The 944S is a 16v engine, and the turbo is only an 8v right? I ask because I found some nice 944S's for sale and I figure if I turbo one of those it will be faster then a turbo right? I know it will cost more but it would be better right?

 

You might ask some of the 968 guys how much it costs to properly turbo a car, you'll be pretty shocked. They typically spend a minimum of $20k if they are having Powerhaus do it.

If your heart is set on a turbo, get a turbo. 944S' are great cars, but if you don't want to appreciate it for what it is, go to the next one... its like they say, "don't try to teach a pig to sing, its wastes your time and annoys the pig".

Regards,

 

could do it for less the 5 grand. 20 is just ridiculous, what are they building race cars? I mean I don’t plan on sending it to some Porsche place to have it done. I figure I can scavenge some parts from a 944 turbo like the exhaust manifold and then use new aftermarket parts for the rest.

 

Anyways though back to my first question. Once you lower the compression in the 944S is it a better turbo candidate?

 

No, they are building cars that actually run and hold together. $5k? Not likely... how much do you think you are going to spend just putting lower compression pistons in that S engine? The pistons alone, last time I looked, cost almost $2k. If you do all the work yourself, you will still have a minimum of $8-10k in it IF you do it properly. The head is another problem... it won't breath properly for a turbo without some major work, and your intake manifold will need to be a custom job. You also need custom cam shafts to get the right exhaust pressure to efficiently run a turbo (this needs to be matched carefully, or you'll get no spool up and major lag). There's about a billion things that all need to be considered...

The point is, it will be a lot more cost effective (by a wide margin) to just find a turbo to begin with. Even if you successfully get a turbo added on the car (and I am not saying it can't be done, it certainly can, but I doubt it will be done any better than the factory did it), you will still not have the brakes, suspension and tranny to support the car (944S ring and pinions like to go *boom!*, lots of people have tried adding then to their turbos with the same effect). You might as well have a Mustang at that point. Plenty of engine with no ability to turn and brake is not what I am looking for in a car.

I'm not trying to to **** in your Wheaties, but seriously... save yourself the hassle. Just buy a turbo if thats what you want. It would be a lot cheaper to rehab a tired 951 than it would to make a 944S into one.

Regards,

 

Absolutely! It's quite possible, and feasible no less, to find a bolt-on Turbo in the 5g range. However if you think that is the end of the line you are in for one hell of an eye opener. A simple bolt-on job will blow your **** to pieces. The compression ratio is way too high, not to mention you have to accommodate for wear and tear on existing parts. A new turbo on a previously N/A machine will have no more pleasure in life than to destroy older corroded parts. Then the new power, something I hadn't accommodated for until just recently is the tranny. Its not difficult to apply so much power that the tender components of an N/A tranny fall apart. I can tell you this from experience. I failed to buy that previously, and now I have a full blown Differential rebuild on my hands. Another key component that I haven’t heard mentioned here much is the Catalytic converter. On my infamous dyno run I not only exceeded drastically what the car should be capable of, I blew a few *cough cough* hundred dollars worth of components. One of which being the Cat. Now mind you a 20+ year old cat is on its last lives to begin with, but I'm not a 944 specialist however I do know that loud popping sounds followed by loud rattling in the cat chamber usually isn't very good. To fix this and allow for max flow (also preventing another catastrophic [no pun intended] blow out) I installed a pre-silencer; BUT this rendered my vehicle incapable of passing my cities emissions tests. Many a condition to think about when posing a major upgrade such as this. Really, there is enough to do with an existing N/A try to hit larger number without the use of turbos or SCs.



Actually no, that pretty low compared to the amount set aside for my upgrade. I am about to begin my TS-SC upgrade, but to do so I have to completely tear down and rebuild the entire engine. For those mods alone I have set aside 30k. This includes the FULL bore job, beefy new injectors, new fuel rail, ball-bearing rocker arms, the TS-SC itself, about 1200 in custom exhaust; as well as the various OEM and custom components required to complete the job. Even then I think I will be over budget by 4-5k. That is just a figure for the engine itself. Then comes the tranny, new rear stub-axles, all new engine and otherwise mounts.
Now mind you some frivolous stuff in there, but that is the way serious mods go. None of this kiddy garbage. The other option for you might be an S2 swap. A vague figure might be 10k (used), but this gives you a 16v 3.0L as opposed to the 8v 2.5 the N/As run now. And in HP figures from what I understand a good extra 100 above and beyond. Easily a wiser decision for the budget couscous. This route pays for the used car and used engine but increased power and torque. My way pays for a new car, but I get to retain all the perks of a Porsche FR.

 

So you blew the r&p? Don't feel bad. It doesn't take much. I have blown so many I lost count. The dynamic nature of autocross tends to shred them, even on a stock (ish) motor. How many HP's do you have? Why rebuild when a 951 trans would be cheaper and be more appropriate for a larger power output (although the gearing is too tall for my application, it is better for higher HP cars)?

Honestly, decent (not pristine) comple S2 cars (coupes) can be had for $8-$9K now. Unless someone has done a ton of work/mods to their current 944 8V, it would make more sense just to sell the 8V car and buy the S2. With that you get all of the other goodies like the stronger trans, better brakes, newer looks, etc.

The base 944 2.5 8v motor in US spec makes 143Hp. I think the S2 in US spec is rated at 207-208hp. About a 65Hp difference there. It doesn't sound like a lot, but if you drive one it certainly feels more potent than an 8V N/A! LOL.

CousCous? MMMMM. I love couscous. It only takes 5 minutes to cook once the water is boiling, and goes great with most Moroccan dishes! Just ribbin' ya a bit there.....but you did make me hungry! LOL.

Good luck!

 

The "you can't do this for that amount of money" comments always make me laugh. Reminds me of the 928 crowd 5 years ago before Tim Murphy showed up. Now we have 928S4 supercharger kits and a few dozen 928's with 500hp running around, for less than half the cost anybody ever dreamed.

To simply answer your question, a modified 16V 2.5 turbo motor should make more power than a stock 8V turbo motor.

However, the point I'm sure most are trying to make is, for the amount of money it would cost to do the job right, you could build one bad-*** 8V 951.

I like my 944S just fine: 100% stock and very reliable. If I want to go very fast, I'll put a different SC pulley on my 928.

 

Ok thanks for the advice guess I will wait for a 951 then. I guess I'm just used to BMWs. You can turbo a E30 325i for less then 5grand and have it run fine. Hell even a M3 engine swap can be done for 5grand. Guess Porsche’s just cost more.

And 2grand for low compression pistons is ridiculous. Its like a grand for a E30 325i and they have six cylinders. I think you guys need to stop buying stuff with Porsche labels on it.

 

Well, please note that I didn't say it was a "good" price... lol

Regards,