Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Hi Guys,

A quick intro, recently picked up the car below from a forum member on here. Loving it but a few things I need to sort out..

- Suspension is waaaaaay to low and need to take it up a bit (currently running MO30 KONI adjustable with the front coilovers, 30mm front roll bar, 18mm rear roll bar, steel lower arms and turbo torsion bars)

- Boost level is too high so want to take it down a touch

- It's also seems to be leaking some power steering fluid (which is common on these). Will prob take it to the local garage to sort this, the guy that sold it has gone quiet on me so guess I'll just have to sort it out myself.

Any garages in the south London type area that you recommend to sort the suspension? Front's are easy enough as can just adjust the coilovers but front need to adjust the eccentric bolts which is a bit fidly. Boost level is fairly straight forwards too but I'd rather someone who knows what they are doing to sort it out...

A mobile mechanic would suffice even if anyone knows a good one?

Thanks guys! Oh and here's a pic of the car

Nice car, love the wheels.
SE London garages I'm struggling with TBH. The suspension really needs someone who does a reasonable amount of 944s otherwise you'll be paying for them to learn. One possibility is Tower Porsche in London.

There is a chance the member may come on here to talk about the car .

If it were me I'd look at either ProMax Motorsport or EMC. I have dealt with both but only had one of them work on my car (EMC). I did however own a car that was once a director of Promax's car and Roger Keys these days who runs the outfit is a pretty decent bloke.

Kevin Eacock with the latter is pretty good as well and he has always been very knowledgeable. I'll wait for Londoners to reply.

With your car, turning the boost down may not be so simple. IIRC that car is running a larger turbo and going to a lower boost setting may end up with the turbo being out of its efficiency range (Google Compressor/Turbine Maps), which could cost you more power and response that you think.

If you don't mind me asking, why do you want to turn the boost down? If it is running well I'd leave it TBH or get it a once over at a reputable dyno etc.

Getting it higher I can understand, but you can learn to live with it. I did with mine after a while :

AlpineTurbo your car looks lovely!

The boost is just not very smooth.. it's lag lag lag then at 4k it boosts massively (I know Gavin wound it back but it's still pretty violent ), not the most controlled or smooth, perhaps a rolling road would actually be best for that. Know any good ones that can adjust boost manually rather than digitally down south?

Suspensions is just not at all suited for london roads and humps, no matter how slow or what angle you go over humps it scrapes. With two people it's game over!!

I think maybe even a non-porsche but a motorsport specialist would even be fine. Are there any handy men that are good at this kind of thing on the forum?

Many thanks for the comments! However, I no longer own the car .

IMO an electric boost controller may make the transition better from no boost to boost and also the way the boost comes in is said to be a trait of a dual port wastegate according to one specialist I know, but an EBC could potentially cure that. It sounds like the lag is not the issue but rather the threshold. Unfortunately this is something that comes with going for a larger turbo, unless you go for a twin scroll or variable vane (geometry) turbo. Even a stock 250 Turbo will not really have much to give below 3.5k on a stock K26/8 (IIRC yours is on a K27/8 ; possible the same hot side as a normal 250 but with a larger compressor. My RS Turbo was no different here on a larger hybrid turbo ; it was basically no boost until 3.5k+.

Here's my old one . As you will see it's OK below 3.5k but hardly a ball of fire.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/N9CoPm3hG-o?t=5m30s[/youtube]

Hi where about a are you, would like to meet up and look over the car, iv meet gav before and sold him a stock 26/8 that I took off mine.

Boost pressure shouldnt change the characteristics off turbo, more the over all power out put, but not by much. Do u have any idea off the current boost your running and management? Turbo will still have its lag and the on off delivery will be much the same, just less power. Waste gate will determine just how little boost you can run. Then boost controller will be used to select how high the boost will climb. Apexi avcr can be used to adjust the boost at set rpm and be used to let the boost increase slower to make the turbo less punchy. So it will open the wastegate letting out some off the available boost, then at higher rpm keeping more off it to increase power. This will make the on off delivery more controlled.


My turbo can travel round London fairly well, so it may be befitting to see its ride height, in comparison.

t3rra yeh that sounds great, I am based in south west of London / surrey in Morden. Whereabouts in London are you? If you want to pop by drop me a PM and we can sort something out.

The car is running a k27/Borwarner hybrid turbo .. in fact here's the engine spec: new rings, Mahle pistons, RARST forged rods, new big end bearings, cross drilled crank, n/a, 951 polished head given light skim and new valve seals , n/a camshaft, k27/Borwarner hybrid turbo (Mercedes truck), 38mm external wastegate with screamer pipe, modified downpipe, 55lb injectors, Walbro 255 fuel pump, 3.0bar fpr, front mount intercooler, ported AFM, Lindsey custom Map, adjustable boost running 1.6 bar to redline, 1986 loom and ECUs so no cat/lamda.

Is there a garage you use around London t3rra?

My gf is south east London, I'm canturbury way. I do most myself, engine mangment is http://www.augmentautomotive.co.uk/ so iv had Tom do that side off things. Generally expect to travel to have trusted work done. There's a guy in canturbury called Ken at chilham motorsports who I would go to as my local. Lots off Porsches in there and plenty off 944 parts.

I would rather run 80lb injectors myself on a large turbo running 1.6 bar, add a little head room. Boost displayed on a gauge ? Using a manual boost controller. Do u have a way off checking your afr?

If you got any budget left I would consider upgrading to Toms ecu with built in electronic boost control, map set up, so you can monitor all the important bits. The map set up should reduce the spool time if your still running a stock air flow meter and box. He can also dyno tune the car.

Apexi avcr is £500 new vs £2/300 used, which toms unit would also replace.

Done a bit of digging and that Tom's ecu sounds like an amazing bit of kit.

Did you say you can get the 2/300 used? If so please do let me know where you can get them. Looking at the website it looks like £700 plus!

Are they just plug and play or do you have to fit and then map using a dyno?

200/300 was a quote price on the apexi avcr, which is just a electrionc boost controller.

I wouldn't rule out one of the Gizzmo boost controllers FWIW or the new Greddy type .

Are they quite simple to fit or does it involve a bit more work involved? I.e mapping etc.

Apologies for the noob questions I'm new to tuning on a boosted car!

The point I'm making about the apexi is he can bleed the boost in, not just set its max point.

So say turbo can make 1.6 bar @ 4000 rpm and creates a huge spike in power the car feels uncomfortable to control. He can set the duty cycle so only 1 bar off boost is seen by 3800rpm then increase the duty per rpm every 300 rpm so by 5000rpm he has 1.6 bar but it's taken over 1000rpm to come in making it a lot more smoother.

Don't know off anyother ebc that can do that.

He also got an s2 gear box so this turbo would be lagger on stock turbo box.

The Apexi is a superb bit of kit and yes it will surpass many in its flexibility with how the boost can be cut in as well the speed/gear and which the boost comes in as standing., But IMO most boost controllers will tame his 'kick' via the duty cycle being adjusted, albeit not quite as accurately. .

Are these boost controllers quite difficult to install and set up? Are there any companies that you would recommend for fitting?