na 944 mods...Worth it?

[89944TurboS]

I am test driving a 87 944 na tommaro. It has the Throttle response cam, Chip & free flow exhuast. Do they make a dif? about how much HP? It would seem to complete the na mods, that it needs a intake as well, would that help put those together in a good format? Does fuel economy differ in any way? Any advice is appreciated! Thanks much Doug

[Bolkboy7]

Does anyone have a throttle response cam or know if has any real advantage? Repsonses are welcome.

[pearldrum]

I've talked to someone with one and they said it was worth it, but all it does is decrease pedal travel and i don't really see an advantage to it...

[ae1969]

Uhmmm I would not call it a performance mod.............

It sure makes the car more responsive.........

Lousier gas mileage, but it really makes you drive............how shall we say more spirited.

You can make your own throttle cam......search the archives (I took mine drilled a hole on the opposite side and flipped the cable) someone on this board did it.

Its worth the $20 bucks if you want to buy one......(just becarefull driving the first couple of days) the pedal sure gets touchy.....

[89944TurboS]

Thanks for the replies, but do these mods make any dif in the seat of the pants dyno? Or 0-60? Any idea's?

[Bob's944]

I did the 'free' throttle response mod by drilling and flipping mine, works fine... basically it's like pushing your foot down faster for the first few inches of pedal travel, so more gas is pumped in at low rpm... no more power.. but does 'feel' alil quicker.

The chip and free flow exhaust should each add between 10-15 hp, probably more like 10 each... so you should be running around 170 HP, that's alot better than 150 or so, so you should feel it... and hear it.. the car is gonna be loud with freeflow exhaust. Should increase your 0-60 and quarter mile times by about a second or so, add like 5 mph to the top end... and get you more tickets by drawing more attention to yourself with the added noise under full throttle. You'll also have to pump only premium gas once you have a chipped car, might need to add octane booster on top of that too since it advances the timing of the car and some places premium gas isn't so premium.. .like Cali

[eimkeith]

I'd call 170 optimistic.

[fty]

160-165 is prolly where its at...-chris

[89944TurboS]

Thanks Bob, It seems like you would need an intake also to get the other mods to work together...but Please no mention of tickets, I grew out of that stage years ago...I hope! ha ha... I wasn't aware of premium needing to be used, is that the case with all chips for the na 944's? The owner says it was put on prior to his buying it and he dosn't even know what brand it is, can you check just by looking at it? Thanks guys!

[Bob's944]

The chip should have the maker and software version numbers on the chip itself. Pretty much all the chips require premium gas. They all basically do the same thing, advance the timing and add 400-500 RPM to the rev limit. The other advantage to that is that 60 mpg becomes attainable in 2nd gear, not 3rd like stock NA's, which makes 0-60 times times easily faster.

You can have the intake modified to make it better free flowing at the intake ports, or add a K&N for increased airflow also.

[89944TurboS]

Thanks again Bob, Nice looking 85.5 you have! Is that where the na chip makers get their increased HP claims, but requiring Premium fuel? Can you run Reg fuel and not get those gains then? Thanks again for your help! Doug

[RealRideRacing]

I'm very skeptical about any performance gains with bolt-on parts. A few years ago, we performed several tests on a Chassis Dyno (as opposed to "Seat Of the Pants Feel"/Butt Dyno). We had a 1985 944na with a chip from a major manufacturer and dyno'd the car. We gained 1.5hp at 5,500rpms and lost 2hp at 4,000rpms (most of this is my recollection from years ago). Then we installed a header by a major manufacturer and gained 3hp at 5,000rpms but lost about 7hp at 2,000-3,000rpms. A "Performance" air filter showed absolutely no difference nor did a cone style filter.
This isn't to imply that none of the chips, filters and headers work. Over the years, things may have improved and we didn't try every brand out there. But our tests were based on major manufacturers and measured scientifically.
Eventually, we kept all the bolt-on equipment but bumped up the compression of the engine to 13:1, ran Carillo rods, titanium wristpins, fuel pressure regulator, straight exhaust (with one race muffler), X-drilled and lighted crank, modified intake, multi- angle valve job, and cam. We took the car back to the dyno and gained 20hp. I firmly believe that running a stand alone engine management system such as Electromotive, Haltech or Motec would have gained an additional 10-20hp as the factory Motronic system is still too restrictive and didn't allow us to optimize the modifications.
With the chip, header and filter, the car "FELT" quicker and sounded more powerful. It was definately more responsive, meaning that the car reacted more instantly to throttle applications. And the filter and header gave it a deeper more powerful sounding growl. But the dyno numbers spoke the ultimate truth.
What does this all mean? I guess it's up to you to decifer. The tests left me highly skeptical of any performance gains. Especially when the manufacturers claimed 10hp for the chip and 10-15hp for the header and we actually saw a lost in performance.
Most people at the track prefer the throttle response cam because it gives a more linear power curve making controlling the car at the limit easier. Some people prefer certain types of air filters because they can be cleaned, making it less expensive. Most seem to run without the catalytic convertors because the tracks sell leaded fuel and some also claim that the added volume allows you to hear yourself in a pack of cars at full throttle. My feeling is that if you love to tinker with your car, then go for it and have fun. But if you're hoping that these bolt-on parts will give you a significant performance gain, you may be in for a big dissappointment.

Regards,
David
PENNYWEB/REALRIDE.COM RACING
http://www.RealRide.com

[DennisR_944]

To see the procedure for making your own throttle response cam (with pictures) Click here.