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SumoPower & Dyno Destiny

It's been an interesting few days with the 944. New sounds, or should I say noises; new insights; and new challenges are plentiful.

With the family mile muncher off the road the Porsche has been in daily duties of late acting as a family car. Which is less than ideal with no rear seat belts. My younger children find it quite comfortable back there actually.

Friday past I headed down to Rye to meet a friend & client at Sumo Power. One of the top tuning workshops in the UK. Sumo Power also field a pair of Nissan GTRs in the FIA GT1 world championship and race prep a selection of Rally & Drifting cars too. The race cars are a sight to behold and the facilities quite exceptional. A great place then to hold a rolling road session on a project car.






Besides the race car SP had a veritable smorgasbord of retro and performance cars to drool over. Such as a twin turbo'd Lamborghini with dry-ice cooled charge cooler:





A convertible Aston Martin:





A lovely Dodge Charger getting a little bit of attention to the rear:





And not forgetting some awesome Japs:






A certainly the most desirable of the lot an AC Cobra with personal plate!





Although my humble 944 didn't feel out of place when it came to the power run on the incredible dyno, it was certainly in the shade of some monsters.

I wasn't expecting much from my 25 year old '44 after 203,000 miles on the original engine. Peak power was 125.6bhp @ 4400rpm at the rear wheels; and peak torque 130.4@3400rpm. This would have been the basis for the planned engine upgrades to net a target of 200bhp at the flywheel for my 944 but it seems like the engine is too tired with excessive blow by at high revs to make it a viable base. Which was confirmed by a trip to Project9 Engineering yesterday.

Thankfully the base mapping of the other project car went well. But more on that at a later stage.

Gary from GTart was our tuning meister for the day and he certainly knows his way around an engine - this was one of his builds:






The current condition of the aging 944 2.5 8v has no doubt been accelerated by it's daily use ferrying my family and it's stint strapped to the dyno. While I decide what action to take, I'm torn between tuning an 8v to reach 200bhp on a modest budget or an engine swap with a more modern powerplant plumbed in. We'll see what transpires after a few more chats & research.
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  1. Dan Gliubizzi19 April 2011 at 21:25

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  2. Red Car19 April 2011 at 21:31

    Thanks for the post. You have given me a few ideas and options. My 1983 has half the miles, but has lived a rough life. I had not considered an engine upgrade!

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