don't know how too. I'm always sceptical of claims like that but it is a very early one and i've not seen another X plate one anywhere.

The Edge · 23 Dec 2011 at 19:40

Bit of an up date and more pics.

These are the more of the car as it turned up:

It's now up on axle stands with no wheels on to survey the brakes etc. All seems fairly well, nothing too serious has turned up yet.

This might be why it runs a bit iffy! I think clean petrol will make huge differance.

The Edge · 24 Dec 2011 at 18:05

Progress today:

Headlights work and go up and down - new motor helped.

Rear lights all work.

Windows work.

Next up:

Electric mirrors.

Horn (Could be a pain.)

Windscreen wiper re-assembley.

Brakes.

Should be a good day on Tuesday

The Edge · 24 Dec 2011 at 20:21

and we've found out why the BBc had it:

tipec forum said:
It’s not actually from that film. Clarkson needed a 944 for that film and the production office bought him this car. He wanted a Turbo for the film, so this car was sold on. Nobby369 wrote a wee report on it for All Torque: Issue 84 (October 2010), page 11. You can view it online here.

The Turbo that was used in the film was eventually given away by The Sun as a competition prize, if I remember rightly.

It was to be used on Clarkson's Thriller film, but he wanted a Turbo.

The Edge · 28 Dec 2011 at 08:03

Had another good day yesterday. New ingition gear has been fitted but the engine still sounded very rough. 20 litres of Vpower made little odds, so it was time to explore for other issues. There was a funy hissing noise coming from the inlet manifold, so that had to come off.

This revealed something of a war zone! One vacuum hose was disconnected and all of the others were split. So the donor engine that came with the car was equally dismantled and the good hoses and ICV transferrred over wholesale. Once this was done and reassembled it ran much better. Still the odd chuff every now and then, but a few miles on the road may help that.

The brakes are now back together and working, the headlights fixed and the wiper motor reinstalled.

Hoping to MOT it this friday

The Edge · 28 Dec 2011 at 20:26

Slow progress today, we're into the realm of the more frustrating electrical issues. First job was the horn. The system works offn the steering wheel, earthing out on the column to complete the circuit. However after an hour of messing around, and a bit of a shock when i touched the wire somewhere else, it turns out that the column itself is not earthed.

This meant a very awkward job, right in the bowels of the dashboard to connect the steering column to an earth with an aluminium tang. Fortunately I have a small friend!

Door handles are now changed, and this kind of made the other frustrating job. Changing the locks (The only lock the existing key fitted was the ignition) meant it made sense to change the ignition barrel too. This was also a difficult and awkward job, made worse because someone had drowned the innards of the steering switched with WD40.

Hopefully things will be a bit more productive tomorrow!

The Edge · 28 Dec 2011 at 21:26

Oh and it's insured - £165!!

that means i could insure four porsche's for the cost of insuring my S60!!!!

The Edge · 29 Dec 2011 at 08:00

Wizardskills said:
Ah nice, who is that with if you don't mind me asking? Its about the same as I pay for the GT6.

Footman James. Their online quote was 227, but Lancaster's was weird it said 180 in the email but more on the website. I rang Footman James and just said i'd been quoted 180, could they do better and they did

Thats for 6000 miles.

The Edge · 29 Dec 2011 at 08:13

Al Vallario said:
This looks like her parked up in the Top Gear 'Technology Centre' yard back in 2009

Either they or someone else had started to strip it out. It's got the mount points for a roll cage, but no trace of one came with the car so it obviously ended up somewhere else. A lot of the sound deadening has been removed too - does anyone know what I could use instead? I thought loft insulation would be as good as anything.

The Edge · 29 Dec 2011 at 20:45

Lashout_UK said:
Did you try Peter James out of interest?

No, i did try heritage who were on a par price wise but not mileage. I tried 5 or 6 companies, some were like £6k, all of the others were about £200. Then I phoned the second cheapest and told them what the cheapest quote was. I could have probably saved a few more quid if i'd made a few phonecalls, but my time in daytime is quite limited as I can only really afford this week and early next to spend solidly on the car.

We are not going to make MOT tomorrow as some parts are yet to be found, new target is Tuesday

The Edge · 29 Dec 2011 at 21:10

Most of today has been spend on the interior. The door cards had become damp at some stage, and being a very early example replacement cards are unobtainable or silly money! Therefore a refurb of the existing ones has been attempted.

I'm sure there may be a more "purist" way of doing this, but stiffening the inside with fibreglass seems the best way.

The glass has been appied to the inside (Obviously) and then the card has been clamped to a straight edge to pull the hardboard back into shape. I can't see any reason why this won't work, and it certainly will be in improvement over how they were. We'll see in the morning!

The Edge · 30 Dec 2011 at 08:12

There's not that much to do now.

The rear seat catches need fitting.
Window motors and switches need fitting
Front antiroll bar needs fitting
Seats and rest of the interior need putting in
good clean/polish

Fit new cam/balance belts.

MOT

Then it's a case of the following when i have time.

Get the rear wiper to work
Get the electric mirrors to work
Fit stereo/speakers
fit new ns wing, Bonnet and bumper (Already obtained)
paint and fit new dashboard (Already obtained)
Repaint the car.

The Edge · 30 Dec 2011 at 19:38

Well, she's almost there

Interior is now complete, just need to find some carpet. Door cards came out ok, not brilliant but an improvement.

All the seats are now in, someone has spent a fortune on having the seats covered.

Fitting the antiroll bar tomorrow, maybe the cambelts too. We'll try and return it to Guards Red from Guards Pink on Monday I think .

The Edge · 30 Dec 2011 at 20:36

Jamous said:
Did you think about breaking it? Those tailgates are worth good money.

It's far, far too good to break and a condition of buying was that I wouldn't. The sills are rock solid, and there is almost no corrosion on the whole car. Also, there are according to a guy in the local porsche club only four X plate ones registered, so this could be the oldest example left in the UK - the guy I had it off was adamant that it was, and i'll try to verify this oce everything is sorted.

On that basis it's a bit of an investment too. I don't think these will ever be worth mega bucks, but it's a nice thing to own and if it does turn out to be a bit special it's nicer still