944 Engineering

[Randal.]

Sometimes I'm just blown away with the great engineering that went into 944's.

My son, who knows better, managed to spin his 944 out on the street and had a substantial front end impact. (note: He was OK, but won't be driving the 944 for a long time).

Anyway when he showed me the damage I thought the entire front end had been pushed to one side. It didn't look good at all.

I read the manual and figured out that it was pretty easy to pull the bumper to inspect the inside.

When I got it apart it became obvious that the drivers side shock absorber totally absorbed the blow. After replacing that shock absorber and straightening out the license plate and frame it was pretty much back to 100%.

I think most cars would have ended up with destroyed front ends. What a great front end setup on the 944's.

[krystar]

yea...when did the idea of "crumple zone" entered the auto mfr's lingo anyway....

[fast924S]

You'll think different when you get hit in the rear quater panel LOL

[bell]

yep......i think it's porsches in general.......
my 911 got hit HARD back in 03......here's the thread....

well........what can i say.......she's dented pretty heavily....

the tie rod took the blunt of the impact and turned into a horseshoe, the unibody was fine, it dented the fenders/door and bent both wheels but that was it........

[flash968]

it all depends on how and where you hit it - the unibody design can work against you in the event of a corner hit - the front bumper connects one side to the other and transfers the load of the impact from one side to the other - that is great for the occupants, but bad for the car - as a unibody, it is very hard to straighten it back out

i've now seen 3 local 968s totaled in what in any fully framed car would otherwise be nothing more than a fender bender, but because it was a corner hit on a unibody, it wiped out the whole front end

[Schumi]

There are a lot of amazingly engineered components on the 944, especially considering much of it was designed from 1976-1982.


But the chassis crash worthiness is not on my list... The chassis isn't actually sufficiently rigid in some places and pretty much the entire ass end will peace out in a heavy crash.


The front bit is pretty standardly stout however. And yes the bumpershocks can usually absorb most head on low velocity impacts.


Edit: I realize that I looked at that from a rigidity/structures point of view. The rear of the car crumpling up badly may be a good thing for the safety of the passengers, but I can assure you it's lack of strength was mainly due to other reasons, mainly packaging and economical- not safety. The most Porsche thought about 'crumple zones' back in 1976 were the mandatory 5mph impact tests mandating bumper shocks and rubber pads.

[962porsche]

don't thank porsche thank vw-audi . thats who designed and built our beloved 924-944 . the only thing porsche on the 944 is the motor and that idea came from the 928 . cars like the 914 924-944 vw could not sell as a vw here in the states all over the world the 914 was sold as a vw . but in the states what us buyer would pay 20k for a vw back in the 1970-80's ? when it came to the first gen vw rally golf . vw did not even inport it to the us market . as for the design of the 924-44 after it was designed vw shelved the design untill porsche came along and liked it and abtained the rights to have vw-audi produce the car for porsche .

[petrolhead611]

Actually the 924 was designed by Porsche, (commissioned by VW), as an intended new Audi, but VW withdrew and Porsche bought back their design from VW.
Impact absorbing bodyshells were only a twinkle in the legislator's eye in the early '70's when this monocoque was designed. Mercedes were working on or had just introduced them about then- no-one else to my knowledge.

[962porsche]

no i worked for porsche back then and it was all vw-audi .that is why the first 924 used a all vw-audi drive train . the body shells are not called monocoques . it would be unibody car. a monocoque does not use its outer body panels as part of its strength . like rear body and QTR panels .i think it was back in the mid 1930's when lancia came up with the first monocoque car the outter skin does not give the car its strength just like the outter fabric of a biplane . all thow some encyclopedias and dictionarys do list them as the same .

[petrolhead611]

All the books describing the evolution of the 924 credit the design brief to VW and the design execution to Porsche, in their role as engineering consultants. The parts bin engineering was a necessity to keep costs down eg Scirocco front A arms, 1303 struts and rear torsion elements,181 drive shafts, Mercedes designed(from when they owned DKW which became Audi when VW took over) but Porsche modified engine(at design stage, not production) previously used in Audi, Audi transmission modified by Porsche in design not production, Rabbit switchgear etc etc. When POorsche took over the manufacturing rights they then upped the spec such as seats to take the car somewhat upmarket.
Regarding Monocoque versus Unibody, you might be right with your definition,but,fibreglass self-supporting bodyshells, which by definition have skins that are somewhat stressed, are shown in all the literature as Monocoques eg Lotus Elite,Clan Crusader, Rochdale Olympic, and yet a Renault Espace with a stressed steel chassisless(is that a real word?) body frame with plastic outer panels rivetted on is not, and the same applies to the Rover P6 series which used unstressed steel outer skin on a stressed steel chassisless bodyframe. I believe the Citroen DS/ID pioneered this form of construction for the mass market, although it used bolt-on fibreglass roof and other outer panels of bolted-on steel; hence it should therefore be described by your definition as a true monocoque.

[flash968]

i have a pic of the prototype 924 in a book - it carried a VW badge - it had an Audi engine

in 1973 Porsche bought the project from VW

it was then built in the Audi plant in Neckarsulm

then in the late 70s Audi stopped making that engine, and we see the 944 develop

[962porsche]

yep thats about it !

[flash968]

lol - sometimes it's very cool to have a bunch of books lying around

heres the shot:

[Schumi]

Holy Ferrari Daytona batman.


I always heard the 924 was styled after the Daytona. The wheelbase is the same. But that concept is a bit too close.

I think the real thing came out better looking. Especially once they got phone dials.

[petrolhead611]

Yep I got the same photo in the Marc Cranswick book but printed small in black-and-white so no badge was even noticeable. He states that Porsche were commisioned by VW to design project EA425 in January 1973 as an Audi sports coupe and then in late '74 the new VW CEO pulled the plug and Porsche agreed in Jan '75 to pay back VW some of their fee(amount never been publicly disclosed apparently but Jerry Sloniger says it could have been as much as 160 million Deutschmarks, but it would almost certainly have been less than VW paid them to do the design work) to buy back their design and part of the deal was agreed as 2 year minimum purchase of certain items from the VW group parts bins.

[962porsche]

yep you were right !!!! i just called a long time frend from when i worked at porsche NA . and he did say that jochen did work on the 924 design when he was at porsche . you told me so !

[flash968]

we are such geeks

[petrolhead611]

Yep, I'll second that. I have no less than 4 books about the 924/944/968/928

But I just went onto a Watch forum site to see if I could get a couple old watches identified that I inherited yonks ago , and you wouldn't believe the fuss those guys make about things.

[petrolhead611]

Actually looking at the prototype photo Flash posted, I think I prefer that look with the indicator lamps under the headlights, the possibly slightly steeper raked tail and the definitely shorter rear side windows coupled with those wheels. Wouldn't want the VW badge though thanks!!

[flash968]

lol - petrol - if you think that's bad, you should see my "collection" - at least a dozen books, showroom sales literature, showroom CD and video tape, about 30 showroom posters, a dozen and a half miniature cars, internal factory communiques, tons more stuff - all 968 - i don't dare even mess with the 944 or any other model