Any engines to avoid? (2.5 8V)
 

Shopping for replacement engine, any years to avoid for parts availability, weaknesses, etc?

Thanks-

what year is your car?

Avoid one with a broken timing belt.

They are all pretty similar, and interchangeable.

Really nothing to avoid, but the '87 and later 944 (or the '88 924S) engines have higher compression and make an extra 10hp or so.

Blocks are fairly interchangeable but bolt-ons are different. If you buy an early vs. a late, then you will have some swapping to do. The other differences in the blocks are the automatic tension adjuster for the timing belt. Some people seem to like them and some people hate them...personal choice. Other that what is already mentioned, that is all I can think of.

Hey Art, Please put your car in your signature line so we can better help you. I'll post a list of some engines I know about if I knew what year car you had.

I added my cars to my sig. I was mostly asking this question to see if there were any years that had NLA items that would cause trouble.

I have been posting various questions due to a scored bore that I found in my euro engine. I think I will end up replacing with an intact US spec engine. Since the car is an early, I also wanted to find out if there were any issues with early vs late engines and computers. I was worried that if I bought a later (low comp) engine that had the computer mounted in the pass footwell that it might somehow be different (wiring or sensors) from the early with the computer mounted under the steering wheel. I will need to change the computer since mine is the high compression euro type. I was wondering if it would work with a high comp US engine since the CR is close, but I don't know if cams might be different.

Thanks

There are some issues with some early year cars computers, but there are fixes for almost anything now. I have no idea if you will have to change the computer or not by switching to a US engine but I know yours won't have an O2 sensor which is on the US models so you may have to add that to keep it from running rich. Not sure if the cams are different or not, I would have to look that up in PET. Maybe someone else knows. I would THINK the computers and sensors have to match the year of the car for wiring purposes or change wiring harnesses but I've never tried changing things on any of my cars so my knowledge in cross referencing is limited. I'll see what I can find for engines and post them here.

Since you have an 82 Euro build the only unique thing about your motor is the shorter front crank snout used for manual steering. Your crank will not adapt to power steering but you could easily add PS by purchasing an engine from late 83 on. The later motors had different accessory pulleys but I'm sure you can just swap yours onto the new motor. Another item is your early fuel lines come over the top of the engine from the drivers side and later 85.5+ engines lines came from the pass. side wheel well. The fuel rails are different as a result. If you just buy a used shortblock you should have no problems. Personally if your Euro pistons are still good I would look for a good short block with the same tolerance group and rebuild using your pistons, crank, and rods but then again I love a good project.