I bought a 84 944 almost two months ago now. It's in pretty good shape overall, timing belt was done about 5k miles ago, cooling system is in good shape, clutch inspection port says lots of life left and it bites pretty well. nothing glaring to be done to it so I am considering some engine performance modifications.

My thought was to start with a camshaft regrind from webcam(or locally) and getting a miller war chip and spending some time tuning likely on the street and then fine tuning at the Dyno.

Any thoughts? Anyine with experience with the war chip on a 944? What about camshaft installation, anything to know about?

Down the line, an MAF would be easy to add on, and I'd maybe be open to doing a little head shave to give compression a little bump.

 

#0 put a "performance throttle response cam" on the throttle body. Doesn't add power but makes the car 100x more responsive and fun to drive.

Skip the chip and go straight to the MAF kit ($600 or so at Lindsey Racing). That should be your #1 mod.

Next, either fit the hot cam, or advance the stock camshaft with an offset woodruff key ($20) or adjustable cam gear ($250?). The difference in driving feel is incredible.

I did this years ago and net was ~12% gain in peak power with larger horsepower gains at lower RPM ranges. And nearly 20% more torque across the board, proven many many times on the dyno.

 

also delete the factory cat and replace your fuel lines!

 

Thanks V2, I've gotten some conflicting info about if I should worry about ecu tuning when doing modifications. Some people say that increased compression or a hotter cam don't necessarily need tuning. Others say it'd be silly to make changes and not be willing to fine tune each one. That's why I keep thinking I should start with a war chip(which seems to be the simplest tuning option for a 944), and I could always add a miller MAF from there.

As you point out, the rogue MAF and cam key seems pretty straight forward. But the difference between rogue's numbers and augment's with the higher compression engine, camshaft and tune are significant:

http://www.augmentautomotive.co.uk/p...race-camshaft/

 

In a perfect world you'd tune to compensate/take advantage of all mods. But in reality an AFM or MAF measures real time flow into the engine, which is what most mechanical engine mods affect. So you're somewhat covered, as fueling and ignition timing change accordingly. But that only measures flow/load, so a real tune should be preferred if you're doing more extensive mods like a heavily modified camshaft.

A chip is a good improvement but almost not worth the effort on an early car DME. Skip right to a more comprehensive setup like a MAF if budget allows.

 

You can't chip an early car without a painstaking amount of work if you want to keep your stock DME, involving soldering a BMW daughterboard with a chip socket and it's really not worth the effort.

So you're looking at picking up a late DME and AFM combo off the bat. Given that, I wouldn't bother with just a chip. Lindsey/Rouge MAF, late DME, be done.

 

Thanks for the input everyone, I have been shopping for a later ecu. I think I'll go with the MAF kit to start. Still want a cam but may have to wait and save a few more pennies.

 

The Elgin cam in my NA was under $150 (5R cam as a core) but it's a mild grind.

 

I don't know anything about Augment other than they make an ECU/MAF setup. They seem to be a Europe-only type of company - nobody on this side of the pond uses their stuff.

If you are over there I am sure they can steer you the right direction...

Looking at your link, the balance shaft delete is ~8hp by itself but is risky to do. I don't doubt for a second their tune is better than the factory and accounts for some gain, but the 944 is under-cammed from the factory so even a "mildly warmed over" aftermarket cam will make gains on an otherwise stock engine.

I don't think chasing compression ratio is worth the effort unless you are already rebuilding an engine and have a chance to swap pistons. It is a lot of work for 2-3% gain in power. My 2.5L 9.5CR engine with advanced early (the milder of the 2 944 factory cams) cam and the MAF made as much power/torque as a 1989 2.7L 10.9 compression engine.

 

You mean the 84, with 143 HP, isn't enough to get the juices flowin'? I guess I'll just stay in the slow lane...

 

Dude, just shave the head, no need to swap pistons.

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I tried the Miller and it didn't work for me. I plan on Rogue in the future. The timing advance is a good idea for street use and a requirement for shaving the head more than around .020" because shaving the head (your cheapest method of bumping compression) retards the timing & advancing corrects it. I used a 4 degree advance when shaving the head .030".

