My Porsche 944 Turbo • The Dodge Challenger Message Board

by **Moparman1972** » 21 Oct 2010 22:47

Hey guys, glad to be back. I ended up losing my summer to my new purchase...a 1986 Porsche 944 Turbo. No time for the Challenger because of the unexpected rebuild this needed.

The car currently has a newly rebuilt 2.5L engine with a Garrett dual ball bearing turbocharger.

I was impressed with the engineering that went into this car- block is entirely aluminum-silica, very light. There are no main caps, just a giant cast girdle that is bolted down with twenty-something bolts. Oil pan is baffled, car has an external oil cooler. Limited-slip transaxle in the rear has it's own cooler. Shocks are Koni double-adjustables from the factory. Cooling vents and ducting to everything from brake rotors to the alternator. The bottom ends of these motors can reliably take up to around 400 hp before you have to start changing components. I'm at a little over 300 right now, and it's scary fast in a 2800 pound car that acts like a go-kart.

I ended up learning quite a bit about fuel-injection, turbos, etc on the build, even if I didn't plan on rebuilding it right after I got it. I'm going to dive into a small-block megasquirt project much more confidently thanks to basically doing the same thing to this 4 cylinder. And this from a guy that didn't hardly know what an injector looked like 8 months ago.

by **drewcrane** » 22 Oct 2010 1:06

COOL,
I have a client/buddie that has one , not as nice as yours ,

I do know he fried the brakes at the track,

and he did have alot of fun at the track with it :biggrin:

by **Moparman1972** » 22 Oct 2010 10:44

I'd love to take it to a road course. I took my red '84 NA to Limerock and it was a blast, even with a 150 something horsepower engine. I can't imagine how much fun a turbo would be.

First step would be to get different tires for the rear. I went a little wide and she rubs...255/55's :oops:

by **dave-r** » 22 Oct 2010 10:54

I like those much better than the usual rear engined Hitler Beetle car they make. :lol:

Porche people don't like this model so much. They don't rate them at all. But what the hell would they know if they think the way to get a car to handle is to hang the engine over the rear bumper. :s009:

by **Moparman1972** » 22 Oct 2010 13:04

This is probably the only Porsche model I'll ever own. Front engine, water-cooled....It's almost normal!

It sure makes me jealous hearing about 2 hour engine swaps in a 911 though....This car takes around 2-3 8 hour days due to the engine, torque tube, and transaxle all being one unit that has to go in at once.

by **dave-r** » 22 Oct 2010 13:28

It took me that long just to change the head gasket on the Neon I used to own.

I can do both heads on my Challenger in a day when I am feeling well.

by **Adrian Worman** » 22 Oct 2010 20:35

Nice car, always liked 924/944/964 and 928's and I never understood the appeal of any of the 911 variants

. My mate has a really nice 964 ClubSport prepped for track days, its awesome :mrgreen:

by **RedRaven** » 22 Oct 2010 20:41

dave-r wrote:I can do both heads on my Challenger in a day when I am feeling well.

Show off... :roll:

by **Moparman1972** » 02 Nov 2010 16:14

Well, that didn't take long. Hit a deer this morning at 40 mph. Good sized one, too.

If I didn't have my popup headlights up, it probably would have done close to zero damage. It stove the drivers side bucket into the fender, then ramped off the hood and windshield 15 feet into the air. I was very satisfied to see it land on its head.

I always joked around that if I hit a deer in one of these things, I'd go right under it. I was amazed that this actually was true.

Still, she's done for the year I think. :cry:

by **RedRaven** » 02 Nov 2010 16:20

Ouch..........for both of ya........

by **dave-r** » 02 Nov 2010 16:30

Well that spoiled your fun.

Your story reminds me of a guy that had a crash in his McLaren F1. He rear ended a woman in another car and went right under her.

by **Moparman1972** » 03 Nov 2010 20:37

I'm actually still driving it due to further transmission problems with my truck. I had to partially disassemble the drivers side headlight so I could raise and lower the passenger bucket only. The hood has no damage beyond paint. So just a driver's bucket, the metal valance between the lights, and some massaging of the driver's fender where the bucket stuffed it and I should be ok.

I guess I got lucky. I left 75 feet of skidmarks going uphill. Another 1000 feet down the road and I probably would have been doing closer to 80mph.

It certainly is heartbreaking, though. If the deer didn't die on impact, I would have chased it into the bushes with a screwdriver.

by **drewcrane** » 03 Nov 2010 22:49

DAM WHAT A BUMMER!,lucky no more damage than that ,

you just took its legs right out at the right angle to loft it over your car ,

must have been one hell of a site to see that :shock:

by **dave-r** » 04 Nov 2010 8:52

Hell yeah. The next time you do that me and Drew want to be sitting in deck chairs with chips and beers waiting to see it. :thumbsup:

by **Moparman1972** » 04 Nov 2010 11:02

If I wasn't so angry I probably would have been in tears laughing. I braked hard and a second later the deer came straight down out of the sky in front of me and slammed the ground.

by **RedRaven** » 04 Nov 2010 11:25

Moparman1972 wrote:If I wasn't so angry I probably would have been in tears laughing. I braked hard and a second later the deer came straight down out of the sky in front of me and slammed the ground.

Oh Deer............ :lol: