06x03 & 06x04 - Porsche 944 Turbo (Part 1 & 2)

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to Wheeler
Dealers. We find crumbling

classic cars in need of
a second chance, and

we bring them back
up to the scratch. I find

the motors, and I fix
them up. We've got a

budget of just £5,000 to buy and restore a
car. And we must make a profit when we sell

it on. This time we're on the trail of one
of the most usable sports cars of the 80s.

It's the iconic
Porsche 944. This is a

supercar that symbolised
a booming 80s British

economy. At the equivalent of 40 gram plus,
it was out of reach for all but loaded city

types. Keen drivers have always loved this
car. Underneath that svelte exterior beats

the heart of a fine
handling and hard driving

machine. The 944
delivers superb build quality,

decent practicality and
durable lusty engines.

The range includes 2.5
and 3 litre motors and

a fire breathing turbo variant with up to


with production running through to the 90s.
Let's see what sort of 944 we can bag with.

Now used Porsche 944s
are a performance car

dream. They're cheap,
they're solid, they're

reliable, they go like stink. You can pick
up a Porsche 944 for just a grand, but this

is a dangerous game.
If the mechanics or body

are too far gone, you
can spend a fortune

putting it right. So I'm getting absolutely
nowhere going through that magazine. What

I need is I need to
refer to the Internet.

That way I can look at
some Internet auction

sites and through some
hobby sites and hopefully

find a car that needs
a little bit of work.

Right a 3 ads site has thrown up this car.
It looks really interesting. It's a 1987

Porsche 944 finished in red. It looks like
a turbo on the pictures and the pictures

look quite great actually.
Down one side it's

nice and neat. On the
other side unfortunately

it's had a bit of a ding. The guy's lost it
on the ice and he's slid into a lamppost.

He says the damage isn't that bad, but
I think it's well worth a look. It looks

like something Ed could repair. You know
it's all well and good seeing the pictures

of this car on the Internet, but I really
need to see it in the flesh just to see

how bad the damage really is. Well this
is the one. Porsche 944 finished in red.

Looks alright then. It's got the sunroof,
got the nice big alloy wheels, old boot

spoiler, nice and straight round the back.
Oh look at this, very nice. Oh except for

that nasty red cover on the steering wheel,
but the interior looks alright. But things

are worse than I expected at the front.
The damage is quite severe because we've.

lost a wing, we've lost a hand lamp and
the motor, we've lost a bumper and a front

valance and all of that comes to a fair
few quid and I think there's probably a

better one out there for me. So like an
old Wheeler dealer I'm going to walk away.

This 944 is a category
D write off. Even though it

will probably fetch just a
few hundred quid on auction,

it will need more than
double that on repairs.

And the fixed up motor
won't be worth much

more. With such slim profits on
offer, this one isn't working for me.

Now this one looks
pretty tasty. It's a 944

Turbo finished in grey
and it looks actually

in really tidy condition.
If the pictures do

it any justice, well
I'm definitely, definitely

interested. The auction
ends very soon, which

means I'm not going
to get a chance to view

this car before bidding. So I'm going
to call the owner for more information.

So let me get this right, the car's a 944
Turbo with a private number plate with

a full Porsche service history.
This one sounds a real peach.

At the moment the car
I think is worth between

£4,000 and £5,000. It's
on an Internet auction

site and it's going at
the minute for £1,700.

It's bound to make
more money than that

because the car sounds fantastic.
But I'm going to have a little punt on it.

I'm keen to get this car but only at low
money. I don't want to get into a bidding

w*r so I'm using sniping software. This
legal programme will wait until the final

few seconds of the auction
and then automatically

put in my maximum bid.
And who knows, I might

have picked myself up a real bargain.
Let's see if I was the eventual winner of

the Porsche 944 Turbo. Yes! Wow! Not only
has the software performed the trick and

bought me that Porsche 944, I
bought it for 2,800 quid. Result!

I won my auction and
paid in full but I have a

couple of days to go
and collect. I can't wait!

Right now I'm hitting the road to Snowy
North London to go and see my new Porsche.

Now technically I've already paid for the
car so I've already bought it but as it's

an Internet deal, if it's not as
described then the deal's off.

Now I have bought cars in all weathers
but I can't remember the last time I bought

a car in so much snow and apparently it's
under there somewhere. Looks like a skidoo.

