Porsche 944 S2

PROJECT 944 S2 Clutch Brakes Timing & chip Wheels tyres and suspension Exhaust Headlights and wrap

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TRANSMISSION REVAMP The heart of your ‘transaxle’ Porsche’s drivetrain is its clutch, which by this stage in the car’s life is likely to be well past its best. Fitting a new one isn’t the easiest job you’ll tackle, but this guide will be a huge help – and could save you a small fortune Story and photographs by Chris Horton WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?

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xplaining in a few pages how to change a 924, 944 or 968 clutch plate is like attempting to paint the Mona Lisa on a pinhead – as can be the clutch swop itself. Given the right expertise and equipment the latter is perfectly feasible, in other words, but there will be times while you’re doing it when you question whether it’s worth all the effort and expense.

Porsche ‘mythology’ suggests that to access the clutch you have to start at the rear bumper and – in an exercise not dissimilar to trench warfare – painstakingly

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bludgeon your way forward to the engine. And that’s not so very far from the truth, not least because virtually every part of the job is tackled from beneath the car. And everything you take off seems to weigh a ton.

The first task – after you have unbolted the exhaust system – is to take out the (monstrously heavy) transaxle, which itself means first disconnecting the shift linkage and the two drive shafts, and then separating the transmission casing from the rear end of the torque tube.

Next you have to disconnect the front of the torque tube

from the clutch housing and slide the tube rearward as far as it will go, and then, having removed the one or two Hall sensors from its/their lightalloy mounting bracket on the cylinder block (and then the bracket), and extracted the clutch release arm’s pivot pin, unbolt the bellhousing. And that – at last! – will reveal the clutch pressure plate.

Persevere, though, and you stand to save a significant amount of money – and these days, with many of these cars down to £1500 or less, enough to make all the difference to the vehicle’s viability. Have someone else do the work and

How will you know if your 924–968 clutch needs replacing?

(It would be a shame to find it was something outside that hard-to-access clutch housing…)

If the friction plate is worn the clutch might slip under load – check by accelerating hard from 30mph in third gear; engine speed will rise disproportionately to road speed – but you’re as likely to experience grabbing or juddering, a heavy clutch-pedal action, and a failure of the clutch to separate fully. This last will tend to cause difficult and/or noisy gear selection, especially into reverse, and might even damage the transmission. Bear in mind, though, that this ‘dragging’ might also be due to a fault in the hydraulic actuating mechanism (air in the fluid, leaking seals in the master and/or slave cylinder).

Another possibility is a seized, bent or broken actuating arm inside the clutch housing, but since inspecting and certainly replacing that will entail taking off said housing (even in a 968, with its detachable side plate) you might as well budget for a new clutch anyway.

In this car, bought for a song a few weeks ago by 911 & Porsche World art editor, Peter Simpson, the clutch pedal was heavy, and the shift lever would select each gear easily enough while the car was stationary, but not once it was on the move – and certainly not under acceleration.

That proved to be caused – as we suspected – primarily by a broken shock-absorbing rubber ‘doughnut’ in the middle of the friction plate (think of it as a sort of primitive dual-mass flywheel).

The heavy pedal was due partly to the dry needle-roller bearings in the clutch actuating arm, and partly to the two worn fingers where the arm contacts the release bearing. A third factor was the friction plate, which although not catastrophically worn, was thin enough to alter the geometry of the mechanism, and thus the mechanical advantage it was able to achieve.

The new friction plate is notably devoid of this so-called ‘cush’ drive. So neither we nor Peter will have to worry about it in the future, but it could itself be expected to make car a little less refined at small throttle openings, in traffic for instance.

A small price to pay, we reckon.

Taking off the entire exhaust is a rather tedious preliminary step before you can even hope to start work on the drivetrain, but at least it will give you the chance thoroughly to inspect it for corrosion and cracks. Buy new manifold-todownpipe gaskets before you start, and perhaps all new nuts and bolts, as well

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Whether you remove the exhaust system piecemeal, or in one hit, like this, will depend largely on your circumstances and equipment.

Either way, like everything else it’s both heavy and awkward, so enlist some help if you can. Turbo, not surprisingly, is even worse – some of the sections are welded together

It’s not strictly necessary at this stage, but you might as well pull this shaped rubber blanking ‘plate’ out of the housing at the rear end of the torque tube. It’s this – and the small hole in front of it – that between them will give you access to the splined coupling between the torque tube and the gearbox input

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All of the cars with this gearbox layout have a reversing-light switch from which you’ll have to detach the relevant wires, but later models – like this 944S2 – also have an electronic speedometer drive above the left-hand drive shaft. Gently slide back the spring clip and pull off the rubbercovered plug

you’re looking at about £1000 all in from a good independent such as RPM Technik in Bedfordshire (and that’s assuming everything comes apart as it’s meant to; drilling and tapping sheared-off bolts will add to the bill).

Go to a Porsche Centre

and the invoice might top £1300 – and there the digits on the ‘extras’ meter will be flashing past even more quickly if there are any additional issues to be dealt with.

Do it yourself, on the other hand, and you should be able to buy a

Sachs clutch kit (friction plate, cover and release bearing) for £563 including VAT from Euro Car Parts, or £458 from the Porscheshop. That’s for an eight-valve 944 or 924S; the equivalent kit for a 944 Turbo costs £579 from ECP (£483

from the Porscheshop), and for a 16-valve 944S or S2 £590 (£488 from the Porscheshop).

Interestingly, though, a complete 968 clutch kit costs just £396 from ECP, and £411 from the Porscheshop. (A 924 kit, for reasons we won’t

At the very least you’ll need to disconnect the two drive shafts from the transmission (do take care not to damage the socket-head bolts; clean out the crud before trying to insert your Allen key), but we decided here that it would be just as easy in the long run to disconnect the shafts from the wheels, too

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And then came the first problem.

Lock-wired bolt securing the main shift rod to the intermediate shift-lever assembly is in theory protected by a rubber boot, but even so had here corroded enough to snap like a carrot when we tried to unscrew it. And until we could separate the rods that gearbox was going nowhere

Drilling into remnants of bolt, and knocking in this fluted extraction tool, should have been the answer, but it was so tight that this was in danger of snapping, too – and that would have made the problem many times worse. In the end our man painstakingly drilled out the entire shank and later reclaimed it with an insert

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Transaxle hangs from a transverse beam bolted to the underside of the body. Detach the fuel filter from it, and then, with the gearbox securely supported on a jack, undo the single large bolt at each end. This is necessary so you can slide the beam sideways to disengage it from the mounting point on the top of the casing

911 & PORSCHE WORLD

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You will have disconnected the battery before you started, so now detach the cables from the starter motor, and then unbolt motor itself from clutch housing. It has to come off anyway, but this will also allow you to turn the engine as needed (with a screwdriver) for access to the drive-shaft coupling’s two clamping bolts

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Coupling looks complicated, but is actually very simple. Trick is to use only a wellfitting Allen key to attempt to undo the bolts – they’ll be tight – and to make sure shaft is aligned so the key goes in dead straight.

It’s also a good idea to mark with a dab of paint the relationship of the coupling to the gearbox input shaft

Remove second of the two coupling bolts, and at last you’re getting somewhere; the gearbox will soon be ready to come out. Before you can do that, though, you have to be able to pull the main shift rod forward, and to do that you need to detach it from the gear lever. Take off gaiter, then retaining circlip, and separate rod and lever as here

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Still with gearbox supported, undo the fixings (some socket-headed) securing it to the rear end of the torque tube.

Again they’ll be pretty tight – and perhaps corroded, too. Now you need to detach transmission from the rubber mount via which it hangs from the beam.

That beam itself needs to come out, but a little later, on its own

pretend to understand, costs as little as £200.)

You, too, might have to deal with some or all of those additional problems, and if like many people you can earn, say, £50 or more an hour doing your own ‘day job’ then there remains a strong argument for farming out this clutch swop to an expert who can almost certainly do it

more efficiently and – for you, anyway – as painlessly as possible.

But where’s the fun in that? Follow this basic guide – intended to be read in conjunction with a workshop manual; see below – and you will be able, hand on heart, to tell your mates that you know your way round your Porsche like the back of your hand.

THE KNOWLEDGE You don’t need a large armoury of specialised tools and equipment to tackle a 924–968 clutch change; just the usual basics such as a socket set (3/8-inch and 1/4-inch drive, plus extension bars and Allen-bolt keys), open-ended and ring spanners, screwdrivers, pliers and a hammer – and so on. Add to that drilling, stud-extraction and threadtapping equipment if it turns out you have the same problem as us with the gear-shift linkage, and perhaps a set of reverse-fluted sockets for undoing rounded-off bolt heads (see photo 19, opposite). A bright – and reliable – inspection lamp is vital, too.

