944 turbo advice

[Loose]

Hey! I want one of those.

Rage, what is the general pricing on 944 Turbos, and differences between model years?

[rage2]

If you're planning on modding a 944 turbo, buy a cheap one. You can find ones that are in pretty rough shape for around $7k-$12k cdn. IMO, there's no point in buying a well maintained one, because everything is going to break anyways :D. You have no idea how much life is left in expensive stuff such as water pump, power steering pumps, etc. in a well maintained car. Make sure you get a 86.5 (updated) car, much easier to work with. The older cars had different wheel ofsets, so getting wheels as well as bigger brakes may be problematic. Oh, and find a car with LSD. Very important if you're looking at big power.

Brief 944 turbo history...

86 - Introduction in north america, 217hp, 5 speed tranny.
86.5 - Updated interior
88 - Turbo S model, K26-8 turbo, 247hp, oil cooler on tranny.
89 - turbo model adopts turbo s mechanicals.

First off, I'd say budget $6k-$10k on stuff that's known to break. Remember, it's a 15+ year old car, so things are going to be worn out.

For power, add a chip, and the turbo gets 270hp, turbo s/89+ turbos gets 290hp flywheel. Slap in some injectors, and bigger turbo and MAP sensor conversion, and you're looking at about 300rwhp on pump gas. Depending on size of turbo you can go all the way up to around 500rwhp on a 2.5L motor while maintaining decent drivability using 103 octane fuels.