Purchased for the outrageous price of $1,380 USD - This has got to be the fastest car for the money spent! Many things did not work, when purchasing it. Those issues are listed below:
1) Inoperable sunroof, power mirrors, driver's window
2) Paint poorly matched in areas; bad damage repair performed
3) Windshield washer motor, fog lights not working
4) DME fuel relay malfunctioning
5) Oil, water, power steering leaks
6) Clutch return spring missing; pedal pressure spongy
7) Brake booster bad. Parking brake handle missing
8) Cruise control lever broke off and missing
9) Clock broken, dash and front seats need replacement
After spending almost $3k in restoration and replacement costs, the issues above were finally corrected.
Being 20-years old, this car held up very well, except for some aging electrical components and paint. The Turbo engine is really what amazes me the most. In 100% stock form- this car is STILL FASTER than *95% of production road cars sold today! Back in 1986, the 944 Turbo was State-Of-The-Art, dream material. I was just a foolish High School graduate then. I clearly remember first seeing this car, and it was love at first sight- until seeing that $49,000(circa,1986) STICKER!!
Almost 20 years pass, and when recently deciding what my "next" car should be..... again, I fondly remember the Porsche 944 Turbo. Between that time- I have owned many cars, including a 1986 Nissan 300ZX Turbo, a 1997 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX, and five BMW 3-series cars. I swear, I will never buy another FWD car again! The pushing power of RWD, and sensation of full boost at redline defies description, has been known to treat adult depression, and ALWAYS leaves a big smile on my face after driving it!
* I do not always drive this car fast. However, every now and then, I will not decline a challenge to play a little high-speed Cat-and-Mouse. Here are cars I have recently out-gunned:
-Acura. Smoked. Even the wonderful NSX.
-Audi. My car may have Audi parts- but the only car that can keep up with me is the razor-sharp RS4 Quattro.
-BMW. Not even the M3 can outgun the 951. The M5 is another story, though. Therefore, I get treated to "lunch" every now and then...
-Corvette. All except, highly-customized Callaway, Lingenfelter, factory Z06 and C5 versions.
-Camaro. This overweight Chevy thinks it is a Corvette. If the cops drive a Camaro- I will pull over without hesitation, though.
-Mustang. Even Cobra-powered cars have little chance. The only one I respect are the Highway Patrol Police Interceptors. They have no speed-limiters, and are all tuned by Jack Rousch Engineering.
-Honda. I dont know why so many Honda "riders" think their glass-packed, decal-infested Rice burners can humble the mighty 951. I just shamed a 2005 Prelude Si,(with sewage pipe exhaust) last night! The S2000 stays right alongside.....that is, until I downshift!
-Mitsubishi. The WRC Champion Lancer EVOII can keep up with me- but when I hit the "boost-afterburner" dial- he is gone....way behind me! The 1991-1999 3000GT/VR4 is just another dot on my rear view.
-Lexus. Altezza/IS300 cars rarely challenge me. It may also have to do with respect.
-Nissan. I have closely beat two 350Z's. The 300ZX Twin-Turbo has too much weight and lag, to pull past me. Silvia/Skyline drivers should realize their car it still a 240SX.
-Mazda. A heavily modified RX-7 Twin-Turbo can smoke me on the launch, but if there is enough road left- I will reach the end of it first.
-Ferrari. Honestly, the ONLY Ferraris I have outgunned are the Testarossa, and 308GTB. Having eight more cylinders than I do is makes me feel like that skinny wimp losing his woman to a musclebound beefcake, on the beach!
-Mercedes-Benz. I repeat, I cannot outgun their latest V8 cars. Everything else is trivial....maybe except their wonderful, Porsche-tuned 500E sedan.
-Subaru. I have placed WRX Outback Wagons where they belong...out back. The WRX STi is a car I can respect. I have yet to beat the deep-chested, ultra-light STi cars. They should thank Porsche for helping them develop their flat-four boxer engine, though.
-Toyota. All, except the late Supra TTs. Come on- we're talking about 400-1000bhp(Supra) vs. my stock 220bhp. When I finally decide to modify my car, then maybe the story will be different.
"The Porsche 944 Turbo. Nothing even comes CLOSE..."
Attention Porsche 944 N/A owners:
-Before upgrading your car- upgrade the driver first. Before you start drifting, try to understand WHY your car can drift. It makes things safer too. I am competitive, because I can drive in any adverse condition, with all my car-control techniques down to a science(Thanx to Skip Barber!).
-Don't test drive a 944 Turbo(951) until you are ready to trade-in that 944 N/A of yours.
-The BEST upgrade for a Porsche 944? Buy a 944 Turbo- Plain and Simple. Adding a turbo is only opening an expensive can of worms!:
:This is an original Porsche auto magazine advertisement, circa 1986. As you can see- Porsche does not believe in doing ANYTHING in half-measures! Above are ALL the necessary components required, to constitute a 100% true turbocharged automobile, according to Porsche.
