944 NA Engine Rebuild

[DanR944]

I am pulling the engine from my spare automátic 944.
I should have it out tomorrow, just got to remove the bottom torque tube bolts.
I am going to replace head gasket, cam tower gasket and cork gasket.
Of course water pump along with all belts and rollers. Rod bearings and connecting rod nuts. All the seals, etc. I have most everything I need to do the job.

Going call Web Camshafts about doing some work on my cam.
I would like to get some better pistons, but not sure $600 for new
Pistons is a smart investment? If I could find some Euro Spec pistons
tolerance group 0, which probably isn't going to happen.
I really want a set that will be a direct fit without having to send the block out
To be resleeved.

Any feedback and suggestions are greatly appreciated. I will
have the Rogue Tuning MAF kit on my list too.

[wildcat077]

If you're going to install a cam without putting in higher compression pistons , it would be a waste as you would need to do both if you really want any benefit !

Give Lindsey Racing a call , Mike can set you up with a nice set of JE 10:6 pistons that would just drop in ... shave your head .030 and you get approx 11:0 compression ratio that you can safely run on high octane pump gas.

[v2rocket_aka944]

get the MAF first.
then get the cam.
save the pistons for when you really "need" to rebuild.
the cam will work fine with stock compression but will be better with high CR pistons down the road.

[DanR944]

Thank you for the advice! What type of hp gains will the pistons
And hot cam yield? While I have the engine
Out of the car, I want to do all the performance
Mods and engine refreshing I can. I daily drive an 85.5 944. The 84
944 is my project. Previous owner added 944 Turbo front and Turbo rear.
I owned a 944 Turbo in the past and always
loved the looks of a 944 Turbo.

[v2rocket_aka944]

presumably if you get euro compression pistons, ditch your cat, and were able to get a Euro DME, you'd have the same 163hp they had.

but that output is achievable by advancing the stock camshaft and getting the MAF conversion, with your stock 9.5 compression. BTDT.

nobody really knows how good the web cam is - not lindsey, not 944online, not webcam themselves, nobody in the 20+ years its been available seems to have ever done a before/after dyno. in theory it should only help as the stock 944 cam is quite mild.

[DanR944]

One would think that WebCams would have
Done a before/after Dyno.

I am going to call Paeco Monday. They are closed
Fri-Sun.

I have looked for a Euro DME, but I think they
are hard to find. Euro Spec pistons can be
found, but I think tolerance group 0 is going
to be difficult to find. My pistons in my NA block
are 0+. I may have to spend more and buy a set of new pistons.

[DanR944]

The car is Cat delete with Dansk exhaust. Has
a nice exhaust note.

[v2rocket_aka944]

skip the euro DME, go straight for the MAF conversion.
this is a stock vs MAF dyno on my early 1985 NA...hard to read, yes. peak power up only 5 or so but look at the whole curve...look at the torque...+14lbft at the bottom end is over 10% gain.

the car has grunt you'd not believe with the MAF conversion.

[v2rocket_aka944]

and this is the same "stock" baseline vs my car with MAF, some fine tuning, and advanced camshaft.
after this day (many runs done, this wasn't even the highest output) i concluded that i ran out of camshaft or displacement to pull more air in up high.
bigger engine can pull more air under the stock cam, or a hotter cam on stock size engine.

[DanR944]

Nice Thank you for posting the Dyno's. Definitely
Going to get the MAF and the cam key. What year DME are you using? Or did you use your original DME and solder the chip socket in?

[v2rocket_aka944]

i think it was an 87 DME. but any dme 85.5->88 will work, might need the 28 pin chip modification though.