So You Bought a 944 June 22, 2019
Posted by kewlhunter in Technology, cool, Driving, New Car, Porsche, 944 turbo, 944.add a comment
What Do I need to Do First?
First take a deep breath and let it soak in that you now own one of the greatest handling cars ever made. It is a car that was the benchmark for many other cars, like the RX7 because it was seen as the best of it kind at the time. The connection to the road is unlike most cars, and something most people have never experienced before, and it allows the driver to feel, in a more analogue way, the joy of driving, whether that is using momentum in a NA(normally aspirated) or having a blast in the turbo, which is still a very fast car despite it’s age(and can easily be modified to be even faster). So first thing is pull up a chair and just look at your gorgeous car.
First Things First
Some things should be done straight away, and if the car has no service history, some of these should be done before even turning over the motor, especially for cars that have been left sitting for many years. The engines in 944’s are what are known as an interference motor, and so if the timing belts break, the valves will hit the pistons and do expensive damage, and hence the importance of resisting the temptation to start her up and see what she will do. So first thing is to find out when belts were last replaced and if unknown, then replace the before trying to start the car. Most owners replace the water pump with every second belt change as it is easier to do when the belts are off, so this should also be done at the same time if not known. So first thing to do is replace the timing belts and water pump unless you have documentation to show they have been done in last 3-4 years or 40,000 miles, which is considered by most a good point to replace them. Many people go longer but as it is a Porsche and an engine rebuild uses Porsche parts, it pays to be cautious.
The next must do is replace the fuel lines in the engine bay. These sit above the exhaust headers and so any leak will be catastrophic. Personally this is a no brainer. It is not expensive, by Porsche standards, and several vendors sell new kits that will give you years of worry free driving. Things to consider doing at same time are fuel filter, and I upgraded my fuel pump to a high volume pump available from Lindsay racing. Cleaning or replacing the fuel strainer in the tank is also a good idea, if car has been sitting.
Obviously giving the car a good service including new plugs, rotor, cap, and leads, and an oil change and new oil filter, make sense too. I also think changing the transmission and braking system fluids, is a good idea while you are in there. Repacking the grease in CV joints too, especially if car as been sitting
If car has been sitting it is probably a good idea to get fuel injectors rebuilt or at a minimum cleaned and inspected.
Other Things to do
Solid State DME Relay
These cars use an electro-mechanical relay(DME relay) in the ignition circuit, and for many years experienced owners always carried a couple of spares in the glove box, as when they fail you are stranded. You can jerry rig a couple of wires or even a paper clip to get yourself going, MacGyver style, but a few years ago, a very clever guy designed a solid state relay to replace the normal one, and it eliminates the need to worry about this issue permanently. This to me is another no brainer. I had my relay fail, replaced it and still the car wouldn’t start, replaced it with another and still wouldn’t start but luckily I had another that got the car going. I was a beta tester for these relays so have had mine for many years. They are available at Focus9 website You can buy either a pump prime that turns on fuel pump straight away so is meant to make starting easier, but I happily use the standard version.
Engine Harnesses
The engine management system known as the DME uses 2 sensors called the speed and reference sensors, that have usually been replaced several times during the life of the car, so the wiring to the connector on this is usually a lot newer than the car but the harness that goes from the connector back to the the DME is as old as the car and due to the high heat in the engine bay, has usually deteriorated. With my car, when the car wouldn’t start, I eventually found out I could jiggle the harness to get it going. I replaced it with the harness available from Lindsey Racing I also bought the fuel injector harness at the same time and when checking that, it literally broke in my hand, so I was glad I had bought both. I highly recommend replacing the DME harness but doing the injector harness and others makes sense. One of the most common questions seen from new owners are related to “no start” issues
Other Things to consider
The DME is very old now, so can cause problems, and you can buy a solid state one from Focus 9 at a reasonable price. You can also completely replace it with a more modern option called VEMS that is almost plug and play (just needs a map sensor fitted to intake) and also available in a stealth model, that will update the electronics to a much more modern reliable set up that is unlimited in what can be done, from running different fuel like E85, to larger fuel injectors, or upgrading to a newer turbo. It is fully tuneable and has a very handy auto tune function that will tune the car as you drive, so no need for expensive dyno time, although you can get even more out of it with a god tuner and a dyno. It is available here VEMS
VEMS can be accessed via a laptop with blue tooth and gives full control over the ignition system and is a fully fledged stand alone engine management system although it plugs into the factory harness, so is much cheaper than going for a complete stand alone, that would require expert installation, tuning, and basically a new harness to be custom built.
