Bit of a project/toy

Soldato
Joined
1 Mar 2010
Posts
14,368
Location
5 degrees starboard
http://howmanyleft.co.uk/vehicle/porsche_944

so4zuv.jpg
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
5,730
Location
Birmingham
Bit of an up date and more pics.

These are the more of the car as it turned up:

porsche5.jpg


porsche4.jpg


porsche3.jpg


porshe2.jpg


It's now up on axle stands with no wheels on to survey the brakes etc. All seems fairly well, nothing too serious has turned up yet.

nicepetrol.jpg


This might be why it runs a bit iffy! I think clean petrol will make huge differance.
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
5,730
Location
Birmingham
Progress today:

Headlights work and go up and down - new motor helped.

Rear lights all work.

Windows work.

Next up:

Electric mirrors.

Horn (Could be a pain.)

Windscreen wiper re-assembley.

Brakes.

Should be a good day on Tuesday :D
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
5,730
Location
Birmingham
and we've found out why the BBc had it:

tipec forum said:
It’s not actually from that film. Clarkson needed a 944 for that film and the production office bought him this car. He wanted a Turbo for the film, so this car was sold on. Nobby369 wrote a wee report on it for All Torque: Issue 84 (October 2010), page 11. You can view it online here.

The Turbo that was used in the film was eventually given away by The Sun as a competition prize, if I remember rightly.

It was to be used on Clarkson's Thriller film, but he wanted a Turbo.
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
5,730
Location
Birmingham
Had another good day yesterday. New ingition gear has been fitted but the engine still sounded very rough. 20 litres of Vpower made little odds, so it was time to explore for other issues. There was a funy hissing noise coming from the inlet manifold, so that had to come off.

enginebay1.jpg


This revealed something of a war zone! One vacuum hose was disconnected and all of the others were split. So the donor engine that came with the car was equally dismantled and the good hoses and ICV transferrred over wholesale. Once this was done and reassembled it ran much better. Still the odd chuff every now and then, but a few miles on the road may help that.

The brakes are now back together and working, the headlights fixed and the wiper motor reinstalled.

Hoping to MOT it this friday :D
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
5,730
Location
Birmingham
Slow progress today, we're into the realm of the more frustrating electrical issues. First job was the horn. The system works offn the steering wheel, earthing out on the column to complete the circuit. However after an hour of messing around, and a bit of a shock when i touched the wire somewhere else, it turns out that the column itself is not earthed.

This meant a very awkward job, right in the bowels of the dashboard to connect the steering column to an earth with an aluminium tang. Fortunately I have a small friend!

danporsche.jpg


Door handles are now changed, and this kind of made the other frustrating job. Changing the locks (The only lock the existing key fitted was the ignition) meant it made sense to change the ignition barrel too. This was also a difficult and awkward job, made worse because someone had drowned the innards of the steering switched with WD40.

Hopefully things will be a bit more productive tomorrow!
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
5,730
Location
Birmingham
Ah nice, who is that with if you don't mind me asking? Its about the same as I pay for the GT6.

Footman James. Their online quote was 227, but Lancaster's was weird it said 180 in the email but more on the website. I rang Footman James and just said i'd been quoted 180, could they do better and they did :D

Thats for 6000 miles.
 
Last edited:
Soldato
OP
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
5,730
Location
Birmingham
This looks like her parked up in the Top Gear 'Technology Centre' yard back in 2009 ;)

Either they or someone else had started to strip it out. It's got the mount points for a roll cage, but no trace of one came with the car so it obviously ended up somewhere else. A lot of the sound deadening has been removed too - does anyone know what I could use instead? I thought loft insulation would be as good as anything.
 
Soldato
Joined
2 Mar 2004
Posts
11,910
Location
SE England
Did you try Peter James out of interest? Insurance from them costs a similar amount for me, but it's an unlimited mileage policy and I can use it for commuting as well. You may well have done but I thought I'd ask!

Glad to see it coming along!
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
5,730
Location
Birmingham
Did you try Peter James out of interest?

No, i did try heritage who were on a par price wise but not mileage. I tried 5 or 6 companies, some were like £6k, all of the others were about £200. Then I phoned the second cheapest and told them what the cheapest quote was. I could have probably saved a few more quid if i'd made a few phonecalls, but my time in daytime is quite limited as I can only really afford this week and early next to spend solidly on the car.

We are not going to make MOT tomorrow as some parts are yet to be found, new target is Tuesday :)
 
Back
Top Bottom