Just a question driven by curiousity. Is it possible to update the whole FI system to a more modern FI from say toyota or vw? THe processors would be faster and no need to use a piggyback chip.

 

sure, but there will be a lot of time spent figuring wiring/tuning as well as adding stuff to the 944 engine that the ECU wants (cam sensor for sequential injection, different crank sensor trigger wheel).

or you could get a megasquirt/VEMS or other aftermarket computer already set up to run a 944 engine with the benefit of being newer/faster/more capable.

 

If you read the Megasquirt thread (currently 3 posts below this one with 85,000 views) you will see that much work has been done by those having the same question and deciding to go that route.

I would generally state that a modern FI system is not going to release significantly more power in a 944 NA. You will most likely get better reliability (if you do a proper job of the installation) and possibly better throttle response. The OEMs have developed FI extensively for fuel economy and emmisions reasons.

 

Why waste you time and $$$. What is your goal or outcome?

 

Buy HighStrung44 and you will never need to worry about a failure. Race car design and fabricated, my opinion from working on race cars for almost 45 years when LCA where fabricated by the race car builder. Then 1080 seamless cold rolled steel was preferred, no post heat treatment as for chrome-moly tubing.
Go with HighStrung44 and never worry

 

There are a bunch of threads on retrofitting a mega squirt to the 944 and other threads about modern versions/replacements of the dme (like focus 9 and the like).

 

I've tried to educate myself a little bit about this and my understanding is that, indeed, the most improvement you'll get is from a different way to control the injectors. Porsche didn't leave a lot on the table with these cars but it's also true that they are a product of their time and there have been improvements in technology since then. That's not really what you asked, though, at least not completely. Indeed, it also seems to me that there is some amount of improvement to be had by updating the injectors to a more modern spray pattern. There seems to be stories around about a little more power to be had by better atomization of the fuel. I don't know that I've ever seen dyno numbers, however.

This change is complicated by all the counterfeit injectors which people have found. A good place to start (no affiliation) is Five O Motorsports. At the very least, they have a lot of interesting information available for options.

Cheers

 

Thanks for all the replies. I dnt have a plan at the moment. I was just contemplating the idea for my recently acquired 944.

i like the megasquirt option best and y'all provided a bunch of reading material. Thanks.

 

I was working night shift at the power plant a few years ago. Not much going on so I immersed myself in reading about the Megasquirt world. It is really quite interesting and doable.

 

The problem with Megasquirt and similar systems (to me) is that everyone that uses them seems to forever have to be screwing around with them to get them work correctly. I do have the FTech9 unit myself, which is unique in that it's programmed to mimic the factory DME and it works very well. Unless you're going to make changes in the engine requiring alterations in fuel or ignition profiles, the FTech9 unit is a no-brainer.

 

Once upon a time I did some testing about what easy upgrades did what for power, doing dyno runs after each mod to keep track.

Modern injectors (by mid 2000s standards) were worth 3hp. Not worth doing for the heck of it, but if you need injectors you may as well get new ones.

Porsche left plenty on the table with the 944 engine - it only needed to make a certain amount of power and get certain MPG and meet certain emissions requirements to fit into the lineup.
But there isn't a single part of the 944 engine that was optimized for max power or the blanket term of performance.

In my testing, a MAF conversion, the injectors, some tuning for 91 octane, and advancing the stock cam 2 degrees was worth 20hp over stock.
A real camshaft would only help too.

Car ECUs don't really need much in the way of processing speed - not that much actually going on, relatively speaking. Modern ECUs support more features/capabilities though like running a MAF or MAP based system which gets rid of the restrictive* AFM and helps throttle response greatly.

*restrictive at all times short of over ~4500rpm at WOT; the barn door is always blocking airflow until then.

 

@V2Rocket : I don't think I ever read what your improvements were worth; 20 hp is not bad, at all. There are a few recommendations I've read about here on RL that really stick in my mind and yours, to move to a MAF (or at the very least, away from the AFM), is one of them. Then I go overboard and start thinking about ITBs.

Cheers

 

 

That looks like a great way to turn a $4K car into a $8K car, just by spending $20K on the induction system.

 

Yeah, but it looks BOSS!