New to 944's (951 actually) - Chip Question -

gorfllub · 06-25-2005, 03:58 PM

Well, after my 911 was totalled, I wasnt sure what I was going to do. Couldnt find anything nice in a 911 in my price rage. Bought a little Fiat Spider to pass them time.

Than I found a 951. 32,000 KM on it. Whats that... about 20,000 miles??

Anyhow, I bought the car without knowing much about them. Oh well.... Thats how I bought the 911... lol

Any specific areas of trouble I should pay attention to? I think I heard motor mounts like to go on occasion? How often do the belts and whatnot get changed in these beasts?

More importantly, I see advertisements for computer chips to boost HP. Anyone have any comments on these? Some claim an additional 50 HP! That would be insane in that little car no?

I would like to hear chip stories. Good, Bad, and ugly. Also, are there any inexpensive upgrades like this to increase performance?

I have seen chips so far from 20ish HP at $30, and larger up to about $150. (Anyone have a chip they wish to sell??)

Thanks in advance to all those that reply. I hope my time in WaterCooledPorscheWorld is as fun as it was in AirCooled World!

Jeremy

fast924S · fast924S's Garage

I dont own a 951 But I can tell you a little about them. The 951 is a great car and that aftermarket following is great. Since its a turbo there is a ton of easy ways to get more HP, I have seen people build 951's from 300hp-560hp which is wild for a car its size.
here are some other good sites for 951 stuff

http://www.gururacing.net/

http://www.lindseyracing.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=LR

http://members.rennlist.com/951_racerx/

http://www.vitesseracing.com/Catalog/944_951_968/944_951_968.HTM

Have fun with the 951, I wish I had one

gorfllub · 06-25-2005, 06:24 PM

Some good links there. Thanks!!

ilikemy944 · 06-25-2005, 06:44 PM

Had Autothority chips and Vitesse chips
Vitesse = BADASS.

Support is second to none as well.

gorfllub · 06-25-2005, 07:50 PM

Now have you done any other mods other than the chip? Everyone here seems to be happy with chipping. Is there much in the way of bad stories? I searched this forum and only found 1 semi-bad story.

AaronM · 06-25-2005, 10:15 PM

I just picked up an '86 today with a GURU Racing chip in it. Dyno sheets show 270 hp and 290 ft-lb at the wheels. The thing is insane once it's on boost and it's really not even pushing the envelope of possibility (though this is as far as I'd really want to push things from a reliability standpoint). Much more power and it's really, really, really easy to blow out an R&P.

There's a lot more power that could be coaxed out of the engine, yes, but I'm not sure how drive-able the car would be. Even at the levels I'm at, the car definitely suffers some turbo lag. I don't want to think about the lag suffered on a car with 100+ more HP.

ilikemy944 · 06-25-2005, 10:37 PM

I have a manual boost controller - if you run anything different from stock boost, you'll need one. Cheap tho.
I don't have much lag at all...
And R&P ;P only easy to break if you drive it to break it...

AaronM · 12:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ilikemy944
I have a manual boost controller - if you run anything different from stock boost, you'll need one. Cheap tho.
I don't have much lag at all...
And R&P ;P only easy to break if you drive it to break it...

Do you mean a _mechanical_ boost controller or a _manual_ one?

My car does bypass the cycling valve with a mechanical boost controller but this is not the same as a manual controller inside the cockpit.

K-26/8 Turbo with 30# FPR (GURU), wastegate shims (2.0 BAR, also GURU), mechanical boost controller (GURU), and of course the chips to work with that setup for both the DME and the KLR. I get a very strong surge of power at 3,000 RPM, and it's definitely pronounced (though no more pronounced than some very wildly cammed engines I've driven). And I'm also coming out of driving a car with a V8 that made almost all its power off idle, so I'm feeling the lag more.

EDIT: That's 3 BAR FPR, I don't know why I keep wanting to say 30#. I blame the metric system.

ilikemy944 · 06-26-2005, 12:10 AM

Yeah I can see where you are experiencing more lag - the K26/8 has a little more than the 26/6, and yeah, if you came from a v8... ;P
I suppose you are using the accuboost or whatever its called?

gorfllub · 06-26-2005, 08:43 AM

Ok. So is there a bunch of these othe mods required to do this, or can I just pop a chip into an otherwise stock car?

fast924S · fast924S's Garage

It all depends on how much HP your looking for. You could just drop in a chip and see some extra HP, or you could do a vitesse kit and see A lot of hp.

gorfllub · 06-26-2005, 09:14 AM

Yeah, I wos looking at the kits, but Damn, they would be expensive to get to Canada. Honestly, this isnt a car I am going to keep. Just something to bomb around in for the rest of the summer, then sell.

Therefore, I cant see it being cost effective for a big upgrade.

Doing just a solitary chip upgrade, will it be a noticable (Worthwhile) upgrade?

AaronM · 06-26-2005, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ilikemy944
Yeah I can see where you are experiencing more lag - the K26/8 has a little more than the 26/6, and yeah, if you came from a v8... ;P
I suppose you are using the accuboost or whatever its called?

Yup, that would be it. I'm very happy with the car but I'm trying to imagine how a 400 HP version would feel and I can't help but think that it would have a good bit of lag. Could well be wrong though.

Aaron

AaronM · 06-26-2005, 09:34 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by gorfllub
Yeah, I wos looking at the kits, but Damn, they would be expensive to get to Canada. Honestly, this isnt a car I am going to keep. Just something to bomb around in for the rest of the summer, then sell.

Therefore, I cant see it being cost effective for a big upgrade.

Doing just a solitary chip upgrade, will it be a noticable (Worthwhile) upgrade?

Honestly, for cost-effective and fairly simple I would go with the GURU setup, at $325 for the chips and the controller it's not a bad deal, and it definitely makes more power.

944cabby · 06-26-2005, 10:04 AM

I recently fitted a promax chip to my 944s2 cab and it has made the overall drive a lot smoother especially when accellerating.Can't say if it's added any more bhp but when you put your foot down it does seem to pull away a lot better.Worth doing from my opinion.

auh · 06-26-2005, 01:47 PM

Now I was talking to one of the mechaninc at my dealership and he told me its easy to blow the head with a chip. How do you prevent that?

AaronM · 06-26-2005, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by auh
Now I was talking to one of the mechaninc at my dealership and he told me its easy to blow the head with a chip. How do you prevent that?

First, not the head, the head gasket. Big bloody difference.

You can either replace the head gasket with something more formidable than stock, or simply not go insane with the chipping levels. The basic GURU setup (I'm not trying to plug them, it's just the only chip with which I am familiar) should not raise much risk to the head gasket. Then again, if the car has been indifferently maintained and has 100,000+ miles on it, then even stock it may blow that head gasket.

Aaron

gorfllub · 06-26-2005, 02:59 PM

Well, the car has 32,000KM. So I spose I should be safe for a bit then? Or do you think a car that has been hardly driven, may exhibit other problems from seals drying, etc?

AaronM · 06-26-2005, 03:13 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by gorfllub
Well, the car has 32,000KM. So I spose I should be safe for a bit then? Or do you think a car that has been hardly driven, may exhibit other problems from seals drying, etc?

As a general rule, Porsches prefer to be driven. Just about the worst thing that can be done to them is to let them sit. I'd be looking to replace the seals and gaskets on an engine like that if it wasn't just a weekend car.

I'd have someone take a good and thorough look at the car before making a decision like that. There's a lot of variables.

gorfllub · 06-26-2005, 03:23 PM

Heh. Too late. Basically bought the car by photos. I wont see it for quite some time. PPI? Bahhhhhhhh Who needs it?