TheAllusionist

I haven't had my 1986 944 Turbo (47,000 original miles) very long, but I have been replacing worn parts and tinkering on it, have a M030 suspension from an 89 turbo lined up and all sorts of dreams and aspirations for the car. I have been told that the 944s transaxles are a bit fragile and not built for drag racing and realized I wouldn't build the car for drag racing, instead take it out on tight winding roads whenever I get a chance.

Here is the Dummy part. Last Saturday we had dinner guest and one older gentleman was dying for a ride, so I took him out. At a stop light I decided to show off and launched it smoking through first and second and when I hit third, no power and a whop, whop, whop vibration, coasted into a church parking lot and had a tow truck bring the car home. I figured it was a CV/Driveshaft and Sunday when I had a chance to jack it up onto stands and check it out, sure enough the passenger side drive shaft or CV is broken as I can move it up and all around by hand an only the boot appears to be holding it in place.

So I am lucky it is a relatively easy fix, you know who smiles down on fools. But knowing I am a fool from time to time I want to beef things up. So I have researched and know I can get some performance shafts and CVs from Lindsey Racing, but if I do that am I putting undue stress on other parts like ring and pinion? Should I keep my eye out for an AOR series transaxle and down the road swap them out? Or was this probably a fluke and just tossing high quality half shafts and CVs in OK and as long as I don't make it a habit of launching, things should be OK ? Also, If I put in the full 1989 turbo M030 suspension, will the half shafts need to be for later car due to lengths etc.?

1986 Porsche 944 turbo, 47,000 miles, Porsche factory qualifying race software 3 bar fuel regulator new bypass valve is where it is now. 3" test pipe system and stealth MAF is probably the minimum I will do long term performance wise just to give you an idea where I want to go. So should I be looking at beefing up the transaxles or CVs or are they the inexpensive weak link that I should maintain as engineered by Porsche. I realize when you soup up these cars that you are asking for maintenance issues, but I would like to get on it once in a while from relative stop, then again "Dummy" is in the title of this post. I respect that this is a low mileage beautiful piece of German engineering and I am not trying to go hog wild on mods, but want to make it all it can be (hence possibly upgrading suspension/brakes with the M030) while maintaining a stock look and some reliability.

Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge and wisdom with a "Dummy"!

odurandina

the transmission will be fine with normal or Saturday track day use but change your tranny oil at least once every 3 or 4 outings. if full racing, then it would be more like every 1 or 2 race days. the weak link is your axles/cv joints. your torque tube would eventually need new bearings, and the nipples (front pilot bearing snout/splines) go out of spec, but I doubt you're even halfway there.

ok. now reading the second paragraph, the factory CV joint alloys have been heat cycled for 3 decades.

and you discovered the next thing that happens on a spirited drive down the lane....


the next places where failures might occur; clutch, input shaft, gearbox..... unless you change to v8 power, I wouldn't be overly concerned. even then, guys slam the Turbo gearboxes around for a LOT of track days before seeing failures...

TheAllusionist

Thanks for the input, I will toss some new GKN/Loebro on both sides, side gaskets around plates on each side of transaxle leak a bit so I will replace them and put fresh oil in the transaxle. I suppose there is a debate on what is best for that? LOL

I will worry about the possibility of different shaft lenghts on the 1989 M030 suspension if I get it I guess.

Thanks again for the re-assurance.

Russell

Dougs951S

Agree with OD, the 951 gearbox is tough as nails. Its probably the toughest, most bulletproof part of the car. The final drive doesnt like to be launched on, but once you're rolling I doubt you'd be able to hurt it. As you've discovered, if the clutch is in good shape and the driver is competent than the weak link is the CV joints.

TheAllusionist

Good to know, I was worried it was fragile.