l have a friend that has a mid-late 80 is 944 that has no motor or trans and my question to you guys is, how hard would it be to mount a carbureted 350 and trans in it?
im not talking as in bolting directly to where the old stuff went, im talking fabricating motor and tranny mounts, as well as putting a dif rear eng in it if it is necessary
end not eng

l would assume it is very difficult, especially as one has metric-sized fittings and the other is Imperial.

l am looking for the website that has a car with this in it. So if you are good at fabbing stuff up it is completely possible. l remember that there was a clearance issue on the hood so you might have to do some accommodating body work to shoe horn it in. Also with all that weight up front for the street it will understeer like a mother. So think about cutting the firewall and locating the motor back as far as you can.

The SBC change with any Porsche is generally not looked on too favorably by the Porsche community. & in many cases for very good reasons as the change can add some very bad characteristics to the car. But, among all of the cars, the 944 is probably the best canidate for something like this.

There r a few companies (Renagade Hybrids is the one that springs to mind) that make kids for the conversion. The fact that someone else has already done the custom fab work makes this alot easier (different mounts, different oil pan for the engine to clear the suspension, different hood, etc). However, most of these I've seen r aimed for an LT1. but most of it will probably work with an oldler SBC.

Compared to a 944 with the Porsche engine, the newer SBC will only change the weight distribution a little (go from 50/50 to almost 52/48). The slight amount of extra weight forward in this case should actually improve problems with understeer (at least with stock suspension), but the slightly higher center of gravity with the V8 will cause a little more roll under side loading (this probelm is MUCH worse though with V8 conversions to cars with the boxer engines).

The older SBC should weigh more, which may cause some larger problems with handling (though still not terrible), & will probably require some custom fabrication. but it is doable. The question will be if it is worth it. I'd expect somewhere close to $2k being the minimum price it will take (assuming u do all the labor yourself).

A Chevy 350 will throw off the 50/50 balance of the 944 & destroy the handling. The suspension is not made for the added front end weight even if u sandwich it in & the cooling will likely be an issue too. A 350 is a brute force, low tech, gas hog that relies on dumping gasoline & cubic inches for power. Go to ur local Porsche auto wrecker (http://partsheaven.com/) & buy a motor/trans. (recommend the 5 spd stick). Switch out the stock shifter for the short throw & the stock throttle pulley for the short response throttle pulley. Have the engine rebuilt by a dealer or a reputable Porsche trained mechanic. Then, have fun! You will get 200,000 trouble free miles out of her. Use of a Chevy 350 will nullify the whole reason u bought a Porsche in the first place!

This seems to me like a rather pointless conversion but really with enough talent & money u can put any engine into any car. I've seen 350 V-8s in 911s.

So yeah, u can do it but it wo not be easy & u wo not like what u end up with.

An 80s 944 is not a collectible, it is just a used car & not very valuable, so no harm in chopping one up if u want to.

If this is a really cherry 944 body, put a 944 turbo motor & transmission in it & you'd have a decent car.

In the October 2007 issue of Excellence there was an article about putting a Chevy V8 into a 968. Evidently the conversion worked quite well. However, this is with an aluminum block engine. A cast iron block would upset the weight balance & probably throw off the handling. l am not sure if there would be room for a carburetor. You might have to cut an opening in the hood. Also u have to keep the Porsche transaxle. It might make sense to upgrade it to a Turbo unit. The gears r stronger.

This is probably the best place to start:
http://renegadehybrids.com/944/LT-1/LT-1.html
http://wikihow.com/Convert-the-Porsche-944/968/924-Series-Models-to-Chevrolet-V8-Power
http://cardomain.com/ride/2571731
http://autoatlanta.com/model/944catalog/944-001.html

The problem u have is lack of transmission - which means no rear end either, as 944 have a transaxle.

Other than the 944 transaxle, the only ''low'' priced alternative is a C5 or C6 Corvette transaxle..

Or u could do a MASSIVE amount of work, & adapt a standard transmission - would require lots of cutting & welding. For a rear end then, the 8.8'' Ford IRS is probably the most easily sourced, & adaptable the Porsche IRS.