It's also worth checking that the vehicle's
documentation such as the logbook, MOT and

any service history also
match up to the vehicle.

Fantastic. Listen, you shouldn't hear
from me again unless there's a problem but

if there is I'll knock on the door. If not,
thank you very much. See what's underneath.

Checking out a car in
fixed note is not something

I would normally do.
You've got to clear all

the white stuff to
properly assess the motor.

Now look at this.
They said there's a little

scratch on the wing that's been touched
up before, accurately described, and there

it is. Let's have a look inside. Oh,
God, that's a real weighted retro interior.

Let's see what it starts. If it starts
on a cold day like today, it will always

start, so fingers crossed.
There you go. Oh, listen to it as well.

I tell you what, this
car's already starting

to talk to me and
there she is underneath.

Whoa, look at that. Spotlessly clean
underneath, K&N air filter, makes it breathe

a little bit easier, a bit more efficient.
The bloke who put this car on the Internet

auction site undersold it. It's mint, this
car, absolutely mint. There's no damage

on the balance. It's got a tiny scratch
on the wing, a little tear in the seat.

I hope it drives alright.
This Porsche Turbo has 220 brake horsepower

and to sample the
full experience, I need

to get it away from
these snowy back streets

to some faster, snow-free roads.
Everything seems okay. The oil pressure,

the water temperature, it's even
got some fuel in the petrol tank.

Everything is working beautifully.
The bar pressure on the Turbo is cracking.

I can't fault it, but if there was a
problem on a car like this, a Porsche,

well, at a cost of forging.
But it's not all good news.

The exhaust, it's got
the back of it missing.

There's that nasty hole
in the passenger seat.

and the air conditioning
doesn't appear to be working.

But other than that,
it's cracking this car.

So I carry on going
back to Ed's workshop

or do I decide that
it's not the car for us,

go back and ask me money.
Do you know what? I've made up my mind.

I'm keeping it. What a car.

And she's talking to me already. The speed.

The one thing I'm really enjoying
about this car is the thrill of the ride.

It's about the turbo. It's about
the grip you've got into the corners.

And I think the real fun in this car is
actually turning it into a track day car.

The 944's excellent engineering and superb
chassis make it an ideal track day car.

That's when you take
your fast motor onto a track

and give it a thrashing in
a controlled environment.

It's masses of fun and not too
expensive at around 150 quid a session.

I think we're going to make this car
even more sellable and a load more fun.

I mean it goes like a train now.
It'll just go like a bigger locomotive.

Ed, I'm on my way back.


That was legalised at best. I've nicked it.

That is very nice.
A showroom condition Porsche.

That is very good. 944 turbo.
Well done. That is awesome.

Really good car. I'm not so sure
about the sticker, to be honest.

Well, you know, I think possibly one of the
first things you've got to do to this car

is to remove the turbo stickers.

It's got like an original interior.
It's got the later dashboard.

It's got leather seats
and it's in really good Nick.

But the oddest cigarette burn.
It's a cigar burn, isn't it?

It is a cigar burn.
I reckon what happened is in the 80s

there would have been
some bloke in a white shirt,

red braces on going down the
road going, oh, yeah, Charles,

I just bought gold cougar and sugar coffee

and he's flicked his cigar
and it's damaged the seat.

There's something else, the exhaust. Okay.

Not a big problem.
The exhaust is just missing.

That's easy to fix. Easy to fix.

And there's a scratch
just there on the wing.

You could probably almost Polish that out.
It's not very deep, is it?

I'm getting worried now, so clearly

if that's all that's wrong with it so
far, it's obviously all the mechanicals.

The gearbox is sharp,
the engine doesn't work.

You know parts for these
things are really expensive.

Yeah, wait until you hear the engine.
Listen to this.

That sounds really, really good.

That's because there's
nothing wrong with it.

Okay, so we're saying just the front grill,

the seat, the exhaust and that scratch.

That's it. And don't forget
to remove the turbo sticker.

And the sticker.
Well, that'll be done by tomorrow morning.

So what's your cunning plan? Come on.

Go with me here. It's a bit controversial
because I know it's a really nice car

and it would be a car
that I'd love to restore,

but what about a track day car?

That is a wicked idea.

That is awesome.
They've got a roll cage, harnesses,

probably new suspension, lose some weight.

That'd be awesome.
It's such a cheap way to race.

What do you mean lose some weight?
Well, no, the car.

I don't know, make it faster.
That'd be wicked.

