1985 Porsche 944
1985 Porsche 944 questions and answers
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Q: Problem with my 1985 Porsche 944 headlights?
I have a problem with my 1985 Porsche 944's headlights. When I turn them on, they look like they are about to come up but get stuck a quarter inch up, then when I turn them off, they finish going up then come back down.
Any ideas?
Thanks
A: Sounds like a classic problem that happens to virtually every car that has pop-up headlights. Your best bet is to search a porsche forum for answers.
Q: porsche 944 N/A cylinder head swap?
I have a 1985 porsche 944 that's a little lacking in the power dept. so ive been looking at possible upgrades in my search i heard that swapping a 951 or a 16V 2.5L 944 cylinder head onto my 8v N/A would provide a respectable gain of 20-30hp..
So how true is this and how much would it cost me...i belong to a 944 forum but nobody will answer the question so i ask here instead
A: I am not an expert on this kind of upgrade for a 944 so take this with a grain of salt, but I have alot of experience with Porsches in general and have been around quite a few 944/951 drivers over the years... and this sounds HIGHLY suspect to me.
First, I know the cylinder heads are an area that is often looked at by owners of modified 951s - the main reason being that as they increase the power on the turbos, the cylinder heads become a limiting factor. So this upgrade in this case does not really add power, but does remove a bottle neck that allows for the car to make it's real potential... and in this case, with the power that a highly modified 951, finding 20-30hp with such a change could be possible.
But on a normally asperated 2.5L 944? The car makes about 160hp to beging with... and if you could get a 10-20% gain for an upgrade that should be under $1000, you would see this mentioned as THE upgrade! Every 944 driver would pursue this... but instead when 944 drivers look for power they tend to go with a new exhaust, new DME programming, and such, spending about the same to gain ~5hp. With a 911 I have generally found that lightening my wallet by $1000 can get me close to 5% gains, with diminishing returns as I spend more and more... while prices on 944s run much less than 911s, I've not seen such a price difference in upgrades.
There may be some small gain to be had with such an upgrade, but expect it to be much less than the upgrades people normally pursue. In the end the 944 is strictly a momentum car and the needed upgrade to drive it fast is mostly a matter of upgrading the driver (autocross, open tracks, etc). If you really want more power, the cheapest route will be to sell the 944 and look at other cars (a 951 if you want to keep the other 944 attributes).
Q: Porsche 944 engine swap?
I have a 1985 944 N/A 2.5L...i hardly get 25 mpg out of it and its lacking in the power dept... im aware the chevy LS1 is a popular swap but i don't like the fuel economy of that, considering gas is destined to go back up to where it was (4.50 a gallon *cough*)..id like something efficient with a little more bang than the stock motor...my answer is a V6 most having over 200 hp (beating my 150hp/torque stock power) and still maintaining about 25-30mpg (at least my toyota tacoma does)... so my question is...is there a good RELIABLE, economical, and fairly powerful V6 out there that will fit on my car with the fewest modifications possible and not ruin the perfect 50/50 weight distribution that the car is known for...that can link up with my stock tranny if possible?
please no porsche enthuiast/purist complaining about how i should keep the car "pure".
sorry about the length thanks in advance!!!
i dont want to install the turbo kit cuz the N/A engine isnt designed to take the abuse and upgrading it to take the boost to make 300 hp would cost a fortune for a porsche....and the turbo kit for these things...cheaper than a motor... highly doubt it ...i looked for performance mods a header just a header...1300$
and it would reduce my fuel economy even further.... these 20+ year old engines aren't very efficient....a modern V6 will get better gas mileage and have 50% more power
A: I am confused; very confused. You are talking about a non-conventional engine swap in a Porsche and worried about fuel economy? Any unorthodox engine swap is going to cost you big bucks. Fabrication of just one adapter could cost far more then what you would spend in fuel if you were to go with a drop-in kit adapter for a V8. But of course, this is not what you want to hear.
That said, let's try to make sense of this. To keep the install as easy as possible and keep your neutral weight distribution, drop in the 3.0L I4 out of the 968. This was the successor to the 944; manufactured from 1992-1995. Since the 968 and 944 chassis' were identical, it will slip right in. It produced 236hp and although not a fuel efficient engine, it won't be as thirsty as a V-8. This will make adaption of the trans, motor mounts and wiring MUCH MUCH easier and easier means cheaper. You can even add the 6-speed out of the 968 without much headaches either.
Now if you are hell-bent on going with some off the wall V6 installation, think about the Ford SHO 3.0L V6 made by Yamaha Motor Corp. They are readily available and are dynomite compact engines. The SHO V6 was a high-tech and revolutionary design when it debuted in 1989. Displacing 3.0L (2986 cc/182 cu in), it was an iron block, aluminum head 24-valve DOHC engine with an innovative variable length intake manifold. Its oversquare and symmetrical design, which sported an 89 mm (3.5 in) bore and 80 mm (3.1 in) stroke, gave the high-revving engine an output of 220 bhp (164 kW) @ 6200 rpm and 200 ft·lbf (270 N·m) of torque (271 Nm) @ 4800 rpm at the flywheel, and the added luxury of being able to be used in rear-drive applications. When in production, the redline was established by the limitations of the accessories at 7000RPMs. If the accessories are underdriven or removed, then the engine could be run up to its potential of just over 8500 RPMs. Remind you that this is in stock form. Minor mods let the engine turn at 9000 and just over 300hp. One problem is trying to get a trans to work with your setup as the engine was only available with the Ford MTX IV transaxle. Since the bellhousing from the Vulcan V6 (RWD) is the same as the SHO V6 (FWD), you might be able to build a gearbox out of a Ranger to make the application work.
This is all very expensive. Think about the 968 3.0L, unless you have $$$ to burn.