Porsche 944: Actually there is a substitute

[sparkydog]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Really enjoy seeing how you tackle all these issues. I think my 3lb sledge would have been over worked by now.

Thanks as always!

Here is the aluminum adapter plate and ECU#1 mounted up.

[sparkydog]

Time for another one of my "make it several times" updates. A while back I was roaming the wrecking yard and stumbled across a domestic car with a battery under the rear seat. I thought I was finished with my 944 but this car (early 00's Buick Lesabre) had a really cool wire raceway and clean looking fuse block. So... out came the cutting tools, MIG and scrap steel. In went a new fuse block, a slightly modified cable raceway and a big chunk of the Lesabre wire harness.

[sparkydog]

I also took the Lesabre's main battery leads. For the negative side I found a place that had enough meat in the body that it would make a good grounding point and fabbed/welded in the main ground lug.

For the positive side I ran the Lesabre cable up the inside of the 944's rocker panel and up into the engine bay where I will have a junction block/jump start node. (no pics)

For the main ground from the starter to the chassis I had to make my first crimp of a large lug - so I fabbed up a simple crimp jig for use in my vice.

[sparkydog]

Also a battery hold-down bracket (which took 2 versions before I was happy). The first pic is of a rather complex setup I had in order to create the "hooks" for the clamp bracket to be able to grab under the lip of my battery tray. So far, so good.

[Overdriven]

Very cool build. Took me 2 days to go through the whole thing!

You may have answered these questions by now but I’ll go ahead anyway. All Mustang 8.8’s have the pumpkin off center and use different length axles on each side. Aerostar and Ranger 8.8’s I believe are also unequal side to side but, one side is equal to one of the sides of the Mustang 8.8 Rear. So if you get the proper side Aerostar or Ranger axle you can shorten one side of a Mustang 8.8 and make it equal on both sides. Or just get an Exploder 8.8 which I believe is equal on both sides. Either way you’re cutting off the axle mounts and relocating them unless you go with a stock Mustang 8.8 rear.

Not sure if that info helps you at all but the rear axle should not be directly inline with the trans either way. Something about keeping the ujoints happy, I forget the specifics for that one. Ford centered the engines and offset the rear to achieve this though.

[sparkydog]

Thanks Overdriven! All photos thus far are showing the 7.5 rear end that was a consequence of my not understanding Mustang options properly. But an update to the rear end is coming soon. My motor is already about 3/4" off center and the tunnel will be widened soon to accommodate the famous asymmetric 8.5 geometry.

[sparkydog]

Speaking of my rear end.. well not my rear end but the 944's rear end, I thought I would try and write down my current thoughts on what I will be doing with the 944.

First a recap - when I bought my donor Mustang I believed I was getting an 8.8 LS but I did not understand my Mustang lore and therefore what I have now is an open diff 7.5. It is also a 4 link and from the factory this design has numerous handling flaws (depending on who you talk to and what your goals are). My diff is also a 2.75 ratio and I would prefer something in the 3.25 area. Since my donor was a 96 model it means that my track widths are 60" +/- front and 59" +/- rear. In summary, my current 7.5 rear is wrong for several reasons - so no matter what I have to spend $$'s to undo the consequences of my bad donor selection.

Since my power goals are modest I could probably keep the 7.5 and it would survive 300ish hp just fine. I can convert it to limited slip and a better gear ratio for $300-$500. But for that same money I can get an end-to-end 8.8 pullout from the wrecking yard with ls, correct ratio and the extra set of disc brakes that would come along for the ride. And here's where it gets interesting - I could also probably get a more modern version (early 2005ish/S197) 8.8 and it would be a 3-link instead of a 4-link.

If I did go this route and get the more modern 3-link then I have a couple of consequences: first the rear track width would increase to 62.5 +/- and second I would have some amount of redo/mods I would need to make to the mounting points on the chassis. I say this just based on photos of the Mustang 3-link and it looks like the LCA geometry is wider than the 4-link version and the top link would need a new bracket fabbed into the 944.

Because I'm a glutton for rework/redo I'm leaning toward getting the 2004+ 5th gen Mustang 3-link version. Does anyone know their Mustang suspension lore enough to know if I've got this right? I'm kind of leery of my own ability to research stuff properly given my current track record...

[Palf70Step]

What's the fun of building it "right" the first time?

[sparkydog]

Does anyone think this is not OK? I will not be able to access the pressure cap on the radiator because it will be buried under the nose metal of the 944. For major filling I will undo the return hose and to the major filling through it. For top-offs I will use the expansion tank cap.

[Palf70Step]

Definitely not an engineer, but looks like it will work. I have see other vehicles where the only thing that was easy access was the expansion tank.

[67ChevyRedneck]

I don't think cars built in the last 10+ years even have caps anymore. My 2000 and 2015 Silverados don't. They all fill from the expansion tank.

[Jim 383]

There are thermostat housings that have filler caps built in if your plan doesn't work. Fill at the highest point in the system.

[95 S_Trucker]

You could also look at an upper radiator hose for a 2001ish Dodge Durango with a 4.7. It has the radiator cap in the upper radiator hose.

I followed your first build and I'm really liking this one too.

[sparkydog]

Excellent suggestion! As you can tell I like collecting bits of tech off other vehicles!

[95 S_Trucker]

I just happened to have one in the shop yesterday.

[Palf70Step]

I have always been told to make sure the normal level of the radiator full, needs to be higher than the highest point of the engine so you don't get air pockets in the engine. Not sure if the expansion tank, by your drawing, counts in that height level rule.

Love watching your work.

[sparkydog]

Trans bracket 3.0 This will be it - I'm not making any more versions!
The last picture shows the area to the left of the trans where the cat converter will eventually live and how trans bracket 3.0 isn't blocking the eventual route of the exhaust pipe down and out past the end of the transmission.

[sparkydog]

Next up is the starter circuit wiring. I created a little area behind the right strut tower for a place to be able to jump start the car without having to dive behind the seats to get to the battery. Also shown is my version of CAD. In this case "Commute Aided Design". This is where I dream up an idea while I'm commuting and then draw a sketch of it when I get out of the car. Some of the ideas stick and others don't. In this case I could not find an off the shelf jump start post that I liked so I ended up turning some simple black nylon parts on the lathe at work.

[sparkydog]

So then I went to try and bump the starter and got... nuthin!

In this picture I have +12v at the big post at the top of the starter. My engine ground is to the right where the starter bolt goes into the block. This cable then goes over to the frame. Then I hooked my remote start switch to the +12v big post and then the little post on the solenoid. Prior to doing this I verified that the start switch works. But once hooked up on the car nothing happens when I squeeze the switch. No clicks, no smoke, no bueno.

What am I doing wrong guys?

[sparkydog]

I figured out my issues trying to get the starter to bump. Nothing that cleaning all the grounds, actually tightening the starter mount bolts and getting a healthy battery couldn't fix!

[Palf70Step]

Sounds good. Glad you got it worked out. My brain was having issues thinking of something you hadn't account for.

[sparkydog]

Between scampering around dodging fires at home and work - I managed to get some more fabbery going. I mimicked the 944 shift boot ring but made a bigger one that would allow the shifter for the T5 to come out the top.

I also created some clearance pockets for the radiator.

[sparkydog]

A couple more.

[sparkydog]

Continuing along with the fabrication of the radiator mounting.
The first set of pics is making the bottom bracket - or what passes for a lower core support.

[sparkydog]

And then the two tubes that will become the posts onto which the bottom bracket will mount. The pics also show the little intricate pieces that became the ends of the bottom bracket. They allow the Ford radiator rubber grommets to sit into the bracket.