Living with a Porsche 944

When I started refreshing this 16v engine it was obvious to see where the oil leaks were originating - the rear of the balance shaft housings...on both sides! As you can see from the image above - and this was after I started to clean it - the engine was caked in oily grime with fresh pools of oil behind the rear balance shaft seals. It's taken a lot of elbow grease but the engine cleaned up nice enough to begin, what I perceived to be the most arduous task - stripping off the balance shaft housings and resealing them. With all the necessary new seals ordered up, and Loctite 574 located on eBay (as this was specified by the Porsche workshop manuals I decided to hunt some done) - it was time to tackle the flanks with vigour! Not having any special Porsche tools meant I had to be a bit inventive with removing the balance shaft gears - they need to be locked in place while the bolt is removed. With those out of the way then came the dreadful looking cambelt tensioner...

It's been a very busy past few weeks - I've moved The Hoff into a larger garage and started to tackle the odd & ends of this refresh that I didn't have space for before. Besides pulling the wiring and ecu out making way for the new engine install, the refreshed engine is getting lots of new seals and parts. One of the most satisfying jobs of late was refurbishing the front brakes. I had considered doing an upgrade but while I plan that route I've spruced up the original calipers and added Hel stainless steel brake lines too. Much like everything else, the brake calipers were rusty but working. With all the new suspension bits I couldn't bring myself to fit the rusty dirty calipers so I stripped them - which was pretty easy. I then attempted to wire brush the three main components so I could paint them with caliper paint... Painting the calipers myself was an "epic fail" - it just looked pitiful. So I took them to my local powder coater and g...