Finally a Porsche owner!!

[944 Dream]

Hey everyone! I am finally a Porsche owner & I’m so stoked!! I have always dreamed of owning a Porsche 944 ever since my English teacher bought a brand new red one in 1986. I feel like a I’ve joined an elite club ( still waiting for the secret hand shake info to come in the mail ). And now I am the proud owner of a 1985.5 N/A. I’ve been reading like a crazy man ever since I considered buying a 944 a few months ago and I got a lot of great info from this site. I intended on buying a running car but stumbled upon an unbelieveable deal on a project car I couldn’t pass up. The black leather interior is fabulous (no cracks at all in the dash!), the body has a few dings but nothing that can’t be fixed and it could use a paint job, but that will come soon. However, the motor is bad.

Long story short, the guy I bought it from said it had a knock and low oil pressure. He had it checked out at a local import shop who couldn’t figure out what was wrong( nice shop ). So he pulled the motor with the intent of a throwing in a chevy small block. But with not much time and not much money he decided to sell it (I think there was some persuasion from his wife too because it's been sitting in his garage for 2 yrs).

I was thinking it might be a rod or bad wrist pin. So I decided to do a rebuild. I cleaned the motor up, pulled the oil pan and pulled the head and #2 cyl is totally gouged! Not scratched, but gouged.

So after reading all the good posts about boring out cylinders and over sized pistons and sleeves and everything I’ve decided to look for a new block.

Which leads me to my question (finally):

1) What N/A motors are compatible with my 1985.5? There is a 1989 N/A motor available but I want to make sure it will work in mine.

2) Also, will the head off my motor work with the ‘89?

3) How can I tell what year the motor is? There are numbers stamped near the back of the block which are: M44/07 43F05027. There are yellow hand written numbers on the back of the block from a paint pen like they usually do on parts from the junk yards so I’m guessing the motor that was pulled from the car is not the original.

[Jrboulder]

Congrats on the purchase!
Your handshake info should arrive shortly

The motor you've got there is a 1985 series 2 motor. The F designates that it's a 1985 for motors and VIN's, as in WP0AA094-FN4-----

You can find out what options you have by posting the option codes that you find on the label by the spare tire or in the manual or by going to this website:
Porsche VIN Decoder, VIN Lookup, Decode VIN

An 89 8v motor will work but you will need the complete engine as well as the DME and some other things. Parts for those motors are a little more expensive/hard to find.

If you are just looking for a drop in replacement any M44/07 motor will work with motors after 43H001920 (1987) having the auto tensioner.

This BBS loves pictures so the more pictures of your car you post the more helpful answers you receive

Jackson

[Cocacolakidd]

that year and type of motor designation is on the right side of the block - up high and close to where the head mates with block, and towards the rear on a flat.

85.5 look for a M44/05 through M44/07 - and every thing will match up...

The '89 na block is marked M44/09

[nynor]

what jrboulder says.

the 89 has a 2.7 liter engine. this would be a nice upgrade, but the head has differences with the oil channels, and possibly the water channels, i can't remember for sure.

that said, any 2.5 liter 8V engine will work fine with your computer/etc., outside of the turbo engine. there are differences early vs. late engines, but they are minor in terms of functionality.

[nynor]

p.s. that is some ugly damage to #2 cylinder bore.

[944 Dream]

Thanks for the input! I really appreciate it.

I'll be looking for further help as I go so you'll be seeing more posts from me and hopefully I'll be able to impart some wisdom/help to others as I learn more.

Everyone here great!