Clarky5150

Would it not sell for a higher price if Sparky worked his skills on it first or are we now looking at donor engine etc??

Took her out for a good hours 'test drive' and everything feels solid and tight. Quick wipe down and back to storage pending any late February chills.

Well the 944 has moved off to its new owner. He lived nearby and had watched its rebuild before popping in with a cheeky offer. So while there is space on the drive I thought I would have a day on old Yella. Oil and filter change (no pics needed im sure) Fluids topped up (chargecooler seems to have a slow leak somewhere as this needs a quarter of a pint every 6 months or so) Still getting a very faint aroma or petrol on occasion and I was aware that when replacing the breather pipes I had left the ones connecting to the canister alone as they appeared sound. Another inspection showed cracking in the pipe from the anti roll valve to the canister so replaced this. The air intake pipe seemed worse for wear too so fitted a new one and re-routed this to the rear of the car to rule out any blow back of vapours.

Good effort! Looks like you have many of the jobs I went through working on my S4 18 months ago. Don't give up on the wing mirrors, they can usually be repaired and adjusted. There's a walk through on my resto blog

watching Catchpole hold the over steer on throttle in standing water makes me realize that even though my S4 has been improved dramatically with new shocks and set up it still has a long way to go. Any throttle mid bend in the wet causes massive over steer. New rear tyres are the first port of call as the Avons currently on are about 9 yrs old. Love how much more aggressive the 300 Sport looks. 350 sport never looked that purposeful.

Listen to Sailorbob. This man knows his onions!

Agreed. Esprit only from now on!

When we talk about proper shaped Porkers here is my Carrera which I sold in 2005 to make way for a 996. Sold it for, wait for it.... £7500 and thought I had properly got a good deal. Would be worth 45-50 now

I really did expect you to buy that GT3 with the armour plated front wing....minor restoration my arse, that thing was hanging.......you didn't buy it did you? The phrase 'winter project' is officially banned in our house by my ever suffering wife lol.

I bought it primarily because the sills and inner arches are all solid and have been wax treated from new. The p.o 'lost' the seats and wheels when the local trimmers went bust. The seats I have used are actually 986 boxster (were blue, now re-connolised black) half the weight at look fit perfectly and a third of the price of old and sagged 944 seats. This is my 4th 944 but first Lux (turbos and S2s before but their rocketing price makes them overpriced or complete basket cases). Love em.... sorry Barry!

... to this. Sorry for crappy pics but losing light fast. Will finish paint on roof and polish out the bonnet this weekend. S2 lower rear spoiler to mount. Interior final fit and hopefully MOT Monday. Full new braking system including lines, master, slave and fluid, new clutch slave, bushes dampers and springs. Ready for a weekend off and then winterising the Esprit to be done.

A year to the week since I picked up the Esprit. Spent most of the Summer just enjoying the car as oppose to taking her to bits. Still a few 'niggles' to sort but they can wait till Spring. She is going under cover for the Winter at a friends place. I was going to do an annual service but having only clocked a few thousand miles since the last I think Spring will suffice for that also. In the meantime this years Winter project has taken root on the driveway. Sorry Barry but another Pork has found its way to our door. She was too good to break for parts so I had to save her. A months hard work has turned this....

the entire strip could be held on with sikaflex but the reposition would be critical

The glass was scratched initially by the outer finishing strip metal retaining strip rusting and twisting. while the window was out I removed any rusted parts and due to unavailability of the strip reattached the weather strip to the body with sealant.

Now drop the new glass into the door and roughly realign the frame. Wedge the glass in the upper part of the frame and apply a bead of sealant to the lower inner edge of the glass and to the opposing edge of the glass mount which you degreased earlier. Now operate the window regulator into the window closed position and as it reaches the new glass help it seat correctly. I measured mine before smashing the old glass. The front overhang was 115mm and the rear 35mm. I put two small pieces of tape on the new glass bottom before reinserting it into the door to mark these measurements for mounting. Don't worry I then ran a gloved finger along the sealant to tidy up (it cant be seen when the door is rebuilt) and left in the closed position overnight to cure. The following day check the alignment of the frame and adjust if required and replace door trim. I would also recommend spraying silicone lube into the felt tracks as the new glass will slide more freely then (don't do this if you are painting any bodywork there anytime soon tho). Job done!

