Welcome to my documentation of the buildup of my 1988 Porsche 924S into a 944 Spec racecar.  
	Having more time than money lately, I decided to occupy the months in between big purchases 
	with a journal of my progress.  Personally I’ve followed many other build-ups online and 
	following their lead, you will find mine here.  This collection of my experiences is fueled
	mostly by my boredom at work; in keeping with that theme, and low budget of this project, 
	this site is built and maintained using only Microsoft Photo Editor, Paint and Notepad.  
	Enjoy!

	The car:
	I had been searching for months.  I knew what I was looking for, but just couldn’t find it.  
	Let me rephrase that.  I could find it, all over the place, but not for the price I was 
	willing to pay.  I couldn’t justify a $2500-4000 purchase to just rip the interior out, 
	throw all most of the old suspension bits and then probably bang it up my first time out.  
	Oddly enough, my car found me – sort of.  I found an ’83 944 beater on eBay in my area at 
	a yard full of donated cars, so I went to check it out.  It looked like an East coast car 
	and when I asked to fire it up, they said they would get the jumper cables.  I told them 
	don’t bother.  Even at $500 this car was going to be too much work to make it worth it.  
	They told me they had another “944” in back which turned out to be my 924S.  The paint was 
	decent, the interior was in surprisingly good shape and it ran, though not very well.  Good 
	thing for me 924’s don’t get much attention on eBay, since I was able to “steal” the car for 
	$1125.  Not bad at all, especially since it’s an ’88!      

	I limped the car home and the first weekend, took a closer look at it.  It had about two 
	quarts too many in the crankcase, the power steering pump was hanging on by one half 
	threaded bolt, the drivers side door window glass was in the trunk and the center console 
	was non-existent.  But I saved the best for last – I pulled the plugs and found this:

	    
	

 	The oil on the paper towel was only from plugs 1 and 4, on the threads and all over the 
	electrodes.  I’m not an engine builder, but I’m pretty sure that is not a good sign.  I 
	thought the worst for sure.  Was it the rings?  Was it the valve guides?  Blown headgasket?  
	Aliens flying down at night and dumping used motor oil in plug holes?  A compression test 
	showed fairly even numbers, so I thought I’d just replace the plugs and put a couple hundred 
	miles on it, then re-inspect.  So I did just that.  It ran well, didn’t smoke and upon a later 
	inspection of the plugs, didn’t show much oil at all.  Odd huh?  My best guess is the previous 
	owner tried a wet compression test (using FAR too much oil and old sludgy oil at that) and 
	wasn’t pleased with the numbers.  But donate it just because of that?  Something just isn’t 
	adding up…

	Then I opened the glovebox and found that it did add up, literally.  I found a gas station 
	repair shop receipt totaling over $1800 for the following: new water pump, coolant hoses, 
	timing belt, balance shaft belt, front engine seals and rewired fans.  SCORE!  The mileage on 
	the receipt showed only 4000 miles ago.  DOUBLE SCORE!  To add insult to injury, the car didn’t 
	pass smog and it became apparent that someone broke into the car and stole the radio, amp(s) and 
	sub(s) from the previous owner.  Now I know why he donated it…      

	His loss.  My first smog check showed good numbers, except for oxides of Nitrogen.  She’s running 
	a bit lean it appears.  Silicone vacuum lines from Lindsey Racing and a new O2 sensor seemed to 
	do the trick, since my free retest showed that the mixture richened up a bit and lowered my NO 
	numbers to passing levels.  I also didn’t get the engine as hot for the retest, which may have 
	lowered my NO numbers as well, though only slightly.  Two trips to the DMV later (long story) and 
	she’s mine, officially.  

	I bought a new window regulator and motor, after blowing a whole box of fuses thinking it was a 
	problem with the switches and installed the glass and door panel.  My brother lent his center 
	console and I found a matching cassette tray in the trunk, under the door panel.  Now looking like 
	a car again, I had an important decision to make: bite the bullet and gut the car or sell it, now 
	in decent condition and smogged, for much more than I paid for it.  

	Not helping my decision to keep the car was a huge spin on an off-ramp during a “test” run.  No 
	damage thankfully, but I was less than impressed with the handling of the car.  Before you write me 
	a harshly-worded email, please read on.  On the way home I realized I zigged when I should have 
	zagged, or more appropriately lifted when I should have stayed in the throttle.  Old dampers and 
	crappy tires didn’t help either though.  Now that I’ve been driving more and shaking my bad 
	front-wheel drive habits, the car has been very neutral and a blast to roll on the throttle mid-apex.  
	It’s a shame I won’t get to drive it again for months.  See the installment links for the current 
	progress of the car.