Performance upgrades

[WestTexas944s]

Hey I have a mostly stock 1987 Porsche 944s only upgrade was a stage 3 street clutch. I was wanting to put a full header seat and catback exhaust system and a cold air intake does anyone have and suggestions on brads to look at. Thanks in advance!

[Alexb944]

you cant really get a whole lot of power out of these things unless you go turbo, or chips and such.. exhaust will help but nothing significant. these are drivers car, not racecars.. (unless built to be.) but if your looking for some power look into a rogue tune off of Lindsey racing

[dmjames]

If you want performance, skip the header and exhaust, and DEFINITELY skip the 'cold air intake'. You won't get much (if anything) out of any of these on an NA.

Legitimately useful performance mods for the NAs are pretty limited, but the best bang-for-the-buck is a simple 4-degree offset cam key (928 motorsports sells them). Best $40 I think I've spent on my 944. Past that, replacing the AFM with a MAF setup is a pretty frequently recommended mod.

[Rasta Monsta]

Best upgrade for a 944 is fresh shocks, suspension bushings, good tires, good brake pads, and fattest junkyard sway bars you can find.

[flash968]

lol - remove radiator cap and hold - drive 968 underneath it - reinstall

[v2rocket_aka944]

Originally Posted by WestTexas944s

Hey I have a mostly stock 1987 Porsche 944s only upgrade was a stage 3 street clutch. I was wanting to put a full header seat and catback exhaust system and a cold air intake does anyone have and suggestions on brads to look at. Thanks in advance!

Skip the intake/exhaust mods for now.
First thing you should do is make sure the engine/car is in good shape overall.
Then you should get a MAF/MAP conversion by any means necessary to delete the aging DME/AFM.
Then, if you want more, there are very nice (but expensive) headers available for the 944S model from Stahl.


I like flash's suggestion though...

[Alexb944]

and as flash said.... do nothing flash ever says. there would be no 968 without the 944 so shush up..

[flash968]

lol - yes, the 944 was the prototype. then they finished the design and gave it reasonable power.

i have spent plenty of time and money polishing turds. i just don't see the point in spending a ton of money trying to upgrade power on a 944, when the most you are talking about with the sum of any bolt on stuff, is 25hp. you can easily spend what the car is worth, and not make any real gains. what it needs is a different engine. unfortunately that then means all of the other things to go with it. at that point you are talking about a different car.

get a chip, and maybe a cold air intake (not to be confused with just putting on a cone filter), but really that's as far as i would go. i would limit the budget to less than $500. any more than that is a waste.

if you want more power than that, upgrade the car to one that already has more than anything you can do to the 944.

this would be like looking at my TR4-A and thinking about dropping in a TR6 engine. total waste of time and money. enjoy the car as it is, or start with one more like what you want.

i spent over $150k on my blue 968, trying to make it better. it turned out to be a great car, with gobs of power, a great suspension, and a whole bunch of modern creature comforts, but still it wasn't what i wanted. it still fell short. why? because the platform had very real limits. so i bought a new targa GTS. the 944 has similar limits. it is what it is. live with it, or get something else. you will never get any of that money back, and the results will not be satisfying, nor free from compromise. there is no free lunch.

[Sehrgut]

Do NOT do a cold air intake! Baaaaad mistake. Do, however diligent research and really decide the purpose of your car. Ask yourself, "What is this beautifully designed automobile's purpose"? Just the fact that you own a Porsche 944 is a statement to others in itself. Treat her well and keep up on the maintain, you know?

[flash968]

cold air intakes are PROVEN to work. it's all about reducing intake temps and increasing density (about 1% gain for each 10 degrees F dropped) and increasing surface area.

the problem is that too many people do not have a clue what a cold air intake actually is, or how to make one, and they screw up by installing something not designed well. it's a whole lot more than just sticking a cone filter on there.

for starters, you have to have MORE surface area than OEM, air must be introduced from a COLD location (not near the radiator or engine), and it must be sealed off from heat sources that would increase the intake air temp (like the engine). also, the plumbing from the filter to the intake manifold must be the right size, not have too many bends, or be too long.

