944 Manual Transmission — Gear Ratios, Final Drive & Oil
Factory data for the 944's five-speed manual transaxle — the driveline layout, the transmission-oil specification and capacity, and the gear and final-drive ratios for the Type 016 and Type 083 units. Match the ratios to the transmission type stamped on your gearbox; USA figures are given in brackets.
Factory data for the 944's five-speed manual transmission. The 944 is a transaxle car: the gearbox and final drive sit together at the rear of the car, driven by a torque tube from the front-mounted engine. The gear ratios depend on the transmission type, which is stamped on the unit — early five-speeds are Type 016, later ones the integrated Type 083. Match the table to your transmission type rather than to the model year. Ratios are dimensionless and the oil capacity is given in litres, so nothing on this page switches between metric and imperial.
Driveline layout
The front-mounted engine and clutch drive a rotationally-elastic shaft (25 mm diameter) running on four bearings inside a connecting pipe back to the rear-mounted transmission. The transmission is bolted to the final drive to form one unit, and twin drive shafts take the power to the rear wheels. The final drive is a hypoid pinion/ring gear with a 12 mm offset.
Transmission oil
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Capacity | approx. 2.0 L2.1 qt |
| Oil | hypoid transmission oil SAE 75W-90 to API GL5 (or MIL-L 2105 B) |
| Alternative | SAE 80 to API GL4 (or MIL-L 2105) |
The same fill serves the gearbox and the final drive — they share the housing. Use the GL5 75W-90 grade unless you have reason to run the lighter GL4 alternative.
Gear ratios
Read the column for the transmission type code stamped on your gearbox. Where USA cars differ, the USA figure is in brackets. From the 1988 model year, rest-of-world and USA cars share the same ratios.
| Gear | Type 016 J / 016 K | Type 083 F |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 10 : 36 = 3.600 | 10 : 35 = 3.500 |
| 2nd | 16 : 34 = 2.125 | 17 : 35 = 2.059 |
| 3rd | 24 : 35 = 1.458 | 25 : 35 = 1.400 |
| 4th | 28 : 30 = 1.071 | 29 : 30 = 1.043 |
| 5th | 35 : 29 = 0.829 (USA 37 : 27 = 0.730) | 36 : 28 = 0.778 |
| Reverse | 12 : 42 = 3.500 | 12 : 42 = 3.500 |
| Final drive | 9 : 35 = 3.889 | 8 : 31 = 3.875 |
An intermediate Type 083 D (codes AGP/AGR) shares the Type 083 F ratios in the lower gears but keeps the taller 35 : 29 = 0.829 fifth of the 016 gearbox. The practical difference between the families is fifth gear and the final drive: the later 083 F pairs a tall 0.778 overdrive fifth with a 3.875 final drive.