FOR SALE: Very Nice 944 Turbo Race Car Project - now with PICS
10-09-2007, 04:34 PM
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SOLD: Very Nice 944 Turbo Race Car Project
I have 17 pictures posted for the following For Sale notice in the Rennlist Member Classifieds section here: https://rennlist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=383649
It is with mixed emotions that I am announcing my 944 Turbo race car project is for sale. The good part -> I bought a very nice 911 race car that is finished and I finally will be hitting the track next year. The sad part -> I have been working on and learning about 944 Turbos since 1998 and I feel that I have built an incredibly nice race car chassis, but I just don’t have time to finish it. I started this project during late 2000 and I have been through two relocations (involving a lot of time spent settling into new homes and communities) and a demanding career path. What little time I have had left has been spent with my family and friends, racing my 125 shifter kart and various attempts to finish my 944 Turbo race car. I have come to the realization that I need to sell my chassis to someone who can finish what I have started.
As you review the photos, you will see that I have designed this chassis to be a front running car with the right engine and driver. The chassis was designed with high speeds and stresses in mind because my plan had been to build a high horsepower dry sumped 16 valve engine for this car. All of the fab work was performed by a very good fabricator in Indianapolis using TIG welded 4130 chromium-molybdenum steel (chromoly) for high strength to weight ratio. Some of the main design features are as follows:
* The seating position was moved as far towards the rear as possible to help offset the weight of the engine, turbo, intercooler, radiator, etc in front. When you look at the pictures, you will notice the seat is all the way back into the rear passenger foot well. The floor pan was reinforced with welded in flat steel gussets to give a strong mounting location for the seats (on the driver and passenger side). The mounting points for the Wilwood brake / clutch pedals and master cylinders were custom made so they fit inside the chassis (away from the heat of the engine bay). The braking setup uses an adjustable balance bar for front to rear brake bias and the pedals are easily adjustable for drivers of various heights. The hole in the center tunnel for the shift lever was relocated 10” rearward. The steering column was custom made to move the steering wheel the appropriate distance rearward.
* The cage directly ties into all suspension attachment points. You will notice extensive modifications to “raise” the front and rear control arm attachment points to enable you to maintain proper suspension geometry while running very low ride heights and/or larger diameter wheel/tire setups. In other words, when the chassis is at rest at its desired ride height, you want the control arms to maintain a “down hill” slope from the attachment points to the wheels. If you don’t raise the attachment points, the control arms will slope “up hill” which can cause problems with binding the ball joint up front and incorrect suspension geometry during suspension travel when driving. To accomplish this, the heavy torsion bar tube was replaced with a lighter custom welded in cross member and the rear suspension outer control arm mounting points (notice the very cool adjustable Kokeln “spring plates”) are raised by 2", 3" and 4". In other words, the lowest mounting point is 2" higher than the stock mounting point and raises in two more steps from there. To make clearance for the raised attachment points, the rear frame rails have been notched and boxed. The inner control arm mounting points have 7 different mounting points to enable you to match the outer control arm point you are using plus offer some further camber adjustability. The reason I wanted the adjustability at the rear is so I could change my pickup points depending on how low I wanted set the car at any given track and how big of a wheel/tire combo I was running. My core setup was planned to be a ride height of having the floor pan around 2" to 3" off the ground while running large Dunlop rear slicks (they are the 315/690-18 with a 27.2" diameter and a tread width of 13”). For the sake of comparison, the 335 Hoosiers are only 25.6" in diameter. Up front, I planned to run a slick that requires an 18" dia by 11" wide wheel (size = 280/650-18 with corresponding metric size of 301/31R18). Since I was planning to run such large rear tires, the 4" raised pickup points will maintain the proper suspension geometry. If I had decided to run the 335 Hoosiers for an event or two, I would switch to the 2" or 3" raised pickup points. Up front, if I were to switch to Hoosiers from slicks, my diameter won't change since they are both around 25" to 25.6" so I will not need to change my pickup points.
* The front suspension pickup points have been raised by 1.125". This was accomplished by drilling new holes in the front aluminum cross member and recessing the rear control arm mounting points into the frame rails with strong, custom fabricated chromoly mounting brackets. The raised attachment points along with the custom Blaszak control arms to place the removable ball joint on top of the control arm should result in maintaining proper suspension geometry and significantly reducing the chances of ball joint failure.
* Seam welded front strut towers
* Removable “Petty Bar” – increases torsional rigidity but removes when you want to bolt in a passenger seat to give someone a ride.
