LP944

I have an 83 that I want to autocross but also keep it a street car. What are best modifications to make it a winner? My pockets are deep for this one so any advice will help Exhaust, body, suspension, engine, anything.

Thanks to all that reply.

Canadian Wheelman

Suspension and tires.

I have the 250 lb weltmeister springs up front, and 30mm torsion bars, with the 968 mo39 sway bars, good for autocross, great on the street.

Nothing will help like a set of good R's...

RedRose

Tires and suspension is pretty much it. Lighter the better, too, so sound dampening may go as well, but damn it gets loud. My PO used his for AX only, so it had a five point harness, bar, and racing seat, plus momo wheel. Upgraded suspension, and all the dampening removed.

Tom R.

nothing to the car. take the scca evolution course, take it again, then take it a third time. that will cut more time than anything else.

I had a S2 with konis and two h rated old tires of an audi on the front and two dry rotted z rated tires off a bmw on the rear. An driver that knew what he was doing showed up in the middle of the day. He didnt walk the track, and didnt look at the map for more than ten seconds if at all. He grabbed a helmet, went to staging and did two or three runs. He ran the third or fourth fastest time of the day.

He also recommended i take the evolution course.

Yes my little S2 with dry rotted tires was faster than at least a dozen cars with R compounds and suspension modifications.

but what do i know anyway.

Oh by the way, did i tell you about the time at a ny autocross that a fellow showed up in a four door mercedes? He shared a ride with a fellow that had a stock 89 951. you know turbos suck for autocross, thats a fact. well he pumped the front tires up to something like 77lbs, left the street rears alone, and came in either FTD or second for the day.

oh, i forgot to mention, he was a national scca autocross champ, and he slaughtered a lot of cars modified for autocross.

moral of the story?
Pump a lot of money into your car to make it faster and you will go a little faster.
Pump a little money into making you faster and your car will go a lot faster.

sbyrne

Caution! Read the rulebook for the group you plan to run with before making any modifications. The SCCA rulebook is available online. Not sure about PCA (and never understood their classing anyway).
Something as simple as replacing a couple of bushings with poly or delrin can bump you into a class where you're hopelessly outgunned. Your early NA, like mine, is most competitive in the stock class (used to be E Stock, may have changed), which allows only a few mods.

jsaindc

My $0.02, in order:
1-Seat time
2- Good tires- R comps or aggressive street tires
3- Suspension Mods- I run 250# springs, adjustable Konis, and 19 and 30mm sways.

Like Tom said the best results will come from the driver not the car. There is a guy in our region that kicks but in a mostly stock 90hp 914...and sometimes in his 100% stock Jetta as well.

genikz

I would recommend all the seat time you can find and start out on really crappy street tires.

Crap tires communicate and make you pay for how unsmooth you'll be when you first start. Learn to be smooth and how to drive a car with no grip, then go for more grip and more power.

Just my $.02

LP944

I just looked over the rulebook and it was really confusing. What class do you run in and what were the modification limits?

RedRose

Basically, if you've put any modifications on your car that changed anything significant (LED lights don't change anything, and don't change class, unless there's some obscure rule...), you're probably street prepared. Best plan is to show up, registered, and they'll tell you. Nothing improves race times over being able to know your car better than it knows itself. Learning to drive the right way is the best upgrade one can get, as Tom said. I assumed you meant you wanted to know what you could put on your car. The emphases in 944s are weight and control.

67rschev

On the SCCA end of things , E Stock , you have to be stock . Any mod to the car other than dampers , and a front swaybar , will bump you up to the hopelessly difficult index of CSP . There are no street tire classes open to the 944 at this time .

That being said , there where sport options on the 944 , even the early cars . If you can find a set of early ( steel a-arms ) M030 front strut assemblies and hats . The late 924S M030 optioned struts are the same Parts , with the Same part # s . They are height adjustable , have stiffer springs , and better camber gains . The catch is , the rules read " entire packages " meaning that every nut , bolt , washer and bushing must be installed on the car . Most Porsche fanatics couldn't look at an OEM bushing and say , thats not the correct bolt or bushing , so don't worry . A good set of Koni adjustables are key . A limited slip was available and can be run . Having an 83 , you have the lightest of the model run , with a manual rack and manual sunroof . 16 inch rims were an option , all though i have never run them , and the car feels well balanced on 15 s with 225 50s . R compounds if ya wanna be competitive with the hot shots . Run A big front bar , then loosen the car back up with a creative alignment .

The car can be competitive on the local level , and favors wide open courses . Nationally , its a tough class , with all of the pros driving MR2s and Miatas .

xsboost90

i ran for a few years in my N/A w/ a factory sway bar upgrade-26.5mm front and 18mm rears- 200lb weltmeister front springs, lowered rear accentrics, koni yellows and some slightly more aggressive street brake pads. 250 may be alittle much for an early n/a w/ stock rear torsions. Drive the car at as many autox's as you can on the street tires before you go w/ an R compound tire or anything. You will get the feel of the car much easier and see where you need improvements. Remember, to go faster, you must slow down.

powaw

I am running in csp this season. 87 na with full delrin, koni's, 250# & 27mm tbars, 968 m030 sways, and 15" phonies with star specs. I put all the parts into it to begin with because the old ones were wasted. If you car is street ready now, just run it as is. You will have a blast and learn alot. Replace the parts when the season is over so you don't miss any driving opps. And go to every event that you can to get seat time. That is what you will need the most, not the parts.

LeMans71

I'm just getting started in auto-x (two events so far) but from my extremely limited experience I agree with the bulk of the advice that you are getting here. I'm driving my stock S2 with crappy (but nearly new!) street tires, the stock F&S suspension, and an open diff transaxle, and I'd like to blame my slow times on the lack of performance equipment - but I know better. The learning curve is so steep at first, and things seem to happen so fast, that any money I would spend on parts at this point would be completely wasted.

There is an Evo school scheduled in my region this summer, and I've been thinking that it sounds way too expensive, but after reading Tom R's post I'm reconsidering - seems like maybe money well-spent.

Tom R.

Best few hundred you will spend. you get a lot of seat time. you will spend at least a season to get the same seat time. they break the course into sections and you can see your time over each section.

they let you run the course your way a few times at first, then they run it in your car and you see how slow you are. then you work on each section.

there is a guy in ny that took the evo class with me, it was his fourth or fifth time. he competes regionally.

another trick is run tape across your windshield from say the middle down. you cant see what is close, it forces you to look ahead. if you cant see it, you cant worry about it.

sbyrne

If you're a beginner, in addition to running as many events as possible before dropping big cash on mods, there are several good books on the subject - "Secrets of Solo Racing" by Henry Watts is the classic, but there have been a couple of new ones published in the last couple of years. Another thing I did was to find a member of of the local club and take 'em to lunch and pick their brain, or just go to a local event and hang out and ask a lot of questions. Our local SCCA Region is always recruiting new members - I'll bet yours is the same.