RobbyK

A guess you can view the N/A to turbo project similar to a sex change. You add some parts take some away, basically change the whole internal workings of the car. And like a sex change in the end it takes a certain kind of person to really want to take on all the work that it takes to change the identity of the car.

rich k

Yea I am realy not looking for the most effective solution here. I just finished, (or I guess still finishing but she runs) a swap on my probe to a japanees engine. It was the biggest pain of my life probly because its my everydayer. Anyway It was fun and very educational for me.

This is what I'm looking foward to with the porsche. There will be a lot less preasure as the 944 is a weekend ride. The everydaye gets me to work and school!

Ahmet

Well I for one would certainly vote against it. If you're going to do an engine swap, why stop at a stock 944 turbo, I would look at other engines that can be purchased cheaper, and boast a better $/power ratio.

If you must do the upgrade (the 944na is fine for what it is, I'd fix it w/a stock engine personally), you will need the transaxle, and the clutch from a turbo. Some will say the NA transaxle will work. Well I've broken 7 of them w/less than 300hp, so they can say what they will but I'd replace the transaxle. Consider for a second that this alone will add nearly $1k to your project, ditto for a sport clutch. You will need to buy an oil cooler and upgrade the cooling system if you plan to do more than boulevard pimpin w/the car. My NA had excellent brakes, and I had the slightest hint of fade at VIR a bit more @cmp on street tires. If you add 2x the power, and stiffer suspension/wider rubber (meaning coming out of turns faster, as well as accelerating MUCH harder), braking at the end of the straight becomes a serious proposition. There's a reason why the turbo has monoblock brembo 4 piston calipers all around, compared to the iron single pistons on the NA.

I will stop though, cause I can tell regardless of what I or anybody else may say, you will go on w/your project. I wish the best of luck to you, and no it's not un-doable, just un-wise. That's my opinion.
Ahmet

Legoland951

I have contemplated the swap early on in my 944 experience years ago. After dealing with so many 944s, I came to a conclusion if I am going to go through all the trouble of a swap, I rather fix what I have and sell it to buy a turbo. If you like the experience of working on the car, take the turbo from front to back bolt by bolt and rebuild it with better parts without having to spend time to figure out what parts will fit where. Everything from instrument cluster to the welded header panel is different from turbo to an early n/a. I personally believe the n/a brakes are wonderful and will handle much more power than people give it credit for. If I remember right, the anderson race car with the 3.2L engine uses n/a brakes and it stops under racing condition with no problems. Ask the people who actually work on the cars extensively or have actually done the conversion to see what they had to go through and listen carefully before you start. I would tend to say for every 10 projects started, maybe 1 will be completed eventually and most fade away including the one I wanted to do the conversion to more than 10 years ago and ended up selling to buy a turbo.

Ahmet

About the brakes, they handle the NA's engine just fine. The anderson 3.whatever liter "race car" was primarily an auto-x car if I remember correctly. If I can get my sub 200hp NA's brakes to fade (on a decidedly hard circuit) w/race pads and fluid, they can't handle 300hp and more weight, I can tell you that much. For what the car is, the brakes are beyond excellent, they weren't meant for a turbo drivetrain though.
Ahmet