* Custom removable aluminum covers for firewall to base of windshield area.
* TransAm style dash panel.
* I haven’t cut and installed the wide rear quarter panels so you can do what you want.
The roll cage fabrication on this chassis cost me just over $8,000 with all of the extensive fab work involved. The calculated value of the tub I started with is $2,500 (purchase price of car less sales value of all parts removed). Plus, the chassis includes the following:
* Kokeln adjustable spring plates (rear suspension) $600
* Blaszak custom reinforced steel front control arms with aluminum rear mounting blocks and removable ball joint mounted on top of the arm $650
Huntley racing coil over suspension (this should be upgraded) $1,600
* Adjustable camber plates $375
* MOMO steering wheel $185
* SPA Design QR2 steering wheel quick release $195
* MOMO Acropolis seat $600
* MOMO seat rails $125
* Wilwood brake / clutch pedals, master cylinders and balance bar $450
* Rebuilt torque tube $700
Therefore, my total cost in this chassis (not including the value of countless hours spent designing the roll cage after a number of conversations with Chris Cervelli and Chris Schuh, preparing the tub, transporting it to and from the fab shop, etc) is approx $15,980. My asking price is $6,000 or best offer.
I also have a lot of other things I am selling:
* Stock low mileage (under 40k miles) 944 Turbo AOR transaxle with factory limited slip – Paid $2,900 / Sell for $2,200.
* Excellent condition 968 block with piston squirters, matching crank girdle and modified for dry sump installation – Paid $1,975 / Sell for $1,650.
* Three 944S 16 valve cylinder heads with valves, valve springs and cams. One is fully rebuilt, surfaced, pressure tested and ready to bolt on. The others are disassembled. – Selling prices TBD.
* Magnesium 944 S2 cam cover – Paid $300 / Sell for $150.
* Custom timing belt driven dual cam gear setup (to eliminate the failure prone chain driven cam mechanism) with custom crank gear, wide timing belt and modified tensioner roller – Paid $450 / Sell for $375.
* Fidanza aluminum flywheel – Paid $550 / Sell for $400.
* Kennedy aluminum pressure plate – Paid $550 / Sell for $450.
* Billet aluminum A/C delete alternator bracket with belt – Paid $150 / Sell for $120.
* Lindsey Racing solid engine mounts – Paid $130 / Sell for $100.
* Weltmeister front and rear adjustable sway bars - Paid $450 / Sell for $325.
* Carbon fiber hood (weighs only 9 pounds) – Paid $650 / Sell for $450.
* GT Racing LeMans rear fenders – Paid $435 / Sell for $350.
* Extra aluminum rear control arms – Paid $400/pr / Sell for $300/pr.
* Plus, a bunch of other 944 Turbo items I am forgetting at the moment . . .
Whoever buys the chassis will have priority on buying any or all of the above additional items for a very good package price.
It is with mixed emotions that I am announcing my 944 Turbo race car project is for sale. The good part -> I bought a very nice 911 race car that is finished and I finally will be hitting the track next year. The sad part -> I have been working on and learning about 944 Turbos since 1998 and I feel that I have built an incredibly nice race car chassis, but I just don’t have time to finish it. I started this project during late 2000 and I have been through two relocations (involving a lot of time spent settling into new homes and communities) and a demanding career path. What little time I have had left has been spent with my family and friends, racing my 125 shifter kart and various attempts to finish my 944 Turbo race car. I have come to the realization that I need to sell my chassis to someone who can finish what I have started.
As you review the photos, you will see that I have designed this chassis to be a front running car with the right engine and driver. The chassis was designed with high speeds and stresses in mind because my plan had been to build a high horsepower dry sumped 16 valve engine for this car. All of the fab work was performed by a very good fabricator in Indianapolis using TIG welded 4130 chromium-molybdenum steel (chromoly) for high strength to weight ratio. Some of the main design features are as follows:
* The seating position was moved as far towards the rear as possible to help offset the weight of the engine, turbo, intercooler, radiator, etc in front. When you look at the pictures, you will notice the seat is all the way back into the rear passenger foot well. The floor pan was reinforced with welded in flat steel gussets to give a strong mounting location for the seats (on the driver and passenger side). The mounting points for the Wilwood brake / clutch pedals and master cylinders were custom made so they fit inside the chassis (away from the heat of the engine bay). The braking setup uses an adjustable balance bar for front to rear brake bias and the pedals are easily adjustable for drivers of various heights. The hole in the center tunnel for the shift lever was relocated 10” rearward. The steering column was custom made to move the steering wheel the appropriate distance rearward.
