Suppose you had a 944 with a blown head gasket...

Yes, yes I know: LSx, but no, not right now.

Do the heads usually need to be resurfaced on these things or can you get away with just changing the head gasket and, of course, the timing belt and water pump?

LSx!!

Woody wrote: Yes, yes I know: LSx, but no, not right now. Do the heads usually need to be resurfaced on these things or can you get away with just changing the head gasket and, of course, the timing belt and water pump?

I don't know if you can get away with changing jsut the gasket, but even in a worst case situation they made millions of them and they have a fairly large following and are dirt cheap, so why not pick up a used head and re-furb that if you need to?

Depends on how badly blown. If it is caught when it is just leaking, then you could probably get away with a "lift and slip" style HG repair. If it has overheated significantly, then you'll probably want to have the head at least cleaned and checked.

Personally, I'd pull the motor, clean and reseal it properly. It isn't that much more work and you can get the timing belt set right, fix any other leaks, etc. without having to be bent over in an uncomfortable position (that comes later when the credit card bill comes in).

I've done it. I bought my first 944 with a blown head gasket. I pulled the head, checked with a straight edge, looked it over for cracks, surfaced it with a scotch brite disc, and put a new gasket on it. That repair lasted about 15 years, until my thermostat stuck and I ran it hot. It leaks a little now. This time I got a spare head to do a full port, polish, and rebuild on, so I can swap it out in a day.

I have a running 944 NA AT with a blown headgasket. Bought it as a parts car for my 944t. I sold the 944t to buy Bobzilla's c4, then tried to sell the parts car....I swear that car is unsellable. I even dropped the price to 500 on cl and couldn't sell it, so one of these years I'll just part it out. So, long story short if I had an NA 944 with a blown hg, which I do, I'd part it out.

In reply to Cotton:

Its because of the Auto. No one wants them and the ones that do are weird. The few that have autos are always looking for spare automatic specific parts and the spec944 guys won't say no to a spare motor and suspension pieces, etc.

A coworker has an automatic 924S. I didn't even know they made such a terrible car...

The important question is "Why did the head gasket fail, and how hot did it get? If the gasket just wore out/cracked and started leaking, likely its no big deal, unless it got hot and cracked or warped the head, or the reason the gasket failed is because the head surface has corroded away.

Its pretty darn rare for me to put a head back on something without sending it to the machine shop for a skim- particularly if its getting a multilayer steel gasket.

You'd spend less money swapping in an SBF than doing the HG...

No you wouldn't. Engine swap kit parts just aren't that cheap and SBF's don't fit under the stock hood, the SBC's barely do and most companies have retooled for LSJuans instead of the more pedestrian SBC f days past. IF you can build headers and motor mounts yourself, then you might be able to get it down to a similar price point, but that's a big, big IF.

http://944hybrids.pbworks.com/w/page/1147188/Conversion%20Shopping%20List

Maroon92 wrote: A coworker has an automatic 924S. I didn't even know they made such a terrible car...

Even worse, they made automatic 2.0L cars. Yup, 95hp driving a rear-mounted VW 3-speed automatic via rubber coupling and torque tube in a 2500lb package. I can imagine it is pictured next to the word "anemic" in the dictionary.

In reply to turboswede:

Ewww. Putting automatics in 924s must have been the real first step on the slippery slope that resulted in Cayennes...

As others have said, if it and the block are not warped you should be fine as far as the surfaces go. Its worth the extra money to get what they call a wide fire gasket for some extra insurance in the future. Check to make sure your studs are in good shape. I've seen some stretch and rip out of the block.

Of course, those heads also have a lot of wiggle room in how much you can machine off. Unless its been done before you should have several mm that you can shave off. You can even get bigger valves now that cost less than the value of the whole car.

Cotton I sent you a PM.

Woody- Are you planning on doing a motor swap down the road? If so I'd go with the cheapest option to keep it going until you are ready to do the swap. If slipping the new HG in gets you till its time to swap I think that would be a win.

I don't own the car.