Fishguy

Since my car will be stored at home all the while im at college

i have plenty of time to think about a few simple mods to get a little bit more power outta this very nice little car

specs:
1984 944 (european spec, w00t!) with 26,000 miles on it (no joke!)
now, its been taken pretty good care of (though since i got it, the oil pressure seems to run low, frequently going to 1.5 and 2, after it runs for a long period of time (though when revved up to anything past 2 k rpm's, it goes all the way to 5 constant)
is that something to worry about? or could the pressure gauge be misreading do to underuse? that seems to be teh only problem with this car, its got too few miles, and things like the seals dry out (ive got a wee bit of an oil leak do to a leaky seal - i think) I had to get the Clutch slave cylinder replaced becasuse the seal on it failed and leaked alll the fluid out.. the PO said that the seals might've dried out do to underuse (he only drove it 3 times in the last year before i bought it from him)
though it seems to run really well, and seems to have a decent enough amount of power (plenty fast for me!) though you cant expect a whole lot out of an 8 valve NA 4 banger, its still good

but anyway, I would like some advice on planning upgrades to this car
I found 9xauto.com, they seem to have a lot of good info and stuff at reasonable prices

It seems i have to start with changing some parts that might be useful to have changed

like fuel filter, intake boot, fuel pressure regulator & fuel damperner

what are all the little things that need to be done before i actually do teh performance mods?

so far fuel filter, intake boot, fuel pressure regulator & fuel damperner (though i think the last too probably dont need a change yet),

then K&N Oil Filter + Mobil 1 oil (what kind is the best for summer use? they have the 0 w30 "european engine" stuff, or should i go with the multiengine 10 w30?)

ok then will that be all i need to do to actually start doing performance mods?

what would be good bang for buck mods ? new camshaft? new Muffler? upgraded exhaust?

i was thinking to start with a K&N intake kit, including bracket and adapter from 9xauto.com

then a set of Nology Hotwires and Silverstone sparkplugs

after that, i was thinking of a new ECU from Powerchip (though they are $450, are their cheaper yet still comparable chips out there?)

please give you all your reccomendations as to the best way to get more power with the best bang/buck in mind

thanks guys!

Skip Wolfe

Hey Fishguy,

You might want to try posting this on the general 924/944/951/968 board - you will probably get a lot more replys.

SGOGT4

Get ready to be bombarded with suggestions to sell the n/a and but a 951. I tend to agree having gone down the non-turbo upgrade track on my 944.

bdellis

I spent a good bit of cash and time upgrading my 87 N/A 944 a few years back. My mom bought the car with about 40,000 miles. Great records. It had the dreaded coolant/oil leak repaired. Belts just done etc. My mother lived in MS, so the roads there were far from perfect as well as the heat in the summer.

Anyway my mother thought she was doing a good thing by not driving the car for extended periods of time. I mean not even cranking it.
I got the car off her with 78k. Drove it out to Atlanta and my porsche life began. Prior to that I had a 1990 mustang GT conv 5spd 5.0 liter. The mustang was everyting the porsche was not. A dragster to a track car.

I ended up replacing each and ever belt hose clamp etc. The car had the rubber disc clutch which failed near 90k and cost me almost 1700$ to replace. I used the updated turbo clutch at the time. The car was perfect inside and out. I could never get the car to balance on the highway. Finally I found out that in order to have a good smooth ride our cars 924,944,951,968. they all need to have the front 2 tires balanced on the car. Find a place that can do this. Its worth every penny.
I ended up with a POP K&N intake and a throttle response unit. both of which were cheap less than 100$ total. I also have a K&N panel insert for the car if you want to buy it cheap. Its barely used and should fit. We can measure to make sure. To tell you the truth I noticed no difference between the Cone filter and the airbox. In fact i ended up hacking my stock airbox with the k&N filter in it. by this I mean I used 2 x 2inch door handle drill bits(the ones you use to create a door handle hole in your door) I drilled these in the airbox under the filter so more cold air could make its way in. I used black bendable hose to run cold air intakes. This worked well.
Next I got the headders(to tell you the truth I am not sure if it did anything?). Then tried a straight cat. No luck. This is a waste with a N/A car. I put a Europroducts ECU in the car and yes it did feel a little faster. But afterwards I always smelled fuel in the car. It was way too rich? I still have my stock 87 DME chip for the car. You might do some research and see if that will work in your ride? It might help your performance. PM or email me if your interested. bdellis@onebox.com.

bdellis

Oh, Also suspension. make sure your car has a good set of tires and strutts. you can go ahead and use some wheel spacers in the back to help traction. There are SC kits available for the 8v and16v 944's now. When I sold mine they were testing them, but none were out. I sold mine because it just did not have the pull on the highway i wanted. Then I bought a supra turbo 89, also a nissan maxima 97 5spd. Turns out the maxima I have now is the fastest of the 3. With all the mods I have done to it. Less than 2000$. It run 0-60 around 6sec. 6.2max. and the 1/4 in 14.6 consistantly under 15secs. Great car no problems at all.
Now if I could do it all over I might have kept that 944 and put a S/C on it now. Or even purchased a S2 coupe or conv and did the same(put on a S/C)

that would be a unique ride and have pleanty of power low and high.

You can go to some of the companies for engine work, but bang for your buck that S/C is hard to beat. Oh yea, bye the way the compay Vertex I believe almost convinced me to put a NOS kit on the car. Man I am glad I did not do that!

feel free to pm or email me if you need any more info.