Tom M'Guinn

I believe the 1989 2.7 car has the regular N/A front bumper (rather than the S2 bumper), meaning it is not set up for the 951 intercooler.

The 2.7 block and head can be used as part of a turbo motor, but it takes many many additional parts.

See good discussions from the past:

https://rennlist.com/forums/944-turb...onversion.html

See post 83 here:

https://rennlist.com/forums/944-turb...500rwhp-6.html

MM951

I have a spare cross over pipe, manifolds, dme/klr, injectors (stock and 85#), engine mount, oil pan, crank, 3bar FPR, HR MAF setup (but get Vitesse) and harness I would sell at a very attractive price...

loxner

Tom, thanks for those links. I knew it would be pricey to build a 3.0, but didn't know it would be THAT much.

MM951, PM sent

loxner

That's exactly what I would do, if it wasn't for insurance. Insurance for me on a 951 is close to $100 more per month than for the 944, so every year I'd be saving over $1000 by sticking with the 944. But whether I mod the 944 or buy a 951/968, it's not gonna be cheap either way so IDK.

Lorax

Get a different insurance company. Nationwide doesn't differentiate between the NA and turbo

Chris White

To do what you want is not impossible, but also not cheap.
If you really want to do it the easiest way is to buy a complete 951 parts car – otherwise you will be nickel and dimed to death with all the special parts – you will also get the benefit of swapping to the turbo brakes and other good stuff (Intercooler, DME /KLR, factory turbo dash, etc.)

Van

Fixed it for ya...

931guru

Yep, then when you wreck it, they'll pay off like it's a 944.

white924s

To be honest, I could be mistaken but a lot of the pricier items here (968 crank, forged rods, pistons, clutch, brakes/hubs, exhaust valves) aren't needed for a low-boost turbo setup, and some (fuel rail, fuel pump) will swap right over from the N/A. I believe that 87+ n/a cars had the same radiator support structure, so your car has the cutouts for the 951 intercooler, so no need for major bodywork there. You can also get away with running no KLR (just get a 944 N/A chip with a 2.7l turbo map), which will also mean that you can avoid replacing the harness. You will probably want to replace the AFM with a MAF kit from Lindsey or SFR (or any of the various other vendors who sell those). Some offer kits with chips/injectors/MAF all matched together, which takes some of the guess work out of tuning

You will definitely need 951 intake and exhaust manifolds, and there is some porting necessary to mate the intake manifold to the 951 head.

Obviously you'll need a turbo. Lots of options here. If you get a water-cooled turbo, you'll need plumbing for the coolant. Also, you'll want a 951 oil pan with a turbo oil return line.

You'll need a 951 motor mount (drivers side) as the turbo mounts to that.

Best of luck and hope that helps a little bit. If you decide to just swap in a 944S2 or 968 motor and your 2.7L is in good shape, let me know - I'm kicking around the idea of adding some more power to my 924S but I don't think I want to go the turbo route as I already have some money invested in a 944 N/A exhaust system and can't figure out any good way to fit an intercooler on my car (924S doesn't have the larger radiator support cut-outs for intercooler pipes

ehall

That'll work great for the ten minutes before it implodes. There is a great deal more to tuning than meets the eye.
There is a very good reason that you don't see many (as in more than one or two) 944's or S2's that are running turbos.

A 2.5, 2.7 or 3.0 turbo conversion costs more than a very nice 951.

ehall

15k done properly.

loxner

Is that parts+labor or just parts?

Chris White

What is this "low boost" turbo set up you speak of? No comprende "low boost"...

white924s

What about it would implode? Are you saying that it is impossible to build a turbo motor with factory 944 2..7l rods/pistons/crank/head, an aftermarket MAF, injectors, and no KLR? Why not I ask? You might not be able to run 20 lbs of boost through it, but that doesn't mean its not possible to get 5-10psi of boost, which isn't a trivial increase over N/A.

I realize that properly tuning a custom setup like a 2.7l turbo engine isn't easy, but its not impossible either, particularly if you utilize well-developed components that were designed to work together for the engine management

I'm sorry if I gave the impression that it was a very cheap or easy process, but I think that the previous poster had made it sound much more complex than it is.

Lorax

I could swap a 2.7 engine into my 951 and make power tomorrow and I wouldn't have to tune much at all, but then I already have the EMS ready so that doesn't really count