DS Automotives Rolling Road Day (Aylesbury) Update

[Porka944s]

Right as promised a quick update as promised,

Spoke to David, he said they do loads of rolling road days for clubs. He said if i can get 15 bods we can get it for £40 each. On booking 50% is required and the rest is payable on the day. Their kit is Dyno Dynamics so it qualifies for this league table i hear about, not that i will be posting my figures. Nice place there, cafe still over the road and i think it could be fun.

Sad news is the best he could read was 171.9, on paper it should be 190bhp, but i appreciate that 96k does this to an engine. it leaves me in a quandry. I hate to be as shallow as to love big bhp figures but im drawn to it. Will i ever find it with my car? probably not, but it'd be nice to see 200bhp one day. I question why i care so much as i still find it fast when i drive it and never really find it lacking, but i still crave the mentalist factor of any turbo ( i had a 215bhp Rover once and it was a missile). Thing is bits are breaking at an alarming rate lately and im spending any way, i sometime think i wouldn't mind so much if it was going somewhere (ie turbos arent getting cheaper with 10k a going rate for a good one, but mine will only ever be £3k). I keep thinking about turbos but sad truth is id have to get a good price for mine then find a few grand. Cheap good ones are rare. Or to save wasting my investment i have made already shall i aim for 200bhp, refreshed suspension, and learn to drive it properly and opt out of the 'i want' culture. It will probably be the extra 3k i need for a turbo but over time it would be fun and more do-able, plus id need to spend on a turbo op top of that.

Anyway i saw their 500bhp Nissan 350Z drool worthy if you like a bit of jap metal.

An to make it worse i have now snapped the lid off of the casette box top!

Still, to make it all better im going outside now, to give it a wash, vac, polish, fit new speakers, try fix the stuck head lights, stick on the new stone guards and try look on the bright side and love it again.

Any comments welcome as im confused

Mark

 

[DivineE]

Steps to improving your life:

1. Arrange the dyno day
2. Go out in a chipped turbo that's running well (anything 300+hp)
3. Still with grin on face go out and buy one for yourself for not silly money (£5k)
4. Enjoy having a few bit to sort to make it nice again and be proud that its your car
5. Add chip, fuel pressure reg and manual boost enhancer (£500ish)
6. Enjoy 300hp every day with big smile on face and stop worrying about reliability because its still a 944

[]

 

[Diver944]

I am guessing with a target figure of 190bhp that you must have an S (also just worked it out from your nickname - doh [8|] ). Virtually all of the S that have been tested over the years are down on power and I once read a very good explanation from Barry Hart of Hartech in Bolton. The S was Porsches first foray into 16valve heads and the valve stems are very long and subject to a lot of wear. This wear is exagerated in the 2.5 S because the engine has to be revved hard to achieve the maximum power.

The S2 also has a 16 valve head but sits on top of the much gruntier 3.0L engine and does not have to be revved hard to make good progress. Many S2's that have twice the mileage of yours are still recording figures within a couple of bhp of the factory figure.

The good news for you is that a simple top end refresh will bring back your lost horses, but the bad news is it will cost a bit more than a simple chip. My personal view is I would not waste money on chipping a worn engine until the basic problem has been fixed first.

 

[Peter Empson]

Great news about the dyno day, I'm looking forward to it.

You're doing pretty well with your 944S, mine was about 150bhp when dyno'd last and that's at a similar mileage. The chip will almost certainly make the car feel nicer to drive (I may get one for mine one day) but I agree with Paul, a top end rebuild is almost certainly the potential cure for your problem. Rick managed to gain some power on his 944S without a top end rebuild (IIRC, all the details will be on his website) but I still seems to be the key to restoring it back close to its original performance.

My 944S is also going through a costly phase at the moment (steering rack, drive shafts, fuel lines and so on), you just have to grin and bear it every now and again - it should work out well in the long run.

 

[Copperman05]

Mark, I wouldn't be too disappointed with 171bhp, most engines lose bhp over the years, my S2 scored 191bhp (about 210bhp is the factory figure) when I first had it dyno'd, so thats losing about 20bhp over 20+ years, the same as your engine. Thats works out at about 1bhp per year, which is very respectable IMO, I bet many lesser engines lose a whole lot more over the same period.

I put a promax chip and a k&n air filter on my S2 and the score went up to 201bhp top end (and about 20ftlb of extra torque in the midrange) which made a noticable difference that I was happy with.

You may get similar results if you do the same and you may get near 190bhp with a sports exhaust but you might struggle to hit 200bhp without expensive modification.

I guess it depends on what you want from your 944, perhaps a turbo is the only way to appease your hunger for more horses, personnaly I find the smooth delivery and low down grunt of the S2 some of its best attributes, even if it doesnt have the maximum power of the turbo (at least on paper)[].

Edd

 

[DivineE]

I will admit the S2 feels a massive improvement over the S in terms of power. It doesn't feel as big a step up in performance over the 8v lux because the lux has better low end torque than the S which need ringing out to feel the extra potential.

From your first post I'd place you as having a turbo mentality but the S2 is undeniably a lovely drive.

 

[ChasR]

IMO, I reckon it's worth an S owner trying their car with a 2.5 gearbox. I reckon that would give the car the feeling of having the same torque as a 2.5 but with the benefits of the S. AFAIK, the Ss came with the 951 gearbox hence why they can seem lethargic.

 

[MarkK]

Wouldn't mind coming to this if i am allowed out [],would like to test the race car to see where it stands powerwise,will keep an eye on this thread..

 

[DavidL]

Ok, forgive my pessimism but I've always been a little concerned about these runs. I don't tend to red line my car in any gear and treat it a little gently in respect of its years so the idea of strapping it to the rollers and thrashing it within an inch of its life doesn't appeal.
However you all seem reasonable people with a good grasp on reality (mostly!) and this is not a new idea so where am I going wrong?
I'm happy how my car runs, it goes nicely and doesn't overheat or make funny noises so I don't want to half kill it just to find out how much of its 250 it has left but I would sort of like to know as I plan to take it to JM at some point.
Also the idea of a ride in a chipped car and/or one with good suspension appeals so come one chaps explain why I'll have a car to go home in not a pile of smoking metal.

 

[Copperman05]

David, I wouldnt worry too much about the dyno damaging your engine, i dont think a few runs on one are going to do it much harm. The car is put on the rollers, revved to its maximum capacity and then shut off, there is no holding there at top revs if thats what concerns you. There is no reason your engine should be damaged unless it has some underlying problem.

Infact I would bet that a good run (using maximum revs occasionly) is actually benifcial to these cars as it prevents the build up of carbon deposits that never get burned of when just pootling about.

If you are concerned why dont you speak to the workshop with the dyno and hear what they have to say regarding the matter?

Edd

 

[JamesO]

In my opinion hitting the redline on a warmed up engine does no harm at all, as long as the car is running correctly and the cooling system is ok (thats what the rev limit is for).
The way to ruin an engine is labouring it or over revving on a downchange.