black944 turbo

Voith and fr are correct. The early engines have the forged rods and some of the later cars do not.

marc abrams

Yep, all year's. Let's stop this pissing contest and enjoy the car you have. All you guys do is brag and argue. Who really cares?

Tiger03447

Good to hear about the rust pblm..My '83 looks pretty good underneath..My two DD's(non-Porsche) are suffering badly from rust issues, here in NH. They salt the roads here and even with lots of rustproofing, undercoating,etc, they still needs lots of annual repair. Can't wait to move south where the roads are better and the rust issues are considerably less.

yorkee

I am a minimalist, and I love montenium car. I love Colin Chapman's philosophy of "Add lightness".

so here is my own perfect version of the "best year" 944:

start with a 85.5 944, (have all the interior and vent update, but don’t have airbag and abs yet)

then swap with the following:
struts and shocks with koni (M474 or M030 believe)
968 M030 sway (19mm / 30mm)
later S2/turbos spring and torsion bar (175lb / 25.5mm)
83 rods
88 pistons (or row pistons)
late afm
turbo radiator
late 6 blade fans
late waterpump with no tensioner
late header that has no crack
86 turbo A arm (or any early steel arm for cost)
early manual steering
early manual sunroof
manual sport seat
early hub spindle (for the sake of fitting fuchs)
early offset 16x7 fuchs (love deep dish)
code 220 LSD

and all other goodies I am missing or that I don't even know

If that's not possible, I will settle with a 83 944 with any of the above available options.

V2Rocket

Mine's the best, but that doesn't help you

Humboldtgrin

The best one is the one they didn't make! Everyone has peices of different years on there cars anymore. I have 924 panels under the MAF, 86 rear hubs and engine block, 87 chassis with 89 passanger quarter panel, 88 AOR transaxle and spindles/hubs. I see it as building a full scale operational model and getting to pick out what you want to chose from, as the parts list is provided for different of the same items. This thread should be what parts are your favorite to put on your 944 not what best year.

odonnell

If we're talking about configuring a 944 using parts from any year, a sweet setup would be a very clean 1983 with an S2 drivetrain. Light, responsive, and the grunt to back up the looks.

Voith

These are my favorite and it took over 7 years to collect them.

Car:
- 85.5 'sport' option sunroof delete car
- 89 M030 late offset everything
- 89 factory turbo cup Bilsteins
- composite front fenders and bonnet
- 968 mirrors
- 968 handles
- 968 door cards
- 968 CS steering wheel
- 986 ABS
- 'sport' manual steering rack
- 'sport' leather seats
- full leather upholstry
- digital race dash
- EtaBeta for Porsche 8x18 & 11x18

Engine:
- 944 2.7 block
- 968 head
- 968 oil cooler & filter housing setup
- S2 crank
- 89 Turbo oil pan & misc parts
- H rods
- ARP & Pankl fasteners
- customized Andial 104.5mm pistons
- Titanium, ball bearing, twin scroll turbo
- Hayabusa ITBs & custom intake
- standalone w. clewett trigger setup
- custom twin scroll crossover & 4" stainless exhaust