I am new to Porsche's and 944's, but I just purchased an 89 944 Turbo for a dedicated track car. This winter I will modify it to get about 350 - 400 CHP. Then next winter I will try to get it to about 400 - 450 CHP if I think it needs it. The vehicle has 140,000 miles on it and all of the records, which show perfect maintenance. The first owner had the car until 134,000 miles and then the second owner had it for a little over a year. In the first three years the car had about 75,000 miles on it and then the yearly average tapered off drastically. I am assuming the original owner travelled a lot for work and it was probably a lot of highway driving. There is an oil leak coming from the front seal and the tbelt and water pump are due for replacement, but those are the only things I can see or hear wrong with it. I will be dynoing it soon to see how many horses are left under her bonnet. Ok, hopefully that is enough background info for these questions. I am planning on rebuilding the motor this winter, but not sure if I should just save my money and do it next winter when I will have more money for better internal parts. I haven't been able to find anything suggesting the interval for rebuilds on a modified and tracked 944 so I am not sure if it is due yet or not. I will change the leaking seals and probably the headgasket for the added boost and of course the tbelt and water pump even if I don't rebuild. At this point I will be rebuilding this winter and next. Some engines do require yearly rebuilds, is this one of them? I am assuming that I will have lost about 50 horses. How can I go about getting these back on this motor? Thanks for any help and sorry for the super long post.

 

where are you located? If in the Florida area, I highly recommend Mike Bruns over at JB racing. he has built many engines for us and other race teams and they are awesome.

 

I'm close, but not sure if I am close enough. I am probably gonna tackle this one myself this year, but I will definitely give him a call. Might not be worth it to do it myself. Thanks for the info.

 

If you don't re-build the motor at least change the rod bearings. #2 has a limited life and if it fails, it can get very expensive. We did ours this spring and it needed it. Check out what came out. #2 is the top 2 bearing shells.

 

Have a compression/leakdown test test done first to find the condition of the engine.

If you are making a racecar with a 944 engine, save lots of money and headaches and dry sump the engine first.

 

Thanks for the #2 bearing tip. I will definitely have to take care of that. I am not gonna push it too hard next season so I am leaning towards only replacing a few things like the #2 bearing and maybe putting the baffles in the oil pan. Then next winter if I really like the way the car drives I will build up the engine and really get some power. Any other tips of things to replace on this first go around? Thanks for all the info so far.

 

in stock form at stock weight they go pretty well. You may want to do the maintenance essentials first before you satisfy your lust for power (which is addictive) as once you go down that path it is long and expensive.

Also consider if you think you may ever race. People say no then end up spending a ton of cash to upgrade their DE car to only lose a ton of cash taking it back to stock to race

 

Though not quite an engine rebuild, I bought some headers from Mike. It was a pleasure doing business with him.

Very true.

 

If you are not doing a rebuild until later I would defintely go through and do basic maintenance. Need to check the belts to see what kind if condition they are in. The car is 20 years old and stuff is just deteriorating under the hood so see what needs replcaing now.

 

Thanks for all of the advice guys. I just did a compression check and all four cylinders reacted the same. First turn produced between 110 and 120, second was about 130, third was 140 and the fourth was just under 150. It didn't rise with continued cranking. That seems pretty good to me.

I actually got this car to replace my DD/DE vehicle. A late model Audi is more expensive to mod and provides more headaches than the 944. This car is also 500lbs lighter and rwd. I am going to work on getting my license next year and the year after I may race this car or I may go spec racing in a miata or bmw since they seem to be more popular in the east.

I just ordered a timing belt kit, ignition tune up kit, silicone vacuum hoses, replacement coolant hoses, and a water pump. i will clean the valves up, change the oil, install two new oil coolers, install wastegate, hopefully get SFR intercooler and pipes, get MAF kit, exhaust, and get chips to bring it all together.

Does that sound good? What am I missing? Does anyone think I should rebuild this winter or is it ok to wait until next winter? TIA

 

The rod bearings!

 

Sorry forgot to mention the bearings will get replaced also. I thought I put that in there.

 

Jump over to the 951 board. Many more modders (and vendors) over there who can offer advice.

My recommendation? In addition to preventive maintenance, focus on safety stuff first then worry about adding more power later.

 

It sounds like the car had an easy life. You might be pleasantly surprised that it has lost very little power since its ride out of the factory.

I would do all the basic maintenance stuff as mentioned and just enjoy it for the first year. Then you can decide if you need more power. I don't know what your goals are with the car. If you're going to just DE it, or race it, or what. You may find suspension upgrades are the first place to start with mods.

 

Actually the 951 section barely responded at all. I have heard that these cars respond well to suspension upgrades and that can be better than hp. I appreciate all of the advice and I think I will do pretty much everything you guys have said: preventative/reliability maintenance, suspension, and safety. If I have any money left or something breaks then I will add some power. Thanks for all of your input.