srs731

Okay so due to horrible drivers, my 86 944 is totaled. I am in the mist of pulling the motor now when i came across a 84 944 NA for sale(roller) I have read that there are differences as in my Bilstiens/Suspension would not fit onto the Control arms of the NA. However is my motor basically a direct drop and plug(ill change over my wire harness)

Also, At the moment i am not sure of the current status of my transmission, If mine has gone to the grave with the my car, am i able to use the N/A trans or will it not be able to hold(or even connect)

If not i will buy a membership to rennlist, and soon will have plenty of parts for sale to move QUICKLY!!!!! Fire sale.

Thanks for any help
-Sorry did not do much searching, been rough couple days tearing this car apart it hurts.

krystar

u will need to make sure u use the same DME+AFM pair. so if yer swapping in your 86 engine, use your 86 DME.

i think 86 motor and 83 trans will connect yea. don't remember if gear ratios changed though.

M758

86 and 84 944 use many interchangeable parts. However there are a number of subtle changes. My 84 944 uses parts from an 87 924S, 83 944, and 88 924S. It is sort of long to list all the parts the swap easily, the ones that don't and the ones that need a little work. Motor and trans do sway with a little work.

If you can get an 85.5 or 86 donor chassis it will be an easier change over.

srs731

Will my suspension fit? Springs/struts. In terms of selling something like that. Let's assume this shell is in okay condition but could use a paint job. What is the average price obtained for a part out with out body panels? Motor suspension wheels exhaust etc??

M758

Suspension will fit. However you need to becarefull as some parts need to be replaced together in sets. It not identical, but fits.

I have never parted a car so I don't know pricing.

racer

The great thing about Porsche is, even when there are "no new changes" between model years, there are always niggling little changes made that you never notice untill you start unbolting the car

FRporscheman

84 has speedo cable, 86 has electronic speedo (so you would need to swap your 86 tranny and dash as well as run the wire... unless you want to keep the old dash, which is cool too and no work involved.)

use the 86 computer

The rear shocks will swap, but I think the front struts will have an issue on the big boss of aluminum on the knuckle - I think the thickness is different, or the holes are farther apart, something like that. I know it's possible to cross-fit with slight modification. Or just take your entire wheel assembly from the 86.

ideola

Definitely swap over the front suspension bits from your 86. Without getting into all the details, suffice it to say that you will want to keep the nice Brembo calipers that came with the car, and the spindles on the 86 951 are completely unique to that model and year. So just unbolt the entire A-arm + spindle + strut assembly and swap it over. Easy peasy: 4 bolts on each of the upper strut mount bushings, two bolts on the rear castor block, and one bolt through the cross member. (Don't forget to disconnect the brake line first!).

If you get an early donor to swap into, it will have steel trailing arms and the shocks on your 951 will not bolt up (lower shock mount bolt is different). You can either keep the shocks from the early car or get new ones, or you could swap in the alu trailing arms from your 951. If you do swap the trailing arms, you're going to need the half shafts as well. This is a bit more involved. There are 6 cheesehead bolts for each CV joint (total of 24...be VERY careful not to strip them and use the correct triple square bit to remove); then there is the big mother bolt where the trailing arm attaches to the torsion carrier; and then three bolts where the trailing arm connects to the spring plate. Not hard to do, but a bit more involved. The Brembo calipers will swap over to the steel arms no problem. BUT, be aware that the steel arms result in about 21mm difference in offset (which is why you need the longer 951 half shafts if you swap in the alu arms), so if you decide not to mess with the alu arms and keep the steel ones, you'll need to run a pair of stock 21mm spacers in order to reuse the wheels from your 951 (the spacers should be on any OEM equipped early 944 donor).

As noted above, the early cars use a mechanical speedometer while your car uses an electronic speedo. You can either swap the dash over from your car, or if you keep the early interior, you'll need to figure out how to get an aftermarket electronic speedo to work with the Porsche speed sensors OR you'll need to have your driver side spindle drilled for the mechanical speedometer cable. The dash swap really isn't that hard. It's tedious, but they're actually pretty easy to swap. If it were me, that's what I would do. Also note if you swap the dash, you'll need to bring over some of the other interior bits like the center console and the door cards.

RE: the trans, all 944s use the exact same torque tube and basic Audi-based trans setup, so everything will bolt together regardless of what you do there. The thing to check is what gearing ratio you have in your 951 vs. what's in the donor car you get. Some of the early cars have a short 5th gear that guys like for track duty, but may not be suitable in a 951 used for daily driver / highway driving duty.

RE: the power plant, you'll need to grab everything from the bell housing forward out of your 951, INCLUDING the cooling system, as the 951 has a different coolant expansion tank and radiator to accommodate the water cooling circuit for the turbo. You will also need the entire exhaust system from your 951.

RE: body, you will most definitely want to remove the badge panel, head light covers, and front clip from the early car and replace them with the correct 951 units. The reason is that the 951 setup has a different contour in the front in order to accommodate the intercooler, and they are not interchangeable with ANY normally aspirated 944 front clips. I mean, you can keep the 944 front clip, but you'll have a tough time getting the intercooler to fit and function correctly; and the badge panel, head light covers, and front bumper assembly MUST be retained as a matched set due to the contour difference on the leading edge of the car.

Those are the big differences I can think of for now...

Rannem

Old thread, but I'll try...

Does late half shaft/CV joints bolt up to early trans (-83)?

M758

the joint is the same, but the shaft is longer on the later cars.

Rannem

So the late shaft/joint wil fit my setup with -83 trans and -86 rear alu trailing arms?

M758

Yes!

the Aluminum arms dictate use of the longer half shaft. This applies either early or late offset rear arms. The steel rear arms use the shorter half shafts. Any of these CV's will bolt to the hubs or gearbox flanges. No issues there.

Rannem

Thx!

black944 turbo

Is your car a turbo or na? You keep refering to the new one as an na. If they are both na's listen to what everyone else is saying.

Rannem

Mine? Its a NA being transformed to a 951 with the original NA trans..

If you are referring to the threads topic, this is an old thread..