done right, you will gain power on almost all engines. done wrong, you can easily lose power. i have dynoed countless cold air intakes, on many different types of vehicles, and i have yet to see one not produce power, if done CORRECTLY. generally you should see a 3% increase. some cars will see more. i've seen as much as 10% on cars where the factory really choked it down.

one thing to realize is that mods are not cumulative in terms of power increase. just because you might get 7 hp on a cold air intake, and 12 on a chip does NOT mean you will get 19hp total. it will likely be more like 15. this is due to things like the efficiency of the combustion chamber, valve timing, and cam overlap.

this is precisely why i recommend against going too far. the returns are diminishing. the most you will get out of any normally aspirated engine, with stuff like chips, intakes, headers, etc is about 20% if you do everything. usually it's considerably less. and that's with a perfectly running tight motor. that isn't a lot of power. yes, it can make the car more fun, but it will put a dent in your wallet.

unless you are absolutely in love with this particular car, save up your money and get a car that is closer to what you want. otherwise, drop in a different engine, or go forced induction. that's really the only viable way to adding any real power.

[grendiers]

Rasta is right on with these cars, 924S included. My new to me 1983 944 setup for track days is a joy to drive. Yup, a spanky new GTS will blow my old doors off, but, of course, depending on the driver, watch out in the corners! For track, corner balancing is very important, good clutch, good transmission, elevate the skinny pedal for heel-toe fun, or hell, depending on how big your feet are~! Live with the limitations and learn to take advantage of it's strengths. I'm still learning!

[flash968]

yeah - the single most valuable performance upgrade is fixing the loose nut behind the steering wheel.

after that, i would say a good corner balance and complete alignment with ride height set.

[onZedge]

Originally Posted by flash968

lol - remove radiator cap and hold - drive 968 underneath it - reinstall

I tried that already - my cap does not fit a 918

[jhowell371]

Step one, tune up with new cap, rotor, plugs, wires and air filter. Hard to get gains unless it's running good. I guess your S is drawing it's air from a cool location now, I know my 8V 944 does and so does my S2. Get a good chip, don't risk your engine's health with one from EBAY for $39. The S suffers from overly aggressive knock prevention programming which holds the timing retarded for longer than nessciary before returning to normal. This was corrected with the S2 Step three, the factory headers aren't too bad in design so a high flow catalytic converter and muffler would help too at a fraction of the price of a header. The above should net you at least 10% over the your engine's current state of tune..

[v2rocket_aka944]

No reason to go "high flow" cat on a 944.
All you will do is waste money and possibly fail emissions. The stock cat is not a restriction...

Agree on new plugs and air filter...fuel filter too..and get the injectors cleaned/serviced.

[OPRN]

The 944 has respectable power in my opinion and the S I hear is better. But then I didn't buy my 944 as a drag racer, I bought it for it's amazing handling and I am more that happy with that.

As for the 968, never driven one but I hear they can't match an early 944 in a corner in stock form.

[jcommin]

Originally Posted by Rasta Monsta

Best upgrade for a 944 is fresh shocks, suspension bushings, good tires, good brake pads, and fattest junkyard sway bars you can find.

^ this and learning how to drive the car from a professional.

[911tracker85]

I bought it for it's amazing handling and I am more that happy with that.

people often ask how fast my cars can go or what their 1/4 time is.

irrelevant. as Dr Porsche once said, at some point you must turn....

which relates not only to handling and balance, but also braking.

I technically sold my 87S to my Bro, but I have to do all the work on it so I tend to still claim it. all stock but he loves that car. the S loves to rev up to the 7K mark, and you really feel it start pulling harder at about 4k.

if you really want more power, get a turbo to mod. my next step for the 951 is MAF kit from LR, then take to a dyno and turn up the boost.

still in the tear down phase of my tub up total rebuild on the 930 clone. it will be heavily modified....

[Rasta Monsta]

Fast cars are fast in a straight line, fast drivers are fast in the corners.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[flash968]

lol - the early 944 only cornered at .83g. that moved up .85 as years went on

the 968 cornered at .9 on the 16" wheels, and a bit better on the 17" set

slalom speeds are better with the 968 too, due largely to the lower profile, wider tires, slightly wider stance, larger sway bars, and stiffer suspension