You shouldn’t, however, need a clutch alignment tool. Such is the position of the torque tube that, provided the engine is still set at the correct angle, both the outer tube and the splined inner shaft can temporarily be slid forward, before you tighten the clutch-cover screws and fit the clutch housing, to perform that function.

No less a key to success is raising the car high enough for easy access to the underside. We used a garage lift, not least so we could more easily photograph all the action, but this writer has also seen the job tackled, albeit by an experienced Porsche technician, with the car on four axle-stands, and would himself be prepared to do it this way if necessary. Needless to say, it’s vital to have the car securely supported so it can’t fall on you, and it must also be level – so you really will need two pairs of stands.

Make sure, too, that you have a means of safely lowering the very heavy transmission – and then accurately offering it back up again. A trolley jack is fine for this, but you might need to make up some sort of wooden cradle to keep the gearbox in the correct position as you raise it. An able-bodied assistant is useful at this stage, too – and lifting the exhaust back up is really a two-person job, as well, rather than struggling on your own with a trolley jack.

There’s not a lot of technical stuff you need to know – it’s largely a question of tackling the dismantling and reassembly procedure in the correct order, and a few torque figures for tightening various fasteners. We’d advise, however, that you obtain a copy of the Haynes manual for the 944 (go to www.haynes.com) or, better still, a CD version of the Porsche publication specific to your model. A number of independents offer these to known customers for a very modest fee, if you catch our drift...

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DOES THIS MEAN YOU? The procedure outlined here applies to all of the four-cylinder ‘transaxle’ Porsches – so called because they have in unit at the back of the car a combined gearbox (ie transmission) and final drive (often known colloquially as a rear axle). So that’s the 924 (despite its 2.0-litre Audi-derived engine), the 2.5-litre Porsche-engined 924S, the 944 (both 2.5 and 2.7), the 944 Turbo, and the 16-valve 944S and 944S2.

The 968, too, has a virtually identical layout to all of the above, but by this time Porsche had fitted the clutch housing with a removable cover on the right-hand side, and by virtue of that it’s possible to change the clutch (but not this model’s occasionally troublesome dual-mass flywheel) without disturbing the outer part of the torque tube or, therefore, the transmission. This is reflected in lower labour charges – typically £800 all in from an independent – but then such is in this case the relative simplicity of the task that there is arguably even more of an argument for tackling it yourself.

You can, incidentally, fit a 968 clutch housing to a 944 (Porsch-Apart sells them for around £100 a time), but you will also need a number of associated parts, and not least (or so we believe, anyway) the 968’s flywheel, clutch, release bearing and actuating arm – so it’s not a conversion for the faint-hearted unless you plan to keep the car for at least the lifespan of, say, another two friction plates. Works for us, though…

Parts? You’ll need a complete clutch kit, at the very least, and also a pair of the special gaskets that fit between the exhaust manifolds and the downpipes. It’s a good idea to have a set of the nuts, bolts and washers that hold the various parts of the exhaust system together, as well as to the car itself – chances are that some or all of the originals will be way past their best, and others will break when you undo them.

We would be inclined to fit a new clutch slave cylinder, too; they’re not expensive.

(Don’t bother even trying to reseal the old one – it’s a waste of time and money.)

Be prepared to buy a replacement clutch operating arm. Ours, with badly worn ‘fingers’, and seized needle-roller pivot bearings, was perhaps an extreme case, but none of these cars is getting any younger, and there’s no point going to all the effort of fitting a new clutch and then making do with a vital associated component as badly worn as that. New clutch or not, the car will still feel horrible to drive.

New arms are no longer available from Porsche (and even if they were would probably cost an arm and a leg), so you will either have to repair the old one, having the fingers built up with weld and then machined to the correct profile (the needle rollers are replaceable), or else find a good second-hand item. They, too, are quite hard to find and pro rata fairly expensive (ours came from Porsch-Apart; thanks, guys), but it would be false economy to skimp in this area. Reckon on about £50 a time.

We would also be inclined to buy – before starting work – a new bolt for the gearlinkage connection above the transmission, a handful of socket-head screws for the CV joints (you’ll damage at least one), and perhaps the intermediate shift-lever assembly.

It’s this device that connects the main gear-shift rod to the gearbox. At around £120 new it’s not cheap, but a new one will probably make a big difference to the overall shift quality, and it’s far easier to fit one with the transmission out of the car.

Last but not least, consider buying (second-hand) a replacement bracket for the Hall sensor(s) mounted on the clutch housing, and possibly the bracket’s two securing screws. This insignificant-looking casting has to come out before you can take off the clutch housing, and if neither it nor the two sensors has been disturbed for years, then it’s likely you’ll damage or even destroy them in the process. The bracket will cost only about £15 inclusive (from Porsch-Apart), and the (new) sensors about £100 apiece.

We used a professional transmission jack to lower this car’s gearbox, but if you’re working on the ground – and careful! – a trolley jack will be OK. With the unit safely on the floor you can see how that rather clever coupling device works. Note the small drillings to maintain correct balance, despite the unit’s plainly eccentric shape

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Arrow reveals how locking bolt secures main shift rod, but primary purpose of this photo is to show what’s known as the intermediate shift-lever assembly, which converts the movement of the gear lever into the required three planes at the gearbox end. Not cheap to buy, but well worth fitting a new one now, while you can

Now you can start thinking about detaching torque tube from the clutch housing.

First task is to support the front of the engine so that it won’t tip forward; note block of wood to spread the load.

Then unbolt clutch slave.

Hydraulics can be left connected, though – unless, of course, you decide to fit a new cylinder

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A vital but often overlooked task is to disconnect the clutch operating fork, which pivots round arrowed pin – the housing won’t come off otherwise. Looks tricky, but it’s secured in position with nothing more complicated than an M6 bolt and a locknut – also arrowed. Undo carefully – you don’t want this breaking, too...

MATTERS ARISING One of the best reasons for undertaking a 924–968 clutch change yourself is that it will give you the chance to tackle a number of related issues that it would cost a small fortune to have a professional deal with. It’s the WYAIT principle – While You Are In There. (And even if you are having the work done professionally you ought to have any additional problems sorted out. It will cost still more if you soon need to have the transaxle out again.)

The most obvious likely problems include the clutch operating fork, the flywheel (check for scoring and other damage; the 968 has a 964-style dual-mass item that

can break up), the main oil seal at the rear end of the crankshaft, and the bearing in the crankshaft that supports the front end of the drive shaft inside the torque tube. You’ll have the ideal opportunity to examine the rear drive shafts’ constant-velocity joints, and if necessary fit new covers (or new joints; that’s almost as straightforward), and removing the shafts from the car (although not essential) is a good time to spin the rear wheels and check the hub bearings (or for binding brakes). You might even be able to cure minor leaks from the transaxle by fitting new output-shaft oil seals.

This is also the time to replace a leaking steel fuel

tank with the plastic item from one of the later cars (you can remove the tank only after the transmission has come out), to fit a new exhaust box (or a whole new system…), and perhaps even the torque tube if the bearings in your unit are noisy. (Only with the shaft disconnected at both ends will it rotate freely enough for you to hear what’s going on inside.) Porsch-Apart has plenty in stock at £100 a time plus VAT. That will also give you the chance to replace the big foam-rubber block between the top of the tube and the underside of the gear lever – again Porsch-Apart should be able to supply a serviceable-to-good one if yours is badly torn.

How, though, to get the pin out of what is effectively a blind hole?

Simple. Find (or buy) a length of M8 studding, thread it into the hole provided in the end of the pin, and with a nut and washers on the lower end of the studding, tap downwards with a self-grip wrench or similar: a DIY slide hammer. Pin should slide out fairly easily

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Undo four large bolts securing the front end of the torque tube to the clutch housing and slide the tube as far to the rear as it will go – which, as you’ll soon discover, isn’t quite far enough if the transaxle mounting beam is still in the way.

That’s why that has to come out, as well. Note also drilled-out hole in the shift rod

Another view, taken from the rear of the car this time, highlights how tight everything is under there.

Right-hand photo shows light-alloy bracket for flywheel sensors – that, too, has to come out before you can remove clutch housing, but securing bolt was so seized we had to use this fluted tool (arrowed) for extra purchase

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Even now the bulky flywheel housing will need some determined manoeuvering to wiggle it past the front end of the torque tube – and you’ll have that now loose clutch fork to contend with, too – but stick at it. Access won’t get any better than this...

Note the three locating dowels (arrowed); make sure they can’t be damaged by careless handling

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And here’s what you’ve spent all this time getting at – the clutch cover. The new kit, supplied by Euro Car Parts, is an originalequipment Sachs unit, but without the potentially troublesome rubber cush drive (see below). Also comes with new securing bolts for the cover, and a release bearing.

Don’t reuse the old bearing!

