What mods can I add to my porsche 944 turbo to add as much power and handling as possible for a low budget?

Question

Everybody says that the 944 turbo has the potential of being blindingly fast if modded. What are the best performance for the money mods I can add for a budget of around $1500? I hear that the 944 turbo has all this potential because it was a race car: so what was the difference between the race car and the street car in terms of engine mods? How can I put it in "race tune"?

Answer 1

The 951 is a fantastic platform for building a fast, track oriented car. But there are a few issues that should be mentioned in relation to this.

First, the things that do the most to make any car faster, often only do so in the hands of a skilled driver. So while countless dollars can be spent making improvements, the single biggest improvement you can make with any car will be to upgrade the driver (back to this in a moment).

Second, any upgrade is a trade-off. Improving the car's ability to corner will reduce it's comfort. Improving the engine's ability to produce power will reduce gas milage and/or engine life. Even after paying for the upgrade, nothing is free.

Lastly: BUDGET! $1500 is not an adequate budget to do much. While my track car is not a 944, many of the upgrades I have on my track car would be of similar price, and $1500 is very close to what I spend on a set of tires (which will last a couple months). Likewise, it would be enough to address an upgrade of part of either my front or rear suspension. Or, if aimed straight at the engine, where it would do the least good in helping me go faster, it would help work out another 5-10hp (though with the turbo, you will find more available power for the money).

With that said, as I first mentioned, the biggest upgrade you can make would be to your own driving skills. The fact is, outside of a very small select group of people in the world, the driver is always the limiting factor in how fast a car goes. A good driver in an average car will always be better than an average driver in a good car. And until you know how to drive a car to maximize it's potential, you'll only be getting a small portion of the possible upgrades you make elsewhere.

But, if you want... the next biggest upgrade would be tires. This is also one of the most overlooked upgrades, but no other part of the equation effects everything as much as tires. A good set of performance tires will help in every aspect of performance.

Next, getting the car properly setup! A good alignment to help get the car into a neutral handling stance and a good corner balancing would take a little less than a third of your budget, and it would improve most aspects of the car (though you will need the skill to actually be able to push the car towards it's limits to take advantage of this).

Next up, suspension generally will offer the next biggest bang for the buck... a good set of adjustable AntiRoll bars will help with weight transfer and greatly improve the car's turn-in and exit. Likewise, a new set of springs and dampers can greatly improve the car's capabilities.

These items, and safety equipment, make up the main differences between a street 951 and a race 951. While engine mods can be numerous, the fact is that improving the car's ability to carry speed in a corner will do more for a laptime than adding even 75hp (and it will be less costly). Also, going for lightweight parts and stripping unneeded items (weight reduction is just as good as adding power... especially with items like wheels, where you are reducing unsprung rotating mass).

Of course some engine tuning is generally carried out for racing, but generally not of an extreme variety, since reliability can be much more important than absolute power output (driving half the race in first and then retiring with a failure is just a DNF). For the turbo, anything that helps the engine breath better, and some different DME mappings to take advantage of those changes should find a good chunk of extra power without costing too much in terms of engine life and reliability.

Answer 2

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RE:
What mods can I add to my porsche 944 turbo to add as much power and handling as possible for a low budget?
Everybody says that the 944 turbo has the potential of being blindingly fast if modded. What are the best performance for the money mods I can add for a budget of around $1500? I hear that the 944 turbo has all this potential because it was a race car: so what was the difference between the race...

Answer 3

Porsche 944 Mods

Answer 4

You can't get much for $1,500. That's chump change when modifying a 944 Turbo. Probably the most bang for your buck would be a really good exhaust system but don't expect more than 12-15 HP out of that.

To get real power you'd need a bigger turbo, internal engine work, etc., none of which is in your budget.

Besides, it's always best to work on suspension and brakes BEFORE you make a car faster.

