mclost

Witch parts do I need? ¨
Is it possible?

car_slave

You need a LOT of parts and money. If I were you I would sell your car and buy a Turbo, it will work out to be cheaper in the end. What are you driving now?

Chris_924s

search for member "nine-44" and swapped 954- Andy has done it and it's a beast. What a gift to be able to drive it to 944Fest last year. (If you are REALLY brave- search the archives for "Can I turbo an NA")

There WILL be flames from "Just buy a Turbo" to "you are crazy". It's your car and if you are serious about expending the time, energy and cash it takes- search the archives- it's all there.

HTH

Helstrm

Lot's of money. I was doing this to a 924s but decided this morning that there are too many parts to buy. I have 90% of the parts already but I tapped my budget and decided that a running NA will be more fun than a on going project. All I needed at this point was the headers, crossover, wastegate and clutch... But the damn clutch alone is $700.... I will be selling most of the parts I collected on ebay, So if you need a DME/KLR, Intercooler, Turbo mount, Turbo intake, Throttle body, Pistons, Oil housing, I have a buyer for my MAF and turbo already.

Mike C.

I think the only semi-practical way to go about it is to get a complete Turbo parts car. Then you can swap out everything onto your (exceptional) 944 shell. There was just such a car for sale at Hershey. A complete, running (not registered) but ratty 951 asking for offers over 1K. Of course you would have to do all the wrenching to make it feasible.

Porsche-O-Phile

Get your flame suit on. . . This is one of those questions that usually results in a myriad of flaming, which I'll try to avoid here.

To answer your question, yes it can. Yes it has been. It will almost always be cheaper to find a 951 or turbo-s and start with that. Exceptions might be (as mentioned) if you can pick up a totalled 951 and transplant the drivetrain into a good 944 n/a chassis. Just so nobody else will post it, here's an example of the work you're looking at - the engine, transmission, brakes, suspension, electronics (computer) and a host of other things will need to be changed.



Porsche did not simply slap a turbocharger and intercooler onto a 944, the two vehicles are significantly different. If you were planning on upgrading all the other stuff as well to better-than-stock-951 standards and like working with your hands and have some money and a whole lot of time to spend, then an n/a-to-turbo conversion will be a worthwhile project. Otherwise it's (as has been said and will again be said) better to start with a platform that is optimized for turbo performance to begin with.

Best of luck.

pikey7

I just realised. They show a body coloured batwing..... WANT ONE!

tifosiman

I wondered how long it would take for someone to post that damn picture.

Has anyone ever taken the time to take a hard, critical look at that ad? Ever notice that the batwing and side skirts are erroneously painted in the boldy colour (never saw that from the factory)? The perch tops on the struts are turned 90 degrees in the wrong direction. Technically.............the TT, trailing arms, Torsion bar housing, shifter assembly, a-arms, hubs, and CV's are the same as the 85.5 and 86NA (these parts look like a dissected 86 951 from looking at the rotors).

Can you name the missing parts that are different from an N/A of the same vintage? There are a few more than in the photo.

L8 APEKS

I don't think that advertisement should be viewed as cold hard fact. But, it does raise a point.

However, not all of those parts are absolutely required. Remember, this is ADVERTISING. Since when does fact and honesty factor in to advertising and marketing? They are polar opposites! And there have been better engineered aftermarket parts since Porsche made the 951.

IE, you don't need 951 suspension. It cracks me up to see all these guys spending money to buy 150,000 mile M030 shocks...lol. At best, they are probably operating at 50%. Almost any aftermarket option would be an upgrade, and in many cases would cost less too.

And unless you're planning on a lot of power (and a lot of mods), you don't need the 951 brakes with 217hp. Get steel lines and some good pads, and you'll stop almost as well with the smaller N/A brakes. In some cases, you might stop BETTER with the N/A brakes that have Hawk Race pads and steel lines, freshly bled...then a 951 with OE pads, rubber lines, and gunky fluid like many cars out there probably have. hehe.

Anyway...I'm about to embark on the N/A Turbo conversion myself, but I'm going a slightly different route than Jeff. I'm using mostly 951 parts, instead of Callaway parts. I'm building a low pressure system on my 10.2:1 motor (6 lbs), using the 951 IC, and keeping the stock tranny for the time being.

It should be quite a bit quicker than it is now. And I didn't need all those fancy body parts in that picture.

Honestly though...if i could afford a 951, I'd buy one. Maybe i should call my car a 947.5, since that's half-way between a 944 and a 951? lol!

Dilberto

Here we go with this again....Allow me to say that if you CAN afford it- then do it strictly for the valuable experience only. Because you will never recover your costs, or even profit from the exercise EVER. So, if you dont have the time, money, and/or resources to even attempt it..... then start shopping for 951s. Its a turnkey convenience and well worth your investment, any way you slice it.

kennycoulter

keeping the n/a trans.....ive heard for the mustang guys(thats all i really know), that the torque rating of the trans doesnt matter as much with a turbo car, because you dont have all of the power righ away. ie, since the turbo has to spool up, the trans isnt actually gettign such a hard punch of torque....the parts are already moving when the peak power hits it. sooooooo.....wouldnt the n/a trans be decent enough anyway?
i also noticed the control arms and stuff that are the same on the n/a, also the colored body parts....BUT, i cant find what else yo umean tifo.

Porsche-O-Phile

That's somewhat true, although you have to pay a certain amount of attention in shifting and avoid the temptation to do hard launches. Keep in mind these are independent rear suspensions and have (vulnerable) CVs on the back axles. The spool time of the turbo will offset the vulnerability of the n/a transmission, but only to a point. Eventually you SHOULD upgrade.

L8 APEKS

That's the same with ANY modified car anyway. I spent about $15k on my last Corrado G60. Not counting the $5,500 I paid for it in 1999. It was scary fast...$7,500 went into the engine. Then I sold it for $6,800. It adds up over a few years, and you always lose money. But we still do it.

The tranny will be fine if you baby the car. If you thrash on it all the time, it will certainly bite you back! I plan to keep my stock trans for a while, and in the meantime I will build another trans based on an N/A so I can keep my N/A clutch and flywheel.

MTM

How about the headlights, nose panel, and front fenders?

TRWright

I wish I could get a dollar for every one of these threads that pops up.........