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Undo the nine socket-head bolts securing the cover. Lower both the cover and the friction plate behind it to the ground – don’t drop them on your feet – and then separate the starter-motor ring gear by gently tapping it with a plastic hammer.

Check that the teeth are OK; again now’s the time to fit a new one if necessary

Splined brown object attached to friction plate is the rubber ‘doughnut’ that’s meant to absorb drivetrain shocks.

A nice idea, but worse than useless when it gets to this state – which is why current clutches don’t have them.

Friction plate wasn’t unduly worn, so apart from needing a clean, flywheel was perfectly OK

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Do as we say, not as we do: middle two photos show new special spring ‘washer’ fitted incorrectly to release bearing.

It should fit with the concave side towards the clutch fingers, before bearing is secured with the new plain steel ring and circlip.

Needless to say we got it right before it was too late: make sure you do, too...

Having cleaned off the flywheel – we used brake solvent and wetand-dry – offer up the reassembled cover and loosely fit the (new) bolts, before temporarily sliding the torque tube forward into the crankshaft to align the friction plate. Don’t forget to refit the starter ring gear, too.

You don’t want to have to take it all apart when motor won’t turn over...

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Gradually and evenly tighten the socket-head bolts, and you’re done.

All you have to do now is refit the clutch housing and operating fork (we, as you might guess from the state of this one, had to wait a day for a replacement from PorschApart) and then put everything back together in a straight reversal of the dismantling process. Easy...

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USEFUL CONTACTS Our thanks to AmD Technik in Essex – and technician Steve Bishop in particular – for tackling this job for us. Clutch fitting is between 8-10 hours labour at a cost of £60+vat per hour. For all kinds of engine tuning and suspension upgrades call the company on 01708 861827, or go to www.amdessex.com. Thanks also to Porsch-Apart in Lancashire (01706 824053; www.porschapart.co.uk) for parts, expertise and advice, and RPM Technik in Cheddington, Bedfordshire (01296 661881; www.rpmtechnik.co.uk).

Also to Euro Car Parts (www.eurocarparts.com) for supplying the original-equipment Sachs clutch kit we used.

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FRICTION DRIVE

Peter Simpson was convinced the brakes of his newly acquired 944S2 were performing perfectly satisfactorily – until, that is, he drove it again after it had been fitted with new discs, pads and flexible hoses Story and photographs by Chris Horton

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ou might think, given Porsche’s famous 30-year love affair with a certain air-cooled flat-six, and another nearly half as long again with that engine’s water-cooled successor in its various forms, that the company would always have been similarly minimalist in its choice of braking systems.

And so – to an extent, anyway – it is. No Porsche of the last 40 years that we can quickly think of – with the notable exception of the original 2.0-litre 924 – has had anything other than utterly conventional steel discs all round (either solid, or cross-drilled and/or inner-ventilated), and with the parking (or emergency) brake by means of integral drums at the rear. (The basic 924 had drums for the rear ‘service’ brakes, too.)

They are all fairly simple, reasonably cheap and highly effective, and invariably more than powerful enough for the (standard) car for which they were originally specified – whatever any after-market supplier might try to suggest.

And generally pretty easy to maintain or overhaul, as and when the time comes.

Even the optional PCCB ceramic discs of more recent years, despite the exotic and hugely expensive materials used in their construction, follow this same basic pattern.

(More on these – and also how to get the best from them – at a later date.)

There are, however,

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COMING SOON! Or eventually, anyway. Stay with us to see how Pete’s bargain-basement S2 later gained new GAZ dampers – including an ingenious coilover conversion for the rear – and a Supersprint stainlesssteel exhaust system that is genuinely a work of art. Plus: more on that light-alloy brakecaliper fix that so many of these older cars now need, and how to change the brake fluid without tears. OK, so even now it’s not much of a bargain-basement car any longer, but think how many years it’s going to last him...

some fairly significant detail differences between all these various layouts, and it’s primarily for that reason that within less than a year of beginning this series of how-to features we are unashamedly running our third brake-fix story. And it will be by no means the last you can expect to see over the coming months.

Stopping power may not be quite as glamorous as horsepower, but it’s no less important for quick (and safe) cross-country journeys – or for fast lap times, come to that.

Just to recap: last February we looked at renewing the discs and pads fitted to the mainstream 996-model Carreras and 986-model

Boxsters, and before that, in the July 2009 issue, we killed two birds with just one stone by describing how cost-effectively to uprate the 911 Carrera 3.2 with 986-model Boxster ‘S’ discs and calipers. (For all back issues please go to 911porscheworld.com, or call 020 8655 6400.) This time, as you’ll surely have realised, we’re looking at servicing the braking system fitted to the 944S2 – and by implication both the 944S and the 944 Turbo, as well as the mechanically very similar 968. (But not, please note, either the eight-valve 944, or the similarly powered 924S. More on those in due course, too.) Both 964- and 993-model 911 owners will find it relevant to their

cars, as well – and even 928 owners, come to that.

The work was done for us by the long-suffering Steve Bishop at AmD Essex in, well, Essex.

Thurrock, actually. Just a stone’s throw from the northern end of the Dartford Crossing (see page 97). We say longsuffering, by the way, because it was Steve who a few issues ago (in the January 2010 edition, to be precise) grappled with the same S2’s gearbox, torque tube and bellhousing in order to tackle a clutch change; and who some months before that spent well over two days fitting uprated suspension to a 964 Turbo for a similar practical feature, still to be published. He must dread

BEST PRACTICE Servicing Porsche braking systems is generally remarkably straightforward for such a sophisticated, high-performance car – with the obvious caveat that you must have at least some idea of what you’re doing, and also be prepared to do the job either properly or not at all. In any motor vehicle there’s a lot at stake if you get it wrong, and even this 20-year-old 944S2 is still capable of considerably more than 140mph. Go figure, as they say.

It’s really just a question of assembling all of the necessary tools, replacement parts and not least information – torque figures and so on – before you start, and then being as methodical as possible.

Keeping your working area clean and tidy, for instance.

You’ll need, then, as we’ve suggested elsewhere, at least a couple of spray cans of solvent-based brake cleaner. Likewise many of the fasteners you encounter will be pretty tight – a situation never helped by the inevitable time and corrosion – and a can of industrialstrength penetrating oil (try Würth’s) is always useful.

For the same reason make sure that you use only wellfitting, good-quality tools to avoid rounding off any bolt

picking up the phone and finding that it’s us...

And on this occasion it wasn’t just the brakes that poor old Steve had to deal with. The 944’s owner, 911 & Porsche World art editor Peter Simpson, had procured from our friends at Euro Car Parts not just new discs and pads (and all the various sundries required; more on these on page 97), but also a full set of flexible hydraulic hoses.

And although they’re not shown here (primarily because it was only after seeing the parlous state of

or screw heads – that’s always pretty bad news.

For example, the recessed, socket-head grub screws partially securing the discs to the hubs are notoriously difficult to shift if they’ve been over-tightened, or left in place for too long, and if you’re unlucky enough to round them off you’ll end up drilling out the heads.

(The good news is that you don’t actually have to refit the screws; they’re merely a convenience rather than a necessity.) So use an impact screwdriver if they look like they’re going to put up a fight.

For the same reason always try to use purposedesigned pipe wrenches on the hydraulic lines’ various unions (they’re essentially ring spanners with a small slot cut in the side so they fit over the pipe and offer a little more grip on the union’s flats). Likewise the intelligent way of extracting seized friction pads (if the calipers’ stainless-steel plates have buckled, that is; see page 97) is a small slide hammer rather than the biggest chisel you can find, and which will most likely damage the caliper beyond repair. (Never attempt to separate the two halves of any ‘monobloc’ caliper, by the way. They’re just not designed for it, and even assuming you could then find the correct ‘O’-ring seals between them would almost invariably leak.)

the old ones that we decided they needed replacing; and then, of course, we couldn’t get hold of any new ones on the same day as our photoshoot), he even ended up later replacing the handbrake shoes.

Oh, and although obviously they’re not linked directly to the brakes, all four dampers, and even the complete exhaust system... We’ll be covering those other aspects of what not surprisingly turned out to be a fairly major workshop session in

It’s all common sense, really. Ideally you shouldn’t let any of the calipers, once removed, hang from their hydraulic lines – although we reckon it’s OK for a little while as long as they’re not unduly strained in the process; the calipers aren’t that heavy – and obviously make sure that any pipework, whether flexible or rigid, is subsequently routed correctly, not least so that it can’t chafe on any adjacent metalwork and eventually spring a potentially disastrous leak.

