Lemming

Many of you may have seen the threads about dropping a 968 engine into my 924S track car. I have just come across an opportunity to pick up an S2 motor for a good price. So the question becomes, do I hold off for the 968 or jump on the S2 engine?

Porsche-O-Phile

Get it.

Serge944

Depends on the price. If you can get an s2 engine for several thousand cheaper, definitely go for it. If you're swimming in cash, however, hold off for a 968 engine.

The variocam and the extra ~30 hp are nice. Plus, you get a clutch that doesn't require a short trip to hell to change.

Lemming

I'm not planning on switching over to the 968 bell housing, instead, I'm sticking to the 924S bell housing with S2 flywheel and mating that to a 951 tranny.

Z-man

Tim:
I believe you will have an easier time adapting the S2 motor to your car.

While variocam will give you ~ 30 more ponies, it is a more complicated head.

IMHO, the S2 motor is a more logical choice.

-Z.

seb928s

Like Z-man said. It's going to be easier and less of a pain for the S2 engine to go in instead of the 968 and it would be cheaper. You could do some suspension mods with the money you will be saving.

jonnybgood

What class will you end up in? A recent poster was removing his 968 engine and going back to 944NA because the class he was in was filled with 400hp turbos and such. The modified class has some very fast cars.

schumi

the variocam I believe really helps at lower rpm. on a track car that will be kept at the high end of the rpm band, there may not be much difference in lap times or fun factor so it may not be worth the extra cost and complication of the variocam. My 924S has a 968 shortblock and S2 head and it goes pretty good.

Lemming

seb928s - I already have Leda coilovers all around with deleted T-bars.

jonnybgood - right now it is just a DE track car. If I do race it with be with NASA and GTS, with the 968 engine I would run in GTS3 with slightly modded E36 M3's.

Z-man - I'm not sure why it would be easier to adapt the S2? I already have a Motronic ECU for the 968, the engine will mount to my existing crossmember, and the clutch bellhousing from the 924S will work (just need an S2 flywheel). So what am I missing?

schumi - I agree, I will be in the high RPM range on the track, but I'll still miss out on those 30 ponies.

Jared944

The only real pain about dropping that 968 motor in my 944 (or in this case your 924) was the wiring. Everything mechanically matched up perfectly. My 2nd headache was that damn 6 speed tranny. However, your not going down that road, so it should be an easy swap.
I don’t know much about the S2 motor, but I know from personal experience, the 968 motor is a blast to drive.

Z-man

Tim:
By easier, I mean easier to maintain as well.

Isn't there something that connects to the 968 bell housing that cannot be adapted to fit the 944 series bell housings? Speedo? Speed reference sensor??

The fact that you have the ECU is a plus. I take it you also have the wiring harness?

-Z.

Z-man

I dunno -- my car (944S2) has plenty of low-end torque compared to the 944 n/a and 944 turbos. That's without that fancy variocam doo-dad.

That said, there are plenty of lower-rpm corners at most tracks, depending on what gear you select for a given corner! A couple examples: Oak Tree at VIR, several turns at Pocono (variuos configs), T10 at Summit Point (if you take it in 4th gear, instead of 3rd!) and just about all the turns at Shenandoah!

-Z.

Lemming

Z-man - this is from Matt's 944S3 website

"Clutch/Flywheel/Tranny issues
If you are going to use the 968 6speed, that is doable however that is not what I did so I cannot intelligently comment on that. However, if you are going to use the stock 944 na transaxle, you must use the 944 torque tube. And because of the torque tube, you must use the 944 clutch bell housing. And the 968 flywheel will not fit in the 944 bell housing, so you must get a 944 S2 clutch and flywheel setup, along with the S2 flywheel sensor MOUNTING bracket. DO NOT use the S2 flywheel sensor. You will be using the 968 flywheel sensor, mounted on the S2 bracket, mounted on the 944 na clutch housing. Even though that sounds like a complete hack job, trust me -- it works, and works great -- I drive with it every day! "

If looks like I'll need to find an S2 bracket if I go with the 968.

I'm working on the wiring harness.

Lemming

Hmm - I'm guessing that I'll have to find a set of 968 headers, I doubt the 924S are the same - does anyone know?

bleucamaro

The twin cam headers are diferant.