Still pulling away like a freight train supercharged 944 LS1

Michael, GREAT car!  

I don't know how I ever missed your thread over the years but it is certainly encouraging and inspiring!  I have to thank Gutterboy for revealing your thread.  I'm going down a similar road but with a lot of engine upgrades and no supercharger.  Perhaps a future project!!

I just watched your track videos and like I said... super inspirational!  I certainly admire your driving skills and the commentary notes were just the right touch.  Loved the exhaust pipe flames on deceleration!

Within a month or so, I hope to have my car on the road... it has been a long drawn out effort but you have confirmed that it should all be worth it.

matt889 wrote:Any more pictures of the engine and where did you get that front bonnet with the vent I want one hehe

Here ya go. As stated I custom made the hole myself, then added some grill material (Bentley like pattern) from a Volvo.
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Rob44 wrote:Whew, that's going to be an incredibly short geared transmission!

That AGR ring and pinion combined with the Albin's low 3-5 gearsets will be much shorter geared than even the 944S2 box I use in mine. And I only have a 350hp LT-1.

Hey Rob...

You were R I G H T. It's a shoooooort gear set. But really fun. I have been driving it around with this new set up & while short, it is great busting around town with it. Probably limits my top speed to 130? But gets there in a whole heap of a hurry

that limited top end is a great problem to have with how quick you can get up to speed. Always the biggest win to get that.

really curious how you made that perfect factory looking curve on the slit in the front end. my present garage tooling would have no way of making that look pretty so really curious how you did that?

hoping to join the same club as raymond on getting the car fired up and rolling in june here!

Amazing work man! Did you roll the inside or just touche up painted it? Got a template for the cut piece and for the grille shape? What year volvo I wanna make one now lol

Michael B. wrote:

matt889 wrote:Any more pictures of the engine and where did you get that front bonnet with the vent I want one hehe

Here ya go. As stated I custom made the hole myself, then added some grill material (Bentley like pattern) from a Volvo.
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matt889 wrote:Amazing work man! Did you roll the inside or just touche up painted it? Got a template for the cut piece and for the grille shape? What year volvo I wanna make one now lol

Gutterboy wrote:really curious how you made that perfect factory looking curve on the slit in the front end. my present garage tooling would have no way of making that look pretty so really curious how you did that?

Thanks you two. I am body-shop trained so all of that was hand work. I laid it out many years ago, cut it, filed it, checked it, then painted it. Afterwards I pulled the volvo piece off the shelf (inventory) and cut it to fit. Bonded it in place. I cant say I even recall what volvo! It was years ago.

Just take your time ~ & put effort into it. Projects always come out better when you care about them. You can do it. It's not going to be too bad. Remember... It is only metal. If you make a mistake you can just weld it back together and start again.

great work on making that all yourself.

i jumped headfirst in making my own exhaust with my fluxcore welder and even though its not super bling with being stainless and with a tig; i really liked how it turned out after a coat of VHT header black paint.

one thing i'm curious about the pictures on your OP; what the heck are running for tire size and rim width? those look crazydeep compared to my 255's on 17" rims that came on my turbo twist wheels from a boxster. your fenders look original so looks like your maybe just right on the verge of rubbing? you roll the fender (not that i ever understood what was involved in rolling a fender to make more room, lol)?

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3" in/out borla type s ls 350 muffler on the back with 4" tip. just the TPC manifolds no headers with patriot collectors into a flowmaster 2.5"/3" y pipe.

Gutterboy wrote:great work on making that all yourself. ...one thing i'm curious about the pictures on your OP; what the heck are running for tire size and rim width? those look crazydeep compared to my 255's on 17" rims that came on my turbo twist wheels from a boxster. your fenders look original so looks like your maybe just right on the verge of rubbing? you roll the fender (not that i ever understood what was involved in rolling a fender to make more room, lol)?

Yeah, 295/30/18 & 235/40/18 on 10.5" & 8.5". When I built this car I had Forgeline (I am a reseller) send me a full measuring request sheet so I could make a set of 18's special that would fit my chassis and a Porsche GT3 tire size. I was shooting for the same handling & grip that my then GT3 gave me. I bolted on Firehawk racing series suspension with a set of Racersedge control arms - then these big fat tires. Anyhow, the wheels are one off's.

You can roll a fender pretty easily with a good fender roller tool. It only takes a minute! It was not needed on my setup (suspension is stiff enough there is no roll or squat), but I clearanced them anyhow.

Gutterboy wrote:
3" in/out borla type s ls 350 muffler on the back with 4" tip. just the TPC manifolds no headers with patriot collectors into a flowmaster 2.5"/3" y pipe.

Nice and clean!!  

I'm taking a slightly different approach all in SS.  Because i have TPC long headers, I need to fabricate collector reducers that take an immediate turn toward center to avoid interference with the foot wells. That will be followed by some S-bends and flex pipe to get straight with the tunnel.  Then I'm going down the tunnel and out the back with a pair of new 2-1/2 Borla pipes made for a Cadilac CTS-V w/X-pipe.  I'll be using a pair of Borla Stingers and polished SS Pypes tips.

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So, will 295/30/18 & 235/40/18 on 10.5" & 8.5" fit a stock 944?

I would think that would depend on the rim.

But I have seen plenty of tire size on a lot of configurations.