I noticed in the pics that Erik posted of his 944S rods that they had an "86 " on the rod shank:
http://www.erik27.com/pistons/IMG_1211.JPG
I also noticed when disassembling my 951 engine that many parts were stamped with the year they were made (my car was an '86 so most of the parts had an "85" on them.) I think the rod that Marc is looking at may be a 1986 944 NA rod? (I could be wrong... it happens) Thanks, Joel

 

My car was built September of 1986.

 

I am no expert but I did work with powder metal and sintering a little bit in the 1980's so take it for whatever its worth and my memory is fading quickly. There are different ways to form the shape of the rod with powder metal but the basic is the metal powder is pressed into shape under high pressure, the pressed part is then transfer to a low temperature oven to remove the binder (if any is used), then the part is heated to about 1800F (or there about for 410 or 17-4PH steel) under controlled atmosphere and then sintered for a period of hours. The resulting part can be very strong. I was able to get about 180 to 220 ksi tensile strength. Powder metal sintered parts are not as strong as forged parts but are stonger than cast. Sintered powder metal by definition is not forged. I think some people may be confused with the dry pressing process as a forging process.

Hope I have not added to the confusion.

Tommy
87' 928
85' 944