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Howdy all, I just took possession of this beautiful 1989 944 Turbo as the first step in moving out of Class 11 off road racing and going to pavement open track days for fun. I bought this car from a friend and here is a list of the equipment it has:
2.5L engine 67K miles with Lindsey Racing solid lifters
Head modified with Lindsey racing rear coolant bleed
Head recently milled and reinstalled with a Cometic head gasket, new timing and balance belts
Maxx Hp ECM chip - slightly rich at idle (I live at 7400 ft elevation)
Fully adjustable fuel pressure regulator
Fab Speed exhaust with no cat
Lindsey dual port wastegate with manual adjuster
Lindsey intercooler & all metal radiator with the largest oil cooler available
Renline adjustable throttle pedal
New engine mounts and strut brace
Original turbo (26/8 I think)
Baffled oil pan
Suspension: Front Charlie arms with replaceable ball joints, front has 450lb springs, rear is 350lb.
Wheels:16x7 front 16x 9 rear
Leda shocks with reservoirs and 24 position adjustment
Bray Crouse M030 front sway bar
Lindsey semi-solid trans mounts
Newly rebuilt power steering rack
Sparco sport seats with 5 point harnesses
Brake calipers have easy bleed bleeders - Are they ok to leave installed?
I have the air box intake snorkel that is missing in the engine picture...is it better to have it installed or not?
I'm not looking to try to be the fastest car on the track, just looking to have a dependable repeatable open track day fun car. Any advice is welcome as I am new to this car. I plan on running it on local tracks like High Plains Raceway.
looks nice! I suggest a half cage if you are going to run harnesses...that way your head is not holding up the car if it rolls
do you mean speed bleeders? which have a check valve so air does not go in when bleeding? I can't see any reason to not use these or leave them on.
what brake pads are you running?
Yes, they are speed bleeders, just didn't know if it is ok to leave them in place. The car has a cross bar behind the seats for the harnesses, but I don't want to cut up the nice interior to install a cage. Coming from off-road full caged cars, I don't think I'll be driving it hard enough to warrant a cage. You know...safety third! But I would put a cage in if I could just remove some of the interior pieces to keep them in original condition. I'll look to see what is available, or can make one from scratch.
The car came with a variety of brake pads for the track, There is a brand new set of Hawk HP Plus and Blue 9012 pads waiting to go on. Right now it has street pads because it used to have a license plate, but I'm not going to register it so it can stay set up for the track.
cool. fyi there are half cages for our cars that do not need the interior to be cut up just the carpet. if possible I suggest registering it so you can drive it around and to the track, unless your local region requires you to put it back to stock for street. is there brake cooling ducts on your car? brake cooling is essential in these cars especially if running stock calipers.
Yes, it has larger brake ducts that I think he said came from a 928. I have a race trailer to haul it to the track, there aren't any safety inspections in the wild state of WY but I don't need the temptation of having it on the road.
What are your recommendations for track only tires, my car will be a trailer queen. Yours looks just as nice.
You don't want to go crazy on the sticky rubber until you've done some oiling mods. Avoid spinning a bearing. Make sure to use a suitable oil for the track. 20/50 or 25/60 with over 1000ppm of Zinc. Valvoline makes a good oil for these cars. Don't be mislead into going for a light weight synthetic oil.
Depending on your budget you might look at upgrading the turbo and control system. Vitesse Racing make a good package. Not the cheapest but works out of the box and proven by a lot of happy customers.
The thing that I noticed right off the bat was the disparity in wheel sizes----16x7 front wheels is just asking for terminal understeer and overheating of the front tires. A square tire setup will do wonders for a track-only car! Plus tires can easily be rotated and flipped and installed on any corner. It would be difficult to find another pair of 16x9 Clubsport wheels, might need to switch to something more readily available as a set of 4.
If the existing tires are good (as in recent dates and not too many heat cycles, do NOT do a track event on super old tires), you could run the car as-is to see how it feels, but I would still strongly recommend a square setup. I remember a recent debate on this forum where someone was arguing that if the factory had done a staggered setup, that must be the best way . . . . yes, maybe a for a street-only car to provide safe understeer at the limit for inexperienced drivers, but not for a track-only front-engine car with 50/50 weight distribution and not an excessive amount of power/torque, and a LSD transaxle!
The thing that I noticed right off the bat was the disparity in wheel sizes----16x7 front wheels is just asking for terminal understeer and overheating of the front tires. A square tire setup will do wonders for a track-only car! Plus tires can easily be rotated and flipped and installed on any corner. It would be difficult to find another pair of 16x9 Clubsport wheels, might need to switch to something more readily available as a set of 4.
If the existing tires are good (as in recent dates and not too many heat cycles, do NOT do a track event on super old tires), you could run the car as-is to see how it feels, but I would still strongly recommend a square setup. I remember a recent debate on this forum where someone was arguing that if the factory had done a staggered setup, that must be the best way . . . . yes, maybe a for a street-only car to provide safe understeer at the limit for inexperienced drivers, but not for a track-only front-engine car with 50/50 weight distribution and not an excessive amount of power/torque, and a LSD transaxle!
Yes, I'll 2nd that for sure. Best setup I had when it was still in street / track form was 18" x 10" with 275's Nittos on all corners. But that was with a ton of other mods too. All rubber bushings replaced with Racer's Edge / Elephant racing upgrades. Bigger anti roll bars. KW race suspension. Definitely look to get a square setup though.
That is interesting advice on the wheels. I am going to be picking up the track wheels from the previous owner, possibly this weekend. He had advised that he would use 245 series on the front because of how the car handled with one size bigger that he currently had installed. Are yall talking about moving the fronts up to match the wider 16x9 rears, or matching the rears to the front 16x7's? Or does a modern 18" wheel fit?
This car does have the bigger sway bars and solid rear bushings. Will the baffled oil pan be sufficient or is it advisable to install a dry sump system?
Why use a multi-weight oil for a single temperature purpose? I will probably be using a fully synthetic 30W oil with phosphorus and zinc since I don't see a need for multi-viscosity oil. The engine will be fully warmed up before being loaded.
That is interesting advice on the wheels. I am going to be picking up the track wheels from the previous owner, possibly this weekend. He had advised that he would use 245 series on the front because of how the car handled with one size bigger that he currently had installed. Are yall talking about moving the fronts up to match the wider 16x9 rears, or matching the rears to the front 16x7's? Or does a modern 18" wheel fit?
This car does have the bigger sway bars and solid rear bushings. Will the baffled oil pan be sufficient or is it advisable to install a dry sump system?
Why use a multi-weight oil for a single temperature purpose? I will probably be using a fully synthetic 30W oil with phosphorus and zinc since I don't see a need for multi-viscosity oil. The engine will be fully warmed up before being loaded.
NO on the 30W oil, see Patrick's post above! Not only are the 944 bearing clearances suited to 50-weight oil in warm climates (see the original service manual), but you need as much viscosity as you can get for higher oil temps due to the 944's inherent weakness in oiling to the connecting rod bearings, especially #2. 20W-50 or 10W-60 racing oil. Valvoline VR1 20w-50 is good and readily available, or whatever boutique racing-type suits you.
As for wheel and tire width, 7" is too narrow, 8" OK, 9" better. There are many threads on this forum about wheel fitment, offset, etc. Use Google to search this forum. The exact wheel size should ultimately be dictated by tire availability.
11-07-2023, 07:19 PM
New to me 1989 944 Turbo street/track modified