Answer 5

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5 years ago I paid $7,500 for a 944 Turbo with excellent mechanicals. Since then, I have spent over $15,000 in _maintenance_ alone. Not emergency repairs, not fixing things that broke, not repairing bodywork, not insurance, just routine maintenance. If I factor in insurance, I have easily spent over $20,000 on the car in the last 5 years, _not including_ the $7,500 I spent to buy it in the first place. Previous owners kept all the receipts and so do I; I have a 3" binder filled to overflowing with maintenance records for the car. It's the single thickest book I own. Just so you know what you're getting into. Granted, over the 5 years and change that I've owned the car, all that money comes out to only around $450/month (including insurance and purchase price), which isn't all that different from what payments would be for someone who was financing a similarly high-end modern sportscar, but your average 16 year old can't afford to buy one of those either. What I've written for the standard 944 in other questions applies to the 944 turbo as well (except that all labor times for the turbo are higher as the parts are often more difficult to reach since the engine bay is crammed full of turbo plumbing). Some common problem areas: DME Relay: This is the main relay that provides power to the ECU and the EFI system. If it goes bad, the car will not start or run. This is a relatively inexpensive part (~$50 US) and it is easily replaced. Many 944 owners (myself included) carry a spare relay in the glove compartment just in case. I have never needed to use mine, but it's a good idea to have it. Clutch: Changing the clutch on a 944 Turbo is a significant job; the shop time for a 944 Turbo clutch change is around 24 hours. You will want to have it done by a shop that knows 944s; you cannot just take it to the neighborhood Jiffy Lube. Timing Belt: The engine is an interference design. This means that if the timing belt breaks the pistons _will_ hit the valves and you will need to rebuild the heads. Allowing the timing belt to break is a $2,000 mistake in most cases. The timing belt interval is that it must be changed every 30,000 miles (50,000 km) or every 3 years, whichever comes FIRST. Even if you only put 500 miles on the car in three years, you will still need to change the belts again. The timing belt is also manually tensioned, so you will need to re-tension the timing belt 1,500 miles (2,500 km) after replacing it to account for the initial stretch as well as again 15,000 miles (25,000 km) later to ensure that it is maintaining proper tension. If the car does not have proof that the belts have been changed, you should _NOT_ start it but should have it towed to a mechanic's to have the belts changed immediately upon purchase. As with the clutch, this typically requires a dedicated Porsche mechanic, preferably one that works on a lot of 944s, you should not just take it to the local mechanic. Water Pump: The water pump is driven off of the back side of the timing belt. If the water pump seizes, it will take out the timing belt (see above for why this is a Very Bad Thing). The water pump needs to be replaced with every other timing belt change (every 60,000 miles or 100,000 km). Those are the biggies. Other things to know: 944s came from the factory fully galvanized. They do not rust. Any rust on the car is a strong indicator of accident damage and later repair. Interior pieces are getting harder to find and can be expensive in some cases. The air conditioning was not particularly powerful to begin with and has often been allowed to fail without repair. Proper repair can be over $2,000 (US) to bring back the A/C. The 944 can be a reliable car, but it demands maintenance and that maintenance must be on-time and must use quality (read: expensive) parts. A 944 as a first car is a recipe for someone to end up spending all their money on the car and never being able to afford anything else. At 16, a 944 Turbo is not the greatest idea in the world, no car its age is. It will have little problems (like aging seals causing leaks when it rains, or rattles from things being loose, or a fuel gauge that doesn't always work) and it will have big problems (leaky steering racks, etc) simply because it's old, even with relatively low mileage. It's really not a good option for a first car because you'll end up either spending every last penny you have on it, or you'll end up with the car deteriorating around you because you can't afford to fix it.

Answer 6

Chips are the cheapest bang for the buck and well under $1500. They ll add ~ 50 hp. Give the guy a break!!! You know what they say about Porsches and Porcupines.......don t be one of the douche bags that give the rest of the Porsche Drivers and racers a bad rep.

Answer 7

You drive a Porsche...and you want to rice it out for cheap like a Civic???? I would just keep it stock.