Maxing my acceleration and adding a turbo

[Registry Editor]

As you may have seen in the "work in progress thread" , my 944 was in a little bit of a shunt in November. Whilst I hope the bulk of the chassis repairing work to be completed by the end of next week, I'm always on the look out for ways to improove the performance of my car.

Can anyone advise on the best ways to increase the rate of acceleration of my standard early '85 ?

Also - is it at all possible to add a turbo to a non-turbo car, or is this just asking for time/expense/trouble ?

Thanks!

Jon

[Zero10]

Oh dear, you best duck and cover, you posted one of the infamous 'how do I turbo my N/A' threads...

Now, that aside, long story short, buy a turbo 944 if you want a turbo. There is much more to it than you would think.

[TCMdocs944]

Use the search button at the top of the screen.



There is a HUGE wealth of info on this site. It will save you from certain doom as well.

This topic has been covered over, and over, and over, and over....


BTW - Welcome to the board!

[Registry Editor]

Oooer. You've had this before I take it.

Well never mind about the turbo. How else can I improve the acceleration of my 944?

Also, what is insurance like over in the States? When I get this car back on the road I'll be paying £3500 a year which works out at about $6800 .

Jon

[TCMdocs944]

Sheeesh. Mine runs about $600 per year. No full coverage though....that would run me about $1000/yr.


Biggest acceleration boost I saw was with making sure everything was mechanically right....filter and fluid changes, vacuum lines, clean grounds, etc. I also had an exhaust leak(couldnt hear it) that caused my low end to suffer.

[Registry Editor]

Welcome to the board!

Thanks!

[Registry Editor]

$600 a year? Nice. Mine is Third Party only - not even fire and theft.

What about these throttle responce cams that you can get that are supposed to make the pedal to engine ratio linear or something. Any good?

[seaboltman]

Long story short with performancing modding your N/A - Sell it and buy a turbo. Theres not much in the way you can do to make this car quick. I would be supprised to see the car make it down to the stock times of a Turbo.

[Registry Editor]

Smeg :~(

It's a lovely car.

Perhaps Nitrous is the way. I have been considering this for a while.

[livewirevoodoo]

$1000/yr insurance daily driver... full comprehensive, glass, etc, no deductable... 50/100 on the bodily injury and vehicle damange, no collision insurance however

[Z-man]

RE: Welcome to Pelican!

Turbo charging a non-turbo 944 is an expensive way to get more power.

While it won't add any horsepower, a very cheap and very effective mod is to install an aftermarket throttle cam. It's a $20.00 or so disk that replaces the stock oblong ended throttle cam. It will make your throttle more responsive.

You can also do all the 'aftermarket' stuff like a freer-flowing intake & exhaust, but unless you spend generous amounts of pound sterling, don't expect to reach 944Turbo type performance.

-Z-man.

[strath44]

Jon - man your paying way to much - I paying £440 TPFT no ncb age 22 (well 23 now). Through a classic policy its much cheaper.

[fast924S]

search button please, tons of topics on performance upgrades

[john dory]

I'm paying £324 fully comp one year no claims on a 924 through Lancaster insurance, east people to deal with

[Zero10]

Hmm, I pay $2200CDN/year, 3rd party liability, and comprehensive with a $250 deductible.

[legion]

I pay $600 a year. Full coverage, extremely high limits (in the millions). $500 deductibles on comp/collision. Being married and over 25 has its advantages...

[mitsumark]

Ive read alot on this site in the past year being new to Porsches and all,Ive learned many little ins and outs of my 944 from some very knowledgeable people..However,for the past 10 years Ive built many Mitsu/DSM turbo cars and have alot of experience when it comes to building and tuning them..Why do people here think it is near impossible or not worth doing the 944 N/A to turbo engine swap????The 951 motor is a direct bolt in to the 944 series body correct??Whats so hard about dropping in a 951 turbo motor?Did anyone ever hear of aftermarket EFI systems like SDS ect?If this motor is a direct "bolt in",a good wrench with some tuning skills would have the car running in 2 days..I am just curious because the last time I checked the going rate for a nice 951 it would cost more to buy one than it would to do the swap..

[drfatz]

One thing that I have not found too much on, but I know can be done is to swap the final drive. If you have a 1985.5 or later NA you have a 3.889 final drive. If you can find one cheap enough you can swap in a final drive from an older 924 with the 016/9 box, which had a 4.111 final drive. That will give you a little more out of the hole, although its going to make highway driving a little tiring

[Z-man]

Originally posted by mitsumark
Why do people here think it is near impossible or not worth doing the 944 N/A to turbo engine swap????The 951 motor is a direct bolt in to the 944 series body correct??Whats so hard about dropping in a 951 turbo motor?Did anyone ever hear of aftermarket EFI systems like SDS ect?If this motor is a direct "bolt in",a good wrench with some tuning skills would have the car running in 2 days..I am just curious because the last time I checked the going rate for a nice 951 it would cost more to buy one than it would to do the swap..

Mark:
Most people don't think about swapping in a whole (and complete) 951 motor - instead, they think they can just slap a turbo on their 944 n/a and voila: 944 turbo! Turbocharging a motor is a lot more complicated than that: there's issues like compression, timing, air flow metering, chip....etc.

But even your 'solution' of swapping in a 951 motor into a 944 n/a body isn't that easy an undertaking. First off, if you are doing this to an early (pre 85.5) model, the front spindles won't match up, as already stated above. Second: the brakes on a 944 n/a won't handle the extra power of a 951 - which is exactly why the factory went with bigger, 4-piston Brembo calipers and larger rotors. Third - there are some other things that don't quite match up like the air intake location, the oil cooler...etc.

And finally: the biggest reason why a 951 motor swap isn't worth it is because by the time you add together all the costs, it is will be more expensive than buying a 951 to start with. 951 prices are beginning to drop under the $10k range. Even if you have a 944 n/a body and a 951 motor, you are better off selling the 944 n/a body and buying a 951 shell.

Just my $0.42,
-Z-man.

[Macfreak007]

951 motor swap has been done, Andy from rennlist....

It was alot of work in the end, but the car is badass. It really makes more since to buy a 951, instead of swapping the motor. I mean its all ready to go.