| I started with the water pump and timing and balance belt and roller kit and front end engine seal kit. Also a new thermostat and hardware kit for the water pump. |
| Next was a new (rebuilt) power steering rack, new mounts, boots, pressure hose, reservoir, and banjo bolts and crush washers. Luckily the outer tie rod ends were in good shape and I was able to save them. I had this mystery wire that did not seem to go to anything. I posted the picture on Rennlist and quickly had my answer. It plugs into an oil level sender that my 944 did not have. |
| I couldn't stand the general filth of the engine compartment. I could see and smell all of the left over rodent residue but couldn't get to it without pulling the intake manifold, fuel rail and cam housing. So off they came to clean them up and replace all of the vacuum, coolant and emission hoses. |
| Everything was going great but this is where the nightmare began. I spotted the ground connections on the clutch housing near the back of the motor, and while I was in there changing the hoses to the heater core I decided to take these apart and clean and grease the connections. It only took a split second and I know better, but while taking off the first nut it dropped into the timing inspection hole. If you haven't heard the story of my broken index finger that no longer bends properly let me know. If I get enough requests I might even post those pictures. That's what I'm using as my excuse anyway! At first I wasn't sure where it went, I wasn't watching it but I heard it drop and hit something but it didn't make it to the floor. I searched everywhere outside the engine it could have gone and finally had no choice but to remove the flywheel lock and gently turn the engine over and see if I could hear or feel it in the clutch housing. As I gently turned the crank I could feel it then heard it tinkling down through the housing and clutch. I thought I was out of trouble and it would work it's way down and come out the bottom at the starter hole, but then nothing, no noise, no grinding, no nut, NOTHING? I knew that one way or another I had to get it out. A clutch housing is not the kind of environment you can leave a stray 13mm nut and the prospect of doing a clutch R&R just to retrieve this nut made me feel sick. I did some internet research and the clutch R&R sounded like one of the most dreaded jobs in 944 land. I also found there were lots of other unfortunate souls who had done the same thing with mixed results. For some it came out the starter hole and others it was a big time tear down. A couple of people suggested using compressed air to try to get it moving again and I would try that as a last resort. |
| The worst and most time consuming part of a project like this is always cleaning everything up and preparing for re-assembly. A really good shop-vac is a great tool for making sure you don't get any "gasket crumbs" where they don't belong. I also used it to suck all of the old coolant out of the block. |
| Clean mating surfaces, ready to go! |
| 03/28/2010 |