Porsche 944: Actually there is a substitute

[sparkydog]

Heck I might as well update a bit while I'm pecking at my keyboard.
I finished off the top of the firewall - at least this is the way it will look for awhile - as long as the L36 motor is in the car.

[sparkydog]

And I decided that I will put the ECU(s) behind the firewall betwixed the cowl and the top of the trans tunnel - this is where the OE 944 HVAC unit fits, but now that I have decided to ignore that little detail - it opened up this area for other items. And because I already know that I will have at least two different gens of ECU and ECU mount brackets, I decided that I need to have some kind of generic aluminum plate that I can drill/tap into for each ECU bracket. So that meant I needed a generic bolt pattern on the trans tunnel that the generic plate can bolt into.

[Palf70Step]

Really enjoy seeing how you tackle all these issues. I think my 3lb sledge would have been over worked by now.

[sparkydog]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Really enjoy seeing how you tackle all these issues. I think my 3lb sledge would have been over worked by now.

Thanks as always!

Here is the aluminum adapter plate and ECU#1 mounted up.

[sparkydog]

Time for another one of my "make it several times" updates. A while back I was roaming the wrecking yard and stumbled across a domestic car with a battery under the rear seat. I thought I was finished with my 944 but this car (early 00's Buick Lesabre) had a really cool wire raceway and clean looking fuse block. So... out came the cutting tools, MIG and scrap steel. In went a new fuse block, a slightly modified cable raceway and a big chunk of the Lesabre wire harness.

[sparkydog]

I also took the Lesabre's main battery leads. For the negative side I found a place that had enough meat in the body that it would make a good grounding point and fabbed/welded in the main ground lug.

For the positive side I ran the Lesabre cable up the inside of the 944's rocker panel and up into the engine bay where I will have a junction block/jump start node. (no pics)

For the main ground from the starter to the chassis I had to make my first crimp of a large lug - so I fabbed up a simple crimp jig for use in my vice.

[sparkydog]

Also a battery hold-down bracket (which took 2 versions before I was happy). The first pic is of a rather complex setup I had in order to create the "hooks" for the clamp bracket to be able to grab under the lip of my battery tray. So far, so good.

[sparkydog]

And then next up is the radiator sub-project. I'm already on radiator #2 or 3 or 4 depending on how you look at it. Neither the Mustang or Camaro radiators were going to fit between the very narrow 944 frame horns. And the 944 radiator wouldn't handle the bigger power unless I upgraded to a turbo version - which cost $200-ish used and $400-ish new. So next I thought that a Jeep Grand Cherokee would work but it too failed in mockup. (But it is shown in a couple of the pics.) I am currently the proud owner of a brand new early 90's Ford Ranger/Explorer radiator which (after some obligatory shaving of mounting ears) seems to be playing well with most of the 944 frame. By the way the new Ford radiator set me back $50 + shipping. There is also an even higher capacity version available should I need more cooling down the road, but for now I'm staying with the cheap bastard scenario.

The fan that I'm trying to use is from the Mustang. It should be fun when the time comes to integrate it with the GM ECU.

[sparkydog]

There is a lot going on in the radiator sub-project. In most of the pics I have the 944's "nose" removed to aid in design and fab - but when I'm finished I want to be able to remove the fan and radiator from above but without having to take the nose sheet metal off.

In this pic, the larger cross-bar thing is part of the 944's pop-up headlight mechanism (which by the way eats up a lot of real estate). The smaller cross bar is a brace I added to keep the nose area strong (while I removed some other metal to clearance the new radiator). The weird black thing at the top of the pic is the Camaro stock air intake "plenum" which is just that - weirdly shaped. However I have to use it in order to pass smog regs and it looks like it will actually fit!

[sparkydog]

Mrs Sparkydog was out of town a few weeks ago so I was able to revert into full bachelor mode. I think this picture of my dinner illustrates my core male-ness.

First, I have all of the major food groups covered: meat, vegetables, water, hot sauce and tequila.

Second, I have involved as few plates as possible (and zero utensils) so as to minimize time wasting stuff like cleaning.

Third, I ate my dinner next to the sink so as to again minimize time moving over to the table and make it handy to do the trivial amount of cleanup. Genius!

[Palf70Step]

Originally Posted by sparkydog

Mrs Sparkydog was out of town a few weeks ago so I was able to revert into full bachelor mode. I think this picture of my dinner illustrates my core male-ness.

First, I have all of the major food groups covered: meat, vegetables, water, hot sauce and tequila.

Second, I have involved as few plates as possible (and zero utensils) so as to minimize time wasting stuff like cleaning.

Third, I ate my dinner next to the sink so as to again minimize time moving over to the table and make it handy to do the trivial amount of cleanup. Genius!