Tools and equipment? All the usual workshop stuff, really – spanners, sockets, screwdrivers, side-cutters, pliers, a hammer or two, punches – plus anything else mentioned above. Add a wire brush and scraper, an inspection light, and perhaps a brake-bleeding kit if you replace any pipework, and you’re about done. Sundries might include a couple of new brake-disc screws and perhaps the spring-steel clips securing the flexible hydraulic pipes to their brackets (your Porsche Centre will be able to supply), plus cable-ties, copper grease, brake fluid, and perhaps a wax-based preservative spray for areas and items that will subsequently be vulnerable to corrosion. But obviously keep that well away from both the pads and the discs – and, indeed, the calipers themselves.

a couple more of these how-to stories later in the year, but in the meantime mention them here primarily to explain what in movie terms might appear to be a number of odd ‘continuity’ anomalies.

You’ll possibly see what we mean when you begin studying the photos.

As usual, though, we’ll end this introductory section with the usual health-and-safety warnings. Make sure the car is properly supported on the required number of axle-stands before you

even think about venturing beneath it. Wear eye protection when you’re doing anything that could send sparks or even just bits of rust and dirt flying, and gloves (latex, or nitrile if you’re allergic to the former; most good parts factors sell both these days) to keep your hands clean and protected. Brake fluid isn’t the nicest stuff.

(And you will most likely have to draw a quantity out of the master-cylinder reservoir when you push the pistons back into their respective cylinders in

First task is to undo and remove cross-head screw securing disc to hub (but see text).

You might need an impact driver if it’s tight. Be careful not to round off slots, or you might end up drilling it out. Note clearly rusty discs – well past their best.

Next, use sidecutters to snip cable-tie holding pad-wear sensor wire to caliper’s central ‘gate’

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To release the cruciform gate simply squeeze together the two transverse elements, while at the same time gently levering down on the top part, accessible with a screwdriver blade above the uppermost stainless-steel plate. Don’t use excessive force, though: stop and investigate if it looks like anything is badly seized

Not the most elegant way of pushing the pistons back to allow the pads to be extracted, but we’re replacing the discs, as well, so it’s not really an issue. Leave first screwdriver in place while you lever second pad with another blade, or pistons will simply extend again. Be prepared to draw off fluid displaced back to reservoir, too

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Both pads should come out with the rather odd-looking anti-vibration shims stuck to their backing plates – assuming whoever last did the job fitted them... Disconnect pad-wear sensor cables at plug and socket on each front strut and discard, along with the pads – it’s false economy not to fit new ones while you have the opportunity

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THE KNOWLEDGE – THE MOST IMPORTANT BITS OF IT, ANYWAY

Most road-going Porsche braking systems share the obvious basic characteristics you would expect: a disc (or rotor to our US readers) attached to the rotating wheel hub, and when required clamped between friction pads mounted in a hydraulically actuated caliper attached to the stationary hub carrier.

In older cars – such as both the 911 Carrera 3.2 and the eight-valve 944 – each disc is effectively an integral part of the relevant wheel hub by virtue of being securely and more or less permanently bolted to it. (See page 95 of the July 2009 issue for a number of explanatory photographs.)

More recently Porsche, like many other car manufacturers, has greatly simplified the task of renewing the disc by merely sandwiching it between the road wheel and the outside face of the hub. (And it’s this system that’s used in the 944S2.) The required axial location (and not least the necessary torque transmission under braking) is provided by the wheel’s five substantial mounting studs or bolts, which clearly pass through the disc, too. The single small grub screw, as you might guess from its size (see photo 1, on page 95), is provided purely as a convenience; to secure the disc to the hub during the assembly process.

Calipers, too, vary in terms of design (and obviously both size and power). The Carrera 3.2 and earlier 911s have simple – and now surprisingly small – fixed

order to provide room for the thicker new pads. Best way is a plastic medical syringe that will hold, say, 50–100ml. Buy them from farm-supplies shops, or perhaps your local veterinary surgery.)

Avoid breathing in brake dust, too. Modern friction materials are asbestosfree, certainly, but that doesn’t mean that what you’re removing necessarily will be – and

cast-iron units front and rear, with either one or two pistons on each side of each disc to press against the back of the relevant pad. The earlier (eight-valve) 944, too, has cast-iron calipers, but these are of the so-called sliding type, which rather ingeniously achieve their essential squeezing effect by means of just one hydraulic cylinder and piston in each unit. We’ll be looking at these at a later date.

More recently Porsche has universally adopted several rather more modern versions of the 3.2-style fixed caliper, usually made from a lightweight aluminium alloy in order to help minimise unsprung weight. It’s this type, with generally two or even three pistons per side, that you’ll find in 911s from the 964 onward, as well as the more powerful 944s and both the 968 and 928 – and then later still in the water-cooled 911s and Boxsters. Even the Cayenne and Panamera.

The now fairly well-known complication in the 944S2/968/964/993 version is the two small stainlesssteel plates fitted across each caliper’s central aperture, and which are designed to spread the load exerted by the pads under braking. Without them, the inevitable hammer action of the pads’ steel backing plates would quickly wear away the soft aluminium.

Stainless or not, however, these plates invariably trap salt-laden moisture beneath them, against the caliper body, and eventually the affected areas turn to the familiar white powder that’s the aluminium equivalent of rust. What’s more, the no less inevitable expansion of the material as it corrodes also tends to jam the pads in

those handbrake shoes in particular could easily have been there since the car was built way back in the 1980s. The most practical way of keeping the dust down is a liberal squirt of solvent-based brake cleaner whenever necessary, and clearly that will also make it a lot easier to see what you’re doing anyway. Catch the surplus in some suitable container, though – it’ll

the caliper, with an obvious effect on both braking efficiency (the brakes can also stick partially on) and the ease (or not...) with which you can first remove the old pads, and then fit new ones.

Removing the plates to scrape away the corrosion is famously one of those jobs that you ‘want’ to tackle only once – if that. They’re retained by tiny buttonshaped socket-head screws, themselves secured with the aid of Loctite or some similar agent, and all too easily irreparably damaged when you try to unscrew them. That means much painstaking drilling and thread-tapping (there are no fewer than four screws per caliper), and no less obviously buying new screws (and maybe plates, as well).

Having last looked at the problem way back in the March 2003 issue (Plate tectonics, pages 96–99) it’s something we shall be covering again fairly soon. Take heart, meanwhile, from Steve Bishop’s pragmatic answer to the problem.

Rather than waste valuable time attempting to remove the plates – as you’ll see from the relevant photos – he used a longish but suitably delicate punch and small hammer repeatedly to tap the outer surface of each stainless-steel plate, and thereby effectively pulverise the aluminium oxide beneath. The resulting dust he blew out with a high-pressure air-line, and the space thus created allowed the affected plates – in truth, just the lower one in each of the two rear calipers – once more to sit flush against the aluminium. Sorted.

For the time being, at least...

fairly quickly attack your asphalt driveway.

Less obviously – but no less importantly – make sure that your replacement discs sit perfectly flat and true on the wheel hubs. Even minor discrepancies here can be the source of an annoying high-speed wheel wobble. Degrease the discs with another generous squirt of brake cleaner before the pads

finally come fully into contact with them (just to get rid of any stray greasy fingermarks), and then firmly pump the pedal two or three times to ensure that the caliper pistons have extended sufficiently to push the pads into that required close contact with the discs – if not, your first shove of the pedal out on the road will produce little, if anything, in the way of actual stopping

Disc may now be loose on its mounting flange, but caliper has to come off before it can be removed completely. Undo the two 19mm bolts on the back, securing it to the stub axle, and hang it from the strut with a large cable-tie. You’ll note that in this shot both the strut and the flexible hydraulic hose have already been replaced

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Pull the disc off the hub – tap it gently with a softfaced hammer if it’s stuck (or very hard with a conventional hammer if it’s completely seized on...) – and again discard. Clean the face against which the new disc will sit by first scraping off any rust and old copper grease, and then rinse and brush with a suitable solvent

It’s vital that new disc seats flat against the hub – if it doesn’t you’ll quite likely suffer from an annoying high-speed wheel wobble, and a no less worrying brake judder.

Apply a thin film of copper-based grease to prevent any future corrosion – which could push disc out of true. Secure disc with a new screw – they’re dead cheap!

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New pads need only a similarly thin film of grease on backing plates’ top and bottom faces, where they slide against the caliper. Holding pads face to face, like this, avoids contaminating them. Peel off new anti-squeal shims’ backing paper and fit to pistons before sliding pads home: first push of the pedal will stick them all together

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Nearly there – at the front, anyway.

Push a new wear sensor into the slot in each pad’s backing plate, squeeze the pads’ securing ‘gate’ back into position, making sure the top fits securely under the relevant stainless-steel plate, and hold the wire in place with a cable-tie.

Note sheathed section of cable clipped into a slot in the caliper body

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Rear pads (and discs) are replaced in much the same way as the fronts (arrows show caliper securing bolts). Added factor here was the all too common corrosion of alloy calipers under stainlesssteel plates, which effectively ‘squeezes’ pads top and bottom, and leads to all sorts of problems.

More on this at a later date

Rear discs might well be prevented from sliding off by handbrake shoes.

