Living with a Porsche 944

I have a fan - it works well. But I don't have hot air. Which means that the school run I do with my eldest is a pretty freezing cold affair. It's also impossible to defrost the windscreen let alone ourselves! I've been watching eBay and the Porsche forums for a replacement heater control unit after checking virtually everything else in the HVAC system for faults. The heater control unit is an expensive item from Porsche, and so far they've been selling for more than a ton on eBay. Thankfully one came up on eBay that was a fair bit less - sure it was used but the seller assured me it was fully working. To be honest it was cheap enough to risk and with positive eBay feedback as meaningful as it is it was well worth getting some hot air in the cabin. It looks like it's going to be a cold winter. Removing the old control unit was straight forward. Before I fitted the replacement I cleaned up the two connectors just to make sure 23 years of crud wasn't going to keep...

Right so the new 72Ah battery is a stormer, but my newly acquired multimeter from MachineMart showed that my alternator was indeed not up to the task anymore. A couple minutes on the internet and a replacement was looking at at least £160+vat plus my alternator in exchange. Didn't seem like good value at all. I had heard that alternators can be rebuilt, and often it's just the voltage regulator needing to be replaced. That's not something in my capabilities I thought so I contacted a mechanic friend of mine who put me onto a chap who rebuilds these things for a living. My concerns about cost evaporated when I heard how much he'd rebuild my Bosch unit for. I just had to remove it. It was about 2 degrees in my garage earlier so I'm not looking forward to that and it looks like it's going to be a while before things settle above zero. I hope the new battery holds out until then.

So the battery was flat this morning, which can be expected for cold weather and little use, and so began my tale of two batteries. The first battery was supplied by my local Kwik-fit. This was contrary to my gut feeling and I reinforces just why I will never buy anything on the spot like that again. I took the 944 down to have the battery checked after having to jump start every time I shut down. Turns out the battery was nuked and the helpful tester reckoned the alternator wasn't charging correctly either. As I didn't feel like any more inconvenience I enquired about a replacement. What was recommended to me by the gent behind the counter according to the "blue book" he held, was a 59Ah replacement. The problem was that a 72Ah battery sat in my car. I was informed that the higher Ah unit would overload the electrical circuits. I was puzzled. I should have just walked away there and then. But no... Later that evening when I needed to start the 944 to go to my kids Ca...

With MOT, insurance certificate and Road Tax reminder in hand I headed off to the Post Office - purveyors of all things postal and the holy grail of road tax. Permission to drive on Her Majesty's roads without threat of arrest or crushed 944. It should be such a simple affair: hand over the documents and a cheque, and get handed that colourful round little disc to put in your car window. But no, am I the only person who thinks that I shouldn't have to lose a month of road tax because it's more than 2 days before the end of the month? I couldn't buy road tax from the beginning of December, I had to buy it as if from the beginning of November. That means I pay for 6 months tax and only get five; or pay for a year and only get 11 months - especially when the road fund is raided for other government spending. I think we're taxed enough not to want to pay for a months road tax and not get it! So as a matter of principal I'm parking the 944 in the garage and waiting a...

Excellent news - my 944 passed MOT today. It felt so satisfying. After all the work that's gone into car over the couple months; the delays and the bruised knuckles and the desire to throttle an old Porsche engineer every now and again. Now to get it taxed so I can roam the B roads!

I researched this process on Clarks Garage (where they call it a Control Arm) and in the Porsche workshop manual, it didn't seem like it was going to be much of a problem. I marked the castor mounts position which everybody was saying was the most important thing to do because the suspension geometry might be effected - and that was pretty easy, no problems there. I don't know what all the fuss is about that really. Removing and replacing was straight forward. The only difficulty I encountered was separating the ball joint from the spindle; and the anti-roll bar from the wishbone. I resorted to borrowing a crowbar from a friend and I wished I'd done that sooner. Well now I know. In fact if I do this again I'm going to remove the ARB completely first and then replace all the bushings too, but first let's get the 944 though MOT and on the road again.

