Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Hi Guy's

I have just signed up and looking for some advice. I am looking for a project porsche (it's going to be a complete strip and rebuild over a year or 2 for me and my wife) we have previously done a classic mini and were looking at doing a 944 next however i would like to perform and engine conversion as the standard 2.5's seem underpowered do you have any advice on what engines fit with relative ease. in an ideal world i would be looking for a 944 turbo project but i am yet to see one not to bothered on the condition just want it to be a bit more pokey at the end of the project.

Thanks for your help,

Jon

Hi Jon ..

I'm surprised no one's chimed in yet - but if you're after more whoomph then you're probably better off looking at an S2 rather than a 2.5 - easier to work on and maintain, and a lot less fickle than a turbo and not a great deal slower either... unless you play games with the turbo ...

I came to an S2 after popping my cherry on an '82 924 - mine needed a lot of bodywork in the usual places like sills and arches, but I've managed most of that myself, and have also learned a lot about the motors too - mostly that you can do the majority of stuff yourself with a modicum of ability and a few decent tools..

It'll be an adventure!

Greg

You could also consider a 944S more power than the std 2.5 and cheaper to find & get than an S2.

Hi Jon and welcome to the forum...this is a difficult one as there are a number of options, a common upgrade in the US is to drop a small block V8 in, iirc the LS1, as this has been done a number of times by various people you should be able to find plenty of reference to what was done and where to get the parts required from. The drawback is most of this will involve buying from America with the extra costs involved. I have heard of Audi 5 cylinder engines being retro fitted into 944's but not many. You could buy a good bodied NA and drop a turbo engine in it but this is not as straight forward as it may seem, the turbo is a totally different car to it's siblings and of course there is always the supercharger option for the NA 2.5 engines. You want a bit more power but don't say how much more?, a NA car has it's limits, a turbo not so much but it costs although any power gains on a turbo cost a fraction of what you would need to spend upgrading a NA car.

Personally I would hold on for a turbo project car, there was one last month , an 86 which i think sold for under £3k, it needed an awful lot of bodywork though and this can be far more expensive than fixing a broken engine so choose wisely, take someone with you who knows 944's and what to look out for. The other thing to bear in mind is that restoring a 944 will probably cost at least 5 times that of your mini so be prepared for some big bills, the plus side is that currently 944's are gaining in value at a pretty hectic rate with turbo's commanding the most, at least double that of a top condition S2 so they are worth spending money on, the question is where to stop?

Pete