And they're worth a lot more
money actually once they're done.

I think it's going to be worth a fortune.

So you're up for that? Absolutely.

Take it apart. Let's get on with it.

I'll get it in a workshop.

We could turn in a profit on this car
right now, but it's worth thinking big.

As a prepared track day car, it
could sell for up to twice the price.

But it will need major modifications
and require expensive specialist parts.

So Ed's got to make
sure he gets this right.

I was on the hunt for a
sharp swanky supercar

to buy and restore
on our £5,000 budget.

And I picked up this pristine
Porsche 944 Turbo for just £2,800.

That was legal, I have to bet.
I'm nicked it.

We're taking this high
performance car to the next level.

What about a track day car?

That is a wicked idea.

But turning this motor into
a track day car isn't cheap.

First up, it will need a roll
cage and safety harnesses.

All these high performance
extras cost a fair bit of dosh.

Get to it, Ed.

I was quite surprised when
Mike rather uncharacteristically

turned up with a car that
only needed a few hours work.

But then he started to
explain his idea about turning

this brilliant 944 Turbo
into a track day car.

And then it all became clear.

What he gives with one hand,
he takes away with the other.

So we've now got a huge
amount of work to get through.

But I thought I'd be traditional
and start with safety first.

And that means a roll cage.

Now we're going to
need quite a bit of room to

work in here and also
we'll be doing some welding.

So we're going to remove
the majority of the interior,

including the carpet.

It does seem a crime ripping
out a perfectly good interior.

But Mike's confident he can double this
car's value by selling it as a track day car.

So, with a bit of help from
my friend Paul, we dig in.

Look at that.

Well, it's going pretty well at the moment.

Just taking all the seat
belts and the seat bits out.

It's just a bit of a mission of discovery

trying to work out where
everything undoes from.

And those rear seats
are looking very heavy,

which would be good
to get rid of those as well.

To get optimum
performance out on the track,

we need to remove as much
excess interior weight as possible.

That means removing unnecessary
items like expensive sound systems.

Now somebody's obviously spent a few quid

on this nice stereo
here, but in a track car,

it's not going to be there. It's got to go.

When you remove items like
clips and screws from a car,

it's easy to lose sight of
where they came from.

So here's a tip.

Now, I've mentioned it before,
but it's worth mentioning again.

When you've got lots of small bolts and
nuts and things you're taking off a car,

why not put them into, like, a freezer bag,

especially one with these little
labels that are already there.

for your description of
what those bolts are for.

In this case, it's one
of these seat belt bolts.

So when it comes to putting them back
on the car, you know where they came from.

Now, I think the roller coaster's
going to melt somewhere here,

so we have to get all this
sound-deadening stuff off as well.

I'm hoping that shedding
weight should give me

the equivalent of extra brake
horsepower from the engine.

That's a cost-free performance gain,

so only some of this
lot will make it back in.

If you've ever wondered why German
cars have got this reputation for quality,

try taking apart a Porsche.

First of all, you've got these big,
heavy, eight-way electric seats.

You've got these kind
of really thick quality

sound-deadening, really
thick, high-quality carpets,

loads of heavy-duty wiring.

All this stuff just is
really, really heavy,

even if it is good quality,
and by getting rid of it,

we're just chucking
away all this dead weight.

And, of course, at the end of
the day, we're making a track car.

We want it to be light so it can be fast.

But now we've got a lovely blank
canvas ready for our roll cage.

The second-hand roll cage cost us £400

and it will create a
safety zone inside the car.

If the car rolls over on the track,

the roof and the chassis
won't collapse on the driver.

Using masking tape
as a kind of drawing pad,

I've measured and marked where I need
to drill the holes for the fixing bracket.

Now, you may be
wondering why I'm drilling

such huge holes into
the vehicle's structure.

Well, basically, this
is where the roll cage

is going to bolt down
to, so you can imagine

I need to put a nut on the
back of where the bolt goes into.

But, of course, I can't.

I can't get a spanner onto the back of this

because of this box section, so what I'm
going to do is create some c*ptive nuts.

What that means is I'm
going to basically weld a nut

to a metal plate, so then
when it's all in position

it can tie that bolt down into
place and make everything secure.

Okay, having drilled all the holes, we're
now going to start grinding all the areas

that need to be prepared,
ready for the welding.

All the prep work inside
the car is now sorted,

so I'm now turning my
attention to these welding plates.

