Engine build progress

[TTM]

Last update was in February this year, so let's flog that horse again before it completely dies. My car has been running great, the 3.0 8V engine has done 25k miles so far. As the short runner inlet manifold moved the power band slightly higher in the rev range compared with the std inlet, I then installed an adjustable camshaft pulley and noticed dramatic effects on the power display by varying cam timing. I have now it adjusted to get a more or less linear thrust between 4k and 6k rpm, but I still feel the engine is not quite breathing as much as it could this is why I now have a custom camshaft on the way. In the meantime I completed the custom 6 speed gearbox project I mentioned earlier and have now the extra top gear that the engine was begging for. That means 130mph at 4k rpm, and should prove interesting on Vmax events organised at local airfields. 6th gear is actually so tall that I can't really reasonably use it on the M-way because oil temp in the sump collapses to a meager 65°C when cruising at 80mph at 2500 rpm. The 'box is just a bit taller than on an original 968 turbo S which had only 305bhp, so with about 100 more hp I expect a good ability to reach an interesting top speed, should the opportunity in safe conditions arise. Happy days []

 

[Diver944]

Wow Thom, you've done loads this year [] I don't know how your car had dropped off my radar as I still follow most posts on Rennlist as well as here. 80mph at 2500 must be very relaxing and I would imagine reasonably fuel efficient as well. Keep it up

 

[TTM]

Fuel consumption was already quite good in 5th gear with the 944T 'box thanks to the aftermarket engine management as it returned 31mpg this Summer driving at tourist pace through France, so yes it should now be even better when cruising at lower engine speed, however I don't really like to see oil temp get that low. I may probably replace the 85°C oil thermostat with a 95°C unit, though I feel like the radiator may already be closed if oil temp measured is as low as 65°C?

 

[George Elliott]

oil temp measured is as low as 65°C?

TTM, that is a relatively low oil temperature and someone may offer a good technical comment. My comment would be it is still sufficiently hot to maintain proper bearing clearances for modest use as you describe, it will presumably increase if you increase the workload, so that is good too. It should not be stressful on the oil service life. And finally, on the basis that heat is wasted energy, could we assume the ECU is operating the engine very efficiently and producing modest cruising power as is reflected in good fuel consumption? I wonder what the oil temp is on a VW TFSi at 120 km/h? I recall a Veyron produced 3000hp, 1000 heat loss, 1000 in transmission and aero loss, and 1000 to the wheels [8D] keep up the good work George 944t

 

[TTM]

Perhaps as a final update to this thread, my 3L 8V turbo engine has finally come out of the car after 10 years and 110,000 km of a rather exciting journey. It was frustrating at times and the learning curve was sometimes steep (and not exactly cheap) but it ended up exceeding the initial goals I had set myself, along with teaching me engine topics I never thought I would ever look into. It has also largely widened my outlook on cars and engines in general, and strengthened further my enthusiasm for our cars - the 944 turbo remains an incredible performance bargain, and today more than ever considering how market prices for some popular modern classics, which remain in my opinion widely inferior offerings, have bizarrely rocketed in the last years. And just for bragging rights, here is a picture of my engine when it was in its latest state of tune.

I never took the time to have it dyno-tested when I eventually found which tune it liked best, but comparing it with other similar engines and studying key logged data, it seemed to make peak figures of around 450 bhp and 500 lbs.ft.

Many thanks to all the good folks on here who expressed continued interest and shared their enthusiasm, even though I imagine life has taken some of them to other interesting places since the early years of this topic.

At last but not least, good luck everyone with the lock down!

 

[PSH]

Looks great TTM, I can well believe the figures too...what's the reason for taking the engine out?

Pete

 

[TTM]

Thanks Pete. I have replaced it with a 968-based 3L 16V turbo engine. It has only been running since December, and due to various reasons and the lock down in particular I have not had the time to drive it much. It will take some time, certainly a few months in the current context, before it is even just completely run in.

 

[PSH]

Thanks Pete. I have replaced it with a 968-based 3L 16V turbo engine. It has only been running since December, and due to various reasons and the lock down in particular I have not had the time to drive it much. It will take some time, certainly a few months in the current context, before it is even just completely run in.

cool, that sounds like fun..

 

[Eldavo]

Are you interested in selling the engine? Either as-is or as a long block?

 

[944Turbo]

Thanks Pete. I have replaced it with a 968-based 3L 16V turbo engine. It has only been running since December, and due to various reasons and the lock down in particular I have not had the time to drive it much. It will take some time, certainly a few months in the current context, before it is even just completely run in.

That sounds like an exciting new chapter, I look forward to hearing all about it!

Tony

 

[TTM]

Here is a quick update which I hope may be of interest to the fellow 944 long termers who are still on here.

The new engine is now run in and running pretty well. It did not take me too long to get to 90% of the tune but the car already flies. I will be splitting hair on boost control next, but in lazy open loop mode the engine already feels like all components balance each other pretty well, even with the standard intercooler, surprisingly. It is wonderful to have an extra usable 1000 rpm up top and the 16V sound quite a bit better than the 8V.

 

[PSH]

Looking good..always best to have the components balance, I think this is where most go wrong?

How's the temp with standard intercooler? I found it to be capable of keeping everything cool even with big power gain. I now have the classic stage 1 which probably matches the rest of the build, engine running temp is still as standard car but then the cooling system on these cars is pretty good anyway..

Pete

 

[Eldavo]

Looks great Thom - I bet that surprises a few people out on the roads!

 

[944Turbo]

Excellent - congratulations!

Tony

 

[Diver944]

Wow this thread is 13 years old

Great to see you are still hanging in there Thomas

 

[TTM]

Well, some more attempts at increasing boost has revealed that the standard intercooler clearly fails to suit the flow requirements of my 16V engine. I am reluctantly growing to the idea of cutting the cross brace between side members to make room for an intercooler large enough.

 

[Dan944t]

Well, some more attempts at increasing boost has revealed that the standard intercooler clearly fails to suit the flow requirements of my 16V engine. I am reluctantly growing to the idea of cutting the cross brace between side members to make room for an intercooler large enough.

ive also wondered the same about how i would install a custom intercooler. i have the larger tanked version - but would like to make myself a larger one one day.

what power are you currently at?

and what kind of power are you looking to achieve

also what turbo do you run currently ?

Daniel

 

[TTM]

Not sure how much it makes now, but the turbo (GTX3576R 0.82) should allow as much as 600hp, which is where I would like to get eventually, though anywhere between 500 and 600hp will be satisfying. I just need to remove this slightly annoying bottleneck between the turbo and the intake manifold.

Getting the intercooler and its piping right does not seem exactly straightforward, lots of rule of thumb discussed all over the Internet. It might sound logical to adapt some basic huge brick up front and duct it properly, but I also do not want to increase weight too much on the front overhang.

 

[TTM]

In reaction to the overwhelming traffic these days and the legions of newcomers here is a full update on my car : it has covered 9,000 troublefree miles with the new engine and am wildly considering refreshing bonnet struts. How much more power a new pair of these should bring?

 

[944Turbo]

At least another 50BHP, congrats on getting some decent trouble free distance on the engine!

Tony