944 light use rally car? am I crazy?

[andytheturtle]

Well I probably am but...I want to make my early 85 944 in to a light use rally/dirt road car. I plan to put plain black steel rims with semi aggressive tread, cut off an inch from the bottom of the front spoiler, mount some helle H4's in front of the hood and adjust the suspension a little.

This won't be for shooting over 20 foot jumps or driving over heavily rutted roads but rather for blasting around on fire access roads and smooth dirt mountain roads.

So what say my fellow pelicanites?

[krystar]

why not? i've seen alot wierder dirt cars.

[John_AZ]

Stock up on oil pans or plan to put in a skid plate.

The recession has stopped any maintenance on firelanes and washed out mountain roads. AZ is shuting down many road side way stops.

Carry a spare DME because the solder joints will crack.

Put the 944 on CraigsList and trade even for a 4x4.

John_AZ
1988 924S to Show
1987 924S to Go
1998 Cherokee 4x4 to Tow and go up the mountains and firelanes

[porsche4life]

Get a good skid plate and an extra DME and your set.

[mikepellegrini]

But they have no ground clearance... I'm sorry but I think it's a really stupid idea.

How about using a Jeep CJ to compete against 944's in an autocross?

[running_cold924]

hey, i have a 86 cj-7 with a sbc 350 stuffed in it, lets race for pinks!!! j/k
i always wanted to run a 944 in the 4 cylinder-race-car class we have local here on a dirt track because: #1 no one knows how to 'tech" them (you could easily hide a chip in the dme), #2 they are awesome handling cars/ weight split, #3 you will definetly stand out in the crowd.

BUT back to the topic, I do agree a skid plate would be in your best interest...

[krystar]

i know a guy that dirt races an acura rsx...

scott at team harco on rennlist races a dsm

[J1NX3D]

very cool. the very first official race the 924 won was its class in Rally of Australia.

lots of 924's and 944's in NZ/Aussie get setup for tarmac rally. gravels/dirt not too much more of a stretch.

[Tervuren]

I know a shop owner in Charleston who has dirt tracked his Lamborghini Diablo before.

[banana944]

A couple guys on rennlist rally their 944s. Not a dumb idea inmy opinion. If you wanted to do it, I had it all planned out before I decided to do a track build.

Depending on what kind of money you planned on spending will be the deciding factor. The smartest thing to do is a coilover suspension up front and crank it up all the way. Reindex the rear torsion bar to raise ride height. Use a stock aluminum skip plate under the motor deff. And I was planning to fab my own skid that covered the transaxle and maybe the whole undercarriage from thin sheet metal. I say go for it man!

[Born2bwild1191]

Originally Posted by Tervuren

I know a shop owner in Charleston who has dirt tracked his Lamborghini Diablo before.

Now thats just sick.

Anyhow, i think it really just depends on how much work/money/time you're willing to put into it. You can do anything if you put your mind to it, I say go for it!

[andytheturtle]

I forgot about skid plates. I am going to get everything I need together first then start. I doesn't seem like it will be that expensive or too difficult to build a usable car. It will be a while before i start though, being a poor nursing student and all.

[petrolhead611]

Full roll cage should be a must have

[962porsche]

i worked for the vw rally team some years back when they were running the gen. 1 rally golf . as for turning a 944 into a rally car yes it can be done ! but the 944 has alot of under hanging parts on that cars body . both in the front and rear of the car . there is no such thing as (light) rallying ! you will build a car thinking its built good and strong and you will still brake things and start spliting body seams . the front cross member and control arms are weak along with the rear trailing arms . so its more that just installing skid plates in the front and rear .

[andytheturtle]

Maybe "rally" wasn't the right word, I just want to be able to use my 944 on relatively smooth dirt roads. is that still to much to ask from my little old Porsche?

[krystar]

dirt course. not offroading

[jasonmx5]

Rallycross? Absolutely.

[holtzy822]

ohh I'm liking this thread already. I found a fire trail near my local airport a few weeks ago and of course I had to take the 944 down it. Not fast by any means (20-25 mph), but it was fun softening up the konis a bit and let them ride smoothly. Wasn't really going for fast as you can tell. We did take my friends jetta turbo out there and got it up to about 50... Handled pretty well so I don't see why you cant make a 944 go faster. I'd say if there was anything I would have liked to have had on the car at the time were stiffer springs. I'm running stock springs.

[fiat22turbo]

Considering the 924 and 944 use a slightly altered form of the MK1 Golf/Rabbit suspension in the front, I'd say that it should hold up just fine with proper prep work.

Skid plate can be built from using the stock belly pan with some added pieces for the middle of the car, which is fairly flat aside from the exhaust, which would need to be modified anyway.

The rear is similar to Super Beetles and 911's, so again a good basis to start from.

The MK1 rabbits had a solid axle in the back to worry about, with the trailing arm suspension and a skid plate to the rear bumper, much less to worry about with lots of travel after adding some height to it all.

As has been mentioned, the 924 and 924 CGT were successful rally cars in their day and still are rallied overseas. There's even a 924 running in New Zealand with Rotary power

[Jrboulder]

It's fun to take your Porsche out and get strange looks from the guys who think you need a lifted 4x4 to drive on some gravel roads



This summer I plan on doing the west side of Rollins Pass