1985 2.5 lux

[jemstone29@hotmail.c]

Hi All,

First Post , have had the 944 for a few weeks now and am mightly impressed with the handling compared to the TVRs and Triumphs I have had in the past, although if only they had put a V8 in the 944 (928 is too much of a tourer for me).

Anyway I have been reading up on getting a few more Gee Gee's out of the 2.5 engine and from what I understand Porsche did a great job on extracting all of the power as standard so any upgrades would be minimal.

So I am lookin at the usual suspects , filter , induction kit, ecu chip and maybe sports exhaust at some point.

Please forgive me if these questions have been raised before, I have spent quite some time going through previos posts but there are a wealth of information in them. My questions are :

For the price variance between a K & N filter and induction kit what is going to be best value for performance, head says a K & N filter would be the optimum cost to performance upgrade ?

My 2.5 lux is a square dash and I have read (think promax) that early 1985 cars and before can't be chipped. Is this true or does anyone know of an alternate credible and proven chip provider ? My car was registered in Feb 1985

Many Thanks

Jeremy

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Hi Jeremy, You're right that there's not a lot you can do to gain significant power increases other than buy a Turbo. That's a whole load more money and a very different car. I'd suggest forgetting trying to get a few cheap horses, and work on actually improving the car so it's closer to the near-perfect car Porsche designed. Check all the service items, many 944s are running on very poor ignition parts for instance. Get the suspension and brakes sorted, and a decent alignment. Lighten it if you are happy to lose some comforts, and enjoy it as a well-balanced car that doesn't need to be driven at license-losing speeds in order to enjoy it. Get a fast-response throttle cam though, it's regularly discussed here and a genuine improvement for very little cost.

 

[Copperman05]

I have the k&n filter seems to work well, you may get issues with air flow (cold) with induction kit that tend to sit inside engine bay rather than stock placement. Apparently early 944's ecu is soldered into place and therefore not removable, although someone may have found a way round this? Edd

 

[Hairyarse]

Welcome Jeremy I agree with Paul. Get it sorted and you'll not need anything more (says the man who's currently selling his square dash to buy a turbo!) On the twisty stuff it's a great car and the way it winds up to the red line is intoxicating even if it isn't the quickest car around. Enjoy [] Cheers Andy

 

[Mike_Pollock]

Hi and welcome As the guys have said FULL service and set the geo and its a great car! Very surprised that they haven't demanded pictures yet - we always want pictures! []

 

[andy watson]

Hi Jeremy, welcome to the 944 world Spend your money on getting her pristine and changing all those 20 year old plus worn out bits and bobs the 44, as the guys have said is good in it's standard format Andy at Promax is extremely helpful give him and he will let you know how if poss to add any bhp, the smiles per mile will come from the old girl herself though. Enjoy and were are those PICTURES!!! [][]

 

[Lowtimer]

Hello and welcome. Whereabouts are you? There are many of us in all parts of the UK and quite a few from outside the UK also posting on here: it is a broad community and you are likely to find some fellow enthusiasts nearby. Paul said:

I'd suggest forgetting trying to get a few cheap horses, and work on actually improving the car so it's closer to the near-perfect car Porsche designed. Check all the service items, many 944s are running on very poor ignition parts for instance. Get the suspension and brakes sorted, and a decent alignment. Lighten it if you are happy to lose some comforts, and enjoy it as a well-balanced car that doesn't need to be driven at license-losing speeds in order to enjoy it.

For an early Lux, I cannot put it any better than Paul has already said it. You won't find any significant level of cheap additional power over and above the factory numbers. What may well made a big difference is spending some money on getting it from wherever it actually is, back up to the factory numbers. Even if it drives smoothly and sounds healthy, it may be quite a bit below optimum performance, and often in such cases it is quite easy to win back the missing horses. So think in terms of renewal of worn and aged components, and good setting-up, especially of ignition and suspension components, rather than replacing things with aftermarket stuff, if you want value for money and a car that puts a smile on your face. Then if you still want a bit more performance, the lightening route is by far the most cost-effective way of improving the whole performance envelope - acceleration, braking and cornering. All of which merely repeats what Paul said, so one thing I might add is this: If you are an experienced hand with old cars then you will know this already, but have a look at the calendar age of your tyres. Whatever make they are, and whatever their tread depth, if they are more than about five or six years old they will have hardened off and be well past their best in terms of ride, handling and road noise. You are better off with new mid-range tyres (e.g. Falken 452) than decade-old premium rubber. Oh, and I forgot to say it is well known on this forum that the performance of a car varies enormously with its colour. But for some reason there remains considerable controversy about which colours have which performance characteristics

