5.3l 944 in germany

i got a 944 project. 19 in the us army in germany. wanting a fun project because i hate parting and clubbing its no fun anymore lol

anyways got a 944 on base bad motor, no interior. got to track the guy down. going to get a 5.3l out of a tahoe and put it in stock. got in touch with rengade and they got a kit for me, just working out a deal to get it shipped her as well. hooking me up with a full kit out of a 944 from a while ago with a bad motor and all the comupter and harness so that take care of getting a motor with a harness making it cheaper and easier to find. how much of a difference is the 65lbs up front compaired to the ls1, amking it about what 100lbs more then the standard motor?

once i have the v8 in ill probably run it stock (change oil pan) for a little bit, unless the hood wont clear the intake then ill modifty it with some ls1 heads and intake and change the pistons to ls1 bore. by the time i have the car put togeather ill be headed out to the old sand pit for 10/year, be able to drive it for a couple months, once i come back the idea is to try and squeez a turbo or twin under the hood. i am wondering if there anyroom for this. i might not stay in germany after the deployment so i might just take it back to the states remove the head light and stick the twins in place of them and make it a trac only car and build and either try and build the lq4 block or just spend the money and build a ls1 up for turbos. ideas comments? tips?

I would get the parts from Admin who runs this site. The link is at the top of the page Texas Performance Concepts. Several members have parts from Renegade and they work well, but Admin's parts are very well designed, has great customer support and less expensive.
FWIW, I don't think the extra few pounds is going to make a difference on the truck block iron vs aluminum. Xschop on this site has an iron block truck motor. The only issue is the accessory drive positions and truck intake being too high. Simple fixes. Look in his gallery and his build thread titled "Nailed it".

Hate to be negative but have you checked out what's required to import the 944 into the USA?

I went through this a few years ago with a 280Z, the car did not meet the US specs for its year of manufacture and was not eligible, might pay to check before you spend money.

Good luck.

I heard about how a late model "real" Austin mini was imported. A wrecked early USA legal 60's Mini was acquired and the identities were swapped. The late, now early model car was imported.

fliermike45 wrote:Hate to be negative but have you checked out what's required to import the 944 into the USA?

I went through this a few years ago with a 280Z, the car did not meet the US specs for its year of manufacture and was not eligible, might pay to check before you spend money.

Good luck.

He's in the military and they have exemptions that allow their car to be imported IIRC.

Dawgz83948 wrote:

fliermike45 wrote:Hate to be negative but have you checked out what's required to import the 944 into the USA?

I went through this a few years ago with a 280Z, the car did not meet the US specs for its year of manufacture and was not eligible, might pay to check before you spend money.

Good luck.

He's in the military and they have exemptions that allow their car to be imported IIRC.

wont be a big hassel, its over 25yrs old and military is easy way of doing it

Things may have changed. I was in Germany in the late 80's and there were no exemtions when importing cars. You had to have them converted to meet the US standards.

Everything in my build thread is current, except there are no no 11.0" clutch discs with the protruding hubs available at Autozone, O'reilley's or Advance Auto parts. I'm having some made locally.

Hope nobody thinks that I'm being negative but I'm trying to save this young man money.

Here is a info site on importing cars into the USA, the only Military exemption is that they don't pay the duty, the car has to conform to EPA rules.

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For a number of years, European market cars did not have to run on unleaded fuel when the USA had nearly eliminated leaded fuel. My personal experience I had a Middle East market 280Z that was not US compliant, the cost of conversion was not realistic so I abandoned my plans to import the car. There were sometimes major differences between NON US market and US market cars

If he is serious about doing this conversion he might consider locating a donor car (preferably a late model Turbo 944) in the US. Then start collecting parts and knowledge until the time is right to wave his magic wand and build an awesome car. Part of the pleasure in doing these swaps/upgrades is learning your way thru the jungle to obtain the parts/knowledge.

i am trying to get a car project now. to keep me busy, 944 might not happen here mightjst collet parts no and build a turbo mini with a busa, might get one super cheap

so 400hp+ how will transaxle hold up. any ways to buy new gears shafts to strenthen, cv upgrades?

rossypho wrote:so 400hp+ how will transaxle hold up. any ways to buy new gears shafts to strenthen, cv upgrades?

Stock trans that is a non-turbo will be ok as long as you're not hard on it. Be realisic though, I'd put a turbo tranny in that will live if your a bit rough on it. As long as you can get the tranny not to swing back and forth under tq load (xchops poly mounts will do that) the axles are pretty robust (as long as they are tight). XChop sells stronger axles though.