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Working on mine now...
Adapter plate made, motor mounts, flywheel, clutch, release bearing. starter figured out...
Used the same engine angle as the stock 944, gives clearance for a Grams Performance intake man (same as MWR runs?), but the exh man is REAL close to the fender apron and strut tower.
Small KO3/KO4 turbo might fit, but that isn't workable for me. Looks like some remote mounted turbo is in my future.
It's been a damn long process, but when I'm more ambitious, I'll start my own thread... at least I took a bunch of pix along the way
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Looking at the pix from the start of this thread (Thanks Lapkritis!)...
Zero chance that top mount turbo clears the strut tower unless the engine stands up more vertically.
Seems like it would be a compromise either way. Either the exh or the intake man will have interference.
Examined all the MWR pix closely during my build, I think we arrived at some of the same solutions.
Electric water pump, relocated oil filter, Grams intake man...
I would LOVE to see their starter/flywheel/clutch solution! Mine is completely functional, and not mickey mouse in the least, but I would have done it more neatly with a 10X budget!
Prototype components, still need a little polish...
Spent a lot of time on the adapter, to make sure that the VW pilot bearing is concentric with the 944 input shaft and that all 4 locating dowels line up.
Put the dimensions into Autocad, then had the plate run on a CNC mill.
I was planning to get it running before I mentioned that they might be 'available'...
There should be enough room on the right side of the motor for the turbo, mounted lower down, remotely from the manifold.
Interested to know which kind of clutch setup you have? I haven't bought anything yet but my plan is to use 240mm flywheel (built for S4/RS4 pressure plate) , B5 RS4 pressure plate and clutch disc is still under investigation. It seems that 911 turbo plate might do the trick. I got my adapter nearly ready last Saturday. I took different approach building the adapter. Mine is done from Passat gearbox shell.
^^ looking for ~300HP at the wheels. Previous (and blown up again...) 944T motor was ~350. I think the car will still haul *** acceptably.
Seemed like I had 4 options to make the flywheel/clutch/starter all work.
Carve up a passat trans, mounting the starter low and forward under the exhaust, use a passat flywheel/clutch/starter. (probably would have been a better idea, but might compromise my turbo location)
Carve up a GTI trans, mount the starter low and to the rear (and need to carve up the body shell for clearance too, not workable for me)
Use the 944 bellhousing/starter/clutch, and have a custom flywheel made (slickest idea of the bunch, but I didn't even research how much that would cost!)
Or what I did... cut the starter mounting boss out of the 944 bellhousing and made my own mount. Using a GTI flywheel and pressure plate, and currently a disc from a Ranger pickup. Release bearing is an annular one from a later model VW, with its own bracket to the B/H
Little concerned about the bellhousing strength since it's got a big chunk out of it now, but I made some brackets to install either side of the cutout to brace it to the adapter.
Did you manage to squeeze that oil pan in there? I studied MWR pictures and ended up using MK3 Golf GTI alloy oil pan. Haven't tried it yet but it looks very much the same and there is a change that it might fit without cutting and welding. We'll see...
^^ haven't finalized the oil pan or the water pump yet.
Currently mocked up a rabbit oil pan with the front section trimmed out for cross member clearance. Won't post up any pix of that, as my welding skills are a quite sad. Ebay has steel Rabbit pans for ~$30, I can afford to F' up another one... The 1.8t oil pump is much bigger than a rabbit, but the rabbit pickup still bolts up and is in the right place in the pan.
Also picked up a used Super Vee dry sump pan, very shallow and should clear with no mods. Not sure I want to deal with a dry sump system, but it is a race car...
Davies, Craig makes a variety of electric water pumps, but haven't picked one yet. Available at Hoerr Racing or Pegasus.
More worried about the turbo location!
Now that you have such a short engine (compared to stock) can't you fit the turbo somewhere in front?
Nice work! I've always been interested in this, I have a vr6 sitting in the corner that I want to put in a 944. The starter was a big issue for me too.
VR6 was on my list of possibles, but seemed like the 1.8t was a better fit for my purposes... cheap, plentiful, cheap to upgrade, suitable power, (and durable?)
Considered all the typical Japanese engines too, but keeping it all German keeps it eligible for NASA GTS racing.
Could put the turbo out front if needed, but I think it'll be a simpler package down low on the pass side.
Nice work! I've always been interested in this, I have a vr6 sitting in the corner that I want to put in a 944. The starter was a big issue for me too.
i wonder if you could somehow fit one at the trans end (cut a hole in the torque tube bell housing), like the audi 5000 variant.
would need a flex plate w starter ring, steal it from an auto 944...
12-09-2017, 09:47 PM