I'm going to do some for the middle
of the roll cage and for the front.

Some drivers don't fit
a complete roll cage.

A half cage is sufficient for regulations,

but this more difficult
installation is safer

and therefore more
desirable for a new buyer.

Okay, well, this is one of the welding
plates for the middle of the roll cage.

I've actually drilled holes in there.

I've tapped the holes.
I've put a thread in them as well.

These are the bolts that are actually going
to go in to hold the whole thing down.

They haven't got a lot of meat on them,
which is why I've done the tapping as well.

Put a nut on the back.

Just going to weld that onto the
plate and then we have c*ptive nuts.

There we go, we've got our welding plates.

You can see the c*ptive
nuts on the bottom there

and I'm just going to
pop them into position.

There's a little bit of play
because we want to make sure

we've got everything adjusted
beautifully with our roll cage.

Got one down there for there and
two on the other side as well, of course.

Now, the next stage is to
reassemble the roll cage

and then tack everything into
place ready for the full-on welding.

Now, it might not look like it,
but we really are getting there.

With all four plates welded into place,

I can now fit in that roll cage.

It's then back in with the
bare minimum of original trim.

There is the last piece
in a very long puzzle,

but it is critical that a
track day car has a roll cage

and I think it does give the
car a sense of purpose as well.

And with the carpets back in
without that sound deadening,

we've lightened the car a little bit but
also retained the luxury feel of a Porsche.

The roll cage is finally in.

The carpets are down.

The next obvious step is to
put our front seats back in,

but I'm not going to be
using our original ones.

As lovely and desirable as they
are, they're eight-way adjustable,

which means they're absolutely
chock-full of really heavy electric motors.

Each one of these seats weighs 25 kilograms

and that's just not a cool thing when
you're trying to make a racing car.

You want it as light as possible.

Luckily, Mike has managed to source a
pair of second-hand racing bucket seats.

Now these things are going to
give us a weight serving of over 60%.

They weigh just nine kilograms each.

But probably more important
than that is they've also got

the holes in there ready for
our four-point racing harnesses,

which of course is a vital safety
feature of our track day car.

So my next job is
getting them into the car.

But first, I need to make
sure they are adjustable.

The thing about racing seats is.

they're normally in a fixed
position bolted to the floor

and of course in racing cars,
racing drivers tend to be quite small,

but in a track day car, you're going to
have all sizes of people to contend with.

To that end, I've managed to get
hold of a second-hand seat adjuster.

To this, I'm going to bolt
yet again a very heavily

modified aluminium frame
that came with the seat.

Now once I've bolted all this together
and bolted this to the seat frame,

I'm then going to
have to bolt that into the

car and then I can
bolt the seat onto this.

All this hassle means more profit.

If the car is suitable
for people of all sizes,

it gives us more potential buyers.

Well, I've got the seat frame in,

so now for our racing seat.

Now the next thing is
going to be the harnesses.

These four-point safety harnesses

need to be able to withstand
extreme levels of G-force

while keeping the driver firmly in place
should the car be involved in an accident.

So the correct fitting of these is crucial.

Now on the back here, I'm
actually going to use the rear wheel.

I'm going to use the clips.
I'm going to use the roll cage.

What I'm going to do
is just de-thread this.

And that way, it's nice and strong
because this isn't going anywhere.

Hey, look at this.
Got rid of the dead weight,

got a roll cage, I'm sitting
pretty and we're strapped in.

I'm halfway there, but I'm ready to go.

Ed, the old 944.

How's it coming on?

I think it's going very well, actually.

Mate, I'm not being funny.

It looks exactly the same as
the last time I dropped it off.

Have a look at the cab, got
those lovely racing bucket

seats and also those
four-point racing harnesses.

Looks fantastic inside.

Mate, those seats are slick.
Will they fit the older posterior?

We might have a small problem with that.

Might have to get down to Raceway,
actually, before we take it out.

But also, look at that
lovely six-point roll cage.

Came out of a racing 944.

It's built for the job.

Well, it looks like you've
been nice and busy.

I've been absolutely frantic, actually.

To get that cage in, I had
to take all of the interior

out of the car. Got rid of all the sound, I
think, because that is just dead weight.

But I did put the carpet back in to
keep it looking nice and Porschey inside.

Fantastic.

We bought our car for £2,800.

And so far, we've spent £800 on
the seats, harnesses and roll cage.