(But don’t forget those small crosshead screws!)

Rotate disc to align access hole with adjuster, and use a screwdriver against serrated wheel (arrowed) to back shoes off.

These shoes are plainly dead, but with no new ones available to us on the day we had to reuse the originals

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Reclaiming the corroded calipers, too, is something we’ll have to come back to later.

Suffice it to say that by hanging each unit from drive shaft and tapping stainlesssteel plates with a small hammer and a punch, our man was able to pulverise oxidised aluminium, and so allow plates to sit flush against the caliper body once more. Neat trick

power. A good, hard push for 10 seconds will also help reveal any fluid leaks from the pipework, even though you may not have disturbed any unions.

Better to find out now than when you’re braking hard for a sharp bend...

Finally, don’t forget to allow the new pads and Replacing flexible hydraulic hoses is something else we’ll have to cover in more detail later. Set of four came from HEL – around £60 plus VAT. Fronts were easy enough to fit (note copper washer at caliper end), although absence of any bracketry on GAZ struts meant we had to use cableties to secure them so they couldn’t chafe

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Position of rear hoses on 944, though, makes them quite awkward to fit, especially if unions are seized up or rounded.

Penetrating oil and patience usually save the day. Our new hoses were a lot longer than the old ones, but coiling them, like this, and then securing with yet another cable-tie is acceptable

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discs plenty of time to bed in against each other. This is arguably slightly less important than when you fit new pads to even slightly worn discs, in which case the high spots on the latter can cause localised overheating of the friction material, but even when both surfaces

are new it will take several fairly hard applications of the brakes before they’re back up to full efficiency again. Which can obviously come as another rather nasty surprise if you are not expecting it.

Oh, and the best place to dispose of your old discs and pads is the ‘metals’ bin

at your local recycling centre. Alternatively most fast-fit centres have a similar skip, and even if they do charge you for dumping them it should be only a nominal couple of pounds or so. Which, given what you’ll have saved by doing the work yourself, is worth every penny. PW

WYAIT: WHILE YOU ARE IN THERE

There’s always a danger when replacing much of your Porsche’s braking system – as here – that one thing will lead inexorably to another. Mission creep they call it in the military. Even so, it’s always worth thinking about a few fairly closely related tasks while you’ve the huge convenience of having everything in pieces already. Handbrake shoes (and their actuating mechanism) are always likely to benefit from some TLC. Likewise the brake lines in their entirety (in many older cars they’re getting perilously close to an MoT failure, if not actually bursting under pressure), the brake discs’ backplates (now often falling apart thanks to corrosion, even if they’re not strictly necessary), and perhaps most significantly from a time- and labour-saving point of view the wheel bearings. Again those are things we’ll be coming back to in due course.

MANY THANKS!

The majority of the parts and various sundries we needed for the work described here were supplied by Euro Car Parts (www.eurocarparts.com).

The full set of four Pagid discs currently retails for around £210 (£56.42 for each front disc, £48.47 for each of the two rears), and the same manufacturer’s pads at £66.59 and £63.80 for the front and rear, respectively. That’s a further £130.30. As usual, all prices quoted in this story include VAT unless stated otherwise.

The four pad-wear sensors (one for each of the four calipers; typical Porsche thoroughness...) cost a little under a tenner apiece, and the pad vibration dampers or anti-squeal shims (those funny-looking small discs in our lead photo) an average of (surprisingly, perhaps) around £30 per caliper. (There are different sizes for different Porsche calipers; obviously you need to make certain you get the right ones.)

Full and up-to-date details about all these items are available on ECP’s website, although since that does seem recently to have become considerably more confusing to navigate your way through it might just be safer to ring and talk to a parts adviser – they do seem to know what they’re doing!

Euro Car Parts also supplied a full car set of EBC Yellow Stuff friction pads (the S2’s owner, Peter Simpson, has designs on a trackday or two later this year) and matching front discs, but we’ll be fitting those as and when necessary – keep an eye on Pete’s Our cars reports – and obviously the process is exactly the same as for the standard parts in any case.

Finally, our sincere thanks – obviously! – to Euro Car Parts, but also to technician Steve Bishop and the rest of the always enthusiastic team at AmD Essex. They’re at Unit 6, Cliffside Trade Park, Motherwell Way, West Thurrock, Essex RM20 3LE; tel: 01708 861827; www.amdessex.com.

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944 TIMING & CHIP

The 944 is back on the road after its cam belt and balance shaft belt change. It’s also gained some extra bhp thanks to a rechip by Superchips

PETER SIMPSON 911/944S2 Occupation: Studio Manager, CHPublications Home town: Horley, Surrey Previous Porsches owned: 0 Cars: 911 Carrera 3.2, 944S2 Years: 1989, 1989 Mileages: 107,657; 157,587 Owned for: 2 years & 6 mths Mods/options: In total, far too much to list here!

Contact: pete@chpltd.com THIS MONTH IN BRIEF: The 911 is having a new body, while the 944 is having a health check with a timing belt kit and a rechip at Superchips

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t was that time again, and the 944 needed some attention. We had been supplied a timing belt kit and a balance shaft belt by Frazerparts, but struggled to find

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someone who would fit the belt and give us a little lesson in installing the cam belt without messing up the timing.

We were undecided whether to show you this as a step-by-step guide or tell you to trust a decent Porsche specialist. We opted for the specialist, and took the car to Parr.

Parr have a few trade secrets up their sleeves, not to mention specialist tools, which are not exactly off the shelf items. Get this wrong and you could be saying goodbye to your engine!

The first thing Parr did was to strip off the belts and pulleys so they could be checked over, along with the condition of the

water pump. Once this was done, the pulleys – which were also supplied

by Frazerparts – were all changed then the belts could go back on. This is not a five-minute job, and it takes a fairly skilled mechanic to do it correctly. Crucial is getting the belt tension right, which is where the correct tools come in as shown in the picture below right. You wouldn’t want it loose, now...

After the belts had been changed, we had more confidence in the engine, so it was time to take the car to its next level.

We contacted Superchips to get the engine remapped. As you can see in the pictures on

the right, Superchips has an amazing set-up and can pretty much remap anything. The chip fitted in the 944 was custommapped and, after the first run on the rollers, the engine was producing 219bhp. This was up from the first rolling-road figures of 209, 210 and finally 211bhp, which is spot on for a standard 944 S2.

The rather conservative standard map is tweaked for improved throttle response, more torque and, equally importantly, a saving in fuel consumption.

(This will vary depending on the spec of your car.) The figure of 219bhp was a great final outcome. Stay tuned, as we have many more features to come. PW

CONTACTS Work www.parr-uk.co.uk www.superchips.co.uk Parts www.frazerpart.com Prices Timing belt £28.20 Balance shaft belt £42.30 Labour from Parr £360 Superchips £239

Below: The timing belt and pulleys being removed and replaced at Porsche specialist Parr, using parts supplied by Frazerparts

911 & PORSCHE WORLD

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PROJECTS

WE DON’T JUST WRITE ABOUT PORSCHES, WE DRIVE AND LIVE WITH THEM, TOO

CLEAR FOR TAKE-OFF! Pete Simpson’s 944S2 looked fantastic on its new wide rims and rubber, but getting it to drive on them took a little bit of motorsport know-how.

This report and most photos by Chris Horton; other pictures by Pete Simpson

PETER SIMPSON 911/944S2 Occupation: Studio Manager, CHPublications Home town: Horley, Surrey Previous Porsches owned: 0 Cars: 911 Carrera 3.2, 944S2 Years: 1989, 1989 Mileages: 107,657; 157,587 Owned for: 2 years; 6 months Mods/options: In total, far too much to list here!

Contact: pete@chpltd.com THIS MONTH IN BRIEF: The 944S2 has its rear-end geometry aligned, and the new coil-overs set up properly – and even a replacement gearbox

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here’s probably not a single Porsche enthusiast among us who hasn’t at some time or another wanted to fit larger-thanstandard wheels and tyres.

It’s just one of those things you do to make a great car look and handle even better, isn’t it? Trouble is, it’s not always quite as straightforward as you might think it ought to be – as 911 & Porsche World art editor Peter Simpson discovered a few weeks

ago with his 1989 944S2.

In truth, there wasn’t a lot wrong with the car’s original 16-inch Design 90 rims, as they’re correctly known (no kerb damage or other distortion, and corrosion is only rarely an issue with these solidly constructed rims), but with all four of the existing Continental tyres wearing thin (and plainly getting on a bit, too) Pete had quite reasonably decided that it was time for a shift up to some 18-inch rims – and

not least because he’s planning to use the S2 for the occasional trackday, as well as some long, fast road trips. And what better, quicker, easier way to give it some extra grip – always welcome out on the circuit, never mind on the road – than a nice new set of wider, lower-profile rubber?