A complete new complete engine harness is also available form Kroon that is better than what we got from the factory.
Making Her Nicer
I fitted these really nice door sill trims to mine. Search for Frank Zappa on Facebook in Porsche 944 no spam group, or Premier 944 Turbo group.
I highly recommend joining both groups as lots of great people in the community with a wealth of knowledge who are incredibly generous sharing that knowledge
Is The Porsche Cayman GT4 the modern successor to the Porsche 944 Turbo ??? March 22, 2016
Posted by kewlhunter in Technology.add a comment
As my loyal readers know, I have owned a gorgeous Porsche 944 Turbo for over 5 years now. The reason I can afford it is because it was shunned by the Porsche “Purests” who at the time of it’s release often stated that it wasn’t a real Porsche, afterall it wasn’t rear engined, it was water cooled and it’s predecessor the 924(from which it evolved) was seen as a bitza, using parts from Audi, Mercedes, VW and of course Porsche. They over look the fact it was completely designed by Porsche. I would like to thank them because if they knew what I know, then the 944 turbo would have been way too expensive for me to be able to afford. God bless you, one and all 🙂
The 924 was originally designed by Porsche to replace the 914 and 914/6, which was a joint venture from Porsche and VW, and sold under both brands badges. VW decided at the last minute to pull out and go with their own designed Golf. Porsche deccided to buy the rights from VW and still release the car as a Porsche. The 944 replaced the 924 and used an all Porsche designed 2.5 litre engibe, that was basically half of the engine used in the V8 928.
By the time the 944 was made, even Porsche were promoting the fact it was actually a real Porsche, and in fact was equal with the 928, being the first real 100% Porsche designed car from go to whoa. The 944 Turbo came along and it was actually the first production Porsche to actually be born on the race track. Porsche built some hot 924’s that they took to Le Mans, and infact the cars were driven to the race track, one ended up 6th outright(winning it’s class too) and then driven back to the factory. This was where the 944 turbo was born. The engine was a turbo 2.5 4 cyclinder (although not indentical as was 16 valve), that elvolved into the 944 turbo engine. The suspension, balance, brakes etc all became what was basically was used in the 944 turbo production car. The turbo charger was the biggest Porsche had ever fitted to a production car.
The car was legendary for it’s near perfect balance and handling, and was actually put down by pursits as being too easy to drive, as an OK driver could drive it very near it’s limits, unlike the 911 that was only able to be pushed near it’s limits by the very talented or the very brave…or very stupid but the stupid and brave often got bitten badly if their skill wasn’t up to the cars capabilities. The turbo 911 of the era was dubbed the widow maker for a very good reason.
So we have this RWD, front engined, manual only, perfectly balanced car, with amazing handling, great brakes, incredible feel through the wheel and seats of the pants, car, that was shunned at the time, as it was perceived(wrongly IMO) as not being a real Porsche. Derek Bell who was one the drivers at Le Mans in the 924, still owns a version and has said many times it is one of the greatest handling cars of all time. Road and Track magazine in 1984 said the 944 was the greatest handling car in America available at the time, and voted it the 10 best handling cars of all time.
Now as an owner of a 944 turbo I find it difficult to explain to anyone why the car is just the most amazing car to drive, as words will never do the sensations you feel justice. I drive many cars being in the car industry and to be honest no matter how good they are, they always just fall short of hat I get from my 944 turbo.