:After one year of ownership, I decided to clear-up all the bad touch-up attempts, by respraying the whole front end of all the stone chips, bug splatter, and baked-on road tar, with a store-bought, rattle spray can(much elbow grease necessary)! The just-waxed and buffed result is shown:
:Frontal view of the nose...
:"...This is NO ORDINARY Porsche 944" How often do you get passed by a car with these five letters? Despite Porsche producing over 100,000 924 and 944 models, the 944 Turbo is still rarely seen on roads, today.
:For some reason- I like the early, 16" factory Phone Dial Alloys. Because I like the deep, 23mm offset. Plus, I dont like the tacked-on door guards, and ABS either. 1986 was the only model year the lightest factory 951 was produced. Not even the beefier, 1988 Turbo Cup-spec, M030 "S" models are lighter.
:On a recent 450-mile drive to Southern California, the Porsche was trailing behind a slow, dual-trailer 16-wheeler on a stretch of Interstate 5. Everybody was growing tired of the trucker's refusal to pull over leading this 65mph wagon train. Feathering the throttle until reaching 4800RPMs, I mashed the shifter into third. Full boost hit like a slingshot, as warp drive made me grip the wheel tighter. Fast approaching was a Honda S2000, seen when invading the incoming lane to overtake the car before me. Instead- I took the suicidal risk of passing all SEVEN VEHICLES before me, reaching 145mph, narrowly missing the incoming Honda by only a few yards(Yes, I have a 180MPH speedometer!)
:For being a stock 944 Turbo- Porsche has produced an all-Aluminum, brute of a powerplant. Don't be surprised to see heavily-modified engines pushing upwards of 700bhp, using the same stock crankshaft! Bore and stroke increases can bring the standard 2.5L inline four-cylinder motor up to 3.0 liters.
I Rebuild All 944 Engines:
:After the aluminum block and intake is entirely shot-peened, The head and cam housing is powder-coated for a beautiful, showcar look. I replace every screw, bolt and washer with OEM Cadmium-plated ones. Original head studs are replaced with new forged Raceware Diluvar studs
:Ancillaries on a rebuilt engine are all new; water pump, heat exchanger, timing and balance shaft belts, rollers, and all gaskets. The wiring harness, and every critical engine, and cooling sensor gets replaced too
:Much detail goes into every 944 engine rebuilt. Hard-to-source engine stickers are even replaced. I steel-braid every hose and vacuum line, subject to the intense heat these engines can generate. A friend has almost 300,000 miles on an engine I first rebuilt ten years ago!
:If done right, steel-braided hosing should last the entire life of the car. I take the trouble to do it only because I honor a one-year warranty, for each full engine rebuild. So far, after 150 rebuilds- no rebuilt motor has ever returned yet.
:Here is a close-up of the bead-blasted, powder coated cam tower housing. The camshaft itself even gets re-machined, to spec. The black background under the "PORSCHE" script, is baked enamel. The raised lettering is rough-sanded and polished to a chrome-like finish
:The finished product; a "new" 944n/a engine, ready to be installed back to its' owners car. (There is absolutely no further description for the low-purring, velvet-smooth operation of a brand-new Porsche 944 engine!)
Recent Modifications:
:I cut out the original intake snorkel, to draw more air. The finished product looks identical to the 375hp 968 Turbo RS intake. Additionally- this piece was flow tested, registering a 10% CFM gain. The sound is fantastic- with a purring, low-pitched, throaty exhaust note now. More power can be achieved when I place a NACA duct above this part, to allow only COLD AIR! I'll post pix when this is finally done
:Here's a view of my cut from the snorkel opening...
:My shift boot was shot- so instead of paying $50 for another one, I made my own. I guess I'm glad mom showed me how to sew...
:One thing I dislike about this car, is the location of the cigarette lighter/cellphone charger. It's too far to reach. The previous owner smoked- and often missed the lighter socket, burning the dash panel with semi-circles! After I replaced the panel- I needed to reach the cellphone charger, while keeping my eyes on the road. The existing lighting inside 944 models is weak- so I modified the socket, illuminating the ring opening with a fiber-optic one, found on all VW and Audi cars. A simple job, the result is left:
:Another high-speed problem of this car is that the wiper blades tend to dance on the windshield above speeds of 100mph. I got this idea from the Euro-spec Turbo Cup cars, and simply riveted a winglet on my wiper arm...works too!:
:While snapping pix of my car last summer, I took a shot of my favorite part of this car- the "hips", or the blistered wheelarches the 944 is known for. The ghostly image seen inside, is nothing but a trick of the sunlight, and the way some miscellaneous items were sitting inside my car; i.e: papers, and a new timing belt!
Thanx for visiting my website. I will be constantly updating it, when I get the time to do it. For an "old" car, I find that I need to do something to it every weekend. Call her a "maintenance whore"....but I enjoy pampering this piece of German excellence. Porsche truly makes cars that last- and this model actually saved the company from going belly-up!
-ZA
:Check back periodically, for updates!