Our £5,000 budget is
due a further pound in,

as Ed's still got to fit new performance
suspension and improve the braking system.

We picked up this cracking
Porsche 944 Turbo for a steal.

Just £2,800.

That was legal, I have to bet.

I've nicked it.

And we're making this car
faster, leaner and meaner.

We're turning this into a track day car.

That is a wicked idea.

Will this car be able to hold its own in
the high pressure of a track environment?

Ed put safety first by fitting a roll cage,

some super lightweight new sports
seats and four-point racing harnesses.

I'm sitting pretty and we're strapped in.

I'm halfway there, but I'm ready to go.

But our car needs new shocks,

racing tyres and a visit to the tuners.

With so much cash needing to be spent,

are we going to be on
target to buy and restore this

car for £5,000 and make a
profit when it comes to salon?

This might look like a random
industrial estate in the middle of Slough,

but actually, I'm outside a place who
know a very clever and quite simple way

of giving our car the
performance it really deserves.

This specialist tuning company.

boost horsepower by reprogramming.

the engine management computer.

It's safe for the engine and fast to do.

Putting the car onto a rolling road means
we can get our Porsche up to a top speed

in a controlled environment and
measure the current horsepower of the car.

OK, Martin, so 235 horsepower.

Is that OK for this?

Yeah, we're good to go.

It's quite good power.

Cool, so let's mess with it.

Before we can boost the
performance of our engine,

Martin needs to remove our car's ECU

or engine control unit.

Now, there's no real mystery about ECUs.

It's just a computer in a box.

But the thing we're most
interested in is that little chip there.

It's an EPROM.

It's a bit like an old-fashioned version

of a memory stick.

We're going to replace
the chip with a new one

which will be programmed or mapped.

to increase both brake
horsepower and torque.

Now, we've now got a
new map onto a new chip

which is going to give
our car more performance,

more power, basically more driveability.

And we're actually going to keep
the old chip with the old map on there,

so if any time the new buyer wants to
go back to the old ways, they can do that.

But after this, we can
put this back into the ECU

and then we can try out the car on the
dyno and we're going to see how it works.

And we're going to see how much
more power we've actually got.

This crossed.

Just bang on the money.



That's basically 31 horsepower
more than when we started.

So, well worth it.

What a brilliant result.

A performance car like ours.

will need high-performance
brakes to cope with the

demands of stopping safely
from high speed on the track.

You can imagine
you're tearing around a

racetrack, pushing the
car to the absolute limits.

Those brakes are going
to get really, really hot.

And especially with standard brake pads,

when you get hot brakes,

you're going to end up with brake fade and
then you're going to end up in the gravel,

which is not a cool
place to be on a racetrack.

What I need to do is two things.

The first is check for the
general condition of the

brakes and then the
second thing is actually swap

those standard brake pads
for a high-performance version

which is designed to handle
both road and race conditions.

Now, first of all, the disc is actually
looking in pretty good condition.

There is this groove on here,
but actually you can barely feel it

and it hasn't got much
of a lip on it either.

Now, if we were doing
really full-on hardcore racing,

probably at some point we'd change to
solid bented discs because what can happen

with that kind of cycle of
hot and cold and hot and cold

is cracks can form in
between these holes here

and the worst-case scenario
is eventually the whole thing

shatters, but normally
you'd have to change the disc

with racing, you'd actually be
changing the disc pretty regularly anyway,

but ours are in good enough
Nick so I'm happy with that.

So if we have a look at the calipers,

again, they're looking almost brand new.

They are four-pot calipers.

You've got a piston
here, here, here and here.

All those pistons, all four of
them, are pushing on those pads,

which are then, of course, pushed on the
disc, which is how the whole car slows down.

What we're just going to do
is just start to pull them out.

Okay.

So I've got the pads out.

They're actually in really good Nick.

Loads of meat on them.

They're not really good enough for racing.

What we need to do is use these special
carbon metallic compound brake pads.

They're kind of based loosely on the
technology used by Formula 1 cars.

Formula 1 cars have pure carbon brakes.

The problem with that is they need to
be up to temperature before they work,

which, of course, would be no good
on a road car because on a cold day

and you've just started driving
coming up to your first junction

you're going to go
sailing straight through

because the brakes
aren't actually going to grip.

So this is the best possible compromise.

It's great on the road
and great on the racetrack.

