Up early this morning, even before the accursed leaf blowers and lawn mowers were started by overzealous neighbors, I was able to quickly strip out the disintegrating foam insulation.  Took all of fifteen minutes and brought it down to remaining  patches of only a very thin film of dried gluey-ness.  To be continued.

The other day I discover that my shabby under hood insulation is crumbling and is now occasionally depositing bits onto the engine.  So I need to take action on this right away.  My research starts, as usual, with Clark’s Garage where we are advised to remove the hood and proceed.  I’m not keen on removing the hood right now, so I am more inclined to take the approach shown by Dave at 944Foot2TheFloor.

But there are some other questions I need to resolve first:  What is the actual material I am dealing with here (I do intend to use a mask and work outside with good ventilation, but what is this stuff)?  Can I replace the insulation with Dynamat or the like with good results?  (I note that factory and OEM replacement insulation will approach or exceed $100, but it is going to be my labor that is crucial here.)  Does it make sense to replace the insulation only after I have sanded and refinished my hood, which has its own rather obvious needs, but I was going to wait on that for awhile?  What if I just remove the existing crap and crud for now and run sans heat and sound insulation until later? No, I probably won’t just shovel it out like these guys did.

Whatever I do, it smells like an all-day job, maybe more, to me.  And I will need to recover a bit from my currently-ailing back and knee first.  Hmm … wonder if my daughter and/or son — both adults with agenda of their own, of course — might see this as an opportunity for family bonding?!

Opened the hood and took a look.  My idea was to start detailing — well, cleaning up a bit — the engine and its home.  But I discovered a project that may take precedence.  Coming up soon.

Mark.  Seems that in a former life he raced dirt track sprint cars.  Our meeting came at a recent, more inauspicious time.  This was when he drove the tow truck we summoned from the Middle of Outer Nowhere — actually only about 30 miles from home — ignobly documented here and here.   I was rather surprised to find that he could speak in an informed way not only about Porsche in general, but was quite familiar with the 944 variant itself, speaking of his respect for the rear-trans-chassis layout and weight distribution advantanges, among other commentary.

Our little misadventure occurred  in the final leg of a nearly 400-mile trip, otherwise marked by perfect performance and rapid traversal of canyon curves, when the Blue Rascal started spewing coolant out of its own radiator.  Now replaced, thanks to a FedEx from Pelican Parts.  As discussed here.