I'm now in Texas after picking up the car from New Mexico where she sat in storage since October. However, neither I nor the seller noticed the extreme lack of coolant in the car as we were trying to get it started after 4 months of sitting until I got it back to TX and noticed a pegged temp gauge. Adding water led to a discouraging cascade of water from the bottom of the radiator where I can only assume a split core will be waiting for me to snap a picture.

Aside from a new radiator, Water pump and seals, and thermostat, anything else I'm goingn to need? I plan on having a compression and leakdown test done when I have my seat mount and supression system installed to make sure no major damage was done to the engine since it was run 3 times for about 10 minutes or more before anyone noticed the frigging temp.

Should I bother with a used radiator or attemptint to have the core rebuilt?

Ryan

I guess there is one advantage to CA

Look on the bright side, it wasn't the block. I'd say the previous owner should step up and make this right for you. I agree with your ideas of what to do next. There is likely still water in the engine so you may not have hurt anything but the radiator.

A popular, legal upgrade is to the turbo radiator. It is taller though so you have to modify the bottom mount with some spacers. I'd go with a new radiator over a used one. My experience is that radiators in these 20+ year old cars are usually pretty cruddy.

Good luck and welcome!

get a new radiator.

I advise this even for old one that don't leak. The problem is that most old radiators are all clogged up and simply don't cool well. The cooling system on these cars works fine, but only when the parts are working properly. Old clogged radiators are a very good way to overheat the motors. So consider the cost of a new radiator vs the cost of even you can't finish because the car over heated on the second session on the the first day. Same goes for hoses. Replace them. There are not that may on a 944 NA so just bite the bullet make sure they are in great shape. You lose alot more money in track time by running old crappy hoses that are just waiting to blow.

+1 on the new radiator!

These radiators are notorious for callecting crud in the core!
On a positive note, having worked on 944s for a LONG time now here in the midwest, I have seen several come in in the spring with freeze damage, and I have never seen a block damaged! Ive seen alot of split radiators, hoses, & resevoir tanks, but nothing internal to the engine.

Not that I would make it a habit of storing it in freezing temps without some sort of anti-freeze though. We have storage for most of our race cars in the show room, but there are always two that reside through the winter in our race trailer in a non-heated portion of our shop. We usually drain 1/2 gallon of water before winter sets in, then top off with new antifreeze and run for 20-30 minutes. Come spring, just drain and re-fill!

-Nick
Bennington Motorsports

3 years ago we had hard freeze here in Phoenix area. I run water only and had the lower hose pop off due to the freeze. No damage otherwise. After that I keep a light bulb or heater in the trailer during the cold nights than produce those temps. For me that works because while it may be 25 deg at night it will be still 60 during the day.

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm fully convinced on getting a new radiator and water pump just to be safe. The hoses were going to be a "while I'm there" thing along with a new thermostat and seals. I'm going to keep the stock 924s radiator setup instead of running a turbo one since they cost a bit more and I don't have anywhere to do the work.

As for the engine being run to temp without coolant at least 3 times, I know better than to just trust someone else to have maintained a vehicle as I would have, so I really knew better than to just check the fluids myself. Hopefully there was no damage to the bearings or rings from the overtemps, but a leakdown and compression test should let me know if I'm screwed in that department.

Ryan