Bill Underwood's Porsche 944 Daily Driver

http://944-world.com/my944.html Created April 8, 1997 My daily driver: a 1984 edition 944 with a ton of miles on it, and a pile of money into it. Color and Body. It's the typical 2-door coupe available back then. Color code L5, what Porsche called "Sapphire Metallic" but it looks silver-blue to me. Too bad the paint isn't so hot but oh well. I bought the car in Nov. 1995 with a blown motor. The previous owner had a tensioning idler go loose, the timing belt lost tension and jumped time, and she had just driven the last mile in her 944 -- now a 944 with bent valves. Engine and Clutch. Everything except the machine shop work was done at X-Fab Racing in Mountain View, CA. The top end of the motor was completely rebuilt, with the fancy three-angle valve seat grind (by Tech Craft in Redwood City, CA) and all new valves and guides went in. Tech Craft also reworked the exhaust valves by undercutting the back of the tulip slightly for better exhaust stroke venting. Valve springs tested out at 92# so we kept them. All new hoses and belts. All new timing and balance shaft pulleys, tensioner pulley and tensioning idlers. All engine seals -- front and rear -- have been replaced, and we bolted a new water pump on. Since it was all torn apart, I cleaned and rebuilt the fuel rail and installed new fuel injectors. The clutch was replaced, and I also had the flywheel resurfaced. Again, since it was totally apart, I installed a new idle air valve because it was easy to do so -- before it could fail and ruin cold start idle like my previous 944 did. Finally, while the motor lived on an engine stand, I went over every inch of it with WD-40 and a toothbrush, Simple Green, water and rags. That part went on for days and days and days...When the motor was "Bill clean" -- a term my mechanic invented -- I degreased and cleaned the engine compartment, down to every wire harness, nook, and cranny, so it would match the fresh motor. Suspension and Tires. All new suspension bushings (in fact we put in the Weltmeister "special plastic" ones. Installed new lower control arms, which have been welded with steel reinforcement box sections for greater stiffness. New ball joints, and new tie rod ends. Racing Dynamics strut tower brace. The 16 inch wheels are presently wearing Firestone Firehawk rubber. Sizes 205/55 ZR16 front, 255/50 ZR16 rear. Replaced front wheel bearings and seals. Brakes. We made the brake system almost totally fresh again. The rotors on the crashed black car were only two years old (stock Porsche, non-drilled) so we had them turned and moved them to the silver car. New brakes installed in front (Performance Friction's "Sport" compound). We also rebuilt the front brake calipers, and installed stainless brake lines all around. Tuneup Stuff. All fluids were completely flushed and refilled with synthetic, except the brake fluid, which is Ford Heavy Duty grade as recommended by my mechanic. He used to use it in race cars. Drained old sour fuel from the fuel tank. Cap, rotor, fuel and oil filters were all replaced, and we slapped in a new set of ignition wires. For spark plugs, I am running a new set of Split Fires. We adjusted the fuel injection on a smog machine. Performance Modifications. Besides the head work, this 944 sports an Elgin cam, AutoThority chip, K&N; air filter, Bursch headers, and a Borla exhaust. Redline is now about 7000 RPM, a little higher than stock. You should hear it. My neighbors do. What's Left? I still need to replace the rear carrier bearings, rear brakes, and the CVs. Clean and rebuild rear brake calipers. This work is now in progress...slowly! Dreams: Install roll bar, race seats, and six-point harnesses. I'd also like to set the ride heights and balance the car on corner scales. For some reason, this has taken a LOT longer than I planned... Finally, this car has some 185,000 miles on it, and is still strong enough to keep up with a 911 in the twisties, or losing the cops on Highways 84 or 35. Which, um, "for the record", I've never done either.   Back to: Bill's Porsche 944 World