it was the O2 sensor
 

so yes i finally replaced my O2 sensor when i had to go in for a smog and it made a big difference!
it's like i was expecting it to be when i bought it now. unfortunatly i can't race my friend with the rx7 again though.....he sold the rx7 after buying an 83 944 with a 951 motor and turbo heh.
but yeah it's much faster than it was now, before it would chirp 2nd gear and not it gets kinda sideways and squeels shifting to 2nd i havn't tried a top speed run yet but i'm sure it's more than it was before.:)

The answer for igintion timing is no. All timing adjustments are made by the DME. There are chips that are available to enhance performance, I have heard that these are a waste of time and money.

I had a simular problem when I first got my 83 944. The problem turned out to be a couple of faulty plug wires. They would fail intermittantly, so It was hard to diagnose. Usually they would fail when I was being shown up by a couple kids in a ricer; way too embarassing!

Interesting stuff. I have had my 86 944 for about a week now and I also think its lacking smewhat. I have driven many a 944 and (RX-7's) ha ha...I have checked some of the spark plugs and they seem good, and the wires look ok too, I haven't checked the cap & rotor yet, or the O2 sensor? Only mods are a K&N filter & test pipe...

the O2 sensor i used as a replacement was the one wire universal from bosch it's $39 at kragens and i noticed a difference in the idle right away, it went from 750rpm to 1000rpm. i think that the difference in oidle rpm came from the computer advancing the idnition timing once it had data from the O2 sensor to go by....someone told be before that with a bad O2 sensor my dme was probably in a default safety mode which would retard the timing to avoid ping. this seems probable since if you adjust the timing on a car that can actually be adjusted retard the timing will drop the rpms and advancing will increase the rpm's. so if your car seemsway too slow off the line as mine did it may be the O2 sensor?

You really can't compare or have judgement at this point. There wouldn't be any value to them until you get your 944 serviced. Too many things that haven't been done--namely, a tune-up.

Make sure your clutch isn't slipping either. Don't think about modding too much. You'll be better off with a 951 for that. The 944 is most fun in the twisties with great torque/handling. I've had mine for ten years, and have done many things to try to boost power, short of nitrous oxide or forced induction--but here are the things that I've found to provide the most improvement with the least amount of cashola:

exhaust any good cat-back system will help. However, I've reverted back to my stock exhaust--mainly because I like the sound and didn't notice a big enough improvement anyway. Porsche did their homework on exhaust and the stock one provides a good balance between hp/noise.
tuned header I have the Bursch, which was made to work with a test pipe but I modded my cat to fit. I noticed more midrange oomph after I did this. MSDS makes some nice looking tuned headers too.
intake MSDS makes a cone filter adaptor, and helps--although I've reverted to the stock airbox with a drop-in K&N (mainly because I like the stock look)
throttle cam it won't make your car faster, but it'll feel faster
sport clutch/lightened flywheel this provided the biggest improvement for me. It reduces rotational mass right at the engine, so a notable gain is realized. woo hoo!
lighter wheels Porsche fuchs are light and strong. I'm looking for some 15x7s and 8s

I haven't changed the chip, because the stock ECU does a good job of adjusting the air/fuel mixture...read up on grassroots motorsports magazine's project 944. They tried different chips on the dyno with their mods, and none of them worked better than the stock one.

The 944's not a rocketship. There's the 951 for that. The 944 is way faster at 60-120 than at 0-60. And with some familiarization and driving skill, you can pretty much whoop cars that cost three times more on any track or backroad...and STOP DRAG RACING...Porsches weren't designed for that. If you wanna drag race, GO BUY A CAMARO

i like to drag race the imports around here, it's REALLY big i pulled up behind a couple rice burners with alluminum wings and stickers at a stop light and they were looking at eachother and reving, so when the light changed they both launched racing eachother and i couldn't resist, i floored it and flew past both cars from behind like they were standing still within a 1 or 2 block distance, by the next stop light they were specs in my mirror and they both drove past me while i was in the turn lane really fast without looking

About 95% of rice-racers out there have done nothing but reduce the performance of their cars by adding on weight with big wings/body kits/wheels--in addition to changing the chip to something with more claimed horsepower, when in actuality, it reduces horsepower. The ones that DO add horsepower, only add maybe 1-3 hp, if they're lucky--and that doesn't come without losing some low end power either.
Do they really think that Billy-Joe over at Cooter's who just got one o dem fancy computer chip mapper programs can do better than a team of highly-educated, highly paid engineers at one of the biggest car manufacturers of the world? These are the people that made variable valve timing a reality--I'll bet I could blow them away with my sister's stock Toyota Tercel with 13" wheels.

Some of those dumb-asses actually think that the louder it is, the faster it must be.

Forced induction kits are the only mods on those cars that are worth the money. Don't waste your gas on them.

I'm just kiind of snooping around here, but the craziest thing about that article was that there were two 4 cyl. cars compared with an american v8 "flagship". Now, the corvette is, at least lately, a very fast var. But, isn't it amazing?

Yeah, that's what I noticed too. And the 951 wasn't too far away from the v8 corvette. Impressive.

About the only imports I think are menacing are Honda CRX's with a big intercooler in front.


RBT.

hehehe.......yeah, my friend with the BIG v8 in his corvette zr1 gets awful pissed off when my lil' 4 banger hands him his a$$!

Another friend of mine with a viper big a$$ v10 is scared to even try my lil' 4 banger.........F'ing hilarious!!

haha wow your friend with the viper must be a rich pussy? i rented a viper in vegas once and it was f#$%ing scarry fast....well scarry when my brother was driving, but just fun when i was driving, one of the things i liked most was stomping on the gas and having the rear end instantly do a 180

hey does anyone know if changing from 87 to 92 octane in a stock 944 na will make any kind of performance difference... i know in cars that have knock sensors using better gas will make a difference, but the early 944 has no knock sensor i'm pretty sure?

My 86 NA turns into a volkwagon bus full of hippies when I use 87. 91 is smooth, so I stick with it. I once put 115 octane in there when I went to Sears Point Raceway (They've got 76 race gas at the pump there) and WOO HOO--wish I could run the race gas all the time!

Oh.......i'll hand his viper it's a$$ too ;-)

You need to run 92. It says it right there on the filler door........what, you can't read German ;-)

If you read English, those numbers actually translate to 87 octane (for the NA) ;)

Well then i stand corrected.........if you say so(i can't read German, and barely English)

I would still run the 92 personally.

I won't argue with you there. The cost difference is minimal over the long haul.