The 944 Handbook

Talk and Tech about turbocharged 924/944/968 cars
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Tom
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For those who have not yet noticed, please check out the new 944 Handbook page. It's just a baby right now, but my plan is to build it out continuously over time. I doubt anything will ever compete with Clarks-Garage, but that site seems to lack active maintenance and modern updates (and my efforts to reach the current caretaker have fallen on deaf ears). So...I decided it's time to take the bull by the horns (or something like that). Contributions more than welcome too.

app.php/Handbook

#1

michaelmount123
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Good stuff!!

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MoeMonney
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Awesome!

#3

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PSU_Crash
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Excellent work Tom!!
I also noticed Clark's seems to be floating, void of any activity from admins. It's a great source! .. I fear it will eventually fall like so many other great references over the years.
'86 Zermatt Silver 944 N/A :thumbup:
'86 Mitsubishi Starion - Purpose built SM class Autocross car
'87 Chrysler Conquest - Mid LS Swap

#4

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Tom
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PSU_Crash wrote: Sat Feb 07, 2026 8:08 pm Excellent work Tom!!
I also noticed Clark's seems to be floating, void of any activity from admins. It's a great source! .. I fear it will eventually fall like so many other great references over the years.
Most of clarks was done before the modern cell phone and all its pictures too. It will forever be the standard-bearer, but thought if we could supplement with some up-dated and well-maintained content, the 944 world would benefit. So... what can I sign you up to write? :angel:

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t36
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Amazing!!

#6

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PSU_Crash
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Tom wrote: Sat Feb 07, 2026 8:19 pm
PSU_Crash wrote: Sat Feb 07, 2026 8:08 pm Excellent work Tom!!
I also noticed Clark's seems to be floating, void of any activity from admins. It's a great source! .. I fear it will eventually fall like so many other great references over the years.
Most of clarks was done before the modern cell phone and all its pictures too. It will forever be the standard-bearer, but thought if we could supplement with some up-dated and well-maintained content, the 944 world would benefit. So... what can I sign you up to write? :angel:
I'm always on board to help out! As I'm going through items on my 944 I'll try to do a better job of taking pics and notes along the way. I currently have an oil leak somewhere. The soft line to the cooler loop was dripping and the clamp was loose, so I'm hoping that takes care of it ... although there appears to me another small leak coming from higher up on the engine. Valve cover shows some signs. Oil cooler is pretty nasty too. So once I dive into that, maybe it will be my first real "how to" contribution :D
'86 Zermatt Silver 944 N/A :thumbup:
'86 Mitsubishi Starion - Purpose built SM class Autocross car
'87 Chrysler Conquest - Mid LS Swap

#7

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Dare
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I think this is a great idea, Tom! I'm a big fan of Clark's, but obviously it suffers from being frozen in time. I really wish it were possible to transform that site into some form of community-supported resource. There have been so many occasions where I've thought: I have the perfect picture to illustrate this step, but no avenue to contribute it!

Have you given much thought to the format and organization of the handbook content? For a variety of reasons, I'm not a big fan of PDFs for this sort of thing. IMO, they're often cumbersome to access (lack of ToC, pagination, etc.), difficult to search, and not great on mobiles (case in point, the Arnnworx timing belt tool PDFs). I actually quite like the clean (albeit dense) procedural style of Clark's. Nowadays, the presentation is in desperate need of updating, but overall, the content is fairly accessible and clear. And it works surprisingly well on mobiles.

I know we talked a bit IRL about a torque spec reference. I would love to help make this happen. I think I mentioned that I have a 944 bolt torques spreadsheet that I've compiled. I'll forward this to you in case it can serve as a starting point.

I also have thousands of photos that I’ve taken that I would be happy to contribute.
Jay
2012 Porsche Cayman R
1986 Porsche 944 Turbo

Jay's Porsche Project

#8

ROB III
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This is outstanding!
I'd venture to say CARPOKES has already become a live handbook in many respects.
I've been (old fashion) printing pages and making notes to myself whenever I see something I think I'll need. With all the new members coming into the transaxle threads, CARPOKES appears to have become the go to location for questions/info.
A true handbook is a daunting task which is beyond my skillset but its a great idea for the 944 World.
Rob
89 944 Turbo
Musik-Stadt Region

#9

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Tom
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Dare wrote: Sun Feb 08, 2026 2:44 pm I think this is a great idea, Tom! I'm a big fan of Clark's, but obviously it suffers from being frozen in time. I really wish it were possible to transform that site into some form of community-supported resource. There have been so many occasions where I've thought: I have the perfect picture to illustrate this step, but no avenue to contribute it!

Have you given much thought to the format and organization of the handbook content? For a variety of reasons, I'm not a big fan of PDFs for this sort of thing. IMO, they're often cumbersome to access (lack of ToC, pagination, etc.), difficult to search, and not great on mobiles (case in point, the Arnnworx timing belt tool PDFs). I actually quite like the clean (albeit dense) procedural style of Clark's. Nowadays, the presentation is in desperate need of updating, but overall, the content is fairly accessible and clear. And it works surprisingly well on mobiles.

I know we talked a bit IRL about a torque spec reference. I would love to help make this happen. I think I mentioned that I have a 944 bolt torques spreadsheet that I've compiled. I'll forward this to you in case it can serve as a starting point.

I also have thousands of photos that I’ve taken that I would be happy to contribute.
Thanks. I actually agree about pdf. A number of my earlier formal guides were pdf's, but I plan to get away from that. Much of Clarks is actually pdf's too, and a large reason why the site isn't really navigable anymore. My organizational thought was to have that Handbook page serve as an organized table of contents made up of links to various resources on the site -- not necessarily all the same. My emerging thought for the formal guides I do is to have a fairly concise write up supported by a video. Pictures and video have obviously exploded since most of clark's was written, and I think we could bring things to life with better/more media. Everyone is different too -- I know some people who will ONLY look at video's to figure things out, and others who can't stand watching a 10 minute video just to figure out one little thing buried 7 minutes in...

Edit, p.s., by all means send me the torque specs you have. My format for that page -- in its infancy right now --is a table that shows factory description of fastener (however ill-tanslated); real world description; fastener size; torque spec in ft lbs with NM in parentheses; notes (like sequence, loctite, single use, etc.); and lastly a picture of the fastener or sequence where warranted.

#10

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