* The cage directly ties into all suspension attachment points. You will notice extensive modifications to “raise” the front and rear control arm attachment points to enable you to maintain proper suspension geometry while running very low ride heights and/or larger diameter wheel/tire setups. In other words, when the chassis is at rest at its desired ride height, you want the control arms to maintain a “down hill” slope from the attachment points to the wheels. If you don’t raise the attachment points, the control arms will slope “up hill” which can cause problems with binding the ball joint up front and incorrect suspension geometry during suspension travel when driving. To accomplish this, the heavy torsion bar tube was replaced with a lighter custom welded in cross member and the rear suspension outer control arm mounting points (notice the very cool adjustable Kokeln “spring plates”) are raised by 2", 3" and 4". In other words, the lowest mounting point is 2" higher than the stock mounting point and raises in two more steps from there. To make clearance for the raised attachment points, the rear frame rails have been notched and boxed. The inner control arm mounting points have 7 different mounting points to enable you to match the outer control arm point you are using plus offer some further camber adjustability. The reason I wanted the adjustability at the rear is so I could change my pickup points depending on how low I wanted set the car at any given track and how big of a wheel/tire combo I was running. My core setup was planned to be a ride height of having the floor pan around 2" to 3" off the ground while running large Dunlop rear slicks (they are the 315/690-18 with a 27.2" diameter and a tread width of 13”). For the sake of comparison, the 335 Hoosiers are only 25.6" in diameter. Up front, I planned to run a slick that requires an 18" dia by 11" wide wheel (size = 280/650-18 with corresponding metric size of 301/31R18). Since I was planning to run such large rear tires, the 4" raised pickup points will maintain the proper suspension geometry. If I had decided to run the 335 Hoosiers for an event or two, I would switch to the 2" or 3" raised pickup points. Up front, if I were to switch to Hoosiers from slicks, my diameter won't change since they are both around 25" to 25.6" so I will not need to change my pickup points.
* The front suspension pickup points have been raised by 1.125". This was accomplished by drilling new holes in the front aluminum cross member and recessing the rear control arm mounting points into the frame rails with strong, custom fabricated chromoly mounting brackets. The raised attachment points along with the custom Blaszak control arms to place the removable ball joint on top of the control arm should result in maintaining proper suspension geometry and significantly reducing the chances of ball joint failure.
* Seam welded front strut towers
* Removable “Petty Bar” – increases torsional rigidity but removes when you want to bolt in a passenger seat to give someone a ride.
* Custom removable aluminum covers for firewall to base of windshield area.
* TransAm style dash panel.
* I haven’t cut and installed the wide rear quarter panels so you can do what you want.
The roll cage fabrication on this chassis cost me just over $8,000 with all of the extensive fab work involved. The calculated value of the tub I started with is $2,500 (purchase price of car less sales value of all parts removed). Plus, the chassis includes the following:
* Kokeln adjustable spring plates (rear suspension) $600
* Blaszak custom reinforced steel front control arms with aluminum rear mounting blocks and removable ball joint mounted on top of the arm $650
Huntley racing coil over suspension (this should be upgraded) $1,600
* Adjustable camber plates $375
* MOMO steering wheel $185
* SPA Design QR2 steering wheel quick release $195
* MOMO Acropolis seat $600
* MOMO seat rails $125
* Wilwood brake / clutch pedals, master cylinders and balance bar $450
* Rebuilt torque tube $700
Therefore, my total cost in this chassis (not including the value of countless hours spent designing the roll cage after a number of conversations with Chris Cervelli and Chris Schuh, preparing the tub, transporting it to and from the fab shop, etc) is approx $15,980. My asking price is $6,000 or best offer.
I also have a lot of other things I am selling:
* Stock low mileage (under 40k miles) 944 Turbo AOR transaxle with factory limited slip – Paid $2,900 / Sell for $2,200.
* Excellent condition 968 block with piston squirters, matching crank girdle and modified for dry sump installation – Paid $1,975 / Sell for $1,650.
* Three 944S 16 valve cylinder heads with valves, valve springs and cams. One is fully rebuilt, surfaced, pressure tested and ready to bolt on. The others are disassembled. – Selling prices TBD.
* Magnesium 944 S2 cam cover – Paid $300 / Sell for $150.
