Living with a Porsche 944

Longtime no update... Over the summer I've been refining TheHoff. After a couple of outings to Brands Hatch I decided that I wanted to add lightness as per Colin Chapman. I wanted to retain the period features of the interior and most of the niceties but make it more of a lightweight than a racecar - which it is not. The goal was simply to remove about the average weight of a modest passenger that I'd take to a track day - as that is what was happening. I began by stripping out the interior and pulling the thick rubber & felt matting out. The glue they used back in the 80's to stick this stuff down was - let's say... very effective. The rear seat back went... I found that DW40 was the most suucessful glue residue remover after buying various specialist products that promised the world but just didn't work...after many long hours lots & lots of kilograms were being shed simply by removing rubber, felt and some sound deadening in the areas that I wan

As I fitted an S2 intake onto an S engine using an S fuel rail - the fuel damper has never fitted nicely to the intake as it should. It wasn't an issue per se but I wanted a neater factory install. The solution was to drill out the one mounting plate hole so the damper could be attached using the throttle body linkage attachment bolt. Not a very complicated procedure but a much tidier and more secure solution.

In order to maximise the airflow through the intake I've been meaning to replace the intake j-boot that fits between the throttle body and air flow meter - it's had a nasty crimp in it since I installed it and it really wasn't the best solution. A 45º elbow 80mm to 70mm reducing silicon intake hose was purchased from Demon Tweeks as well as a 19mm O.D. Revotec self-sealing take hose off from eBay. The silicon hose comes with enough length on either end to trim it to fit. I then fitted the hose and mocked it up in the engine bay so I could figure out where to fit the take off for the hose that runs to the ICV. After I was happy with that fit and had marked the point at where the hose should connect, I removed the j-boot and got ready to make the hole for the take off fitting. The kit comes with a neat punch that makes the hole for the take off. A quick smack of the rubber mallet and voila! Then insert the barb connector and tighten up the lock

I've been hunting down an intermittent idle issue on TheHoff since our last Brand Hatch excursion - which led not only to testing & replacing parts but also eliminating others and making one completely from scratch! As the Idle Control Valve (ICV or ISV) was the suspected culprit the whole intake manifold, throttle body, AFM and filter had to come out - oh and the fuel rail too. Actually it's less of a phaff than it sounds. As ICV's are around £150 to replace I wanted to test mine to be sure it was faulty. After removing it from the underside of the intake manifold I jumpered it directly to the battery and it works perfectly with a very solid "clunk" when activated and deactivated. So that wasn't the issue. I also made sure that the hoses running from the ICV to the intake and the J-Boot were correct also as I suspected I may have routed them incorrectly - turns out that was also correct according to how I had fitted the ICV. So wha

Brands Hatch's Summer Wednesday's are back so I booked a taster session to give the 944 a good shakedown! A good friend of mine came along as co-pilot and to enjoy his first track experience. We signed in, did the drivers briefing then had the noise level tested - and passed at 96 decibels. We even got a sticker! Each stage was building towards our time on the track and so were the excitement levels! a When the first round of cars hit the circuit for their sighting laps we rolled the TheHoff into one of the empty garages to wait our turn at 6pm... Our chariot certainly looked at home! Soon enough it was our turn so we fired up and burbled our way down the pit lane and joined the queue of other cars waiting behind the pace car for our 3 sighting laps after which the pace car would reel off and we'd continue for 20 minutes lapping the Indy circuit. Exiting the pit lane and swinging into Paddock Bend and into the infamous hill was quite

Managed a few minutes in the garage chasing down a slightly hunting idle. Went through all the vacuum hoses and gave them a tweek and found one small connector, erm, disconnected...sorted that and there was a minor improvement. Dang... Next was to check the idle control valve, so I disconnected that, started the car and let it run for a moment then switched it off. Reconnected the ICV and started TheHoff up - purrs like a young lion. Result! Then it was onto the jumping temp guage. Checked the two spade connectors under the manifold, they were a-ok. So to the guage console I went. Removed the 6 screws holding on the binnacle and then the four securing the gauges. Gave the temp guage brass connectors a good clean with brake disk cleaner as the contact cleaner was finito... Put it all back together and... Perfect!