Craig944

I read some guys signature, that said
924S V8 11Sec. quarter nuff said.
Um? How do you make your 944/24 a v8?????

951carter

renegadehybrids.com has v8 conversion kits.

User 462021

Why don't u just go get a rustang or something of that nature. From all your posts it seems that all you are interested in is going quick. You need to understand that these cars aren't made to go quick, they are made to go fast.

I'm not trying to be a d**k or anything, but the truth is that you would be wasting a lot of money.

Untier

craig your as right as rain , ask 951, the renegade v8 will out perform the 944 in both straight line and curves.

Jon F

That's probably true. If you use the Chevrolet LT1 (an aluminum headed iron engine) and relocated some stuff to the rear of the car (battery, etc), your balance wouldn't be thrown off that much. What Renegade doesn't tell you is the amount of money you REALLY need to spend on the conversion.

This topic has come up on various occasions on the 924.org web discussion board.

Will you car be faster? Yes
Will it still handle well? Probably
Will you be out $6000 or more? Definately.

You can pick up a LT1 V8 in good running condition for around $2000, with the full computer harness and brackets. Add $2010 for the kit, another $2000 or so for a large radiator, electric fans, custom exhaust piping, a clutch, and stiffer springs for the front.

This doesn't even count the possible brake upgrades you may need, or the incredible amounts of labor, welding, and wiring work you will have to do. This is no straight-forward bolt-in swap. There are hidden costs everywhere involving this swap. You will likely have to add bracing (weight) to your chassis to deal with both the higher weight of the engine as well as the added stress from a high torque engine.

To those of you who think that spending $6000 PLUS the purchase price of your car, spending every weekend for the next 6 months working on your swap, and dealing with the problems inherent in any engine swap, I commend you for your devotion.

I know that some of you guys love your 944's, and modifying your own car rather than upgrading to a 944 turbo or a different faster car sounds like a good idea (love can be so blind), do you really want to drop $6k on it? Just to make it faster? Nice 944 turbos can be had for $8k, and for a few more thousand, you can do a few bolt ons and have 350rwhp, a very balanced chassis, larger brakes, and a well-designed factory package made to not only go faster, but to stop and turn better too.

And, if it matters to you, you'll never get your investment back by selling the car.

Michael Weinstein

Not only all of that, but Renegade no longer makes a kit for the 924 due to safety concerns.

jim968

And as 924Turbo noted you'd still need to do a brake upgrade... hundreds of $$ for the new calipers, rotors, & hardware, plus likely new wheels, since the stock 15's probably won't clear the calipers... now new tires...so add another $2-3K or so to the cost of the conversion.

The single-piston sliding-frame caliper brakes on the base 944 are just adequate for 160 hp; they've no business trying to stop a 200 hp+ car, as the factory engineers decided. Believe me, if they'd thought the cheaper brakes were adequate, they'd not have spent the bucks on the 4-pot calipers for the turbos, S & S2, 968, & M030 option cars. Even these weren't good enough for the Turbo S....

Jim, is it coffee yet?

Untier

well....
i bought a wrecked 94 caprice, took outwhat i needed, complete motor and computer. and sold the rest making more than my money back. renegade gave me a deal for cash on the kit. im using the stock radiator and fans, new hoses will be made from the chevy pumps to porsche gizmos. the suspension shouldnt be included in the cost cause youd do it anyways. if your worried about 50 lbs, move the battery or add a trailer hitch. the cost of chevy parts is usually 1/4 of the porsche parts. i like to turn wrenches and this is my hobby car so i dont really mind if its down for the conversion for a month or ? back to the motor, i sold all the unnecessary motor parts on ebay and then bought alum heads, stg 1 porting, 1.6 rrs, LT4 cam,lightened flywheel-had balanced,($30). computer rework was $30. i dont think it will be much more than $3,000 to do this complete project and what i get in the end is a reliable show room stock corvette motor (-350 HP-) that is easier and cheaper to maintain than the previous. this motor starts to perform at 1800 rpm and spins easily to the 6200 where the new rev limiter is set, anything else?

Brent 89 - GT

Yeah, If you want reliable chevy power, why not just buy a vette? At least when you do that you can sell the car at some point. When you are done with the porchev it wont be worth what a stock 944 NA goes for.

s2cabpilot

Craig, Why would you want to deface your car like that? The real glory of owning in a Porsche is not blowing rice-racers away (ala The Fast and the Furious), but in owning a vehicle that is doesn't have to stoop to the level of street racing. Porsches will be on the roads and beautiful long after the ricers are being sold at Eddy's Used Cars for $800 bucks. Trust me, the long term definition of cool is a Porsche. Do you think college co-eds (and you will be after these co-eds in two short years) are going to want to hop into some ricer with decals and wings? Maintain your Porsche with a view to the future. I assure you that girls will always be impressed by a smooth riding, quiet, clean Porsche. I have a 944S2 Cabriolet, and when I pull up next to the ricers, they look envious - not because I can blow their doors off, but because they wish they owned a Porsche.

Mike S

V8's Rule.....how would you characterize the amount of work that it took to convert the car? Do you have any overheating problems with the stock radiator?

MAS

I drive Caprices for a living, and I dunno, but I'd guess that the 350 out of a Caprice is one heck of a lot more that 50 lbs heavier than a 924 motor (or a 2.5 liter 944 motor).

If you absolutely have to put a V8 into a 924/944, I think that the "baby Buick" all-aluminum Rover 3.5 litre (212) would do the trick. They can be stroked to 4 liters, and are good for at least 250-300 hp.

-MAS

Tabor

The 928 V-8 is sugnifigantly heavier than the Chevy 350 (accroding to Jim Pasha). And we still love the 928, so why is a V-8 conversion in a 944 such a bad thing?

I am not saying I would do it, but I don't see why people opose it so strongly.

Adam Richman

I agree here. I am sure that some would think that welding a roll bar in my car took away it's purity but IMO it does what I bought it to do. If you can derive more power from the Chevy motor than the 928 motor and I'd assume it is much cheaper to work on, sounds like a great idea. Best of luck! Not that I could affort to do it, but if I could cram my Acura's motor in my P-car, I'd cream at the thought of a 290 hp VTECanized motor in a 2800# car (esp. w/ how my car is sprung now).

ribs

I see nothing wrong with the hybrids. If I had the money and ambition, I would undertake such a task with a beater 944. It can be done cheaply if you use your head (buy a 97' camaro Z28 that was rearended by a tractor trailor for $500). I don't understand why people are so religeous about their porsches and the factory engines. A tough fact about the 944 n/a is that they are in the same pricerange as a 1st gen DSM car and 2nd gen rx-7's, and they have no collectors value to them, so I say bastardize away. I have no allegiance the porsche motor company, nor do I worship them in anyway; I just think that they have always made a hell of a car. I also happen to think that mazda makes a hell of a sports car, as does toyota, ferrari, lotus, etc. If there is a cost effective way to improve the speed and reliability of an n/a 944 over 180 HP (after upgrades) and $1500 a year in repairs, I am all for it. If it means stuffing a vette motor into it, I think that is kosher and I would personally pay $2000 or $3000 more for a 944 with a vette motor in it than one with the stock motor if all other factors were the same. I would say it would definitely add value and character to the car.

I don't have to worry about this stuff because I have a turbo, so the speed is already there, but for someone with a 944 n/a looking for a way to make his car perform the way it looks like it should, there are very few options, and I guarantee that this would be the most reliable option and the least expensive over time, even if the original investment would be more than a supercharger. Thats just my opinion...flame away.