After waiting a month my front replacement wishbone has arrived. I missed the free MOT retest due to the seller's failure to ship my part. I was told a couple of times it had been sent - why can't people just be honest? I finally lost patience and raised a dispute with PayPal to recover my money. I had resigned myself to buying one of the refurbished units from Hartech, but lo and behold what lands on my doorstep this morning - the wishbones I paid for more than a month ago. I should have just driven to Kent to pick these up myself! Tomorrow I'm going to tackle the wishbone replacement and book the 944 in for another MOT.

The other mute point on the MOT test was the small amount of rust that needed repairing on the nearside sill. It was within 12" of the seatbelt mount and therefore an immediate failure - despite the fact that the seatbelt mount is not on the sill but on the chassis! In fact the rust spot was not even noticeable and well covered by the white rubber sill paint. Nevertheless it needed taking care of as this is what it looked like with the paint removed: Two days in the body shop and I must admit I'm very happy with the result. The whole left side was repaired and repainted. My wallet is much lighter but this is a great long term fix. Contrary to the fact that these 944s boast a galvanised body they do rust after twenty years.

I wish these MOT tests were consistent. After sorting all the bits that needed doing from the failed MOT test when I bought the car at the beginning of October, it turns out at the retest that I now need to replace the offside front wishbone due to "excessive wear". What I'd like to know is why this didn't come up in the test earlier in the month? The car has hardly been driven over the last couple weeks while I've attended to the repairs - which have included stripping and refreshing all four disc brakes. Because of the low mileage whilst in the care of the previous owner the brakes had become semi seized and that was effected the brake balance test. They're confirmed working perfectly as is the handbrake after a simple adjustment inside the left rear wheel. But now I need a new front right wishbone as the ball joint is not replaceable by itself. This is the darkside of german engineering. Earlier 944 models featured a steel wishbone much like the Golf Mk1, b...

One of the MOT failing points was the badly leaking power steering pump. It was seeping on the primary machine face, which meant that the main seal was knackered. Removing it from the lower right side of the engine bay was a bit fiddly as I couldn't find any clear instructions on the internet from Clarks Garage or in the downloadable Porsche workshop manuals from Cannell's . Despite the wealth of information available there was one minor yet significant thing that no-one was telling me: the spacer in the top mounting bolt is removable! Had I not had to spend most of the morning figuring that out this job would have been a doodle. With it removed I set about stripping the pump and sure enough the main seal was at fault. Rather than heading off to OPC Guildford, I googled a local industrial seal supplier and headed over there with pump in hand. They had a perfect fit seal for 70pence. After reassembly and a nice clean refitting the pump was rather easy. I topped up the level wit...

First things first. My 944 needed a thorough clean and polish. It wasn't filthy mind you, but with green mould in all the nooks and crannies it didn't matter that she looked good from across the street. The interior was great though so no need to go there. This is always a great way to get to know your car intimately and I was looking forward to it. After a good Zipwax wash with the help of my kids - who were strangely excited about cleaning daddies new Porsche - I set about the 944 with a toothbrush, a model paint brush and a bottle of spray on mould cleaner. I wanted to get to all of it and could not believe how much of the stuff there was growing around the car, even inside the bonnet and recesses of the tail gate and sometimes lurking under the rubber seals. But, was it satisfying seeing the cleaner body emerge! Four hours later it was time for some Autoglym Resin Polish - the results were fantastic. With it being such a beautiful & warm autumn day I was keen to catch t...

It's always nice to have a friend in the same street - they could almost be Lightning McQueen and Sally. A new 911 snuggles up to the 944 - which doesn't look anything near its age. This model has really stood the test of time despite the demeaning by some as not being a real Porsche with engine up front and gearbox out back.

How do I put into words the exhilaration of driving your own Porsche for the first time? Besides the obvious excitement, I was tentative - and attentive. Every creak, squeek and silence was noted. Trying to familiarize myself with the new environment was like walking into a new house - where was everything? What's the view like out of the windows? I was fairly nervous too - it was a long way home and I certainly didn't want to break down or get stopped by the Blue & Whites for over enthusiastic driving. I wanted to soak it all in. Immerse myself in the thrill of my first joy ride in my 944. I wasn't disappointed. The feedback through the steering wheel, the precise turn in, and the subtle rumble of the exhaust at idle, not to mention the roar when the accelerator was pressed hard. This was more than I expected it to be. It was brilliant fun to drive and the grin factor was massive. I gave myself a bit of a surprise on a sharp left hander. The road carved left as it dipp...