With a bit of copper
grease to stop it squeaking,

they're ready to be fitted onto the car.

There we go.

I reckon this has gone really rather well.

The disc brakes are in good condition.

The calipers are good.

And now with our racing
pads, we are ready for the track.

Let's hope the other
three are just as easy.

Our car's really beginning to take shape,

but what it needs now is
some uprated suspension.

that'll help keep it stable
when it's on the track.

So I'm off to meet a guy.

who knows a thing or two about
how to get these cars prepared.

What we need is the car handling right,

sitting right, and hopefully he
can point us in the right direction.

Well, it certainly looks
like the right place.

You must be Andy.

Yes, hi.

How are you, mate?

Wow, look at that.

It's a proper race car, isn't it?

It is, yeah.

This is one of our customer cars.

It's a full-blown race car

stripped down to beer.

Fantastic.

So that's a dedicated race car.

When I spoke to you on
the phone, I've got a 944,

which is more, really,

you know, like a race and road car.

And I want the best of both worlds.

I want to be able to take it to the track.

and thrash it,

but I also want to be able to adjust it.

and then drive home at the end of the day.

I think the most important
thing you need for your car.

is some adjustable dampers.

So what we want to try and do
is give you the right compromise

for a soft setup for the road
and a firm setup for the track.

Very expensive?

Yeah, about £1,000 for a set

is the going rate for a
set of shock absorbers.

£1,000?

Okay.

Well, I feel like I've been done,

but thank you.

I'm having it.

Thank you, mate.

Right.

That's the last of the Booty.

I can't wait to get this stuff back to it,
knowing how good that car's going to look,

feel, and handle when
all this stuff's screwed to it.

Well, it's giving me goosebumps.

Our 944 Track Day car is well on the way,

but all the dosh we spent.

is really giving me the jitters.

For instance,

I've just blown a grand
on the shock absorbers.

Join us after the break to see if it's
bank or bus for a Stuttgart supercar.

We got this superb Porsche


and decided to turn it
into a Track Day car.

It got stuck in with expensive
modifications that would allow us

to push it to its limits on the track, and
now he needs to upgrade that suspension

so it handles as well on the
corners as it does on the straights.

First of all, take your cup of tea.

Oh, thank you very much, sir.

This is the first two of
your present I've got for you.

Look.

You'll like this.

Oh, look at that.

The first set of racy
parts for our Porsche.

And they're adjustable
as well, so we can set

it up for the road so
it's nice and compliant,

get it to the racetrack,

turn this off a few...

They are going to look the
part as well, they look fantastic.

Well, the other two are in the car.

I'll go and get them out.

And then I'm going to get back on the
phone, a bit more Wheeler-dealer-ing.

Thank you very much.

We know our Porsche now goes better,

it stops better, we now
need it to handle better.

Now, I'm not saying that
Porsches are bad at handling,

far from it,

but suspension is always
going to be a bit of a compromise.

When you're on the road,

you want that suspension
to absorb lumps and bumps,

potholes, speed bumps, that
kind of thing, but on the track,

you want that suspension
to be really firm and solid,

keeping those wheels in contact
with the ground at all times.

Now, to that end,

Mike has found us these uprated suspension
units, and what makes them very useful

for us is they have these valves
on here, which means you can adjust

how hard or how soft the suspension
damping is, which means you've got

lots of control over how
the car's going to handle.

Now, to get these on,

I'm going to take those off.

Uprating the suspension
is a massive job you can

do yourself, but it's only
for the brave-hearted.

If you went to a
garage for this job,

it could cost you anywhere upwards
of £500 just to get the shocks fitted.

I can now see the two bolts that hold
the bottom of the strut onto the vehicle.

I need to undo those, but I've got a bit
of an issue because you can see there

there's actually
like a little washer.

It's an eccentric washer.

What happens when
you spin that bolt round,

the washer moves round eccentrically,
so one surface of it goes in and out,

and that adjusts the
camber of the car.

Imagine you've got a
vertical line through the car.

You've got your tyre there.

If you've got positive
camber, it goes that way.

If you've got negative
camber, the wheel tilts that way.

It's all about getting the contact
patch between the tyre and the ground

the right amount for the car and the
way you're setting up your suspension.

So the problem is, when I undo this,
when I mess up all of those settings,

that's the same thing for
all of the suspension parts.

So once all of this is done,

we then have to set up the alignment
and the suspension geometry all over again.

