Porsche-O-Phile

Headwork that costs $400-$500 on an n/a head can increase h.p. by 20 or more - talk to some spec racing guys. L8APEKS on here had some head work done recently which coupled with an adjustable timing gear has totally changed his car (do a search for the thread if interested). Just saying there are other ways to skin a cat. On a turbo, it's even more. I'd do that first. I think the FR Wilk chip set will gain you about 8 or 9 and that's only $350. Euro spec pistons (if you can find 'em) would give you a lot of bang for the buck too.

mavfan

are the euro pistons lighter/higher compression? how do they rate to an 88's compression?
also what kind of things would be done to the head to get hp increases? larger intake or exhaust valves?
also is the FR wilk chip dyno proven to gain 8-9 hp? is he still in business?
and about cams does anyone here have an upgraded cam? was it worth it? any dyno proven hp/tq gains? and how much did yours end up costing and what company did you buy from?

PCinDC

Hmm, pulling the head and having it ported, changing out the pistons (I.E. removing/rebuilding the motor completely) or dropping in a fits-like-stock Milledge cam?

I think I know which way I would go!
Factor in labor if you shop it out - a Head job will cost $1400 all said and done, and changing pistons will cost thousands with the re-hone and everything involved.
Factor in time if you do it yourself. Head job is at least a week at a machine shop once you've got it out of the car, changing pistons is weeks worth of work.

A cam is a simple change to make and like George says, Milledge retains stock base circles, making it plug and play. Cams are a great upgrade to any 944 8V car.


Edit: I have a Milledge cam on my turbo. I did too much stuff at once to be able to tell you the difference, but it idles just fine. I'll be talking to JME for a cam on the 2.8 I'm building. And if you ask me, in the world of Porsche horsepower, $650 is not that bad.

Manning

Really? Maybe Joe will chime in and point you to all the dyno sheets the Spec guys have posted up that show very little HP change compared to stock in their cars.

Yeah, I recall he has posted that it has changed his car based on seat of the pants, but I also do not recall him ever posting up dyno sheets. Has he done so yet?

FR's chips net 8-9 hp? Really? Maybe as the power falls off, but not at peak. Hope Joe doesn't mind me using this:

Geo

Ask the Spec 944 guys how much hp a FR Wilks chip nets them. Count 'em, 2 (two) whole hp. To my knowledge L8APEKS has not been to the dyno. I seriously doubt you can get 20 hp out of the head with a stock cam. Maybe though. Euro spec pistons won't net you much. Raising compression does not add nearly as much hp as most people think. It's one of those things to do while you're inside the engine but to tear one down to increase hp a little bit is a poor hp/$ investment.

Legoland951

Sean's car does feel significantly faster than a typical n/a car. However, Jeff you forgot to mention it is an 88 car to start with with high compression pistons AND shorter 5th gear on top of the reworking of the head and ADJUSTABLE TIMING GEAR which is ILLEGAL for spec racing. He also has $150 aftermarket Nology wires which is spec illegal I believe. This is still not taking into account of his lightened flywheel - aluminum if I believe (spec illegal unless you add another 75 pounds of ballast weight).

Campeck

na cams are an upgrade for turbos cause of the low overlap i assume. with a turbo you dont want the boost blowing in the inlet valve and going right out the exhaust valve. lol.

Campeck

2's generous. I only got 1 TQ and HP. but a smoother curve.

Techno Duck

Just curious as to what you all think in this matter..how hard is it to change the cam on the 8v n/a 944? Basically a timing belt job..and removing the cam carrier? Anything more than that? Honestly $650 for a JME cam that nets a supposedly a realistic 10-12hp dosent sound to bad if i consider i dont plan on selling this car..atleast not until i run it into the ground first.

Manning

WYIT, valve springs and lifters, just to play it safe.