steven storch

Recently found out that the 944 doesn't make a good off road vehicle. Well, it was good enough to avoid an accident but my undercarriage took a beating.
Just when I though all was sorted out and the car was just about ready to hit the road again, I noticed the tail pipe wasn't sitting right. Looked under the rear (duh!) and noticed a crushed exhaust pipe rubbing against the cv joint.
The car is an 88 944, non turbo, manual. Nobody seems to carry a replacement muffler for this thing (I've been told it has an "S" style exhaust due to a resonator mounted to in front of the muffler.)
Anyone have any experience with this? Will an earlier 944 manual exhaust bolt up? Will the absence of the resonator do any harm?

Any help would be appreciated.

thanks
steven storch
storchs@aol.com

Bryan

Yes, the 1988 944 has the later style exhaust. Isn't it great? All 944 exhausts up to ours ('83 to '87) are a dime a dozen, but ours is only available from the factory to the tune of $750 or so. Note that the catylytic converter assembly (downpipes and cat) is also different but is NOT the same as the S2, etc. Porsche flipped the manifold-to-downpipe flanges 180 degrees the same time they deleted the CO pipe that sticks up through the engine bay, so beware if you ever replace the catylyst assembly. You need one for the '88 model year. The resonator/muffler section is the same as all later non-turbo 944s and can be sourced cheaply from most used parts sources. I'm sure the old style exhaust would fit, but since Porsche redesigned that system as a whole including the cat and everything, I'm sure it works best as designed with the later rear section. You should be able to get a nice used rear section for $200 or less, so there's not much financial incentive to downgrade to the older style rear section.

I would have responded to this sooner, but I was in fact hanging a new cat and exhaust on my 1988 8-valve 944 yesterday. So I am intimately familiar with this system now.

PS: That exhaust system weighs a TON. Be careful when you remove it.

Good luck,

Bryan

Kirk924S

Paragon quoted me less than $200 for an Ansa cat-back exhaust for my '88 5-speed 924S. (same part # in parts reference as the '88 944). The previous owner of my car claimed that he tried to fit an exhaust for an automatic '88 and it would not fit.

Good luck. Let us know what fits. I'm still milking my original, but repaired, exhaust...

steven storch

I checked into the ansa and bursch aftermarket muffler/pipe for the 88 944 and they don't fit without modification.
It turns out that the stock pipe on the earlier models is about a 1/8" smaller in diameter than the 88 and the pipe connector that connects the rear pipe section to the cat section also varies by about 1/8" (the 88 has a 3" spacing between bolt holes.

My solution: got an earlier muffler, excellent condition used for 50.00. Found an old stainless steel 3" header flange with 2 1/2" pipe lead. One slice into the header lead so I can pinch it into the slightly smaller muffer pipe, a couple of spot welds to hold it in place while mounted to the car. Remove and finish welding the two together and voila. A 60.00 fix (as opposed to the 500.00+ porsche replacement).

I'm not racing the car so the 1/8" narrower diameter of the rear section shouldn't be noticeable.

Oh, I threw out the stock steel ring that fits between the flanges and used a dead soft aluminum header gasket (3"). Beautiful and no leaks.

Posted for those of us out there with the 87 and 88 exhaust systems (or for those earlier model owners who might want to increase their exhaust diameter for less backflow?)

steven storch
88 944