harris

Hi all,
i jumped in here from the 996 forum, cause i need your help.

my brother has a 944 and wants to convert it to a 951.
can anyone tell me what exactly does he need apart from the engine+gearbox.

front wings? do they need changing?
rear axle?
suspension?

is it straight forward swaping parts from one car to the other?

thanks....in advance

Campeck

oh sheesh.
if you want solid info and not alot of ppl yelling at you to just buy a 951. then pm someone like..Matt h. or Geo ot tifosiman.

Cyrus951

:flamesuiton:

Luis de Prat

As others have hinted at, tell your brother to sell the 944 and buy a 951. He'll come out ahead.

I noticed you're in Greece, so vehicle tax is probably big there, but perhaps you could find a car in Germany and import it. I brought my 951 to Spain from Switzerland.

Welcome to the 944 forum!

Rich Sandor

someone inject the 951 parts on the floor photo!

tifosiman

A lot depends on the model year of the 944.

If it is an early pre-85.5 car, it would be difficult. If it is a post 85.5 car, then it is acheivable with copious amounts of cash and time. The post-85.5 cars have essentially the same suspension arms, mounting points, and interior as the equivalent year 951 cars, plus the mounts for the rear and side skirts are already there (shells were the same for them).

It would be cheaper in the long-run to just sell the 944 and purchase a 951, but if your brother wants to do the work and enjoys a project, then just maybe...............

If an 85.5 or later, he would need the following complete systems:

Drivetrain (engine and ancillaries, trans, computers, harness, dash pod, etc).
Brakes (hubs, spindles, calipers, rotors, etc)
Body Panels (front bumper system, foglights and turnsignals, fenders, header panel, light covers, side skirts, rear underspoiler, turbo emblem, etc).

Will be a lot of money and/or a lot of work.

Charlotte944

Harris:

As you have probably gathered from previous replies, converting an NA to a Turbo is an often discussed topic here.

Typically the thread will start when a young "new-bee" makes his/her first or second post after getting their first 944.

Anyway, the short answer is that you can convert an NA to a Turbo, but it will cost a ton of money and require lots of hard work.

You need to replace the engine (NA and Turbo blocks are the same, but the valves and valve seats in the head are different as is the flywheel.

The brakes are different, as are the brake rotors. With bigger brakes you need bigger wheels. Turbos come stock with 16" wheels, where most NAs have 15" wheels.

Turbo transmissions run a different gear set, and what you really need is an LSD box with the external oil cooler. Turbo rear axels and CV joints are "beefier" than NA parts.

You need DME and KLR boxes, an insturment cluster with a boost gage, intercooler and associated plumbing, Turbo coolant expansion tank, radiator, Turbo Oil cooler, turbo exhaust system, turbo throttle valve, and on and on...

I would tell your borther to hang on to the NA for now. Get to know the car. Learn how stuff works and fix what you can on your own. Before you know it you will have a fun, reliable car to drive.

In the meantime do some homework. Get your brother to join Rennlist and subsicrbe to the 924/44/68 and 944 Turbo/S forums.

Chris_924s

Ahh.. the most asked question on the board..

Been done, I have driven one. (Thanks Andy!) The nice thing is as you are swapping drivetrains you can get easy access to the myriad of things you'll want to replace/ test.

It's not easy, and you'll probably never see a penny out of it when selling. Purchasing a 951 is a reasonable alternative- you'll be wrenching on it anyhow- it's up to you to decide if the effort is worth it.

Check out Andy's threads (search 954 or "nine-44") a lot of useful info there.
The archives are full of others who have swapped out a turbo drivetrain.

951's were most produced/US exported in 1986 FWIW.

Porsche-O-Phile

Just get a 951 unless you're looking to do something weird - like put the Turbo-S drivetrain into an early 944 or a 3.0L turbo or something like that. As has been said, it ain't worth it.

We've all asked this question "can I turbo my n/a?" and the answer is always the same. With enough time, money, and parts you could turbo a leaf blower, but it'd be easier to just buy what you want in the first place. Trust me - a 951 will take enough of your time and money and effort to maintain anyway. Don't compound the problem for yourself by trying to do things the hard way, unless you have unlimited resources or don't care whether you have the car for 5 or 10 years.

ckathens

yeia sou! Good to see a Greek on the board. I lived in Athens for a year when I was younger and absolutely loved it.

Good luck with the 944->951 conversion if you actually do it.

Jakerx

i guess i'm just repeating what others have said. if he wants the 951 because he likes the car, then tell him to sell the 944 and get the 951. if he really likes wrench time (and spending loads of money) then by all means go ahead and do the conversion. (sorry andy you might not be the only one for long ) good luck with whatever you decide.

UDPride