All the aligned suspension
can result in bad handling,

excessive tyre wear and
extra fuel consumption.

Once I've fitted all the new
shocks and set the ride height.

OK, well I've got the nuts off the
back of our two bolts now but I can't just

pull the bolts out because this
spring is under slight tension.

Now it's not enough to be really, really
dangerous but it is a little bit dangerous

so what I'm going to do is
use some spring compressors.

Just pop them up into here.

I can then compress
the spring ever so slightly.

It takes the tension out of the whole bit
of the suspension strut which means I can

then pull the bolts out and
take this out nice and safely.

And there we have it.

One old suspension unit.

Here's our new strut and the first thing
you're going to notice it's obviously nice

and shiny but there's
the valve on here for

adjusting the hardness
or softness of our ride.

Then of course we've
got our loose spring.

It's not under tension as yet because
you can see there's a threaded part in here

and you've got these
funny nuts at the bottom.

If I just wire this
up what's it doing?

It actually controls the
ride height of the car.

So I'm just going to wind
that up a little bit more

and hopefully I'll just undo this
nut on the top and hopefully I'm

going to be able to stick it through
that hole there reach over the top

and actually just get
a little bit of thread.

Okay so just going
to pop it through.

the hole there try and get
a bit of tension on there.

press the spring just a little bit luckily
I'm tall enough to reach over the top.

Okay now I can get the
bottom bolts into position.

and again you can
see it's quite a nice.

few of that eccentric
nut there on the new one.

With the new front
shocks in place.

I can move on to
the rear of the car.

Here's our rear suspension unit you can
see kind of just goes in that point there

it's held on with a bolt under here
somewhere there's a dirt in the way

there's another bolt on the bottom
just take those two off and it is kind of

handed you can see there's a little bit
of asymmetry there that's to make sure

that the shock actually
just has kept the right

distance away from the
body and doesn't foul anything.

So it's not going to
be too hard to put on

hopefully you've just got
to get all these undone.

Our coilover is in position but you may
remember that when I took off the shock

absorber it didn't have a spring around
it and that's because this rear suspension

already has a spring in there it's just
in a different form it has a torsion bar

which is hidden underneath that a torsion
bar suspension is a big lump of metal

spring steel in fact imagine you've got
your trailing arm just here and there your

wheel will be going there when your
suspension is going along every time it

goes up it tries to twist this suspension
and that resistance of the metal

to that twist is where your
spring effect comes from.

On a normal road car like this
that's fine but of course on a race track

we want it much much stiffer so we've
put in this spring to assist that it's an

assistive spring and that helps
keep the suspension really taut.

The problem with that of course is
that now this trailing arm is further away

so this gap is actually bigger rather than
being smaller so the next modification is

to adjust these bolts here
and then bring everything

back so the car could be
sitting as low as possible.

To help the car come down
obviously we want it as low as

possible so that's as down
as far as it's going to go.

so what I need to do
now is I'll do the other

side quickly just
check that's the same.

I'm just going to measure.

look at that it's about 11mm which is great
so I'll check the other side make sure

they're the same and then that way at
least we know we've now sort of dialled out

some height so what's going to
happen now is that the car is going to sit

a little bit lower my final modification to
this car is a set of proper racing wheels

with performance
tyres for the track.

Mike's managed to pick me up a set
for 200 pounds but they need painting

and that can only
be in one colour.

Porsche Racing Orange.

with the new wheels on I need to sort
out how this car is going to sit on them.

I'm lowering the car onto boxes.

this gives me access to make my
adjustments to the suspension level.

I reckon just by eye the front
suspension is probably down.

about an inch lower than here at the
back but actually when this car came out of

the factory this sill would be about
level if we put a spirit level on there

the bubble would be pretty much in
the middle so that's what I'm going to do

as a rule of thumb I'm just going to
put a spirit level on there having taken

into account the fact that this floor is
slightly sloping and then that will give me

an idea of how
level I need to get it.

according to the spirit
level this is now level so.

and it is a bit too level
actually I want a bit

more of a rake I want
a bit more aggression.

now I'm going to adjust the shocks
so the front of the car sits slightly

lower than the back yeah that is cool all
the safety stuff's done engines have got

a bit more power the suspensions
better this car is now pretty much

ready for a track day event

and I am so looking
forward for a test drive.