Great minds think alike! Do that regularly when it is only me at chow time.

[Nut Case]

Sparky

Here, here on bachelor eating economy. Your frugal problem solving is inspirational.

Fun - Fun - Fun tell daddy took the T-bird away.

Keep on keepin on

Nut case

[Overdriven]

Very cool build. Took me 2 days to go through the whole thing!

You may have answered these questions by now but I’ll go ahead anyway. All Mustang 8.8’s have the pumpkin off center and use different length axles on each side. Aerostar and Ranger 8.8’s I believe are also unequal side to side but, one side is equal to one of the sides of the Mustang 8.8 Rear. So if you get the proper side Aerostar or Ranger axle you can shorten one side of a Mustang 8.8 and make it equal on both sides. Or just get an Exploder 8.8 which I believe is equal on both sides. Either way you’re cutting off the axle mounts and relocating them unless you go with a stock Mustang 8.8 rear.

Not sure if that info helps you at all but the rear axle should not be directly inline with the trans either way. Something about keeping the ujoints happy, I forget the specifics for that one. Ford centered the engines and offset the rear to achieve this though.

[sparkydog]

Thanks Overdriven! All photos thus far are showing the 7.5 rear end that was a consequence of my not understanding Mustang options properly. But an update to the rear end is coming soon. My motor is already about 3/4" off center and the tunnel will be widened soon to accommodate the famous asymmetric 8.5 geometry.

[sparkydog]

Speaking of my rear end.. well not my rear end but the 944's rear end, I thought I would try and write down my current thoughts on what I will be doing with the 944.

First a recap - when I bought my donor Mustang I believed I was getting an 8.8 LS but I did not understand my Mustang lore and therefore what I have now is an open diff 7.5. It is also a 4 link and from the factory this design has numerous handling flaws (depending on who you talk to and what your goals are). My diff is also a 2.75 ratio and I would prefer something in the 3.25 area. Since my donor was a 96 model it means that my track widths are 60" +/- front and 59" +/- rear. In summary, my current 7.5 rear is wrong for several reasons - so no matter what I have to spend $$'s to undo the consequences of my bad donor selection.

Since my power goals are modest I could probably keep the 7.5 and it would survive 300ish hp just fine. I can convert it to limited slip and a better gear ratio for $300-$500. But for that same money I can get an end-to-end 8.8 pullout from the wrecking yard with ls, correct ratio and the extra set of disc brakes that would come along for the ride. And here's where it gets interesting - I could also probably get a more modern version (early 2005ish/S197) 8.8 and it would be a 3-link instead of a 4-link.

If I did go this route and get the more modern 3-link then I have a couple of consequences: first the rear track width would increase to 62.5 +/- and second I would have some amount of redo/mods I would need to make to the mounting points on the chassis. I say this just based on photos of the Mustang 3-link and it looks like the LCA geometry is wider than the 4-link version and the top link would need a new bracket fabbed into the 944.

Because I'm a glutton for rework/redo I'm leaning toward getting the 2004+ 5th gen Mustang 3-link version. Does anyone know their Mustang suspension lore enough to know if I've got this right? I'm kind of leery of my own ability to research stuff properly given my current track record...

[Palf70Step]

What's the fun of building it "right" the first time?

[sparkydog]

Does anyone think this is not OK? I will not be able to access the pressure cap on the radiator because it will be buried under the nose metal of the 944. For major filling I will undo the return hose and to the major filling through it. For top-offs I will use the expansion tank cap.

[Palf70Step]

Definitely not an engineer, but looks like it will work. I have see other vehicles where the only thing that was easy access was the expansion tank.

[67ChevyRedneck]

I don't think cars built in the last 10+ years even have caps anymore. My 2000 and 2015 Silverados don't. They all fill from the expansion tank.

[Jim 383]

There are thermostat housings that have filler caps built in if your plan doesn't work. Fill at the highest point in the system.

[95 S_Trucker]

You could also look at an upper radiator hose for a 2001ish Dodge Durango with a 4.7. It has the radiator cap in the upper radiator hose.

I followed your first build and I'm really liking this one too.

[sparkydog]

Excellent suggestion! As you can tell I like collecting bits of tech off other vehicles!

[95 S_Trucker]

I just happened to have one in the shop yesterday.

[Palf70Step]

I have always been told to make sure the normal level of the radiator full, needs to be higher than the highest point of the engine so you don't get air pockets in the engine. Not sure if the expansion tank, by your drawing, counts in that height level rule.

Love watching your work.

[sparkydog]

Trans bracket 3.0 This will be it - I'm not making any more versions!
The last picture shows the area to the left of the trans where the cat converter will eventually live and how trans bracket 3.0 isn't blocking the eventual route of the exhaust pipe down and out past the end of the transmission.