streckfu's

You answered your own question. The 911 had to be Top Dog so the 944 turbo was restricted. For the same reason today that the Cayman S falls exactly between the Boxster S and 911 C2. The Cayman (like the 944) is a much better platform for a sports car but Porsche is the 911 first.

However, this doesn't change the fact that the 1989 944 turbo was much faster than the '89 930 on the track and in the canyons.
Look up the old Automobile magazine article.

catamax944

I like the conversion very much ,i almost bought a ls1 a few months ago but the deal fell through,could'nt find a cheap one since,way too expensive over here.
What i want to know is could a ls1 944 be good as a daily driver ,quiet and easy in traffic ?

ps: saw this one on pelican,looks nice and cheap http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...o-ontario.html

odurandina

Voith, i'll go straight to the P-car factory,

and take all the good parts of the 911 and have them put them in a Cayman !

goofy ims challenged design and all.... and take the good with the bad.....

https://rennlist.com/forums/off-topi...che-crest.html

xschop

You've heard about power-to-weight ratio. The 948 should be thought of in power-to-cost ratio. When either my alternator, water pump, or starter goes out at 100K, I'm only out $80-100, not $300-400 and I'm not removing 10 other parts to change it either. My headgasket is good for boost, con rod bearings and crank bearings don't have to be changes every other oil change LOL. Timing Chain good for 100K as well. 100HP upgrade is a cam install. I can tune it from a laptop. And most importantly I can steer with the gas pedal.

V2Rocket

I never understand why you guys say this...my rod/mains have survived for the last 6 years and 25 oil changes without issue...even pulled the pan off when I had the engine out for my crash repair and they seemed solid.

The bearings that were original to the car (1985-2005) still looked new.

andys-944

This is all ways interesting to watch I agree with V2, I have a 87 235k mile original engine daily driver, which runs perfectly (leaving the AFM out!), and I thrash it daily, because it likes it
The 944 is a very reliable car.
That said there is no substitute for cubic inches, so if your after ultimate power and torque a big V8 is the thing to do and may be I will some day, but first the super charger

MAGK944

My take on these swaps is that they are a good way to get relatively cheap power and lower maintenance costs. Downsides, they will always be worth less on resale compared to a same condition 951 and Porsche dealers and other die-hard Porsche fans will look at you as one of the Corvette crowd, not a Porsche person.

If I replaced the mechanical movement in my Rolex to one of those battery operated movements in the fake Rolex's it would probably be more reliable, certainly cost less to maintain. If you are a fake Rolex type of person go for it. Me, well I'll continue to pay $300 every 3-years to have my real Rolex serviced and lose a few seconds a year

V2Rocket

chances are, if you own a 944 for any period of time over maybe 5 years, you'll likely put so much money into it that even top resale will still make you lose money.

acorad

I wouldn't be so sure about the value argument, there are a lot of people who like hotrods and will pay appropriately for them.

And regarding "Porsche dealers and die-hard Porsche fans," meh. Actual car fans & gear-heads dig the swap. If some "dealers and dhPf's" don't, that's not a great loss in my book. Not sure the 944 is very high on your average dealer/dhPf's wish list anyway...

acorad

There's always a line of cars going up the hill into my son's school in the morning when I drop him off. I just put the car in 1st and let the idle pull us up the hill. Sometimes I even have to feather the brakes so I don't run into the car ahead of me...

Reimu

LS1 swaps are played about. That was a big reason I didn't go this route, it's kind of old these days with "oh look another 350 swap in an import.. cool I guess."

There is certainly a reason that it is so popular, no denying that. But at the end of the day it's still kind of pleb.

Also a 951 with an aftermarket exhaust makes better sounds than a LS1

xschop

My Friend's 951 with custom exhaust sounds like what my 948 would if it had diarrhea or IBS.

odurandina

fifu. the engines are pretty close. one is insanely efficient (the result of a multiple billion dollar development program) and once installed, actually provides the justification to spend thousands of dollars in the effort of keeping said automobile running.... unfortunately, the other doesn't.

most-ironic, is that;

the one that allows the justification to spend thousands of dollars in the effort of keeping the automobile running, hardly costs much at all.


besides the up-front cost.




this. and after you spend all that cash on your timing-belt program, there goes the head-gasket.

and you end up throwing you hands up in the air and start ordering swap parts....


what you should all do is start buying your swap parts now... and put a little away each month for your LSx motor...



read 4 years of threads... and take count the avatars.

most of the 4 cylinder guys have disappeared. the V8 guys are still here.


how many 1985 Toyota Coronas are still on the roads ?




get ready;


the day is coming when the V8 944 guys outnumber the 4 cylinder 944 guys....

becuase more and more of the 4 cylinder P-cars being purchased will already be too far gone.







tell me, just who's going to buy this car ? in this economy ?

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/cto/2948583927.html




/

odurandina

die hard Porsche fans ?


ummm the tens of thousands of people who went all-in, interest-wise about 944s, well that was a long time ago.... many of these older baby-boomers are almost dead. when they owned the cars, they got slaughtered by high maintenance costs, blown timing belts, clutches and head-gaskets many years ago.... and moved on to other Porsches like 968s, Boxsters, Caymans and 911s where they're mixed in with today's P-car owners, who've mostly all but forgotten them....

or out of the Porsche money pit altogether.


if i pull up to a Coxster or 911 driver, it's a rare occasion that one of them will even wave.


of course, if i were driving a 911 they would.



as a hard core 944 fan (and believe me i am),


my favorite 944 is a V8 968, or Nissan GTR (the last of the proper, 944-inspired breeds still in production)...




.

Techno Duck

While i think the 951 sounds pretty good at idle and even cruising RPM i think it sounds like crap at high RPM. I run a full 3" SFR system all the way back with no cat (Bullet muffler from SFR) and was never particuarlly fond of it when listening as my friend drives my car. The sound of a cammed V8 with a lopey idle.. maybe its just me but it puts a smile on my face . High RPM on an LS1.. well i guess it really doesn't sound like anything other than just noise but it alteast doesn't have the 'buzzy' sound of the original 4-banger.

I still dont understand why resale is always brought up. If i wanted to worry about resale i would have bought a 993. Seems like once a week someone is talking about the market values and trends on that forum. I bought this car to drive and have fun with. I think a properly swapped car (IE, a clean conversion) can be realistically sold for a reasonable amount of money. I doubt you will get your full investment back, but i doubt you would get your full investment back on an all stock, pristine 951 that just got a full service (belts..etc). I think it just doesn't make sense to be thinking about resale value with a 944 unless your talking about a mint condition '89 951 with 30k miles that sat in a garage all its life. Tack on a bunch of $$ for the inevitable belts, waterpump and getting the car to running condition and you still have a $20k car that will take a while to sell.. or dream on and post it for $25k.

The cars just dont hold the value the same as a 993 and earlier 911 will.

I used to scoff at the LSx swapped 944's a few years ago and always said no way i would ever do it. But seeing the quality of the swaps over the past few years has really changed my mind. Like DVC's LSx swapped car looked like it rolled out of the factory with the LS2 in it and that is what really started to spark my interest.

I will miss the surge of power as boost comes on.. but with practically 200ft-lbs of torque as soon as i push the pedal coming off idle i dont think i will mind too much.