we took a gamble by taking this superb
example Porsche 944 and turning it

into a track day car Ed's
magic touch means this car

will go like a rocket when it finally
goes out on the track he got to work

fitting adjustable racing
seats and four point safety

harnesses Ed then boosted
the engine power to 266

brake horsepower by getting the
engine's onboard computer chip remapped

finally to make sure it handled well he
uprated the suspension with a new set

of shocks and racing wheels and sticky
tyres I paid 2800 pounds for our Porsche


roll cage and 340 quid on the racing

seats and brackets we shelled out 120
pounds for the four point racing harness set

and an engine
remap at 250 pounds.

those sport brake
pads come in at 180.

but our budget took a
real hit with those four

new shocks and Springs
coming in at a grand.

general spares came to around


for Porsche racing wheels
and tyres added up that

means we've gone 660
pounds over our 5 grand budget.

and wow the racing.

whoa.

what have you done to the wheels is
there a circus coming into town easy tiger

that is Porsche racing
orange it's a very cool

racing colour that you have on
Porsches and I think it looks really good

this is a racing car pretty much
after all it needs to look very cool.

because I've kept the original wheels and
the original tyres these are racing tyres

okay okay I've got you now so when we're on
the racetrack we've got the orange wheels

and we're gonna look the part
but once we leave the racetrack

we've got the original wheels we can
bolt to the car and we still look the part

I get it yeah it looks alright Ed it's not
just about all the looks we've got all the

safety stuff's being done of course
it now goes faster it handles the road

in fact it actually grips hold of that
road but also load of power in the engine

now you point it at their eyes
doesn't it all get there so quickly.

fantastic.

so it's now ready for the racetrack it
certainly is I think that's what we should do

we should give this through
a line a damn good thrashing.

this is where we get to push our car
to its limits Porsche invited us along

to their driving experience
centre at silversome racetrack.

over the years Ed you've
done some cars but this

time you deserve a
medal mate cause this 944.

it rocks.

and does it rock.

that extra horsepower makes
all the difference doesn't it.

the suspension was expensive
but it is fantastic and the 944

has got a great chassis now it's been fully
exploited we've got those road race tyres

and the outrated
brakes it all makes for a

really fantastic
package it certainly does.

it's great.

now you might have noticed that I've left
a sticker on I know you wanted to remove it

it is a bit cheesy but
on a track day car I

think it kind of fits it
matches the very wheels.

I've asked a few mates in a trade and
I've looked in the papers and guess what

cars like this in not as good a condition
as this believe it or not up to 7 red

that's twice what we paid I
know I'm good at it you are great.

our Porsche performed like a dream
out on the track but how will it fair

with the serious business
of impressing punters.

we advertised it on one of the

specialist track car websites.

there was good interest and a few keen
drivers have come along to see the car.

do you like it then?

I do like it it's very
nice I like the shape of it

I like the way it
looks to be fair

good do you want to buy it?

I tell you what you can keep the
orange wheels and I'll go for 5 grand.


half of this motor then do you?

because I'm not selling
it for that no I'm sorry

I'm going to have to walk
away for that don't worry.

so far I've just had

tyre kickers come
down look at my 944

but this guy Owen behind me

he seems to know his stuff
and not only that I think he wants

to buy a proper race car he wants to go
track racing in a Porsche and I don't think

you're going to find a better
one than that so wish me luck.

so what do you think so far?

it's nice it's alright isn't
it it's a good looking

car Londoner turbo
sticker sort of sets it off.

so you want a car
to go racing with?

I do might yeah do you
know what I think this is

the one to do it it might
be at the right price.

now I've advertised
it for 7 grand.

that's what I want for it so get your
checkbook out and we're done 6 and a half.


why do people do that?

it's got to be worth more
than that I'll tell you what.

people always expect money off
I'll give you a couple of hundred quid

off six thousand eight hundred
quid come on let's get it done six six

can you find another fifty quid six
thousand six hundred and fifty pound

find another fifty quid and you've got
yourself a car come on yeah alright mate yes

you've got yourself a
top step of a podium.

and that means we've turned in just
short of a grand in profit so our gamble

to turn this into a track
day car has paid off.

I'm really sad to see the 944 go when
I bought it it was already a great car

but with Ed's hard work and a little bit
of Wheeler dealer savvy we've turned it

into a better car we have genuinely
given it a brand new lease of life

and I hope it continues to deliver
frills for years to come if you want to see

more cars getting a second
chance then join us again soon Salo!