* Custom timing belt driven dual cam gear setup (to eliminate the failure prone chain driven cam mechanism) with custom crank gear, wide timing belt and modified tensioner roller – Paid $450 / Sell for $375.
* Fidanza aluminum flywheel – Paid $550 / Sell for $400.
* Kennedy aluminum pressure plate – Paid $550 / Sell for $450.
* Billet aluminum A/C delete alternator bracket with belt – Paid $150 / Sell for $120.
* Lindsey Racing solid engine mounts – Paid $130 / Sell for $100.
* Weltmeister front and rear adjustable sway bars - Paid $450 / Sell for $325.
* Carbon fiber hood (weighs only 9 pounds) – Paid $650 / Sell for $450.
* GT Racing LeMans rear fenders – Paid $435 / Sell for $350.
* Extra aluminum rear control arms – Paid $400/pr / Sell for $300/pr.
* Plus, a bunch of other 944 Turbo items I am forgetting at the moment . . .
Whoever buys the chassis will have priority on buying any or all of the above additional items for a very good package price.
Last edited by Jeff Lamb; 03-14-2010 at 06:33 PM.
10-09-2007, 05:52 PM
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That's a shame Jeff as you have obviously put a LOT of time and money into your project. Hope it all works out.
10-09-2007, 06:51 PM
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Thanks for your kind words. I am going to be very sad to see the car go because I have put many hours into this project. I am very disappointed with myself for not finishing it.
10-09-2007, 10:54 PM
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Jeff I saw that car run years ago it was pretty fast. I know he has been trying to sell it for years, I also noticed he took the 962 engine out. It should make a good GT3 car it had a first rate suspension and drive train. Enjoy!!!
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10-09-2007, 11:17 PM
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I put five pictures in the Rennlist Classifieds (the "Porsche Race Cars" section). Can non-members see those? I might post some pics to this web board, however, I really encourage you to become a Rennlist member. It is quite honestly some of the best money I have EVER spent. And, it is incredibly easy to sign up.
Best regards,
Jeff
Best regards,
Jeff
10-09-2007, 11:29 PM
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Jeff
10-10-2007, 12:04 AM
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Wow your new car looks a pretty darn good replacement!!!
10-10-2007, 12:10 AM
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I saw both cars at the 2000 Parade and club race. Very impressive cars.
I'm interested in the sway bars. (more too, but that's about all I can swing right now.)
shipping would be to 95350. Let me know when you're ready to sell things.
Thanks,
Dan
I'm interested in the sway bars. (more too, but that's about all I can swing right now.)
shipping would be to 95350. Let me know when you're ready to sell things.
Thanks,
Dan
10-10-2007, 01:01 AM
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Darnit! Where were you a year ago!!!
Everyone, I can attest to how much has gone into this because i'm at a similar stage (just starting full integrated cage). This is a PERFECT starting point that will save you TONS OF MONEY by just getting such a wonderfully setup chassis.
This guy has done it right...someone please ****** this up as I'm too far with my chassis to stop and buy this one! It hurts to see ANYONE pass this deal up...wow...
I don't know Jeff...but damn did he build one hell of a chassis.
Everyone, I can attest to how much has gone into this because i'm at a similar stage (just starting full integrated cage). This is a PERFECT starting point that will save you TONS OF MONEY by just getting such a wonderfully setup chassis.
This guy has done it right...someone please ****** this up as I'm too far with my chassis to stop and buy this one! It hurts to see ANYONE pass this deal up...wow...
I don't know Jeff...but damn did he build one hell of a chassis.
10-10-2007, 01:08 AM
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Darnit! Where were you a year ago!!!
Everyone, I can attest to how much has gone into this because i'm at a similar stage (just starting full integrated cage). This is a PERFECT starting point that will save you TONS OF MONEY by just getting such a wonderfully setup chassis.
This guy has done it right...someone please ****** this up as I'm too far with my chassis to stop and buy this one! It hurts to see ANYONE pass this deal up...wow...
I don't know Jeff...but damn did he build one hell of a chassis.
Everyone, I can attest to how much has gone into this because i'm at a similar stage (just starting full integrated cage). This is a PERFECT starting point that will save you TONS OF MONEY by just getting such a wonderfully setup chassis.
This guy has done it right...someone please ****** this up as I'm too far with my chassis to stop and buy this one! It hurts to see ANYONE pass this deal up...wow...
I don't know Jeff...but damn did he build one hell of a chassis.