You can still install a cam and do exhaust and head work while using the stock ecm/afm, but it wont be as good as MAF/MAP. But would REALLY recommend a Wide Band O2 sensor. Buy one that will plug into the harness to give 0-5volts so it'll communicate to the ecm like your 30 year old narrow band o2 sensor did, but also provide a gauge so you can tell with the air/fuel ratio is. You want 12.5-13.5:1 ratio for most power. Be aware your emissions increase after you do all this stuff. This is one reason why the factory was conservative and why all cars have less fuelling (14.7 parts air to 1 part fuel is standard).

When you introduce more AIR with exhaust and head and cam and intake mods, then you need to increase your FUEL. So it might be shrewd to install an adjustable fuel regulator for tuning.

Here is that cam you want:
http://jonmilledgeengineering.com/product/s3-14/

I used that cam with numerous other mods and it was really nice.

+1 on the throttle cam. Best of luck.
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I spent about $5000+ on power mods to bring my 2.5 to around 200 hp with using the motronic afm. The problem is I never had it properly tuned... so it was too rich at idle which cause hard starts in cold weather. Tuning & breathing is important. In this video I have the next bigger cam than the one I recommend to you. The drivability is worse than with the cam I recommend. Sorry for the crap vid.

 

Shaving the 944 head to the "max" still wouldn't increase the CR to yield any meaningful change in output, but it would alter your cam timing (retard), so advancing the cam at that point is just making up for what was cut away.

 

In my daily driven '83 I have the throttle response cam, Rogue N/A Tune with hotter ignition coil, 4* cam advance key, and .020" shaved head with turbo springs and multi-angle valve grind and cat delete.

Before that I only had the throttle response cam and FR Wilk race chip.

The difference between the 2 set-up's is dramatic.

I also have a wideband O2 sensor and MSDS headers waiting to be intalled. Down the road I want the Milledge cam and lightweight gears/sprockets.

In addition to the performance mods, I'd suggest some basic maintenance such as rebuilding the fuel injectors and throttle body. Also check your fuel pressure regulator/damper and fuel filter.

 

Bumping compression has been a long time tradition for making meaningful changes in output. AT EVERY RPM. It's one of the best values in hot rodding your engine. You just have to control the fuel octane. I find it "funny" that you recommend an offset key which provides a wee bit of hp & tq (with compromise at certain rpm) yet disregard compression increase which will provide about the same gains but at every rpm - so in many ways it's better. Especially since he's pulling the cam anyway which is a large chunk of the work involved to pull the head.

In my small and fragile mind: DO BOTH. Advance timing and shave head...

Some have suggested the heads can be shaved .060" but you really need to know what to check & how to counter the interference problems.

but then of course there is a lot of while your in theres.

---- Listen, this is a little mouse motor in a momentum car. It's a naturally aspirated 4 popper.... EVERYTHING HELPS.

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Idealo's calculater. Somewhere online he has actual horsepower numbers. You take an engine from 9.5:1 to 11.5:1 and there are SIGNIFICANT gains to be had.

Best of luck. http://garage.ideola.com/top-DL-Comp...RatioCalc.html

I'm no "engine builder". Most engine builders on here are too busy doing what they do best and to busy making money off their work to chime in. So you're stuck with us.

 

If I'm not mistaken, to bump compression up just a little over 10:1 only retards timing enough that a 4 degree key still leaves you a little advanced. And getting to over 10:1 with a head shave is very easy, and there is no need to debate the benefits, we can see from the 87->88 engines that it's a change of about 8hp. However, it seems like a bit of a hastle to pull the head and get it shaved compared to a cam and MAF. And maybe save the compression for down the line.

Do people with hotter but still "street" cams run the stock lifters, valve springs, etc? Or are those necessary to upgrade as well? Anyone know of good threads documenting the change in cam?

I know it is a common thing to say, "I only want X power." But I'm truly only trying to get to around 150 wheel horsepower. And I think a MAF and mild cam(with maybe a high flow cat) would get me there without sacrificing any reliability or Drivability. I would like to Dyno each stage of my car as well(stock, MAF, then camshaft with MAF)

Also, Noah thanks for the feedback. I'd say the rogue stuff seems better received than miller. I have a miller MAF on my BMW m30 which has actually made the decision for my 944 harder because although it was an improvement over stock by swat of the pants, I always thought I probably paid a bit more for not much more performance than I would have gotten with just a chip.