Once clean apply a smear of white or graphite grease to the slide (too much will cause interference with the slide. Now reinsert the slide into the regulator. Use heat again and plumbers grips for the rear slide The front slide will be obscured by the door inner panel and is very difficult to apply enough pressure to pop the ball in the socket. I made a hole in the inner panel through which I inserted a drift, place a piece of wood between the slide and the main door beam and tapped the ball home with a decent hammer blow. This is where the hole needs to be created..

The front of the frame is hels internally by two 10mm nuts. All the 10mm nuts are on threaded bar which is fastened to the alloy main door beam. They have a 10mm nut part way along the threaded bar which acts as an adjustment for frame angle. Contrary to what others have posted you can alter the angle of the frame quite some way and providing you adjust the upper retainers in the opposite direction to the lowers the frame will remain true from front to back and the glass will open and close without undue tension. I moved wine inward by about 4mm on the top of the frame to create a better frame to body weather seal. The glass metal guide channel is mounted onto the regulators scissor arms with two white hard plastic slides which move within the channel. They attach to the arms with a ball and socket. This can be popped apart to release the glass but the plastic is very hard so application of heat greatly assists the levering! Once the glass is removed the fun begins. The glass is not an interference fit as you would expect but bonded with enough mastic to take the weight of the entire car. The frames runner is very soft metal and any attempt to knock the runner from the glass will damage it and stop the slides from moving. The only method to do the job is to hold the pane inside a wheelie bin or similar and smash the glass!! You will be left with some chips of glass and the sealant which can be levered out with a screwdriver and hammer. once out thoroughly clean and degrease the glass channel, slide and plastic slider as the white grease from the factory will have hardened over time. Brake and clutch cleaner is ideal.

So here's what I did. Remove door panel (well documented) Heres the controversial part.. Unbolted and moved the window frame but didn't have to remove from the car! If you lift the front by about an inch and raise the back of the frame up to the elbow in the frame itself the glass will clear it by twisting it. Ground and repaired this localised rust in situe with epoxy metal putty. looks a lot worse than it was from the photo. The frame itself is held at the rear by a 10mm nut inside the door and an 8mm on the door edge. The centre bar has two 10mm nuts and a 10mm bolt which attaches to a floating guide spaced with packers (large washers)

Another month rolls by. Been happily driving the car rather than taking it to bits. One job has been completed tho and that's the replacement of the mightily scratched drop glass. Bought some nice new glass from Lotus, very reasonably priced Unfortunately the mounting channel which attaches said glass is no longer available.

Sorted. Added to my ongoing resto thread

Ive seen them remove bonded in side windows on campervans with cheese wire. I have plenty of guitar strings around so will try that method. Its a tight channel so cant see an issue with alignment. The window itself has positioning dimples on the bottom edge so rebuild will be fairly painless. Paul, don't forget a stripe of window primer on the glass before using the Sikaflex or it may not adhere properly. rather than buy a tin you may want to call past a windscreen fitting company for a quick application in return for a couple of quid to their tea fund ;)

If all else fails it will be vice, hammer and dustpan/brush action. Heat gun should sort the remnants.will have to wait til after family holidays now. Yet another ‘should take an afternoon.....’ special.

Thanks Glyn. Its actually the weather strip retainer that corroded and curled back creating steel claws that have gouged the window over the years. However the po could stand it was beyond me and 2 minutes trimming off the offending items cured the cause. The damage however is very deep, I would say over 1mm so no chance of a flat and polish im afraid. Still need to figure out how to remove the guide trim from the window once its free.

Ok after doing some research and applying a little warmth I have managed to pop the mounting balls nylon retaining slides so glass is free to move. No amount of adjustment on the rear of the frame seems to assist the window leaving the vehicle. Have I got to completely remove the upper window frame to jiggle the window glass out?