Making the 944 Lightweight(er)

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 wanted exposed.

After the back was stripped I started on the cockpit area:

I was really keen to expose the tunnel - not only was it covered in carpet, but also rubber, felt and underneath sound deadening pads...german thoroughness.

With the tunnel done, and feeling cheery I set about sorting the footwells...

I may have to revisit those if they were going to be exposed but seeing as though they would get seats and the Porsche mat set putting back in; they're A-OK for now. So the tunnel started to get some finishing treatment - all prepped for some Arctic White paint:

As this was the feature I was most excited about having exposed I was stoked with the way it was looking. Then it was on to the foot wells and the bits that would be exposed from under the mat set:

Working backwards I prepped and painted the rear wheel arches and boot area:

Then it was onto the inner sill areas alongside the seats & handbrake:

With everything put back in I was very happy with the result - the exposed tunnel and sides set off the burgundy interior nicely.

How much has TheHoff lost so far? 66kgs or 145lbs.

Engine out the top - Easy Peasy

After reading numerous posts, the Porsche workshop manual and Clarks Garage step-by-step engine removal guide - I felt confident enough to tackle the job. But I wanted to remove the engine from the top. As I discovered, it was pretty straight forward even for a novice! Result. I wanted to avoid removing the cross member and disturb the front suspension to do something I was convinced could be done easier from the top. Posts such as this one convinced me to give it a go at least. And I'm glad I did. In summary I was able to remove the engine from the top without needing to remove the bonnet/hood; torque tube; transaxle; bellhousing; clutch; clutch slave cylinder; cross member; front suspension; and radiator. Contrary to many so called internet experts opinions and many confusing threads this was painless and without dread. All that was necessary to remove was the starter; power steering pump and alternator (I figured to make the bottom of the engine narrower); intak

New Steering shaft bearing Nightmare removal

In my quest to tighten up the handling on the 944, I bought a new Needle Bearing from Porsche in an attempt to eliminate the fore-aft play in the steering at the top universal joint. The part number for the replacement is 477.419.059 and costs £88.86 posted from an OPC. Nothing like the effort required to actually remove the old one... I began the process by reading section 48 of Porsche Workshop manual. It appeared a simple enough process but two things bothered me: firstly, it required a chisel to remove a shear bolt (which in my limited experience never "shear"; and secondly a drill to remove two screws from the ignition lock. I was bothered because a quick look under the dashboard made it quite obvious that whoever had written the manual hadn't performed this task - well not without a dashboard in place that's for sure. I was bothered before I'd even started. Furthermore, the manual doesn't detail the replacement of this bearing at all - just the rem

Bellhousing & Clutch fork removal

Removing the bellhousing from the Porsche 944 engine is not as complicated as it may seem - such as in this situation with my replacement engine. When I removed the original engine I detached it from the bellhousing in the car and removed the clutch pressure plate bolts through the starter motor hole - see my other post for details . In this case I decided to remove the clutch fork pivot shaft bolt. Begin by removing the four 17mm bellhousing bolts - you'll find that the bellhousing doesn't detach completely from the engine. It'll feel like its hooking on something. That something is the clutch fork pivot shaft inside the bellhousing. The bellhousing will be loose enough to rotate - turn it 180 degrees and peek through the access port which is now on top - this is what you'll see: If the engine is still in car you'll be looking at this from underneath. The pivot shaft needs to be extracted from the clutch fork. It's held in place by a small bolt on the

Living with a Porsche 944

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