So far, then, so good – particularly when Hankook generously agreed to do Pete a demon deal on some suitable tyres. Factor in the all-new brake discs, pads

and hydraulic hoses fitted a few months back (more on that in the how-to story in the June 2010 issue), together with the GAZ adjustable dampers (more on those in the panel on page 103), and Pete had – as he still does – all the makings of a pretty rapid and highly cost-effective machine that should also give him a lot of fun.

It looked pretty cool, too, as our hero proved to his satisfaction one Saturday morning in late May when

he dragged out his trusty trolley jack and torque wrench. (It’s essential always to tighten wheel fixings to the correct figure, in this case 130Nm, and doubly so in the case of these lightweight Porsche nuts.) Better still, with the car back on terra firma there were – despite the now very fully occupied wheelarches – no rubberto-metal clearance issues.

It was a very different story out in the real world, though. Within just a few miles, a major undulation in the road surface had caused the outer edge of the left-hand rear tyre’s tread to scrape heavily against the inside of the nearby wheelarch, with a fairly predictable effect on both. In fact, the tyre is arguably damaged beyond legal road use (we’ll be taking professional advice

December 2008 issue.)

‘The camber of the lefthand wheel looks a bit wrong to me,’ suggested young technician Brett Evans (Simon’s son), literally the moment he crouched down to look at the car from directly behind. ‘Add a possible toe-in error, as well, and it’s no wonder that the tyre hit the wheelarch so hard.’

He was absolutely right, too. A preliminary check with a hand-held camber gauge against first the two rear tyres’ sidewalls, and then the wheel rims, showed the right-hand rear suspension to be at more or less the correct quarter of a degree of negative camber (with the bottom of the wheel splayed out very slightly, in other words), but the left-hand side at about one degree positive. Which wasn’t very good at all.

uncommon (or in the normal course of events necessarily serious), and certainly don’t have to be the result of a major impact, or even of hitting a kerb. A deep pot-hole will do it – and there are plenty of those around these days – or even just good, oldfashioned wear and tear.

And with over 158,000 miles on the clock there was every chance the S2’s chassis was suffering from more than a little of that.

Whether or not you can easily dial out any such error depends on a number of factors – not least its magnitude to start with and, of course, what there are in the way of adjustment points (which paradoxically may themselves be one of the root causes of the ‘problem’ in the first place, especially if someone who doesn’t

In fact, minor misalignments such “ as this are by no means uncommon ”

on that), and we can’t help thinking that Pete was lucky not to end up with a major body repair on his hands, too. As it was, there is a minor but still visible distortion of the bodywork; another job for the future.

Why just that one side, though? Despite the minimal clearance there was no sign of the righthand tyre touching the adjacent metalwork, and all things being equal there should surely have been the same space (or lack of it) on both sides of the car.

And therein lies the clue.

All things – as we later discovered with the S2 on the perfectly flat concrete floor at independent Porsche specialist Pro-9 in Redditch, Worcestershire – were clearly not equal. (For a profile of this enthusiastic and highly competent Midlands-based company, run by Simon Evans, see pages 110–112 in the

It was the same with the car wheels-off on Pro-9’s two-post lift. A magnetic gauge clamped on each brake disc in turn proved beyond doubt that the lefthand rear suspension was slightly – but in this context quite significantly – out of alignment. If with the road springs compressed by any kind of major bump the right-hand rear tyre was always going to be perilously close to the metalwork (and it both was and is), then by the same standard there was no way that the one on the left was ever going to miss it.

We’re all inclined to jump to conclusions in these situations, of course; to imagine that our cherished cars have been involved in some huge accident, and won’t run straight and true ever again. In fact, relatively minor misalignments such as this are by no means

know what they’re doing has been tinkering with them). Plainly a bent suspension arm, or badly worn mounting bushes, will need to be straightened and/or replaced before you can even think about any fine-tuning. Fortunately, however, the 944S2, in common with all of these four-cylinder transaxle cars, has provision for the adjustment of both rearwheel camber and rearwheel toe, and as long as you know what you’re about, and have access to the relevant measuring equipment, it’s quite straightforward to reset.

And that’s precisely what Brett Evans very kindly did for us. By loosening off the

The transaxle Porsches offer lots of scope for rearsuspension alignment – but obviously it’s vitally important to know what you’re doing – and why

911 & PORSCHE WORLD

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three large nuts and bolts between each suspension arm and the relevant spring plate, and then carefully and slowly rotating the eccentric toe-in adjuster built in to the mounting stud for the anti-roll-bar link, he was within just a few minutes able to bring the left-hand rear brake disc back to the same reading on the magnetic gauge that its opposite number had given in the same position relative to the rest of the car. And as a result of that ultimately the wheel, too, would have to be at the correct angle.

Ideally, of course, you – or Brett – might make any such adjustment not with the suspension hanging free, as it was here, but with the car standing on level ground (or on a level lift, anyway), and carrying whatever may be deemed to be its optimum and correctly distributed load for just such a purpose.

In practice, however, the method described above – as long as it’s subsequently corroborated with a final reading from the wheels and/or tyres once the car is

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back on the ground – is to all intents and purposes just as accurate. It’s a lot cheaper than a truckload of laser-guided alignment gear, too, and the fact remains that many a successful race car is set up, certainly at the track and on the day, by no more complex a means than this.

One of the other things we wanted Pro-9 to check and advise us on was the Porsche’s rear-spring arrangement. Indeed, this was one of the reasons for taking the car up there in the first place, since it has a reputation for being one of the relatively few UK companies that still knows its way round the 944’s now somewhat quirky 911-style torsion-bar rear suspension.

The specific problem here, if such it could be called, was that the S2 – as we said earlier – had been fitted with GAZ so-called coil-over rear dampers, albeit at that stage without the external coil springs from which comes that now familiar terminology.

Pete – and we, to be honest – had always been led to

believe that these springs are intended completely to replace the original torsion bars, which for optimum effect means somehow disconnecting the latter, and arguably (especially if you’re on a serious weightloss regime) removing them from the car. That, as you can probably imagine, is no mean feat, requiring not only a lot of re-engineering to retain some form of effective outer pivot point for the trailing arms, but also – because the 944, unlike the earlier 911, has no access hole at the rear end of each sill, to allow the withdrawal of the transverse torsion bars – the temporary removal and then replacement of the entire spring housing. And that, thanks to invariably seized fixings, is these days a famously difficult task.

Brett – who successfully races his own similarly suspended eight-valve 944 in the popular Future Classics series, and who must, therefore, be reckoned to have a valid opinion on these matters – had other ideas. (He has also been tutored by well-

known 944 man Kevin Eacock at EMC, himself a GAZ distributor.) ‘The coil springs are there simply to assist the torsion bars, as the rear of the car squats under acceleration and cornering forces,’ he argues. ‘What you have to do is adjust the coil-overs’ lower collars, so that with the car standing on level ground – and perhaps with the driver and a bit of fuel on board if you’re being really precise – the coils are just beginning to be compressed. That way, it’s the standard torsion bars that are doing most of the work for most of the time, and you don’t end up with too hard a ride. Or too high a ride, of course.’

Pete – who was away on holiday at the time – had perhaps not surprisingly left strict instructions that in the quest for optimum roadholding (never mind looks…) he wanted the car to sit as low as possible, but again Brett saw it differently. ‘I’ve accurately measured the distance from the ground to a notional line extended longitudinally from the

One of the other not insignificant tasks Pro-9 tackled for Pete was changing his S2’s gearbox.

The old one (here sitting on the trolley jack) was becoming rather noisy – although the fact that he has taken out the rear seat won’t have helped...

bottom of each door, and that’s suggesting that the rear of the S2 is currently about a centimetre higher than the front. That’s just about the angle at which I run my race car, so given that we can’t realistically go any lower at the front, without the tyres beginning to disappear inside the arches and look silly, I think we should leave the rear suspension just as it is, too.

‘We could drop it a little

way – up to about an inch – by loosening the relevant fixings, and adjusting the trailing arms relative to the spring plates, and I agree that might look a little better. But I’m conscious that the car will have to be driven on the road as well as the track, and obviously we already have a bit of an issue with the clearance between the tyres and the bodywork. So I’ll set up the GAZ units and springs as

I’ve just described, and I really do think that for the moment, at least, we should leave it like that.

The car can easily be lowered that little bit extra in the future if necessary.’

That, then, was that. A job that was originally going to be a major how-to on 944 rear-suspension removal and modification became in practice the work of a surprisingly leisurely morning – and as a

result, we decided, better suited to this Our Cars slot in the magazine. Certainly we want to return to this important aspect of all these transaxle cars in the near future – this writer’s 944 Lux, now with a distinctly droopy rear end, is crying out for similar treatment – but for the moment it’s the old story: less is more. I hope Pete Simpson agrees when he gets back from his hols… PW

CONTACTS

www.pro-9.co.uk tel: 08456 211 911

www.gazshocks.co.uk tel: 01268 724585 www.emcmotorsport.co.uk tel: 0121-328 2225 www.hankooktire-eu.com

Even with the wheels hanging free, a magnetic gauge on the rear discs is a surprisingly accurate way of comparing camber from one side of car to the other

RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME – AND RIGHT PRODUCT!

