1987 Porsche 944S: Future Plans

What's Next?

Well, as I write this the car is in the shop for major surgery (see here for details). Aside from the required fix, there is some minor suspension work going on. Seems the donor car had some uprated suspension components installed, so I'll be getting a bigger front sway bar and a matched rear sway bar. I've been delighted with the handling of my car so far, and can't imagine what it will be like on the track with these new components.

The next piece of work for this car is fairly mundane: the shock absorbers (dampers, for our Commonwealth friends) are close to shot and ought to be replaced. I'm not entirely certain what's in there now, but I'll be looking to replace them with performance components. Everybody's nuts about Koni adjustable models, but a mechanic at the garage is talking up Bilsteins. Either option seems acceptable to me; my larger concern is making sure I can do as much of the work as possible. The rears should be easy, but the fronts could be a bit ticklish and I believe will require an alignment afterwards. We'll see how it goes.

Beyond that, the only thing I want to do is have a harness bar and five point restraint system installed. The biggest thing I learned from a ride in my instructors car on my first trip to the Glen was how much effort I was putting into staying in the seat in my car! A good racing belt setup will eliminate all of this, as it keeps you strapped down tight no matter what. This will cost anywhere upwards of US$500, and a large concern will be how much modification will be required, and how easy it will be to remove later.

After all, this is primarily a street car. Hopefully in a year or two I'll have another car mostly for track use - most likely a 914. The idea is that those are fairly straightforward cars that are pretty easy to figure out. And if you look around carefully, you can pick one up fairly cheaply. So hopefully I will start to put together a 914 for the track, and be able to save the 944S for moderate street use.

And if things really go well, the winter vehicle will be some sort of V8 powered enclosed pickup like a GMC Jimmy or Ford Bronco. This means I can get a tow dolly or real trailer to carry whichever car is going to the track. Then again, maybe I'm still delirious with the adrenaline rush from my last excursion to the track...