Now roughly 30 years later Porsche answers it’s customers, who have been voicing their desire for a true sports car that was a manual, not a clutchless auto PDK like all their current GT offerings. The Porsche Cayman GT4 is born. It is only available only in manual, is mid-engined(for amazing balance), fitted with GT3 suspension, the old GT3 3.8 litre engine(a beast), and has been globaly praised as probably the greatest sports car available today. Not the fastest, the highest top speed, but the best. It can pushed very close to it’s limits by ordinary drivers, it is incredibly fun to drive at more realistic speeds for most owners, that many supercars fail at, because their limits are ridiculously high.
Every bit of praise it gathers and every review I see, or read, I think wow that could have been said about the 944 turbo 30 years ago. So is the GT4 the true sucessor to the 944 turbo ???
Personally I think yes, and I also think that nothing inbetween these 2 cars(from Porsche) could be argued as coming close to what these cars bring to the table. Neither are 911’s and for some that is the only real Porsche which I understand, but I also think that it is their loss for havinga such a narrow minded view of what make a Porsche a Porsche.
My car is amazing and brings something to my life that is impossible to explain, and I think the new Cayman GT4 does exactly the same to the lucky owners who have one. I would love to own both and maybe one day I will but if that never happens I won’t really care, as my 944 turbo gives me more than I could hope for.
To me these are the Goldilocks cars, that are just right. Others will disagree and want to bring other cars into the mix but I have no interest in debating this and I am sure there are other great cars, but few could disagree(if they really know how good these cars are) that these 2 cars are something very secial indeed. The thing they share is what is lacking in so many other capable cars, and that is soul.
Ebay Find:- Orignal release FEIT kicks August 3, 2014
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Well a few weeks ago I was trawling ebay when I decided to search for my favourite brand of kicks *FEIT*. Much to my surprise there were a couple of kicks for sale and amazingly they were in my size and very cheap. When I saw the listing I noticed they were unworn, and new with tags. I promptly ordered both styles.
Now for those of you who don’t know the brand FEIT(pronounced fight), it was started back in 2005 by the Australian brothers Josh and Tull Price. Tull had earlier ha
d a lot of success with a brand he started back in 1996 with a friend he went to school with Rodney Alder. That brand was Royal Elastics. They decided to replace laces with an elastic panel and by 2001 they were selling around 1 million kicks a year, in 35 countries. Although by any standards Royal Elastic was a massive success it didn’t represent what Tull was passionate about, and that was quality, craftsmanship, and sustainability.
FEIT was born out of a desire to produce high quality shoes using traditional methods and high quality materials. This meant the shoes would be built to last, offer incredible comfort, and be an antidote to the mass-produced low quality shoes that have dominated the market for some time. Now I am old enough to remember my parents getting shoes re-soled at the local cobbler.
Macro Greens and Miracle Reds Super Foods March 7, 2013
Posted by kewlhunter in Health food, Shopping Online, Technology.Tags: cool, coolest, Health food, iherb.com, kewl, Macro Greens, Miracle Reds, Super food
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Macro Greens and Miracle Reds
I was watching an episode of The Doctors when one of the Doctors mentioned that just about the best thing you could do for your health was to drink a smoothy with Macro Greens in it. I decided to try some and bought some from a local website. I immediately noticed a difference and have been having it daily now for about 3 months now, and cannot recommend it highly enough.
I have increased energy levels, and generally feel a lot healthier. Before I tried it I wouldn’t have believed that one drink a day could have such a noticeable effect.. The Macro Greens nutrient rich super food is made by MacroLife Nutrients, and when I was looking for them I found out none of my local health food shops stocked them. I went online and found an Australian site that had them. They also had another product from the same company called Miracle Reds, which they call a cardio antioxidant super food.
I decided to order both and am glad I did if for no other reason than the Miracle Reds add a nice berry flavour to my smoothy, and no doubt are also contributing to my feeling of being healthier since taking them both daily.