Well, well. The seller collected me from the station, he seemed a nice enough chap, and then we headed off to his place for a cuppa as the 944 wasn't ready to be collected yet. It turns out he lives in a small village and the chap whose doing the MOT has absconded with my Porsche - which meant a bit of sitting around and waiting before I could hit the open road. At this point I hadn't even laid eyes on my new baby. In the meantime I had a chance to view the extensive history, original owners manual and other sundry documents. It was certainly reasurring to see all those invoices and it was clear that each owner had taken good car of this car. In amongst all the bits was the actual pre-delivery invoice for this car from December 1985! The first owner kept this car for almost fifteen years, and it had done less than 1000 miles in the last couple years. I handed over the cash before heading off to the garage. After what felt like another eternity waiting for the garage-owner-come-...

It couldn't be a more glorious day, the sky is blue and with the MOT booked for this morning I'm headed off to Somerset to collect my 944. This is the perfect day for a three hour train journey followed by putting my Grand Tourer to the test on my planned route home. The countryside is incredible this time of the year - autumn is truly remarkable in Southern England, especially when it's like this. My journey takes me through Hampshire, Wiltshire and then onto Somerset. The return leg will add Dorset to my list of counties for the day, so I'm in for a real treat. It's easy to forget just how much of the countrysides splendour we miss barrelling along motorways and B roads. So I'm savouring this train journey, the blue sky, glaring sunshine and the anticipation of my first drive in a Porsche. My Porsche.

Making a living off other peoples fears is not something that sits well with me at all. I'm not fond of insurance companies - like banks, they always seem to yank away the umbrella just when the rain starts to fall and they charge you for the privilege. Nevertheless it's a soggy bog that must be crossed in order to drive on Her Majesty's roads so the hunt for insurance has begun. As my 944 isn't 25 years old it doesn't yet qualify for classic car status as I've discovered, nor is it worth more than 35k - so some insurers won't even quote on my humble 944. Being someone who doesn't enjoy giving insurance companies my hard earned without a fight, I've spent the most part of a lovely autumn day trawling the comparison web sites and filing online quotes from companies that only exist in the dark recesses of the classic car online underworld. Comparing insurance policies is not an easy task, especially when dealing with a "future classic" and va...

I'm not the most patient of people I admit. I'm not hasty either, nor unreasonable. But we are talking about picking up my new Porsche - so you can understand that requires the exercise of a great virtue. Sometimes you have to sit and wait - such as when an MOT needs doing. On the other side of the country. Like the one that needs doing on my 944 by the seller before I can collect it. I'm told that it'll be done on wednesday as it had expired while the car was on eBay, and as the listing had stated it had an MOT, it needed doing before I could collect it. So while I'm waiting I've purchased a Haynes manual off the internet and every Porsche related magazine I can lay my hands on at the local news agent, as well as signed up to some online forums to acquaint myself with the my new Porsche world. Interestingly the latest issue of Classic Cars has a great article on the 944.

Why anybody would want to end an eBay auction at almost midnight on a Saturday evening is anybodies guess. I'd been watching eBay for a couple of weeks and getting the feel for what Porsche classics were selling for, and it just so happens that I'd been watching this auction for a 944. My eBay iPhone app had sent me a reminder a few minutes before the end of a film my wife and I were watching. I decided to view the auction alert and found that with a few minutes to go bidding was sitting at a less than a grand. Reviewing the listing I figured this may just be worth a punt. I decided on a maximum bid and entered the amount into the bidding box but didn't push enter. All of the advice that I'd read up on about eighties Porsches came flooding into my head - this car was in fact 23 years old. Lots could be wrong with it and expensive to put right if I was unlucky enough to buy a dud that I hadn't driven. Furthermore this 944 was 130 miles away in Somerset. I had done th...