yellowline

Before explaining my options, let me say that I intend for my 944S to be a DE/autocross car. Since my skills are pretty much nil, I am not interested in buying and maintaining a tow vehicle, so I plan to register the car for the road. That said, I do want to prep it well enough that it is not really a comfortable car for the street.

I have the oil pan off and finished changing the rod bearings. I am still kicking around the idea of improving the reliability of the oiling system.

I am on a budget, and the car has other areas of need, to say the least. So I can afford to put about $100 or a little more into this.

I figure I can:

1) Do nothing except install the new tube seal that I have. Go crazy in a couple years when I have more money and/or if it needs rod bearings by then
2) Look into reinforcing my current, OK pickup tube- find some steel strap and have someone weld it, or buy the tab from Paragon.
3) Buy a new pickup tube
4) Buy a new pickup tube and look into reinforcing it

I would buy the LR baffle and have that welded in, but I read that it doesn't seem to improve the strength of the pickup as much as claimed.

I will be running the balance shafts, but I figure the car will have Konis and decent springs while going over some bumpy AX parking lots.

V2Rocket

do you have an oil cooler?

M758

Put in the baffle.

Oil pick-up tube can crack, but most due to bad balance shaft timing. So get that right and you will be fine.

However the best bang for the buck is to use a good oil and ALWAYS CHECK THE LEVEL BEFORE YOU GO OUT FOR EACH SESSION. Never run anything less that "full". Don't run over full, but don't run under. Also expect to burn 1 qt a day on track. You may not, but bring enough oil to allow for it.

yellowline

Factory, just redid the seals.

Reason I ask while I have the engine out and the pan off is that it's a pain to get back in.

I figure an S2-type oil cooler is easier to add at a later time.

StoogeMoe

I would put in the LR baffle since you have it all apart. It also comes with a collar that goes around the oil pickup to lessen your chances of sucking in air. The kit isn't that expensive. Treat it as extra insurance.

As mentioned by Joe, the oil level is very important to keep an eye on. Consider it as part of your routine to check it before every run at the track.

Other than that, say a prayer to the Porsche gods every track day.

968gene

new connecting rod nuts? (OEM is single use only)
I ran a crank scraper on my 944S, it was not that expensive.

yellowline

Yes.

I've done plenty of good work on another 944 engine back when I used one for DD. About the only things I haven't touched on a 944 engine are the main bearings and rings.

Just wasn't sure what the best use of money would be in order to make the engine more durable/slow down the rate of bearing wear. Thanks.

M758

It is not the rate of bearing wear that will get you. It is the sudden loss of oil to the bearing. Changing bearing helps however since old bearings need more oil to prevent metal to metal contact. Most bearing wear occurs at start up.