speedshifter

Hey guys,

I know that not much power can be gained of the stock 2.5L motor without a lot of money (and even with the cash, you dont get much power). In the end, I know its cheaper to buy a 951 instead, or an S2.

I just bought my '86 944 from a guy in Jersey. He was driving down the highway and the oil light came on. He kept driving and the motor locked up as he pulled over. He took it to his Porsche dealer and they said the oil pump failed and that cylinders #2 & 3 seized.

Here is the auction:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...&category=6434

I have worked on cars for years, and I don't under stand how only cylinders #2 and 3 seized, or even more how the Porsche tech could determine this with taking apart the motor? I think they were yanking this guy's chain and trying to book extra hours on the job.

Anyway, I've done the research and it will be cheaper to completely overhaul the motor (new bearings, piston rings, seals, etc...) rather than buy a rebuilt short block. Assuming that the motor doesn't need to be lined bored or something serious. Thinking positvely, i've got the opportunity to do perfomance internal work while I'm inside the block.

So my real question is, what parts for the 944 motor yield the most performance gains for the money? Camshaft, exhaust, etc?

I've seen posts about the upgrades available, but just wanted to see what was the best bang for the buck. I want to spend a lot of money on a supercharger, or go out and buy a bunch of parts, but just a couple parts that will give me a little boost in power.

Thanks guys!

Happy holidays!

Charlie

Matt,
It is very rare that a 944 oil pump goes bad. I think when you get into the engine you will find another problem. If it was not pumping oil then there is probably a failure somewhere in engine to cause this.

Travis - sflraver

you could always shave a little off of the face of the head to bring the compression up. Or you could put in 2.8L rods/ pistons out of an '89. Or do both.
There are a few people out there that make hot cams. They dont "give" you to much power, only move the power you have around a bit.

Another trick that someone told me about , though I have not done or researched it at all, is to switch out the injectors for stock turbo injectors. Add an adjustable fuel pressure regulator combined with a air:fuel meter and tune it in. The person who told me this said he was using the stock NA chips and it worked great, so... who knows.

Have fun!!!

speedshifter

You think its possible that the timing belt went on it and the shop was saying the oil pump to book more hours?

I know its not uncommon for greedy technicians who like "juice" jobs to overbook the ticket.

Travis - sflraver

The timing belt is a job in its self. If that went then you more than likely have bent valves and the such. Its easy to check though, just pop off the front plastic cover and take a look. 2 belts = good, belt pieces = bad.

speedshifter

Yeah, if its the belt, I'd probably wind up just replacing the entire head with a rebuilt one.

I can't actually find out what's wrong with it right now, because the car is still being shipped as of now. I probably wont have it here until after x-mas. I just like getting all the info ahead of time so I dive in knowing something instead of nothing.

By the way, I've seen that if you ask the right questions here, you can really learn a lot on this board. Thanks for all the help guys!

So whats the best bang for the buck, shaving the head? No negative effects if I replace the factory filter with a replacement K&N right?

Travis - sflraver

KN vs Factory filter... thats a tough one. Use the search and read the other (lots) discussions on the question.

Some say free flow outweighs the hotter air, some say colder air from the stock intake outweighs the free flow. Read up and you decide. I use K/N type just because it gets that big hunk of plastic out from under the hood. I could care less about the +/- .5 HP or whatever it comes out to.

SoCal Driver

Get the engine apart first. See what it needs to be put back stock. Rebuild it. Don't cut corners but then don't be foolish either.

Check the chassis and fix any worn parts. You will find a few. Fix any electrical.

Get the stock car running and drive it a while. Work out all of the bugs.

Give yourself about three to six months of driving the stock 86 before you start to think about any mods.

As to mods: When Porsche redesigned the 924 into the 944 they redesigned the engine using the 928 as a template. They had to lower the compression ratio to get it past smog and the lower octane gas in the US. In the 85.5 model change over Porsche increased the cam timing on the exhaust a bit to tweak a few more horses out of the design.

One of the big reasons that the 16 valve engines have more horse power is the increased compression with a knock management system built into the electronics. The extra valves helped too. Later model 8 and 16 valves NA engines increased volume to get more horse power. The turbo is another animal altogether.

So it's very difficult to get more out of an engine that was tweaked a 110% in the first place.

Suspension is a place for improvement. Better shocks, springs, sway bars and tires.

Want to go fast? Buy a turbo.

Want a great car for it's time? buy a 944 and keep up the maintenance.

Personally I think the 944 is a great car for all time.

speedshifter

Okay, sounds good to me.

I'd rather not spend any money if its going to be wasted. I see what you mean with the 110% thing. I'm sure Porsche tweaked out as much feasible power out of the 4-banger as they could get away with.

I'm still gonna replace the stock filter with a K&N (do that on all my cars) and look and shaving the head down a little if I'm going to have it send out for a valve job. The shop should have specs on how much they can grind down on it for warped heads and such.

Thanks for the info!

tifosiman

Matt,

I agree with SoCal. Spend the cash on getting it back to snuff, then just spend some time getting to know the car. You'll find that the best funs is to be had in the twisties. After you feel that you have maxed out the ability of the car in the corners, come back and ask some questions regarding shocks, sways, springs, brakes, etc. These cars can be turned into corner-eating monsters with the right tweaks.

"Bikewiz"? Bicycles or Motorcycles?

Tifo

speedshifter

Thanks for the advice. I only bought this one for $1500. Summer car for my dad and I. We plan to fix it up and drive it for the summer. By the end of the summer we hope to sell it for a pretty penny. Then next spring we will be looking for a 951.

Well, the bikewiz thing is a little of both. When we first got aol, my screename was going to be "carwiz", but my dad liked it so much that he stole it and told me to think of another one. At the time i was like 13 and building a bmx bike, so i did bikewiz. I really like motorcycles tho (fan of Jesse James and the Tuttles from OCC) so I dont mind keeping the name.

Have a great weekend and enjoy your holiday!

SoCal Driver

Don't bet that you will get more out of selling the car than you have to put in it to get it back on the street dependably.

Don't waste your time with the K&N filter. Doesn't do anything for the 944. Even causes more problems because it gets dirty faster cutting off intake air flow. Just as the engine is tweaked 110% so is the air box and filter. Get a ventilation engineer to explain the filter system to you. It's vastly over size for the engine.

Keep us posted on what you find when the car is finally delivered.

Zero10

I agree, the only air flow upgrade that is worth doing is the K&N Panel filter, it's nice to never have to buy a filter again, and I hear the flow is much better as well.
There is not a lot you can do for performance without drastically reducing the life of the engine, supercharging is great, but it's not worth the cost, and it will cut your engine life short.
Port and Polish the head, replace the barn-door air flow meter, although the AFM is a pretty expensive upgrade.

Dave

Yup, If you're doing the K&N, get to one that goes in the airbox, it flows more air than a cone, stays clean longer, takes in cooler air and costs less.
Otherwise, compression is the place to find HP for less than a ton of cash. Shave the head, maybe some '88 or euro pistons if you can find 'em cheap. Don't get to far into the planing stage before you find out what is really wrong with the car. You will need to do some more research too, before you think of boreing anything compare the price to a used or new shortblock. You can't just bore a nikasil (or alusil) block.

speedshifter

Yeah, well I talked to the kid who owned it (high school kid driving car daddy bought for him) and the oil pressure gauge went to zero before he says it seized. So it may not be the pump's fault, but something caused the pressure to go to zero.

Yeah, i hate cone filters. I was referring to the K&N panel replacement filter that utilizes the factory airbox.

SoCal, you may be right about me not making money off this car, but I'm gonna do my best to prove you wrong :P