mindsetinmotion

So, in the quest to build a beautiful roller, and in my intense fury at a german car that died repeatedly despite bleeding cash out my backside at it for a solid year (straw that broke the camel's back was having a new head, brakes, seals, all belts including timing, waterpump, and brand new tires only to have the bottom end come apart), I've started cutting on my 944 to build a custom sheetmetal rear end widebody. Thoughts? Ideas? any interest? If so, I'll describe the rest of the body build hoping that either a: someone doesen't do it before i get mine done, or b: someone does do it, does a great job, and gives me some killer ideas i hadn't thought about in my revamp of the venerable fc's lines. So, in my quest to fit foot wide meat behind my car, i decided i needed a _lot_ more bulge, even though the wheels i have put 295/30/18's as far inboard as i can possibly have 'em. The following pictures outline some of the initial work, and might provide hints as to the rest of the project (then again, might not, all I can see when i look at the pictures is what the finished car is going to look like).

Brody8877

iTrader: (10)

This is going to be interesting.

SayNoToPistons

^ +1, in a good way! Not really on topic, but what are you plans for power?

mindsetinmotion

Considering i'm trying to look at the project as a whole, power discussion is certainly welcome. I'm presently in posession of a t04 60-1, but considering trading up... Originally i planned to build up the 13b, but project creep hit me hard as soon as i figured out how much i wanted to change, I'm planning on sourcing a 20b, somewhere between high mild and totally unreasonable porting... don't know if i want to go all the way to a bridgeport.... I'd like the car to end up "unpleasant but do-able" on the street.... kind of a weekend romp around vehicle.

killinit937

it wasnt a 951 turbo was it?!?!
if so
my buddys and i have been looking for one for soooo long.

SayNoToPistons

Wow, please keep us updated!

mindsetinmotion

No way, i'm not that retarded, it was a base 1985 (early) na 944, the paint was beautiful and the body was in fantastic shape, but after dumping about 5500 bucks into getting the car and fixing the stuff i needed to, to have it start going clackety clack in the bottom end was just too much.... though I did whip the hell out of the riced out neon I dragged to prove to my buddy that he was just talking smack when he said his neon was for sure faster than my porsche. Figuring a 944 with a blown engine is worth, oh, 1500 bucks on a really sunny day if nothing else is wrong with it (and that's hardly the case) I couldn't do a custom sheetmetal widebody for less, or have it look that good... so it kind of made economical sense to cut up the porsche. I figured I might get lucky with the lines lining up well because the 2 cars' basic shape is similar.... it's not gonna be a cakewalk, but it'll work for sure, and the preliminary fitment seems to say it'll look pretty decent

clokker

iTrader: (2)

Aesthetically it would seem the two obvious issues will be incorporating the bodyside molding and transitioning from the new fender back into the rear panel/taillight area.

What are your thoughts on this?

ericgrau

iTrader: (1)

Unreliable piston engine? Beautiful body? just drop a rotary in your 944.

mindsetinmotion

actually, that's not going to be too bad at all.... you might have noticed the body kit piece sitting behind the car (erebuni shogun kit for reference). This kit has some nice roundy features, but the thing that initially seems to not fit along with the porsche lines is the ridge or step that runs along the side of the car (real steep on the kit's side molding, continues into the body lines on the kit's rear bumper piece. We've cut the back bumper piece flush with the line where it mounts under the taillights and on the bottom, have truncated the design along the valley between the lower and upper high points (if that makes sense), on the bottom, we'll build a new corner that smoothly transitions into the curved line that ends behind the wheel, on the top, at the back it'll line up pretty close with how the taillights already are (look at some 3/4 rear shots of fc's and 944's, or just the taillight housings.... they're pretty similar shape and style wise), the most it looks like i'll have to do is move the taillight housings up to 1/4" away from the centerline on both sides... I think i can just egg out the bolt mounting holes for that.... the other option i considered is building additional material on the taillight itsself.... opaque in the margins and clear if i need to smoothly transition the lens into the border of the lens..... on the side: The porsche panel will anchor so the bottom is no father out than the crown on the ridge running along the bottom (and the door jamb will be extended, essentially with a patch in a half crescent moon shape, or a bent skinny triangle.... with the aftermarket side molding (comes about 2x as far out as mazda one, we'll trim at the back ever thinner towards the back so that the ridge when molded in will just seem to disappear into the curvature of the quarter. This leaves up to a 2" step at the front on the flat side where the quarter stops into where the door starts. This imposes extra difficulty, as my car will also be receiving suicide doors. We're going to bring the door skin line from flat to a gentle curve starting just behind the middle of the panel at stock into that approx. 2" out at the back where it runs into the quarter. Suicide doors will be accomplished by hand-constructing a pair of "heavy duty" hinges, the style of which is really similar to 60's cars. Go look at modern door hinges, when the door opens, the edge of the door disappears into the body/behind fenders because of the simple and light construction of new hinges, and the pivot point being generally right on that line. Contrast with 60's/early 70's, where the pivot point is an inch or so in front of the break line between fender and door, and the door is mounted on kind of a rounded or bent L shaped piece. When this type of hinge is opened, it kicks the edge of the door skin out in an arc that clears body features. Hope that addresses your questions, if not... I can take a few minutes to whip up a couple of pictures that look pretty similar to the ones me and my body guy have generated cussing and discussing this project and things that will get in our way that should explain these things better than my command of the language in the timespace within a half hour of my waking.

mindsetinmotion

Believe me, I've considered this. The things that kept me from doing it that way: Interior space, the mazda is roomier, better geometry between steering wheel and seat. Drivetrain, mazda setup lends itsself to changes and nonstandard equipment moreso than the porsche. I gather that I can make most any 4, 5, or 6 speed FR tranny sit behind the rotary (tunnel clearance issues and lever location woes aside) and am still considering my options there deeply. With the porsche you have only a handful of options, basically any tranny from any 944/968.... this makes my pool of available gearboxes probably 1/10th as large as "any fr box that'll take the power", and given that i can have a fairly rugged one wheel wonder 5 speed (transaxle parked between rear wheels for those not in the know), an extremely rugged lsd 5 speed (expensive! mine's the open diff) or a less rugged than the turbo 5 speed unit 6 speed from a 968. If I was made of money, I'd undertake the rotary 944 project in a heartbeat.... 13b-rew, 944 turbo transaxle, into an early (lighter) body.. I'm poor though, and i fell in love with everything about the fc when i bought it several years ago.... balance, performance, aesthetics, sensible component layout... while I dig the technical advantages of the 944's layout, I just can't hack the massively increased cost of breaking things that cost too much for what they are in addition to the already high costs of modifying way outside the box. Plus there'll likely be some novelty in hearing "hey that's a really nice uhh uhh wait, what is that?" that you wouldn't get to just do an engine swap into a stock (but beautiful) body.