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Possible swap. Porsche 944. Happy ending.


Bobthebeard

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Ask and ye shall receive.

 

It's like a 944 with a bigger boot. If you squint... and are drunk. Engine bay holds a twin carburettor SOHC Honda engine with a whopping 100bhp or so, but the auto box is pretty damn good and slams it to red line immediately if you put your foot down. Especially in Sport mode. All the power is at the top end, so it cruises along quite nicely at motorway speeds. No AC I'm afraid, but it does have a working sunroof. In fact everything electrical works fine.

 

Four speakers, cables for a sub in the boot (but none fitted, never got around to it) and a £200 Sony DAB head unit makes for some nice tunes. I'd probably leave this in the car since the sound system is castrated without it.

 

She has around 71k mileage, I forget the exact number. Cam belt could need doing but I have the parts here (belts, water pump, yada yada) which I'd include, just not got around to doing it. Fairly easy on a SOHC. Also the workshop manual.

 

She scrubs up well. I fixed the arches as they were quite crusty when I bought her. Only physical downside is a chunk missing from the weather seal on the drivers door (can be seen in first pic) but I've never had water ingress despite it being outside 24/7. It's not on a water channel. Has custom Magnecor leads. Is grumpy when too hot or too cold, thinks it's Goldilocks, normal carb stuff.

 

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Worth buying purely for the phallus like gear selector.

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Swap went ahead without a hitch! Duncan (Bobthebeard) is a top bloke and a really nice guy. Knows his stuff with welding. Hope he got home okay and is enjoying the Honda.

 

Got home okay in the Porsche. I see what you meant about the wobble on the wheel at speed, I'll take it to my local trusted tyre place (less likely to just flog me new tyres) and get them to check the weights.

 

Just finished a quick clean, she comes up nicely. Most of the "faults" are cosmetic and I thoroughly enjoy tackling those. Already put my stereo in and sourced decent speakers. I can't be without MA TOONES.

An enjoyable day! Got home okay in the Honda and was great to meet Mike. Top guy! The Honda will suit my motoring needs far better than the Porsche TBH. I just wasnt using it and it needs using! The Honda seems a lovely car that Mike has obviously lavished a lot of care and attention on. The interior is spotless and faultless! Cheers Mike!

Mrs Beard will actually be able ( and willing ) to drive the Honda also, which will hugely reduce the grumbling/earache imposed. :-)

Another success for Autoshite methinks.

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Already found one thing (sorry, couldn't resist tinkering as soon as I got it home!), the reason the heater will only blow hot air is because there's a generally flimsy plastic tab that holds the selector cable onto the heater. This had come away and apparently it's a VERY common thing with these. Porsche don't seem to know what araldite is. :P

 

A bit of araldite and as good as new. Not dying in a volcano anymore.

 

The other problems I'll go through one by one. The ammeter started working again but the oil pressure meter bounces quite a lot and should not really be that high. Considering they're part of the same dial, it's very likely just that dial needs removing and refurbishing. Not a big job, I do these all the time, the only hard part is not bending the bezel on removal. Everything else (bar the clock that I know about already) works fine. The big plus is that the electrically powered seats work because those can be very expensive indeed to fix.

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Repaired the central locking and the window today. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Needed a new part though, it was a plastic clip.

 

This is fun! :D

 

I'm starting to realise the only times anything goes wrong on this car, it's because Porsche in their infinite wisdom decided to use plastic clips and rods for important things. That's all well and good, but plastic can snap, especially with age. The rest is fine and dandy.

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Nothing much to report on the Honda, as only had a few hours to tinker before heading back home from our static caravan in Scotland for a day. Car still up there so looking forward to going back up tomorrow for Easter to have a play. Although given the condition of the car I suspect all will be good! Mike has done wonders.

Ordered four new tyres and taking the car in for them to be fitted on Saturday, as I knew the ones fitted were slightly* past there best. Also a new radiator cap ordered as the original fell apart when checking the coolant.... Amazingly Blackpool Honda tell me that they can get one (on back order) in a couple of weeks...!

Although if it is actually the correct part remains to be seen.... :-)

Am really happy with the car. Just my cup o tea! Wanted one for a long time.

Am pleased to see that Mike is also happy with the 944.

Lovely!

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Also a new radiator cap ordered as the original fell apart when checking the coolant.... Amazingly Blackpool Honda tell me that they can get one (on back order) in a couple of weeks...!

 

That one, believe it or not, is actually pretty new. I put it on a few months ago. I asked on a Honda forum and was told "they all do that, the quality of new ones is not great". But the pressure spring still works at the correct pressure so I left it as is.

 

Two things I forgot to mention:

  1. The coolant is red OAT. It did originally have the old green stuff but it's horrible so I professionally flushed the entire system and replaced it with red. It's just superior in every way. I'll probably do this with the Porsche too.
  2. I accidentally left the Sony stereo connector in the car, this isn't a problem as they're only a couple of quid, but just so you know; if you disconnect that from the two standard ISO connectors you'll be able to add any stereo you want.

Stereo installation can be tight as there's not much room but all modern stereos will fit. If you don't want to faff about with the speakers beneath the door cards (or rather the holes I left), two 6 inch speakers can just be dropped into the parcel shelf and they'll give all the noise you want. The powered aerial fully works and extends/retracts smoothly. I'm not sure if the switched supply is actually wired into the ISO connectors so a radio with an auto-off or an old fashioned no-standby-completely-off button would be best.

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That one, believe it or not, is actually pretty new. I put it on a few months ago. I asked on a Honda forum and was told "they all do that, the quality of new ones is not great". But the pressure spring still works at the correct pressure so I left it as is.

 

Two things I forgot to mention:

 

  • The coolant is red OAT. It did originally have the old green stuff but it's horrible so I professionally flushed the entire system and replaced it with red. It's just superior in every way. I'll probably do this with the Porsche too.
  • I accidentally left the Sony stereo connector in the car, this isn't a problem as they're only a couple of quid, but just so you know; if you disconnect that from the two standard ISO connectors you'll be able to add any stereo you want.
Stereo installation can be tight as there's not much room but all modern stereos will fit. If you don't want to faff about with the speakers beneath the door cards (or rather the holes I left), two 6 inch speakers can just be dropped into the parcel shelf and they'll give all the noise you want. The powered aerial fully works and extends/retracts smoothly. I'm not sure if the switched supply is uactually wired into the ISO connectors so a radio with an auto-off or an old fashioned no-standby-completely-off button would be best.
Nothing is a problem,

I love the car..... ! :-)

No complaints at all!

:-)

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