Gazzard Engineering was established way back in 1967 by brothers Brian and Christopher Gazzard, primarily to supply high-quality machined components to the motor industry, including a number of major names in the suspension-damper field.

The first site the company occupied was in North Ockendon, Essex, but in 1971 it moved to nearby Rainham – whether by design or accident conveniently close to both Ford’s big Dagenham plant, and its then burgeoning motorsport operation at Boreham. In 1985 two of Brian Gazzard’s young sons, Mark and Warren, joined the family-run firm, bringing with them not just their natural enthusiasm but also their acknowledged engineering expertise. A long period of sustained growth followed, and in 1997 the company moved to its present 12,500 square foot site in Basildon, again in Essex. The workforce – with all of the engineering staff undergoing regular training to ensure that they can handle any task likely to be required of the company – now stands at a total of 34.

It was in 2000, having manufactured suspension components for other companies for over three decades, that the Gazzards identified what they saw as a gap in the market, and established their own damper range under the aptly named GAZShocks brand. This quickly gained a solid reputation in the specialist-car field, and then the crucial high-performance sector. State-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, including CNC lathes, and no fewer than 40 fully automatic screw-cutters, ensure that every damper meets the exacting quality standards demanded by today’s enthusiasts – vital TüV approval comes as standard – and likewise the GAZ range has expanded genuinely to cover just about any type of discipline you can think of, up to and including trackdays and full-on motorsport. More details at www.gaz-shocks.co.uk/product.

Pete Simpson’s dampers – complete replacement struts and springs for the front of his 944S2, coil-overs for the rear – are from the company’s gas-filled Gold Pro range (the gas helps prevent cavitation in the damping oil, itself produced to a specification designed to resist fade under extreme operating conditions), with chrome-plated steel bodies, and fully height-adjustable spring platforms. Designed specifically for the S2, they have standard Porsche-style upper and lower mounts – but roller-bearing Rose joints are optionally available for certain specific Gold Pro applications on request. The full kit, intended for both fast-road and trackday use, comes with four springs and two ‘C’-spanners (to adjust the spring platforms up or down), and retails for £795 plus VAT. Similar packages for both the 924 and the 968 are available at the same price.

Basic installation, as we saw and photographed at AmD Essex in Thurrock a few months ago, is as straightforward as unbolting and then refitting any standard 944 strut or damper. In practice, the absence from Pete’s new GAZ front struts of any ancillary brackets meant that AmD’s Steve Bishop had to secure the hydraulic hoses and ABS leads with cable-ties, which at the time seemed less than ideal (or convenient, come to that), but such is the nature of motorsport-orientated conversions, and plainly those plastic ties do the job perfectly adequately. Likewise there was initially some confusion over precisely how the rear dampers needed to be set up in conjunction with the standard springs, but GAZ’s David Lyon put us right on that, at the same time corroborating Brett Evans’ theory. ‘It’s the original torsion bars that do most of the work,’ he says. ‘You can lower them a little, via the external connecting plates, and then finally adjust the ride height up or down via the coil-overs’ spring platforms, but essentially the coils are to allow the car’s corner weights to be adjusted very accurately.’

Peter, needless to say, is now more than happy with the completed set-up. With the new dampers, but at first without the coil springs, the rear of the car initially felt rather bouncy, he told this writer at the time, but now that the coils have been installed and correctly adjusted it feels much more solidly planted on the road – as you would hope of a 220bhp trackday machine. And that’s before any precise cornerweighting, which with the 2010 trackday season now well under way is next on the agenda. We’ll let you know what happens.

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TUBULAR THRILLS Project 944S2 didn’t actually need a new exhaust, you understand, but it would have to be replaced eventually. So what better than a stainless-steel after-market system that should not only last as long as the car, but might also give it a performance boost? Oh, and it both looks and sounds great, too!

Story and photographs by Chris Horton

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ast month, you might recall, we explained how, with the help of some suspension-geometry tweaks, art editor Pete Simpson’s 944S2 came to have a set of 18-inch rims and rubber squeezed under its not exactly capacious wheelarches. The moral of the story was that, despite any technical benefits that may be achievable, deviating too far from the Porsche norm isn’t necessarily as easy as it might first seem. And, of course, that significantly larger-than-standard wheels and tyres can often be a mixed blessing.

Sometimes, though, modifying your Porsche can be beguilingly easy.

So easy, in fact, that at

first you think there has to be some hidden catch.

And then, when you realise that there isn’t, you want to rush out and with a broad grin on your face tell anyone who will listen – and even those who won’t.

Take as an example this Supersprint stainless-steel exhaust that Pete had earlier acquired for his S2.

I know from experience that refitting even entirely standard systems – never mind many of these aftermarket, high-performance jobs – can be fraught with all manner of difficulties, and to be honest I was fully expecting this to be little different. In truth, though, it could hardly have been any simpler.

Certainly our technician for the job, Steve Bishop at

AmD Essex, first had to take some accurate measurements, and then bravely chop up the front part of the old system with an angle-grinder. But such is the accuracy of the overall shape of the new parts, and not least the internal diameter of the pipework, that the two sections bolted up to the car’s underside – and also to the original Porsche downpipe – without even the slightest drama.

The accompanying photos and captions should make it all clear – and perhaps encourage you, we hope, to take the plunge and have a go yourself. The only vaguely ‘special’ equipment you’ll need – beyond the usual weaponry for dealing

with rusty and possibly seized-up nuts and bolts – is a tape measure, and some means of cutting the downpipe at the required point. And if, like us, for that task you use an angle-grinder rather than a hacksaw (or even a purpose-made, chain-type exhaust-pipe cutter), some form of protection for your eyes. Add a hexagonal key for the tailpipe extension, and perhaps a set of new manifold-to-downpipe gaskets and fixings, and you’re just about done.

Costs? Pete’s exhaust, which came direct from Supersprint in Italy (www.supersprint.com), currently retails for 1745 euros plus VAT. Specifically, that’s 1080 euros for the mid-section and catalyst

First task in fitting the Supersprint system was to hold the new centre section with its catalytic converter up against the old silencer, in order to work out roughly where the front pipe would need to be cut.

Arrow points to welded-on bracket that will later engage with the standard rubber mount slung from the torque tube

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Next task was to disconnect centre section from its horseshoe-shaped hanger by undoing the two nuts and bolts – an easy job. Arguably it would have been better first to make the required cut in the pipe, but since on this occasion we ended up disconnecting the downpipes from the manifold (see opposite page) it didn’t matter

Datum point for establishing precisely where we would need to cut the front pipe was this weldedon bracket on the new cat section, which thanks to the accuracy of the Supersprint system corresponded exactly with the same bracket on the old set-up (arrowed). But don’t forget to allow for the required overlap!

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Remove standard rear silencer box and its pipework by disconnecting the three-point coupling where it meets the centre section – nuts and bolts may well be seized, and need cutting or grinding off. Then undo the two nuts securing rear end of the box to the two rubber-mounted brackets. Studs may break as you undo them, so buy new ones first

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Steve Bishop’s original intention had been simply to cut through the front pipe with an angle-grinder, leaving the forward part of the exhaust still attached to the two manifolds, but limited access for his relatively small-diameter blade precluded that, and obviously meant that he would have to remove the entire section Welded-on hook on the Supersprint cat is designed – as we said earlier – to engage on the standard rubber (arrowed). The one on our car was in the right place, but don’t worry if yours isn’t – it’s hung from a ‘U’bolt round the torque tube, and by slackening off the two nuts and washers you can slide it forward or backwards as may be necessary

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(not strictly necessary on cars that, like Pete’s, didn’t have a cat to start with), 460 euros for the rear silencer, and 205 euros for the tailpipe trim. So not cheap, but – based on the adage that you get what you pay for – not hugely expensive. (Especially if

you can make do without the cat.) And certainly not too costly if you have a car good enough to warrant what is to all intents and purposes a fit-and-forget system that should outlast both it and even you.

Sadly, it appears from the Supersprint website

that it’s currently only the 944S2 for which one of these superb systems is available (although kits for the various other transaxle cars are said to be ‘under development’), and stocks appear to be limited, too.

It shouldn’t be impossible to adapt any of the other

Fortunately – and despite limited access – the six nuts and bolts securing the downpipes to the two manifolds undid fairly easily, but again it’s best to buy new ones before you even start. You’ll need new gaskets, too.