I bought Macro Greens and Miracle Reds in 284.5gram(10 oz) containers, that hold about 30 servings, and although happy with the results, I was not happy with the cost of buying them this way. So I did a bit of googling and found that iherb.com had both Macro Greens and Miracle Reds in larger 90 serve 850gram (30oz) packs and at a much cheaper price than anywhere else I found. Shipping was very cheap too, as I was spending over the $60 threshold that gets free shipping in the US and much cheaper international shipping, iherb.com ended up being so much cheaper, that I was virtually getting the larger packs for only a few dollars more than the smaller packs from the local website
The Macro Greens and Miracle Reds arrived a lot quicker too. The local site took about 10 days but iherb.com got them to me in a few days, and with much cheaper shipping charges. I couldn’t be happier with the pricing and speedy delivery from iherb.com and would highly recommend their site for all you health food needs Click Here
IPTV on a SONY Bravia KDL46HX820 January 12, 2012
Posted by kewlhunter in 3D, 3D Glasses, 3D TV, Computer, cool, IPTV, kewl, LED LCD TV, Movies, Online, Sony, tech, Technology, Television, TV, Video.Tags: Computer, cool, coolest, gadget, kewl, Sony, tech, Technology, Television, Video
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IPTV on a SONY Bravia KDL46HX820
Normally I go out and buy the stuff I review here, but this review is a little different. This time, the good people at Sony were incredibly generous, and loaned me a TV for a few weeks, to review the IPTV functionality (if I decided wanted too). The review is meant to be just about IPTV butI have to let you know about the TV too, as it was a fantastic piece of technology.
IPTV
I am guessing most people are thinking to themselves *what the heck is IPTV when it’s at home ?* IPTV is just TV or Video content, that arrives via an internet stream, rather than over the air, like traditional *free to air* that we have had for years, arriving via an antenna on our roofs.
One thing that separates SONY’s IPTV from many other IPTV offerings from other brands, is the depth of the content. Many brands of TV have IPTV functionality, but when you dig below the funky interface, there is little content. That’s a bit like having a great audio system but not having any music.
It’s very clear Sony have gone to a lot of trouble to not only provide first rate IPTV functionality, but also to secure a lot of content. When I reviewed the TV I had access to well over 20 channels of IPTV content, and that list is growing all the time, with SONY planning to add more and more channels over time.
One of the great uses of IPTV is to provide catch up TV services(this is when a TV station makes programs that have already been aired, available to be streamed via the internet). I made use of these several times. When faced with typical Melbourne bad weather day, instead of being stuck with just Daytime TV to watch, I was able to stream some great Documentary’s, I had missed when they were broadcast on free to air TV in the weeks prior.
Now these same catch up TV services are often available directly on your computer, but SONY has done deals with the TV channels to get a higher quality streams, from different servers, that look great even on a massive 46″ TV, like SONY had loaned to me. These same services, when watched a on a small laptop screen, can often only be viewed in a small 3″ window, as going full screen can make them unwatchable.
SONY also has IPTV channels for everything from dining, travel, fashion, movie previews, to how to channels and even a wiggles channel for the kids. Some of these have a lot of content while some are a bit thin, but no doubt these will be added too, over time.
SONY also has what’s known as Video on demand services too. So when you want to watch a movie, instead of jumping in the car and heading to the video store, you simply select it from the screen(you can even preview it), and watch it in HD(high definition) or SD(standard definition). The HD movies are perfect but an SD movie I watch had a little noise. It wasn’t a problem, and was perfectly watchable, but IMO it is worth paying the extra for the HD version.
THE TV
Well the first thing I have to say about this TV is WOW! This 200Hz LED/LCD TV has a stunning picture. The colours are incredibly faithful with really deep blacks and fantastic contrast. This TV uses SONY’s Opti-contrast LCD panel, and it is the one used in all their high end TV’s, and it is a clear step up from their entry level TV’s.