 

[jemstone29@hotmail.c]

Thanks Guys, great advice and confirms my thoughts, so will get the fast road cam and a K & N filter then spend my time tinkering / replacing what I have as suggested. Drove the 944 into Cheltenham this morning from Witney (near Oxford) and the sun was shining (inbetween the fog) and all is great ! The little rasp of the exhaust when you change up on a hard acceleration is very addictive. Will get photo's up shortly but have the fastest Colour being Red Thanks all once again Jeremy

 

[Fat Albert]

I think Lowtimer is having a senior Moment as he is quoting Paul as Me, with my Flyer Forum Monicker! I would agree with everything said, I discovered that I was running 10 year old Pirelli P6000s on mine, one of them had done over 50,000 miles! A couple of quick and easy ways to make the car so much sharper: Bushes: ARB, castor, etc £50 and an hour or so's work can make the car feel so much tighter with much sharper turn-in and bite Gear Lever: If your gear change is a bit sloppy then a new Gear lever and bearing cup (£39 from Porsche and 30 mins to fit) should reduce at least 50-75% of the slop Ignition: They can be a bit sensitive to worn dizzy cap/rotor arm/ignition leads/sparkers, so replacing those can just give it back some zing DME Relay: spend £17, swap it out and keep the old one as a spare in your glovebox Tyre Pressures: They are very sensitive to tyre pressures, so when you have sorted your rubber then don't be afraid to play around to get the best feel for you Other than that - enjoy! oh, and Pics please!!!

 

[Lowtimer]

ORIGINAL: Fat Albert I think Lowtimer is having a senior Moment as he is quoting Paul as Me, with my Flyer Forum Monicker!

Duh. Brain fade... I've changed it now. Too many fora going on at once in my mind. So, to the original poster: Fast road cam. Why, and with what aims? I very much doubt you will increase the overall performance of the car by changing the cam profile - all you can really do that way, unless you are going to significantly increase the maximum RPM, is move the available power round a bit, and even if you do can it be custom remapped to change the fuelling and timing curves to suit it? (If I understand the point about early cars not being chippable, does that mean they can't be custom remapped?) It is possibly worth studying the history of the original 2.5 litre 16v 944S, which had a nominal 190 bhp right at the top end, but which sacrificed performance at the bottom and in the midrange, with the result that the actual road test results achieved by Autocar and Motor showed it to be no quicker than a Lux.

 

[jemstone29@hotmail.c]

Cheers Guys, thanks for the further comments and pics will follow over the weekend. Jeremy, can I ask with relation to the CDME Relay what advantages does this give, sorry if I am being a numpty by mechanics I am fine with electrickery is sometimes like a black art !! Thanks

 

[Fat Albert]

The DME relay is a regular cause of ignition issues due to dry solder joints and general unreliability The general advice is to buy a new one and stick it in the glovebox in case you break down....my view is to put the new one on (and it made mine run slightly better) and stick the old one in the Glovebox just in case

 

[jemstone29@hotmail.c]

HI All, Just a bit of an update, I fitted the fast road cam today and in my humble opinion (and is down to personal taste) it has made a great difference in that it gives a greater connection with the right foot in that as soon as you apply the slightest pressure the engine responds, no sense of lag or delayed response required and having to be heavy footed ! Just wanted to post incase it offers anybody else a bit of assistance. Next steps are K & N and bushes for anti roll bar Whilst on the subject is there a preferred provider for bushes for the ARB ? Pics will be posted of the car once the sun comes ou again Cheers

 

[Mike_Pollock]

By "fast road cam" do you mean "throttle response cam" replacing the lever cam on the throttle body? If so it, its the best £20 you can spend on a 2.5 (or 2.7). Transforms the feel tremendously. If not, did you change the belts at the same time?