|
Re: Porsche 944: Actually there is a substitute
Speaking of my rear end.. well not my rear end but the 944's rear end, I thought I would try and write down my current thoughts on what I will be doing with the 944.
First a recap - when I bought my donor Mustang I believed I was getting an 8.8 LS but I did not understand my Mustang lore and therefore what I have now is an open diff 7.5. It is also a 4 link and from the factory this design has numerous handling flaws (depending on who you talk to and what your goals are). My diff is also a 2.75 ratio and I would prefer something in the 3.25 area. Since my donor was a 96 model it means that my track widths are 60" +/- front and 59" +/- rear. In summary, my current 7.5 rear is wrong for several reasons - so no matter what I have to spend $$'s to undo the consequences of my bad donor selection.
Since my power goals are modest I could probably keep the 7.5 and it would survive 300ish hp just fine. I can convert it to limited slip and a better gear ratio for $300-$500. But for that same money I can get an end-to-end 8.8 pullout from the wrecking yard with ls, correct ratio and the extra set of disc brakes that would come along for the ride. And here's where it gets interesting - I could also probably get a more modern version (early 2005ish/S197) 8.8 and it would be a 3-link instead of a 4-link.
If I did go this route and get the more modern 3-link then I have a couple of consequences: first the rear track width would increase to 62.5 +/- and second I would have some amount of redo/mods I would need to make to the mounting points on the chassis. I say this just based on photos of the Mustang 3-link and it looks like the LCA geometry is wider than the 4-link version and the top link would need a new bracket fabbed into the 944.
Because I'm a glutton for rework/redo I'm leaning toward getting the 2004+ 5th gen Mustang 3-link version. Does anyone know their Mustang suspension lore enough to know if I've got this right? I'm kind of leery of my own ability to research stuff properly given my current track record...
|