Original exhaust pipe fits neatly inside new one, but Steve lightly ground the end of the former for an even better fit Bolt the welded bracket at the front of the new cat to the standard Porsche bracket – which is again adjustable fore and aft if necessary. Don’t fully tighten the two nuts and bolts, though, because in a few moments you’ll almost certainly need to fine-tune the precise position of the cat relative to the other sections

models to accept it, though, perhaps with the relevant (second-hand) manifolds and/or downpipe, and if you are thinking of keeping your car for more than, say, five years then we suggest you place your order without delay. Yes, it’s that good! PW

Slide downpipe into front of cat section (note grinder marks on the former, and one of the two slots cut in the latter, both to aid the process). Bolt front of downpipe to the manifolds, using new gaskets and – if necessary – new nuts and bolts. But don’t tighten arrowed clip yet – you’ll first need to make sure all parts are correctly aligned

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Our car’s new cat needed to be rotated through a few degrees to align correctly with the front section, but that was easy enough using large waterpump pliers. All being well that should put the rear end of the cat in the correct position to mate with the rear silencer box (near left), although further tweaking may be necessary

The rear end of the rear box hangs from the 944S2’s standard brackets and rubbers, but significantly with the brackets turned through 180 degrees, so they’re effectively back to front. Now gradually tighten all fixings – front (far right), middle and back – at the same time making sure – obviously! – that the entire system is still hanging neatly

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The final task is to add the elegant oval-section tailpipe finisher – it’s clamped to the end of the pipe exiting the rear box with a couple of socketheaded screws.

That job, too, may require the system to be repositioned slightly for optimum fit. Wipe off the greasy fingermarks and you’re done. Now drive and enjoy!

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PROJECTS

WE DON’T JUST WRITE ABOUT PORSCHES, WE DRIVE AND LIVE WITH THEM, TOO

TIME TO CHANGE The 944 S2 gets a completely different look, with a few lightweight modifications and a vinyl wrap

PETER SIMPSON 911/944S2 Occupation: Studio Manager, CHPublications Home town: Horley, Surrey Previous Porsches owned: 0 Cars: 911 Carrera 3.2, 944S2 Years: 1989, 1989 Mileages: 107,657; 159,587 Owned for: 2 years; 7 months Mods/options: In total, far too much to list here!

Contact: pete@chpltd.com THIS MONTH IN BRIEF: The 944S2 has had a fair share of playing around with. It now has a full GTS headlight conversion and been fully wrapped in grey vinyl

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nce again I’ve been playing around with the 944S2. This month, I’ve fitted a GTSstyle headlight conversion from Deutschnine, had the car wrapped and fixed one

of my Hankook tyres!

After fitting my new wheels and tyres, I managed to damage one of the tyres beyond use by scraping it on the inner arch on the S2 which, if you can remember back in

issue 198, was because the camber was out and Pro-9 put this right for me.

So, the next thing was to get a new 265x35x18 Hankook Tyre for the rear.

I contacted Fullertyres, who are mobile tyre fitters

Fullertyres gets to work changing our badly damaged Hankook tyre

and can supply and fit any tyre for any car. The guys, Craig and Ian, who came over were very helpful and got the tyre changed in minutes, with no hassle.

They have everything you would ever need to get tyres fitted in their mobile unit. I was very impressed – give them a try next time you’re thinking of getting tyres changed, but check their website first as they may not supply your area.

The Deutschnine kit isn’t for the faint-hearted and requires an amount of skill and patience to get it right – but when it is done it looks fantastic. It even saves a fair bit of weight for those very important

track days out.

Below is a quick guide on how to remove the old lights and fit the new ones. First, have a good look around the front end of your 944 and locate as many of the bolts as possible before you start, to make the job easier.

Also, be prepared not to have the car back on the road for at least a day (depending how fussy you are).

Remove the front panel to reveal the air filter, which I’m sure every 944 owner will have done once or twice.

Once this is done, you can start removing the whole lighting system.

This is quite simple – only a few bolts here and there, along with the pivot brackets, two on each headlight with three bolts on each. With this all out of the way, it’s time for the fussy bit.

You will need to remove the bushes from the old headlight brackets. These will be brittle – I heated mine up and they came out a lot easier. Next glue

these bushes into your new headlight buckets, as shown below.

You will need to drill three holes in each bucket so you can install the headlights. The springs on the back of the headlights may be a little too big, so cut them down. This will be your adjustment on the headlights. Once you have this sorted, it’s time to give those buckets a good

It’s always good to have the correct tools. We are using Laser products, as seen here, and the ideal kit to use would consist of a socket set, screwdriver set and some rachet spanners to get in those small gaps

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rub down and a coat of matt black paint.

Before fitting these to the original pivot brackets and bolting them up to the car, you will have to cut a small grove in the front panel where the bottom of the headlight bucket sits.

You are supplied with an L-shaped bracket which needs to be bolted underneath the bucket, as this acts as your height adjustment. As soon as they are at the right height, glue them in place.

Now all you need to do is secure the covers – make sure they all line up to your satisfaction before sticking these in place and then you are done.

Now on to the wrap.

We took the 944 down to Carbon Wrapz in Southampton. Dave was

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very helpful and gave us a rundown over the phone of the different things we might need – such as a simple colour change in either gloss or matt, a metallic or colour change vinyl or a carbon effect for the bonnet or roof. Then you arrange a time slot for the job at their premises.

The 944 would be left in the unit overnight, so it can dry thoroughly.

Application time for a full professional wrap is approximately two days.

For bonnets or roof it’s roughly 1.5 hours.

Once the guys have the car, they give it a threestage clean using specialised products formulated by the material supplier to ensure the vinyl adheres properly, especially in the recesses.

Once cleaned, they strip all of the parts that need to be removed, such as the wing mirrors, door handles, lights and any trim – this enables them to apply the wrap behind them, giving a better finish.

Next they measure each panel, cut the required amount of vinyl off the roll and, using a combination of experience, skill and heat, they literally stretch and wrap the vinyl around the panel squeezing the air out as they go.

Once applied, they trim neatly and fold around any edges, heating it afterwards to seal it. This process is continued on each and every panel until the whole vehicle is wrapped. They will then wrap any pieces of trim and refit them. Once

completed, they cleaned the 944 and gave me a call to tell me it was ready.

Dave advised me that cleaning the car is as normal, but they do not recommend jet washes.

If you ever want to sell the car, the wrap can be removed, leaving no residue and the original paintwork unmarked and left in the same state it was in before it got wrapped which, in my case, was a mess. The wrap has helped, so that won’t be removed unless I want a new paint job! PW

Loving the new-look 944S2.

Just a cage to go now. Help!

CONTACTS

www.fullertyres.co.uk Tel: 01483 755445 www.deutschnine.com The GTS headlight conversion at £483.96 Email: sales@deutschnine.com Tel:+44 (0) 1625 525434 www.carbonwrapz.co.uk The full wraps are from £900.

Bonnets and roofs from £110 each Email: info@carbonwrapz.co.uk Tel: 023 80 388522 www.lasertools.co.uk for the tools used here. Typical prices: Socket set £121.06 Short rachet set £25.28 Screwdriver set £28

BILSTEIN Damptronic Plug & Play!

At last a TRUE suspension upgrade for Porsche cars fitted with PASM. The Bilstein Damptronic Suspension Kit is the only upgrade that is completely compatible with the vehicle’s current electronic systems.

B16 Damptronic features • Ability to switch rapidly from normal to sport settings • Adjustable lowering between 30-50 mm both front & rear • Road-tested and fine tuned by BILSTEIN engineers • German TÜV approved • Lifetime warranty*

APPLICATION 911 (997)

04-

RRP inc VAT

Carrera 3.6/3.8

£2569.99

Carrera 4 3.6/3.8 (inc Turbo)

£2619.50

GT2/GT3 3.6/3.8

£2985.99

Boxster (987)

04-

2.7/3.2/3.4

£2404.50

Cayman

05-

2.7/3.4

£2404.50

For details of the complete range of Bilstein Dampers and Suspension Kits contact your nearest Porsche specialist AUTOFARM 01865 331234 www.autofarm.co.uk

DESIGN 911 020 8500 8811 www.design911.com

JAZ 020 8903 1118 www.jazweb.co.uk

PROMAX 01296 714856 www.promaxmotorsport.com

THE PORSCHESHOP 01215 856088 www.porscheshop.co.uk

BERLYN SERVICES 01271 866818 www.partsforporsche.co.uk

GT-ONE 01932 569911 www.gt-one.co.uk

NORTHWAY PORSCHE 01189 714333 www.northway.co.uk

STRASSE 01132 340911 www.strasse.co.uk

TYPE 911 020 8402 8424 www.type911shop.co.uk

* Lifetime warranty is limited to the original purchaser

0845 850 7124 Email: sales@bilstein.co.uk or visit www.bilstein.de

*Prices correct at time of going to press and are subject to change at any time.

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