Amost a Decade of TheHoff

This week I celebrated nine years of owning TheHoff. I had figured it was ten... not just TheHoff whose getting on...

It’s been one interesting journey. When I read back on my own posts I surprise myself but I’m glad they’ve been useful & entertaining for others too. Sometimes I need reminding of just how much I’ve actually done to this car over the ten years in my care. And it all brings a smile to my face.

The Porsche 944 is such a great car. It’s good that finally they’re starting to get the kudos they deserve. What some guys are doing to theirs is truly inspiring.

This summer TheHoff passed another MOT uneventfully and I even got some good drives in, reminding myself that if I didn’t drive it, it should go to someone who would. i just need to take more and better pics...

The one thing that did go ‘wromg’ recently was the odometer gear stopped working. It’s a common fault - the one toothed gear shreds itself or as in my case just disintegrates.

I bought a new 20/21 gear from an eBay seller in Germany. PartsWerks or something.

It’s easy enough to follow Clark’s guide to remove the cluster and carefully separate the speedo. Then remove a few small screws to disassemble the unit to remove the gears. It’s fiddly but nothing like the nightmare of frustration I was expecting working with such tiny parts.

With it all back together back the speedo went into the cluster and back into the dash.

Then course out for a good test drive!

I took my father in law for a drive and jokingly handed him a helmet when he got in...

He loved it.

Comments

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...

HT lead order effects idle

When I fired up TheHoff after fitting the exhaust it was very obvious that the engine was not running as it should. It was a relief that it was firing up but being so close and not having a smooth running engine after all the hard work is a little discouraging. I videod the engine running and sent the clip to Jon Mitchell at JM Garage to get his views. He suggested it was either spark related or at worst cam timing being off. I spent a lot of time trying to ensure that the timing pulleys were aligned correctly during the rebuild and I'm confident it isn't the issue - but then again... So I began problem solving with the HT leads and spark plugs. Each of the plugs were extracted, cleaned (they were dark from all the firing and refiring I guess) and then connected to an inline spark tester to check if they were in fact getting a spark from the distributor. Thankfully they all were. Next thing to check was the order of the HT leads on the distributor. The 944 has a firin...

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...

Living with a Porsche 944

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