The TV has built in wi-fi, which is really handy for most people, to access not only IPTV content but also to the pictures, and video’s on you PC’s, on the same network. The technology behind this is called DLNA. DLNA is just a way for lots of devices to be able to share media across a network. These can be everything from TV’s, PC’s, audio systems, to HDD’s or mobile phones.
The TV is a 200Hz model, and although I am not convinced anyone can see any difference over 100Hz (unless you use a test disc), it certainly can’t do any harm. The TV is also 3D, and although many people aren’t that excited by 3D, the fact movie makers like Scorsese and Speilberg are now making 3D movies, suggests to me, it is here to stay. The TV even comes with 2 pairs of 3D glasses.
If you are after a great TV then the HX820 is hard to go past, just in picture quality alone. The IPTV in this and most SONY TV’s is just icing on the cake, and really does give you a few more options of content to watch. IPTV clearly isn’t designed to replace free to air or cable TV but is a great adjunct to the services we already have, and well worth the effort SONY has clearly put into making it a success.
I could go into the technical features of the TV like local dimming etc but the great thing about this TV, is that you just need to look at the picture to see how good it really is. You don’t need to be an expert.
Alpine INA-W900 February 21, 2011
Posted by kewlhunter in Alpine, camera, Car, cell phone, cool, Driving, gadget, Hands Free Kit, Iphone, kewl, Music, Sat Nav, sound, Sound System, Technology, Video.Tags: Alpine, Car Audio, CD, cool, coolest, Drivng, DVD, gadget, Iphone, kewl, mobile phone, MP3, Music, Sat nav, Sound System, tech, Technology, Video
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Alpine INA-W900
The Alpine INA-W900
I have run the iPhone
2010 in review January 2, 2011
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The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
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SONY DSC-HX5V Compact Camera December 8, 2010
Posted by kewlhunter in camera, cool, Sony, tech, Technology.Tags: camera, compact camera, cool, coolest, digital imaging, dsc-hx5v, gadget, kewl, photography, Sony, tech, Technology, Video
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SONY DSC-HX5V Compact Camera
I got this marvel of photography just before my trip to the World Cup in South Africa, and it was the perfect travel camera. The quality of the images are just superb.
DSC-HX5V
That’s not surprising as Sony DSC-HX5V 
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KewlHunter.com cracks 1000 visits a month December 2, 2010
Posted by kewlhunter in cool, gadget, kewl, tech, Technology.Tags: blog, blogging, cool, coolest, gadget, kewl, tech, Technology
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KewlHunter.com cracks 1000 visits
When I first started this humble Blog, I was stoked to get 40 vistors in its first month. I couldn’t believe that more than one person a day was reading my posts. Last month I had over a 1000 visits, so I thought I should celebrate this minor milestone with a short post :). I guess I am not the only one who is into cool stuff. I still have a million things I want to write about, so I will keep you all updated, as I go.
I would like to thank all of you who have taken the time to visit my site and read my posts, and I hope that you continue to come back, and stay abreast of all that is cool in the world. I never expected to see the growth in this site, that I have, and that is all down to you, my readers. Again thank you
If you have ideas for an article or need any extra information about anything I write about, please don’t hesitate in contacting me, and you can also add me on twitter and face book to keep updated with my latest posts, and don’t forget to tell all your friends about my little blog
Peace
The Kewl Hunter
Monster Jamz In Ear Headphones November 22, 2010
Posted by kewlhunter in cool, DJ, DJ equipment, Ear Buds, gadget, headphones, hip hop, kewl, Music, sound, sound production, tech, Technology.Tags: cool, ear buds, gadget, in ear head phones, kewl, Monster, Monster Jamz, Music, Portable Audio, sound, sound production, tech, Technology
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Monster Jamz In Ear Headphones
I was fortunate enough to win these in a competition and although initially I was a little disappointed, as competition was for some Dr Dre headphones, and thats what I thought I had won. These Monster Jamz Headphones are what I had actually won. Once I got over my sadness of not owning the Dre’s (I have heard only good things about), I had a look at what I had in my hot little hands.
