Greetings Guys, I just wanted to say hello and seek some feed back on my 944 set up. I have been reading through this forum for about a year and decided I should finally join. I am going to take the car to autocross for the first time next week (I was hesitant until I got it sorted). I have owned it for a year and a finally getting to enjoy it. Please let me know if I a missing anything obvious. I am still new to Porsche but I am learning/loving it as I go along. I am going for a street/autocross mix while keeping it as Porsche as possible.

About the Car

The car was purchased through Willow Automotive Service in Chicago. It is an 1985.1 944 NA with 98K. I bought it from a customer who had it serviced there. I have all service records dating back to 1998. The car was not driven very much since then.It has had an upper engine rebuild, valve adjustment, and I just did the belts and water pump though it was done 3,000 miles ago it was 10 years ago. (better safe then sorry). I also did all the fluids. AC was converted and everything works perfectly. All in all real nice starting platform.

Engine/Trans Mods
Throttle Cam
Coated Headers (No Cat)
Borla Exhaust
Only 944 Shifter

Suspension
Bilstein Escort Cup Coil Over Suspension
Weltmeister Front/Rear Sway Bars
New Front Control Arms
New Ball Joints
Racers Edge Delrin bushings
Weltmeister polygraphite bushings

Wheels/Tires
Three Piece Turbo Twist Wheels
Continental Extreme Contact Sport Tires
255/40 R17 Rear
235/45 R17 Front
Camber -1.5 Front -2.0 Rear
1/8th in toe in
Max Caster

Interior
Leather wrapped Recaro's (came with the car and I think the are Verde's that came on some Alfa's)
Momo Steering Wheel
Momo **** ****
Upgraded Radio

I look forward to your feed back. I can't wait to push this car. Here are some photos of her.

 

Nice car! And welcome! I just street mine so far, can't be much help with the autox.

 

Nice looking car with some good mods and upgrades.

All you can do is give it a go at AX and see how it does. If you've never done AX before, you'll be the limiting factor for a while. It takes a bit of time to learn how to read the course when your flying down it. Once you get the hang of it, you'll have a lot of fun.

Be sure to give us an update!

 

Thanks guys, I used to autocross my BRZ but it's been a year or two so I am excited to get back out there.

 

+1

I started auto crossing this season in my '88 944S. I am not even close to the fastest in my class and get beat regularly by other 944s that are totally stock.

Practice will give you much greater gains than mods.

BTW, your current mods will bump you up in class already if you're runnin with SCCA. Some other clubs may not care. Certainly, nobody's will care until you're winning anyway.

 

I would change the front spindles to later units. The LF is hollow on the early cars for the speedo cable.

Also are those wheels real track wheels? If they are random, unknown wheels you should consider stock or forged aftermarket.

Looks very nice. I imagine the Recaros are quite comfy as well.

 

What bray said, you can not run the street classes with your mods. IIRC you get bumped to F Prepared, or maaaaaaybe STR. maybe. The 944 fits horridly in the SCCA classing structure once you get out of the street classes unfortunately. IF you can run STR, you'll want RE-71R's as the Contis are not competitive. I wouldn't sweat the spindles for autoX use, inspect them? sure, replace? not unless you had too or if you start doing full track days.

All that said, its still a great time, you'll be fine. go get as much seat time as you can. Don't forget to check out any PCA autoX that might be happening as well.

 

I'm just stoked to drive the car at the limit, or as close as I can get in auto cross. The car had the exhaust and some other mods when I bought is so I figured just run with it. I know I am going to get smoked by much faster cars because of my class. But oh well, I'm not the best driver and am in it for fun. My goal is to make a street car that is moderatly competitive in autocross. I would like to build the car to where I have the option to strip it eventually to be a more dedicated track car, eventually, maybe, but I am a ways away from that. The wheels are a concern a suppose. The are Hartmann wheels but I don't know a ton about them (On the car when I got them). The tires are a brand new tire from Continental and appear to be as competitive as Super Sports which I liked on my BRZ. I am sure you will hear more about these because of there value, though they are not cheap, similar price to the RE-71R's. They are a good compromise, which appeals to me now. I can't wait to push them and give feedback.

 

The wheels are plenty capable of standing up to auto-x duty, but they are heavy (I had a set of them years ago). They are cast centers with spun barrels, and made by a quality manufacture. But aside from the weight I would also consider other wheels because if you do happen to damage one of them finding a spare wheel is going to be next to impossible.

A spare set of OEM 15s or 16s would be a cheap alternative and you would drop 5 to 6 lbs of weight per corner.

 

Yeah definitely ditch those wheels. Too big. It will kill your acceleration. Go back to stock 15's with 225/50R15 tires.

Suspension sounds good. Adjust sway bars to middle of settings to start and then adjust from there to get the balance you want.

Have fun!

 

I'd run even smaller for autocross. Like 205/50 R15s (lots of high performance choices there).

Then, I'd add lightness.

Then, I'd put in a race seat and harnesses, so you're in a more secure driving position.

 

Now I'm quite curious to hear a comparison between your BRZ and the 944.

I'm doing an AX day tomorrow for the first time since replacing the ball joints and bushings in my car. It already feels 100x better than before.

 

Just started my first season of AX this spring, and having a blast.

I agree with above comments that indicate just run it as-is for now. As you get more seat time in the car, your experience will guide you in the direction of your first additional mods.

I'm running an '87 with a host of suspension mods. The car came with a gutted interior, with 2 fixed race seats and harnesses. Unfortunately, this places me squarely in "F Prepared" where I'm not even close to competitive...yet. I'm just out to learn and have fun anyway, and so far there's been plenty of both with each outing!

Have fun!

 

Hello and welcome to the forum! Really love those turbo twist wheels! I'm attaching our site's DIY tech articles on the 944 platform as a helpful link if you're going to do any maintenance or work on the car. Please let us know if you have any questions!

Porsche 924/944/968 (1975-1995) Technical Articles

 

Welcome to autocross. The car is certainly well equipped with good parts.
A few comments:
1) Don't underestimate how much difference the driver makes in autocross. Getting a quick time in a regional or marque competition has little to do with the car. It takes experience and study to get fast. Be prepared to get beat by kids in clapped-out 1st gen Miata's and old people driving whatever who know what they're doing. Just have fun.
2) I think the Escort struts/shocks have some adjustability? There's a lot of different versions of what are called Escort Cup and all kinds of spring rates. You will probably want to set the shocks pretty firm. That suspension was designed for road-race spring rates, so it will need to be set stiff to work for autocross but will be punishing on the road unless you set it back soft after the event. If it's not punishing on the road it's probably too soft!
3) You could use more camber in the front, if available. I have M030 on my 1989 and just set it to max, which is about 2.5 degrees to 3.0 degrees, depending on the ride height setting. Any more than that and it will result in significant tire wear on the street. But, 2.5 degrees is enough to make the front tires work well in autocross low-speed corners.
4) I'd suggest setting the front toe to near zero. Keep some toe-in in the rear. It's pretty easy to adjust front toe-in at the event, even to a little toe-out, and then put it back. A little toe-out will improve the front end response, as the inside tire will pull the car into the corner even before the weight has shifted to the outside tire.

With 2.5 degrees of front camber, zero front toe, the bigger front bar you already have and shocks set stiff you will be amazed how it will turn into a corner. Getting the 944 stiff enough in roll to transition well is key to getting a fast time.

You might want to read my latest post at edfishjr.com about how to determine the right line thru the course.