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944 as a track car?

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Hi, I'm looking for something to replace my Golf GTi trackcar with and I'm taken with the idea of a 944 S2. I have a budget of £4k to buy the car. Obviously with it being a track car bodywork is not a prime consideration although mechanicals are.

I've seen a few around for this price with approx 100-130k on them.

What advice can people give me?

Thanks,
 
You'll find the evo forum your best source of all car-related information.

If you can't find that [;)] then...... yes £4k will get you a higher-milage "less clean" car.

You need to look out for a few things like
- timing chain & tensioner (not just timing belt)
- callipers (suffer from plate lift etc)
- clutch (£600+ to replace)

Plently of upgrades available for a track toy. [:)]

don't have time for a full response at the mo, but someone will be along to help you soon (that's your cue Fen)
 
At that budget you are looking towards the bottom of the pile for an S2. You need to find a very scruffy example that has been maintained fastidiously (but never ever cleaned and polished and perhaps has rusty panels).

You may be lucky but I would suggest that a car like that will have a poor history of maintenance also, so I would budget to spend over £1k immediately bringing the brakes, suspension and basic servicing (belts and chains) back up to par.

An S2 is officially 1320kg and you can easily unbolt nearly 100 kg by removing the electric seats, rear seats, spare wheel, jack,carpets etc.
 
I did the same thing... my original £4k soon turned into £[:(]K !!!

you could be looking at.... all or any off the following...

Engine Rebuild
Full M030 - ARB's, New 968 Rears and rebuilt 944 front shocks, Brakes
Turbo Gearbox with LSD
Full Cage
Carbon Fibre Seats
Harnesses
Spare Wheels and sticky tyres

plus all of the usual service items that you'll need to deal with along the way..

 
ORIGINAL: mik_ok

don't have time for a full response at the mo, but someone will be along to help you soon (that's your cue Fen)
[FONT=verdana,geneva"] [FONT=verdana,geneva"]Sorry, out on the razz last night. Paying for it now so I'll respond later.[FONT=verdana,geneva"]
 
ORIGINAL: Fen
Sorry, out on the razz last night. Paying for it now so I'll respond later.[FONT=verdana,geneva"]

Shame on you. [;)]

I don't care though as I'm just heading off for Knockhill to spank a 1200cc bike-engined Legend ( CLICK ) around for the afternoon [:D] BYEEE!
 
ORIGINAL: mik_ok

ORIGINAL: Fen
Sorry, out on the razz last night. Paying for it now so I'll respond later.[FONT=verdana,geneva"]

Shame on you. [;)]

I don't care though as I'm just heading off for Knockhill to spank a 1200cc bike-engined Legend ( CLICK ) around for the afternoon [:D] BYEEE![FONT=verdana,geneva"] [FONT=verdana,geneva"] [FONT=verdana,geneva"]
That doesn't look like it would be any fun at all...[FONT=verdana,geneva"] [FONT=verdana,geneva"] [FONT=verdana,geneva"]
[FONT=verdana,geneva"]
 

ORIGINAL: Fen
That doesn't look like it would be any fun at all...

Well another 100 laps wouldn't have gone amiss. [:eek:] Great fun - damp track too (without being wet) so just on the fun side of slippy. [8D] Had a corking drive up there too [:D]
 
OK, as people have said £4k will buy you a cheap S2 and it will very likely be cheap for a reason, though you might be lucky. As has been said on here many times before the cams and chain are the S2's Achilles heel in that they may be in need of replacement and will cost well into 4 figures if they do. The tensioner isn't too expensive if that's all you need and the chain alone is not frightening, but I think it's a false economy to replace a worn chain without replacing the sprockets it runs on. Search and you will find lots of buying guide info on all models.[FONT=verdana,geneva"] [FONT=verdana,geneva"]You're going to struggle to get a late Turbo in any sort of shape for £4k as well, but if you do it will be a better starting point in my opinion. The reason I say that is that on track the revs are never low enough to be beneath the range the turbo is blowing at and you get bigger brakes, LSD, stronger drive shafts and gears etc. etc. Turbo's unique problems are with the wastegate which will be weak or maybe even cracked, but being 8 valve they have no timing chain. As a plus you can replace it for not too much money and get more power. Turbos are very tunable whereas the NA enignes are much more limited. Another way of saying that is it can be much more expensive to have a Turbo engine than an NA of course.[FONT=verdana,geneva"] [FONT=verdana,geneva"]If £4k is the purchase budget and you then have preparation budget then you might have a shout, especially if you consider fixing any minor niggles as preparation. I'd say it's best to assume £1k to sort a car out when you buy it in any case even for the road. For preparation consider this: I have spent (parts only) around £2,300 on suspension, £910 on wheels and tyres (that's 1 set), £1,700 on brakes (could be done cheaper I guess), £600 on seats, £250 on harnesses etc. Including a full rebuild of my late Turbo's engine I reckon parts alone total £17k+ with maybe half of that being engine rebuild and upgrade parts. I have probably recovered something around £2k in parts I have removed with loads more in the garage to sell still.[FONT=verdana,geneva"] [FONT=verdana,geneva"]Clearly you don't need to do all that but not much is cheap for Porsches and the sort of S2 or Turbo you could get for £4k is very unlikely to be much fun to drive on track as bought. If you find a box-fresh one it might be OK, but then again if you have a dedicated track-prepared Golf then even a brand new 944 would feel soft in comparison, so maybe you will need to do the coilovers/bushes/Rose joints/ARBs and even an S2's standard brakes are probably borderline for track; those on a lesser model (S or Lux) certainly would benefit from an upgrade.[FONT=verdana,geneva"] [FONT=verdana,geneva"]Overall they make a good track car but they don't make a cheap track car. If you really have £4k to spend then what about a 924? You could get a race-prepared one from the Lodge championship for your budget.[FONT=verdana,geneva"]
 
ORIGINAL: mik_ok
Well another 100 laps wouldn't have gone amiss. [:eek:] Great fun - damp track too (without being wet) so just on the fun side of slippy. [8D] Had a corking drive up there too [:D]
[FONT=verdana,geneva"] [FONT=verdana,geneva"]Hmm, quite jealous. I'd love a go in something like that and I still have a soft spot for KH.[FONT=verdana,geneva"]
 
The pic Steve PH posted on the harnesses thread prompted me to look and there are 2 race prepared 924s on Pistonheads just now, one at £2,650 and one at £4,500 or so.
 

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